Water Matters Speakers

Tom Miner

Tom Miner

Tom Miner has just retired after serving as executive director of the Connecticut River Watershed Council (CRWC). Over the past 27 years, he has directed environmental citizens groups in New York State and New England. Prior to joining the Watershed Council in 1992, Tom directed the Catskill Center for Conservation and Development (1977-1989), a regional citizens group serving the Catskill region of New York, and the statewide Vermont Natural Resources Council (1989 -1990). Tom holds a Bachelor’s degree in Art History, with honors, from Princeton University and a Masters degree in Urban and Environmental Studies from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. CRWC is the principal citizen group dedicated to protecting the entire Connecticut River and its four-state watershed. Founded in 1952, it has a small professional staff and volunteer Board of Trustees which pursue a diverse program of environmental advocacy and education, land conservancy, and watchdog oversight to protect New England’s largest river ecosystem.

Daniel Ross

Daniel Ross is the executive director of Nuestras Raíces, a grass-roots organization to promote sustainable development in Holyoke, Massachusetts. Under his leadership, the organization has developed an extensive network of community gardens, a youth gardening program, a series of educational workshops and fieldtrips, an environmental justice program, a new farmer training program and constructed the Centro Agrícola community agricultural center for community education and business development. Ross earned many awards for his work in the community, including the Do Something Brick Award for Community Leadership in 1999, and an Environmental Recognition from the City of Holyoke Conservation Commission in 2001. Ross is on the board of directors of the Holyoke Public Library, Chair of the Development Committee of the Holyoke Youth Task Force, founding member of the Holyoke Food Policy Council, Board Member of the New England Grassroots Environment Fund, and a member of the Massachusetts Environmental Justice Advisory Committee.

Hilda Colon

Hilda Colon is the organizing director for Nuestras Raíces and
oversees community organizing, outreach and leadership development. Colon has developed a gardening program for girls with women gardeners as mentors, developed women’s leadership and entrepreneurship groups, worked on environmental justice campaigns and has served as interim director of the organization. Colon's work contributed to a two-hundred percent rise in voter registration and participation in Holyoke’s Latino community during the 2004 Presidential Election. Colon has served on the Board of Directors of the Valley Opportunity Council for two years.

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