Career Opportunity

Position: Environmental Health Fellow

The Environmental Health Fellow will help enhance internal and external capacity to track organizational environmental justice and access to healthcare work and community movement. The fellow will be responsible for assisting with the development of research support on key environmental health issues, such as PFAS, Energy Justice, CAFOs, Black maternal health, and social determinants of health.

The fellow will report to both the Environmental Justice Program Manager and Access to Healthcare Program Manager.

Key Responsibilities

• Assist in the development of our health equity and environmental justice profile for tracking community members and organizations we’ve engaged with and trained.
• Attend important meetings to help assist with overall Access to Healthcare and Environmental Justice priorities.
• Produce issue-related content for social media, newsletter, and community education materials.
• Create and support unique educational opportunities for fellow students and campuses regarding environmental health
• Assist in the development of environmental health profile for tracking of community members reached and trained
• Conduct key policy research around current environmental health concerns for NC

Education & Qualifications:

• Proficient in Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Google applications.
• Highly organized, reliable, able to work independently, and able to develop internal and external partnerships.
• Strong interpersonal communication skills.
• Willing to try new things and can find comfort in new tools and spaces.
• Strong interpersonal skills, experience meeting deadlines, and the ability to multitask.
• Likes to look further than surface level but can control their research to not go down a rabbit hole.
• Willingness to work some evenings and weekends.

Expectations & Compensation:

• 20 hours a week commitment.
• MUST live and work in North Carolina.
• $1,500 monthly stipend

The Wake County Board of Commissioners recognized North Carolina Black Alliance with a proclamation at the Wake County Justice Center on Feb. 16, 2026.

RALEIGH, N.C. — What North Carolina Black Alliance (NCBA) has done in its 25 years, particularly its work to correct environmental injustices, was singled out this month when the Wake County Board of Commissioners approved a proclamation both recognizing Black History Month and saluting the organization for its fight to make things right for Black people.  

“Addressing environmental injustice is essential to Wake County’s vision to provide excellent public service through collaborative, inclusive and sustainable solutions that prioritize the well-being of our community and aligns with the county’s core values of accountability, equity and nurturing health and wellness,” Commissioner Shinica Thomas read. “North Carolina Black Alliance has long centered environmental justice as a core priority.”

Leading much of NCBA’s work in environmental justice has been Jovita Lee, Ed.D., the organization’s deputy director, who received the proclamation along with NCBA leader Marcus Bass and NCBA Wake County organizer Alicia Roberts; as well as Brad Thompson, a founding NCBA member and former Raleigh mayor pro tempore.

The proclamation during Black History month provided an opportunity to showcase the approach to Black uplift NCBA takes every day.

“This is a great place to live, a great place to work, and this soil, this land has been worked by African Americans for centuries,” Bass said. “It has been all of us collectively that have made Wake County as vibrant as it is.”  

North Carolina Black Alliance (NCBA) leader Marcus Bass (left) stands with Brad Thompson, a founding member and former executive director of the organization, at the Wake County Justice Center on Feb. 16, 2026. The Wake County Board of Commissioners recognized NCBA with  a proclamation.

According to the North Carolina Utilities Commission, the Carbon Plan, also known as the Consolidated Carbon Plan, was submitted by Duke Energy Progress LLC and Duke Energy Carolinas LLC to meet the North Carolina General Assembly’s carbon dioxide emissions reduction mandate on Nov. 1, 2024 [1]. The plan was approved under House Bill 951, “Energy Solutions for North Carolina,” a bipartisan law that requires Duke Energy to reduce carbon emissions by 70% from 2005 levels by 2030 and achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 [2]. The parameters for meeting these goals include, but are not limited to, grid modernization, energy storage and efficiency, and improved energy demand management while transitioning away from coal as a base energy source [2].

However, legislation such as Senate Bill 266, along with policy shifts favoring fossil fuels under the current administration and increased demand from data centers, has prompted Duke Energy to propose rolling back provisions from an earlier version of the plan [3]. Those proposed changes include extending the use of coal by two to four additional years beyond the original timeline, eliminating the interim goal of reducing emissions by 70% by 2030, and reducing investment in renewable energy sources such as wind, solar and hydropower [3]. In addition to placing climate targets at risk, community advocates have raised concerns about the siting of fossil-fueled power plants near Black communities and the financial impact of the revised plan on Black residents and other marginalized groups in North Carolina [4].

