Valerie Baron
Senior Director of Technical Assistance
Valerie Baron
Senior Director of Technical Assistance
As Senior Director of Technical Assistance at the Environmental Protection Network, Valerie leads EPN’s national technical assistance strategy and the team that works with EPN volunteers to support frontline communities, NGOs, and under-resourced state, local, and tribal agencies.
Valerie is an environmental attorney and policy leader with more than 15 years of experience in environmental justice, public health, and public policy. She comes to EPN from the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), where she worked for more than a decade. Most recently, she served as National Policy Director and Senior Attorney for NRDC’s Safe Water Initiative. In that role, she led efforts across several priority states to strengthen drinking water protections and ensure equitable lead service line replacement. She also partnered closely with frontline communities and advised city, state, and federal officials on implementation of the Safe Drinking Water Act. Before that, as National Policy Director of NRDC’s People & Communities Program, she led advocacy across issues impacting the built environment, including climate, housing, transportation, and environmental health. She first joined NRDC as an Equal Justice Works Fellow supporting frontline communities fighting environmental injustice in the food system.
Earlier in her career, Valerie was an attorney at the Environmental Integrity Project and a staffer on the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee. In Washington, DC, she was elected an Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner, where she successfully advocated for transportation and housing initiatives and spearheaded an effort to create the first program in many years to remove dangerous lead pipes. She was later appointed by the DC Council to its Lead Service Line Replacement Task Force and to the DC Water Stakeholder Alliance, on which she still serves. She has appeared as an expert in the media and before legislative and executive bodies. She was featured in Netflix’s You Are What You Eat and has been quoted in The Washington Post and on CBS News.
Valerie holds a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, where she was a Toll Public Interest Scholar; a Master of Environmental Studies from the University of Pennsylvania; and a B.A. from Oberlin College.
Urszula Parfieniuk
National Technical Assistance Manager
Urszula Parfieniuk
National Technical Assistance Manager
Urszula Parfieniuk (she/her) is the National Technical Assistance Manager with our pro bono capacity-building technical assistance program, focusing on Regions 2, 7, and 9. With a background in environmental health, public health administration and development, Urszula’s role spans technical assistance requests from all over the country, serving as critical coverage backup. In addition, she works on special projects for EPN to meet communities’ most pressing needs.
Prior to EPN, Urszula worked in technical assistance and program management at the Great Lakes Thriving Communities Technical Assistance Center, developing the Center from the ground up. She worked on federal and philanthropic grant submissions for almost 10 years and has years of experience organizing volunteers and work teams. Urszula has a master’s degree in public health administration and policy with a concentration in environmental health.
Urszula is passionate about place-based environmental health and community development. Outside of work, she enjoys traveling, gardening, and volunteering in her local community. Urszula is originally from Poland and currently lives in Minneapolis, MN.
Michelle Peedin
Community Outreach Associate
Michelle Peedin
Community Outreach Associate
for New England, EPA Region 1
Michelle S. Peedin is a Community Outreach Associate with our pro bono capacity-building technical assistance program. Focusing on EPA Region 1, the New England region of the United States, Michelle seeks to facilitate and foster meaningful connections between community-based organizations, experienced EPA alumni, and other partner experts to provide vital resources and support at the community level. In the multi-state region, support and resources include technical assistance, grant application support, and capacity-building solutions for environmental justice projects centered around low-income, historically excluded communities, and Black, Indigenous, and communities of color.
Michelle, graduated with a BA in Global Studies from University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, with a concentration in Social and Economic Justice. Michelle worked as the Program Coordinator on the Eco-Justice Connection and Health & Wholeness teams at the NC Council of Churches. In the wake of 2020, she felt called to the intersection of healing justice and ecological justice, which led to her Masters in Social Work at Columbia University. Michelle served as the chair of Lila Latinx LGBTQ+ Initiative, the Multiracial Caucus at Columbia’s School of Social Work, and the Environmental Justice Initiative at the CSSW Action Lab. Michelle is dedicated to antiracism, decolonization, and mindfulness work woven into the fabric of community-led transformative change.
Michelle finds joy in friendship, food, dancing, nature, spirituality, and being a sister, daughter, prima, niece, tía, partner, and intentional community member.
Sierra Taliaferro
Community Outreach Associate
Sierra Taliaferro
Community Outreach Associate
for the Southeast, EPA Region 4
Sierra Taliaferro is a Community Outreach Associate with our pro bono capacity-building technical assistance program. Sierra concentrates on creating new and deeper connections between communities of color and low-income communities in EPA Region 4, EPA alumni with decades of expertise, and other allies to provide assistance to community identified projects.
