Associate dean of CAUSES attends roundtable hosted by White House Council on Environmental Quality

Left photo, center of table: CAUSES Associate Dean Dr. Ricardo Brown, CEQ Chair Brenda Mallory and Second Gentleman Douglass Emhoff with local leaders at the roundtable discussion on September 23. Right photo: Dr. Stella Ayika, Second Gentleman Douglass Emhoff and Nursing Program student Natasha Thomas-Brooks. Photo credits: White House staff.

Dr. Ricardo Brown, associate dean at the College of Agriculture, Urban Sustainability, and Environmental Sciences (CAUSES) joined Second Gentleman Douglass Emhoff, White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) Chair Brenda Mallory and other local leaders for the Nature in Communities roundtable discussion on Friday, September 23.

The event was held at the Benning Stoddert Community Center in Ward 7 and is part of the American the Beautiful Project. It celebrated the collaborative efforts of federal and local organizations to increase access to parks and green and blue spaces in communities that need it most and helped kick off National Public Lands Day.

Before the event, UDC faculty member Dr. Stella Ayika and a student nurse from the UDC Nursing Program, Natasha Thomas-Brooks, helped administer COVID-19 tests to all the attendees.

The discussion concluded with a tree planting event.