Utility rates are another significant concern stemming from changes to the Carbon Plan. The costs associated with continuing coal operations, expanding data center infrastructure, and delaying the transition to clean energy are often passed on to consumers. At a time when rates are already rising, Duke Energy has requested billions in additional revenue, with proposed increases averaging about 15%, which would cost the typical household approximately $30 more per month [5]. Delaying the retirement of coal facilities would also increase environmental harm, further burdening communities already disproportionately affected by pollution. Duke Energy projects an additional 47,331 gigawatt-hours of demand by 2036 due to data centers — nearly 50 times New York City’s annual electricity consumption [6].

Given the potential impact of these changes, community stakeholders and concerned residents are encouraged to attend public hearings on the current Carbon Plan. CleanAIRE NC provides listings for each public hearing, along with an Advocacy Toolkit [4]. For a comprehensive analysis of the proposed plan, see the review by the North Carolina Sustainable Energy Association [2].

References

1. NCUC: Carbon Plan
2. North Carolina’s Carbon Plan (CPIRP) – NC Sustainable Energy Association
3. In Its New Carbon Plan, Duke Energy Gambles on Coal as a Shorter-Term Fix for Powering Data Centers
4. The Carbon Plan – CleanAIRE NC
5. Duke Energy seeks higher rates, profits in NC despite soaring disconnections
6. Environmentalists and clean energy advocates decry Duke’s proposed Carbon Plan

Mark Paylor Jr. sells his 4M Farms produce, eggs and meat during the Harvest Market Festival at the Southeast Raleigh YMCA Oct. 26, 2025.

RALEIGH, N.C. — The brown beauties Mark Paylor Jr. sells by the dozen epitomize Black eggs-cellence.

And his greens — oh, his greens!

“They’re delicious,” Lisa Yebuah said. “Sometimes I do a combo of the greens and cabbage together when I want to just switch it up a little bit.”

When Yebuah purchases Paylor’s produce, because he’s a Black farmer, she’s simultaneously doing her part to offset climate change and support both environmental and economic justice, said Sacoby Wilson, Ph.D., a professor in the School of Public Health at the University of Maryland-College Park. That’s where he directs The Health, Environmental and Economic Justice Lab. 

“A lot of Black communities have gotten poisons, toxicants, landfills, incinerators, highways, byways, chemical plants, refineries, power plants, right?” Wilson offered. 

Right along here is where Paylor figuratively rides in on his tractor at 4M Farms, where he toils with and tills his acres in Hurdle Mills, in Person County. It’s land that’s remaining undeveloped. That means Paylor’s playing a part in not putting more pollutants into the planet, moving Mother Earth toward net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. In other words, he and other Black farmers are environmental mitigators. 

“What they’re doing is environmental protection because they are safeguarding the land against erosion,” said Ja’Nell Henry, the executive director of the Black Farmers’ Market. “They’re making sure the soil is healthy. They are conservationsists. They are scientists.”

The Black Farmers’ Market is a collective of Black farmers and likeminded artisans who set up shop on alternating Sundays at Southeast Raleigh YMCA and Durham Technical Community College. North Carolina Black Alliance (NCBA) partnered with the Black Farmers’ Market for the Oct. 26 Harvest Market Festival at the YMCA.

“The connector, the way to empower Black people, the way to empower Black communities is through food,” Wilson said. “Bringing forward the lessons learned, the genius of Booker T. Washington and looking at self-sufficiency, growing your own food and also economic power; that’s what we need right now.”

Black farmers are doing that. 

“Black farmers are key to getting the Black community healthy again,” Wilson said.

Root causes

Raleigh residents Ava Campbell and Emmanuel Carmichael regularly support the Black Farmers’ Market as a way to keep Black dollars in the Black community. 

“The majority of our shopping is here,” Carmichael said while visiting the YMCA location. “They have a lot of variety here, and it’s a lot healthier, too.” 

“And even if it is a little bit more expensive, it’s about the quality,” Campbell said. “It’s local. Some vendors are organic, and they make their things fresh. So even if it is a little bit more expensive, it’s a lot better quality than the grocery store.”

Campbell and Carmichael demonstrate the intentionality necessary to keep Black farmers in business, Henry said. 

According to the Black Farmers’ Market, of some 3 million farmers in America, less than 2% are Black, and that’s because of discriminatory banking practices and other systemic hindrances. 

“For a long time, Black farmers have not been a part of the food ecosystem,” Henry said. 

The Black Farmers’ Market provides space for Clarence DuBois to showcase his big, fat shitake mushrooms. He grows them at his Gabor Farms in Rockingham County.

“We want to get our products to market reasonably and be able to reach our customer base, but I think that is a challenge,” DuBois said.

Another challenge for Black farmers is accessing health care, including treatment for mental health, Henry said.

