Olivia Smith

Olivia Smith serves as the Community Outreach Associate (COA) for EPN’s Region 5 pro bono capacity-building technical assistance program. In her role as Region 5’s COA, Olivia seeks to cultivate meaningful connections between community organizations in the Great Lakes Region, experienced EPA alumni, and other environmental justice allies in order to provide local organizers with vital resources for community projects. 

Olivia has an interdisciplinary master’s degree in climate studies from Columbia University’s Climate School and a BA in economics from Swarthmore College, where she also engaged in community organizing on campus. Prior to working with EPN, Olivia worked in project and technical assistance roles with the Rockefeller Foundation’s US Food Initiative and with the Red Cross Climate Center. During graduate school, she also served as a teaching assistant for a practicum course on climate justice that facilitated partnerships directly with community groups in Manhattan and New Orleans. Olivia is passionate about community development, food system politics, and the liberation of environmental knowledge from institutional hierarchies.

Olivia is originally from St. Louis, MO, and she spends her free time learning new recipes, taking walks along Lake Michigan, and talking about movies.