Sierra has nine years of strategic planning experience with various community organizations in Milwaukee and South Florida. She led, co-led, and implemented outdoor education and outreach ranging from county parks and green spaces to non-profit organizations and commons. In addition, she worked in project development and implementation of water and environmental conservation issues at the local level. Sierra is also the founder of The Green Obsidian, a social media platform designed to bring awareness to diversity within environmental conservation. As a professional millennial and climate change maker, she hopes to continue to make herself an advocate for diversity in conservation and to emphasize the importance of our natural resources surrounding our urban environments.
Sierra has a Bachelor of Science degree in Integrated Environmental Science from Bethune-Cookman University in Daytona Beach, Florida. She is currently based in South Florida where she enjoys the thrills of exploring the outdoors, birding, and traveling.
Olivia Smith
Technical Assistance Manager
Olivia Smith
Technical Assistance Manager
for EPA Region 5, the Great Lakes Midwest
Olivia Smith serves as the Technical Assistance Manager for Region 5 on EPN’s pro bono technical assistance program. Olivia seeks to cultivate connections between community organizations in the Great Lakes and Midwest Region, experienced EPA alumni, and other environmental justice allies towards the support of the self-determined goals of Environmental Justice communities across the region.
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.
Olivia holds an M.A. in climate studies from Columbia University’s Climate School and a B.A. in economics from Swarthmore College, where she also engaged in community organizing on campus. During graduate school, she 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. She is originally from St. Louis, MO, and currently lives in Chicago, IL.
Mutheu Mukeli
Technical Assistance Manager
Mutheu Mukeli
Technical Assistance Manager
for EPA Region 6
Mutheu Mukeli (she/her) is a Technical Assistance Manager with our pro bono capacity-building technical assistance program. She concentrates on creating new and deeper connections between communities of color and low-income communities in EPA Region 6 and 9, EPA alumni with decades of expertise, and other allies to provide assistance for community identified projects.
Mutheu graduated from The University of Alabama with a Bachelor of Arts inInternational Relations. She is passionate about creating and engaging in spaces thatfoster community, create solidarity, and advocate for social justice, particularly forcommunities of color. Her interest in the environment stems from an understanding ofthe intersectionality that exists between environmental issues and other societalinjustices. Prior to EPN, Mutheu served as a public school teacher with Teach forAmerica, where she advocated for educational equity.
Mutheu lives in Houston, TX. Outside of work, she enjoys spending time in nature,reading, and cooking.
Melanie Michaud
Community Outreach Associate
Melanie Michaud
Community Outreach Associate
Melanie Michaud is a Community Outreach Associate supporting Environmental Protection Network’s pro bono capacity-building technical assistance program. Melanie works with communities across EPA Regions 8 and 10, connecting them with experienced EPA alumni and other environmental experts to advance community-identified projects focused on water, land, and public health. She is passionate about ensuring that underserved and environmental justice communities can access the technical resources they need to address longstanding environmental challenges.
Melanie holds a B.S. in Environmental Sustainability from the University of Oklahoma and a Master of Environmental Studies in Social and Ecological Sustainability from the University of Waterloo in Canada, where she specialized in water policy and governance. Her work has centered on understanding the social and ecological dimensions of water scarcity, sustainable resource management, and collaborative governance.
Before joining EPN, Melanie worked at Colorado State University, where she led natural resource outreach programs, supported conservation partnerships, and facilitated community engagement on issues such as watershed health, wildfire resilience, and youth environmental education. Across her roles, she has focused on bridging science, policy, and community needs to support practical, equitable environmental solutions.
Melanie lives in Colorado with her beloved dog, Kirby. Outside of work, she enjoys being outdoors, gardening, collecting rocks, and tending to her ever-expanding houseplant collection.
Caitlin Bolger
Senior National Grants Associate
Caitlin Bolger
Senior National Grants Associate
Caitlin Bolger is the Senior National Grants Associate at EPN. She works alongside our pro bono capacity-building technical assistance program, with a focus on safeguarding federal funding. Caitlin creates new and deeper connections between disadvantaged communities across the country, EPA alumni with decades of expertise, and other allies to provide assistance to EPA grantees, amplify their voices, and protect program integrity.
Caitlin holds a Bachelor of Science in Biology from Florida Southern College and completed a Dual-Master’s Degree Program at the College of Charleston where she earned a Master of Science in Environmental and Sustainability Studies and Master of Public Administration. In graduate school, Caitlin participated in the Community Assistance Program, a high-level capacity building clinic that serves nonprofit and municipal organizations in Charleston, SC. Prior to EPN, Caitlin worked in grants administration for a university-based program that aims to support and conserve South Carolina’s coastal and marine resources.
Caitlin currently resides in Rhode Island. In her free time she enjoys yoga, spending time with her cat Benny, and adding new house plants to her collection.
Make a request for pro bono Technical Assistance
Make a Technical Assistance RequestTap/Click the button above to begin completing the Technical Assistance request form. A member of our Technical Assistance team will be in touch with you as soon as possible!
EPN Community Outreach Team map
Click on the map for an enlarged version.