DuBois is a military veteran, so he’s got health care figured out. Mental health, though, is a real thing for farmers, he said.

“Farming — you put your expectation in the end product,” DuBois said.

But let’s say pests eat up the crops, or a drought dries up everything, not to mention a funding drought doing a number on the farm.

“You’ve spent all that energy and mental effort waiting for a crop to come that never comes. Now you’ve lost a whole season. So now you have to start another season in the hole,” said DuBois, underscoring the need for Black farmers to have access to mental health care.

Nearly half of the 24 million people who purchase insurance through Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplaces are small business owners, including farmers, according to KFF, a health policy organization. The enrollment period for ACA coverage, also known as Obamacare, started Nov. 1, and people are paying hundreds of dollars more for health insurance because Congress has not extended subsidies to make it more affordable. It’s why the federal government is shut down. Politicians can’t come to terms on providing relief so folks can more affordably go see their doctors.

Community-led, Black and greens

There’s Black farming on the macro level with people working acres and acres of land, yet Wilson also highlights microfarming as an entry point where most anybody can get their hands in the dirt.

“Food is the connector. Food is power. Food is culture. Food is health. Food is wealth. And so you’re going to have people growing food at community gardens, at school gardens, in their neighborhoods,” Wilson said. “You’re basically putting in green infrastructure. So that green infrastructure is absorbing toxicants. It’s helping to do food for us. It’s helping to do shading and cooling, doing air-pollution mitigation, heat mitigation. Then you’re having a network of community gardens, right? A network of farmers working together, providing food to folks so they don’t have to go to the store and get the preservatives, get the unhealthy foods.”

“Environmental justice is one’s right to a healthy living environment,” said Brayndon Stafford, the environmental justice coordinator for North Carolina Black Alliance. “Oftentimes, communities of color and marginalized communities have limited to no access to healthy foods, which leads to higher incidences of heart disease, [high] blood pressure, diabetes and cancers due to that lack of access. Couple that with already existing environmental concerns in communities like air [and] water pollution, it adds further burden to already burdened communities. By supporting Black farmers, we help to mitigate those effects on community while also promoting Black farmers and businesses who are able to directly access and impact our communities to do the same.”

More Afrocentric greens for Yebuah, please!

“It matters that we reclaim our relationship to land, and remembering that our food isn’t mass produced. There are actually people behind the produce that we eat, and I think there’s something to be said about actually getting to meet the people who till the land. And, again, reclaiming our relationship as Black folks with that; we do have everything that we need. I prefer to get my produce from someone who I know from beginning to end has cultivated that process,” Yebuah said. “There’s something really powerful when we say, no, out of my own autonomy and agency that we grow our food, that we tend to animals, that our only re

North Carolina Black Alliance program director Jovita Lee, Ed. D., makes a point during a breakout session at the NC BREATHE Conference Oct. 8-9, 2025.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Elected officials don’t know it all. They can’t.

“There’s this kind of assumption in the community that because they’re elected, they’re experts. Those things are not synonymous,” said Jovita Lee, Ed.D., program director for North Carolina Black Alliance (NCBA). “They may be elected, but then what is the investment in them?”

Lee pressed that point during a breakout session at CleanAIRE NC’s 10th anniversary of the NC BREATHE Conference at Harris Conference Center Oct. 8-9. The conference annually assembles the leading voices in North Carolina’s environmental health community.

‘Get him off my back’

The breakout session, moderated by Will Hendrick from the North Carolina Conservation Network, comprised a panel that included Catawba Riverkeeper policy director Ryan Carter. He lifted the name of a man named Alvin, who was always complaining about his backyard flooding every time it rained. Carter explained his ear wasn’t the one that needed bending.

“I said, ‘I can’t do a damned thing for you. Why don’t you contact your state legislator?’” Carter recalled.

It would rain, and Alvin started dialing politicians. Turns out a mall was recently built upstream of where he lived, and stormwater runoff would flow into his backyard, impacting his property value and quality of life, Carter said. So when it rained, Alvin hit up his legislators.

Squeaky wheel gets bill

“Then his state legislators called me and said, ‘Who’s this Alvin guy, and how do I get him off my back?’ I said, ‘Well, I’ve got this really cool bill here. Why don’t you file it?’”

House Bill 369 — the so-called parking lot bill — was filed earlier this year in March. It’s in the Senate’s rules committee, still waiting to become a law.

“That all started because of Alvin,” Carter said. “It started because a community member — one person — said, ‘I have this problem, you dirty, rotten legislator. Fix it.”

It’s an example of educating community members to become advocates, empowering them to get what they need from elected officials.

