Q & A with Nobi Kennedy, Regional Climate Collaborative Coordinator at Green Umbrella

Source: The News Record

The Earth is at a point now where climate change is a real issue that should not be ignored, experts say. While the environment around us continues to worsen, people worldwide are taking important steps to mitigate climate change issues and help communities.

Green Umbrella, located in Cincinnati, is one of these organizations, working as the regional climate collaborative for the Greater Cincinnati area. Green Umbrella brings together stakeholders and community members to coordinate climate change adaptation and mitigation efforts across the region.

The organization does this by running several different programs, each with its own focus and initiatives. While it started as a volunteer-run green-space protection group, Green Umbrella has evolved to become the connective tissue between different organizations in the Greater Cincinnati area that are working to make meaningful change.

Nobi Kennedy has been Green Umbrella’s regional climate collaborative coordinator, a fairly new position, for almost a year now, and works to bridge communications between the many different programs under Green Umbrella. They are using this role to establish connections in the community so more people can work toward solving climate change.

In this interview, Kennedy explains their responsibilities in their job and shares why Green Umbrella is an important resource in Cincinnati.

Q: Can you tell me about the responsibilities that come with your position at Green Umbrella?

A: As the regional climate collaborative coordinator, my colleagues and I oversee a bunch of different programs in the RCC (regional climate collaborative), such as the Climate Research Incubator, which educates scholars on communication strategies, the Climate Action Fellowship, which pairs climate champions with local governments to create resiliency plans, and Climate Safety Neighborhoods, a partnership with Groundwork Ohio River Valley focused on educating lower-income and disadvantaged neighborhoods on climate resiliency strategies and encouraging them to build their own plans. As the RCC coordinator, I have to be aware of the other programs that we operate under. I primarily do community engagement.

Q: What did you do before coming to Green Umbrella?

A: I was a barber for 13 years before I came here. It was working with people one-on-one, having conversations and quickly assessing their needs based on what they’re asking me to do. I have tried to take that same consultation-service mindset into this role because, ultimately, we’re trying to serve communities. There’s no point in protecting the environment if you’re not protecting the people who are living there. Climate change affects people and connecting it to people is where my work lies.

Q: How has your time with the organization been so far?

A: Very eye-opening. As a barber, it was just a team of one, just me and my client, and now I’m working on a team of 17 plus other partners. Working on a team is a different mindset. Having been a barber, I was outcome focused. As long as the client was happy with the outcome, we were good. But with this work, it’s ongoing and builds upon itself, so you can’t be focused on the outcome as much but have to be focused on the process and making sure that people aren’t left behind in that work. There are a lot of moving parts, such as community, organizational and government involvement, and it’s incredibly complex. Trying to get everybody on board is quite a task in itself.

Q: Did you have any other experience in environmental work before coming to Green Umbrella?

A: It’s new for me, but that’s the wonderful thing about working in the environment. I think that there might be a misconception that you have to have an environmental science background or study these nuanced things about the working environment, but it’s just not the case. It goes back to people and trying to make sure that initiatives impact people. I did go through a fellowship called Dream.org that takes beginning activists early in their careers and puts them through advocacy training, campaigning, lobbying, etc. They asked us to create a dream project, and mine was a land conservation project, so I started there. I have always found a lot of solace in nature, being a first-generation immigrant, biracial and queer. There are a lot of parts of my identity that I grapple with in everyday society, but nature is the place where everybody belongs, and I felt this inherent connection.

Q: In your opinion, why is Green Umbrella important to Cincinnati and the surrounding areas?

A: I think it’s important because we’re trying to serve as this connective network, as the friend that you know at the party that knows everybody else. It’s trying to be this hub of sustainability, environmental initiatives and collaboration. We make a connection and try to facilitate that relationship. We know that our members and the people in our region are more than capable of creating and executing solutions. Sometimes you just need to make connections with the right people to make things happen.

Q: How do you work with the other team members?

A: The in-house programs are all run independently for the most part, but there is cross-collaboration. Primarily, my role is to make sure that the events, initiatives and workshops that we have are being communicated properly to our network. Another thing is connecting inquiries to the correct people in our organization. If I’m talking to someone who is interested in Green Umbrella and starts talking a lot about energy, it seems like a perfect fit with our 2030 District. That’s when I tell them there’s this person here that I think might be great for them to talk to and try to make those connections. Everyone here is brilliant and very talented, and I learn from them constantly. I think there’s a place for everybody, from children to people in their 90s. I would say climate change is the greatest threat we face as a society. When a hurricane comes through and power lines are down, access to food is gone, roads are washed away, suddenly the things that we think matter don’t matter. If I can find a place for anyone to plug in and feel like they are doing enough, then I feel like I’m doing my job right as a coordinator.

Q: What would you say is the most impactful part of this experience for you so far?

A: I think there are two things. A year ago, I would not have thought I would be here. I look back at who I was and I see a very different person, and I appreciate the challenges that Green Umbrella has allowed me to step up to and attempt, sometimes successfully, sometimes not so successfully. But I am willing to learn from my experiences. I think the most meaningful thing is connecting with people and instilling hope. Any movement starts with just the thought that maybe you can make a difference, the thought of showing up or using your voice, and that it matters somewhere. For me, creating safe and inclusive spaces for people is something that I value a lot personally. I think that there are not enough places for people to just be themselves and be vulnerable. With climate change, we all understand we’re vulnerable. I think that’s the biggest thing for me, just instilling hope and seeing people take action when they otherwise wouldn’t.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

This story originated as an assignment in the JOUR-3040 Environmental Journalism course from fall semester 2024 and is part of a special series of environmental stories being published in The News Record in spring 2025.