Meet The Team
Susana Almanza
Susana Almanza is a founding member and Director of PODER. Susana has overcome poverty, prejudice, and segregated schools to face down some of the world’s most powerful transnational corporations.
​
Susana is an indigenous person of the continent of America and resides in East Austin, Texas. She is a longtime community organizer, and educator, mother and grandmother. Susana participated in the civil rights movement as a Brown Beret taking up issues of police brutality, housing, quality education and equity in school systems and health care as a right not a privilege.
​
Susana Almanza is a proven leader and nationally recognized environmental justice activist. Susana was recently appointed to the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council. Susana served on the City of Austin’s Planning Commission, Parks and Recreation Board, Environmental Board and the Community Development Commission.
Christopher Brown
Christopher Brown is an Austin-based business lawyer and Philip K. Dick Award-nominated novelist who has been writing about and advocating for Austin’s urban river for more than a decade. His recent projects include the ecological restoration of a brownfield site on the Colorado River in East Austin, as featured on the Apple TV+ series HOME
Valerie Menard
CRC Project Director
Valerie Menard is a freelance writer and editor, and the founder of S.A. Esa Enterprises, a freelance writing and editing service. Before that, she worked as an editor for Hispanic magazine, and La Prensa. She is an expert on Latino issues and use promoted stories that addressed the important political and social issues facing Latinos like, environmental justice, immigration, bilingual education, and Affirmative Action.
She has also published multiple books for children on Latino identity and issues and is the founder of the Latinx Children’s Book Project, where she encourages more Latinx children’s book writers to write culturally relevant books.
Her work was recognized by the California Latino Legislative Caucus in 2003 when she received the Latino Spirit Award.
A native of Glendale, California, Ms. Menard was raised in San Antonio, Texas and is a second-generation Mexican American. Valerie attended the University of Texas at Austin where she earned two bachelor’s degrees—one in English and the other in journalism.
Daniel Llanes
Is an East Austin-based Performance Artist and community organizer. You can see him perform in a variety of venues throughout Central Texas (www.earthculturedancer.com).
As a community organizer, he is a member of PODER (People Organized in Defense of Earth and her Resources), Chair of River Bluff Neighborhood Association, Coordinator of Govalle/Johnston Terrace Neighborhood Contact Team and is on the executive committee of the Austin Neighborhoods Council.
Linda Guerrero
Linda Guerrero is a community leader and advocate for equity opportunities for enhancing and increasing parks and open space. Her civic work enables her to shine a light on community struggles with environmental Inequities.
Linda advocate for mitigating and preserving trees, native plants, and animal habitat. She desires an environmental vision that is inclusive and meaningful to equity framework within areas of Austin that are socially and culturally vulnerable.
Linda is president of her own business and serves as the chair of the Austin Environmental Commission and sits on the South Central Waterfront Advisory Board. Linda strives to provide a green lens and a voice for the critical need to build a better natural environment for our community.
Alexia Leclercq
Alexia is an environmental justice researcher and organizer with PODER and instructional resource specialist at EcoRise. They are also the co-founder of Start:Empowerment, an environmental and social justice education project.
​
Alexia graduated Summa Cum Laude from NYU's Gallatin School of Individualized Studies, where they designed a major, titled 'The Politics and Economics of Inequality,' which combined the traditional fields of politics, environmental studies, and economics in order to understand the lasting effects of colonialism and capitalism.