Educating electeds

And then there’s the schooling elected officials need in order to get what they want from community members — votes. Smart politicians understand that more than eight-in-10 U.S. adults believe most elected officials don’t care what people like them think, according to a 2023 Pew Research Center survey. It means the sort of grounding NCBA provides is essential in order to keep them from appearing out of touch to Black people.

“It’s, ‘Congratulations on being elected. Now, here are your training dates, because you have a lot of gaps. There are things that you don’t know. Your expertise might be in environmental justice. Great, that helps us. But then you have a complete blind spot in education. We need to work on that,'” Lee explained.

North Carolina Black Alliance program director Jovita Lee, Ed.D. (left), and Kay Brown, organizing director for our c4 sister organization, Advance Carolina, shared resources with educators during the North Carolina Association of Educators’ “We Are Public Schools” at Central Piedmont Community College on Oct. 11.

NCBA does that training alongside groups such as LEAD NC and the North Carolina Association of Educators (NCAE). Lee and Advance Carolina’s organizing director, Kay Brown, were shoulder to shoulder with schoolteachers and school administrators during NCAE’s We Are Public Schools Summit at Central Piedmont Community College on Oct. 11. A recurring conversation piece was teachers not getting salary increases due to the inability of North Carolina lawmakers to agree on a state budget. 

Rep. Brandon Lofton, who represents Mecklenburg County, was at the summit as a panelist and emphasized the importance of state educators letting his colleagues in the North Carolina General Assembly understand the sticker shock they’re experiencing from getting no relief to offset the cost of living. 

NCBA routinely meets with elected officials to help them understand the issues that are top of mind for Black people. Rep. Zack Hawkins, who represents Durham County, said the nuggets he’s gotten from NCBA have made him a better elected official. 

“North Carolina Black Alliance has been an invaluable partner in helping legislators like me stay grounded in the issues that matter most to our communities,” Hawkins said. “Their policy briefings, advocacy and collaboration ensure that we’re informed and equipped to fight for equity — in housing, education, health care and economic opportunity. Their work keeps us connected to the people we serve and focused on solutions that deliver real change.”

RALEIGH, N.C. (Aug. 29, 2025) — Gov. Josh Stein has appointed Jovita Lee, Ed.D., to serve on the Governor’s Environmental Justice Advisory Council. She is program director for North Carolina Black Alliance (NCBA) and policy director for Advance Carolina.

The appointment is part of a larger slate of boards and commissions Stein announced Aug. 29.

The advisory council works to elevate historically marginalized voices in environmental policymaking. Lee brings expertise in community-centered organizing and equity-focused advocacy, underscoring the importance of centering justice in environmental decision-making.

“I am deeply honored to be appointed by Gov. Stein to serve on the Governor’s Environmental Justice Advisory Council,” Lee said. “This is an exciting opportunity to help ensure that the voices of our most impacted communities are heard in environmental decision-making. I look forward to working with leaders across the state to advance proposals that promote equity, protect our environment and bring lasting change to our political process.”

The appointment positions Lee to help shape state policy to ensure environmental protections reach the communities most affected by ecological harm. It also aligns with the collective mission of NCBA and Advance Carolina to advocate for systemic equity in governance and environmental policy.

Impact on the Economy

North Carolina taxpayers, low-income individuals and everyone in between will be affected by the newly passed federal tax and spending bill. The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) is set to expire after 2025. As a result, this new tax and spending bill restores favorable corporate tax treatment, while significantly impacting Black North Carolinians economically over the next four years and beyond. Here’s a breakdown of the key economic impacts.

Taxes

The new law introduces tax exemptions for overtime pay and tips, a deduction for auto loan interest, and an additional standard deduction available for some seniors, all of which violate basic tax principles of treating taxpayers equally.

Corporations and businesses will be able to write off the cost of research and development and the cost of equipment in the first year it was purchased. Manufacturers will be allowed to fully deduct the cost of building new manufacturing facilities.

Wealthy Americans will benefit far more from the tax package than those lower on the income scale. While all households will see their taxes reduced, some 60% of the benefits will go to those making $217,000 or more (the top 20%). These households will receive an average tax cut of $12,500, or 3.4% of their after-tax income. The lowest-income households, who earn about $35,000 or less, will receive an average tax cut of only $150, less than 1% of their after-tax income. Middle-income households will see their taxes reduced by about $1,800, or 2.3% of their after-tax income, on average.

The state and local tax deduction known as SALT will be raised from $10,000 to $40,000 for five years. This provision will primarily benefit upper-middle-income earners since lower earners typically do not itemize deductions for income and property taxes.

Employees who work in jobs that traditionally receive tips could deduct up to $25,000 in tip income from their federal income taxes, while workers who receive overtime could deduct up to $12,500 of that extra pay. Under the new law, the child tax credit will permanently increase to $2,200. The current $2,000 child tax credit was set to return to its pre-2017 level of $ 1,000 in 2026.

National Deficit

Lowering the amount of tax revenue the country collects, while increasing spending on defense and immigration enforcement, will contribute to an increased debt limit. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates the bill will add over $3 trillion to federal deficits over the next 10 years. Black North Carolinians will feel the consequences of the nation’s ever-growing debt in their wallets. The CBO estimates the bill will potentially increase interest rates. That could make mortgages, car loans and credit card payments more expensive. Congress will need to address the debt limit in the coming weeks. The U.S. could be unable to pay its bills as early as August, which could lead to another government shutdown standoff.

Impact on health care

Ingrained in the Big “Beautiful” Bill are deep cuts that will unravel the progress North Carolina has made to expand healthcare access and fight food insecurity. Programs like Medicaid and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program are lifelines for Black, brown, and rural communities. In North Carolina, an estimated 3 million people rely on Medicaid coverage. Under Medicaid Expansion, this number grew, providing approximately 600,000 people with access to affordable care, with copays capped at $4. In the first month of launching Medicaid Expansion in North Carolina in December 2023, Black people made up 38.1 percent of those enrolled, even though we only make up 22.1 percent of the state population. Medicaid cuts will strip away coverage for hundreds of thousands of North Carolinians who only recently gained coverage through expansion. Alongside these cuts, reductions to SNAP benefits will undercut one of the most critical tools we have to reduce hunger, leaving families to navigate higher grocery costs and fewer healthy options in communities where fresh food access is already limited. Affordable health insurance and access to care create healthier outcomes. There’s nothing big or beautiful about a bill that will lead to 579 avoidable deaths in North Carolina per year.

Pushing working families, seniors, and rural communities back into the coverage gap will do more than hurt individual lives — it will undermine the backbone of our state’s health infrastructure. Reduced coverage will increase the amount of uncompensated care provided by hospitals in our state. The financial strain from high levels of uncompensated care is what drove 12 hospitals within the last 20 years to close in North Carolina, with Martin General Hospital being the state’s most recent closure. This policy will devastate more healthcare systems in rural communities. Five rural hospitals–UNC Rockingham Hospital in Eden, Person Memorial in Roxboro, Chatham Hospital in Siler City, Angel Medical Center in Franklin, and Blue Ridge Region Hospital in Spruce Pine–have already been identified as at risk of closure or severe service reductions due to Medicaid cuts. North Carolina is no stranger to climate disasters like hurricanes and tropical storms. As our communities continue to grapple with environmental harms like drinking water contamination, repeated climate disasters, and flooding, the loss of healthcare facilities compounds risk and erodes resilience when the next storm hits.

Impact on the Environment

The catch? Everyone’s impacted, one way or another. By repealing federal funding for domestic electric vehicle manufacturing, as well as the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund and the Inflation Reduction Act (initiatives that encouraged clean energy and environmental justice), the Big “Beautiful” Bill undermines clean energy initiatives, while incentivizing fossil fuel expansion and simultaneously creating more pollution and an energy burden. The bill reduces energy capacity by 330 Gigawatts (GW) over the next 10 years; for context, 1 GW can power a medium-sized city (~100,000-500,000 people) per GW, with approximately 165 million people affected, meaning higher energy costs and energy burdens passed on to the consumer. This in conjunction with removal of Clean Air Act and air monitoring initiatives, further affects communities leading to higher rates of asthma, respiratory illnesses, and diseases, while also removing funding for Medicaid and SNAP thus disproportionately affecting Black, Brown, and low-income neighborhoods even more by limiting their ability to live adequate, healthy lives.

This budget bill also encourages fossil fuel production in the wake of removing environmental regulations and clean energy initiatives, resulting in higher emissions. This is approximately 310 metric tons of carbon dioxide over those same 10 years. Phasing out clean energy opportunities, such as solar and wind, while funding the fossil fuel industry can only lead to further pollution, in turn fueling more extreme weather events, including hurricanes and flooding, heatwaves, and wildfires, as well as diseases. This bill also rescinds methane emissions reduction programs for oil and gas, eliminates funding for EPA climate monitoring, low-emissions electricity programs, methane waste mitigation, climate justice, and resilient programs, and terminates renewable energy tax incentives. Overall, this budget bill represents a drastic step away from protecting people and the environment, and a stark pivot toward investing in industries that will have the opposite effect.