We are nominating Crystal Johnson as Brookline Woman of the Year 2024 because as a volunteer she provided many critical and creative thinking programs for Brookline youth that have wonderfully impacted many Brookline families.  Specifically, she has engaged, empowered, and created educational and fun forums for Brookline youth, as well as Brookline residents and business owners, for many years. Details are below:

Annual Brookline Youth Climate Adaptation Challenge
As a single-parent very active at Pierce School, Crystal launched (with her son, Aspen) and managed the annual Brookline Youth Climate Adaptation Challenge (Challenge) for four years (2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019). The 5th annual Challenge was being planned when COVID occurred but was cancelled. The Challenge was a town-wide eco-science and eco-art fair held at Pierce School. Crystal values engaging youth to think about climate action and their ideas for solutions. Initially, a Vice Principal rejected the request to host the Challenge. Crystal advocated for students to be given an opportunity to think “Big” regarding their unique ideas to address the climate crisis. She went to Town Hall and found ample support for a town-wide youth event. The Town Department of Public Health sponsored the event because they recognized that environmental issues are public health issues.

Each annual event had a unique theme to ensure that students would continue to participate and be challenged. She heavily promoted the event by engaging all science teachers at each Brookline public school as well as private and independent schools in Brookline. At the premier Challenge, about 100 students participated and over 50% were diverse students. To ensure that diversity was represented, Crystal met with METCO and other diverse networks to promote the event and encourage diverse students to bring their ideas to the event. One parent of a high school METCO school student introduced themselves to Crystal at the premier event. He said that he wanted to meet the person who inspired his daughter to work on a school project and made her excited to get up early on a Saturday for the event.

Crystal enlisted retired teachers, local elders, professors, eco groups, State legislators, and others to serve as Challenge “judges”. Judges were instructed to empower all youth participants and to complete score cards that she designed so that the students could have a written record of many encouraging comments that they could always keep. She knew that this was key to encouraging them to excel for years to come – they needed empowering words that they could always look to if they felt discouraged. She was also very sensitive to the needs of high school students to have documents for college applications, so Crystal created certificates that identified each participant as a “Climate Adaptation Scientist”. Each participant received one at the Challenge closing ceremony. Also, key high school students were awarded Citations from the MA Senate Committee on Global Warming and Climate Change. This resulted in most high school students earning two awards to assist them with college applications.

To complement the certificates and Citations, Crystal also secured gift certificates from local businesses which were also given as awards. At the Challenges, she asked that the families would thank those local store owners for their support. It worked. She was told by business owners, such as Village Fare Pizza, that people came in, thanked them, and ordered pizza.

Crystal started the Challenges to get Brookline youth to take action regarding the climate situation. She knew that youth were very concerned and felt overwhelmed by it. With the Challenges, she provided Brookline youth with opportunities to creatively express themselves.  By encouraging Brookline youth to find their voices and share them, she empowered 100s of Brookline youth over the years to be active citizens whose ideas matter.

The Gaia Report Local Cable Show
Crystal also started the local cable show, The Gaia Report, at Brookline Interactive Group with her young son. The Gaia Report was an inspirational environmental news show that ran for four years. It served as a forum to have students from the Challenge on to further discuss their projects and ideas. For four years, she created a new show monthly and it aired weekly on the local cable channel. Guests also included local active citizens, girl scouts, high school eco club students, local business owners and others. The Gaia Report provided many educational segments, such as how to have a sustainable birthday party and why cleaning one’s home with toxin-free products was important. Crystal leveraged The Gaia Report to educate and inform Brookline residents regarding a wide variety of environmental issues and how they could contribute to sustainable solutions. She understood it was important to inform people about the climate situation but in a manner that was hopeful, enjoyable and impactful. 

The Gaia Report ran for four years (2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019) until COVID occurred.

Youth Science Initiative at MIT Media Lab
In 2016, Crystal also partnered with a contact at the MIT Media Lab. She voluntarily planned, promoted, and managed a Youth Science Initiative. It was a free monthly STEM educational program that ran during the school year on Saturdays from 10am – 3pm. She focused on bringing together a range of students, mostly diverse. She always invited Brookline students. Several Brookline students participated for all four years of the program which opened them up to the opportunity to learn at MIT Media Lab about biohacking, underwater ocean robots, astronomy, and more. With this program she exposed Brookline and other youth to the brilliant world of MIT Media Lab. She brought them into their labs to demystify advanced STEM concepts and empowered youth, especially diverse youth, to believe in their ideas. As a workforce development model, Crystal designed the Youth Science Initiative to inspire youth, particularly diverse youth, into careers focused on sustainable solutions. The Youth Science Initiative ran for four years (2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019) until COVID occurred.

Based on the above, Crystal has contributed immensely to not only educating Brookline youth regarding climate concerns but to empowering and supporting them to think creatively and critically about their ideas, their voice and sustainable solutions. She contributed to inspiring the next generation to advance climate awareness and action.

Bio

Crystal Johnson is an astute Senior Environmental Planner, Energy Strategist, and Sustainability Specialist with more than twenty-five years of accomplishments in strategic planning, management, policy, research, and assessment of energy (energy equity, clean energy workforce development, energy efficiency/electrification, energy management, renewables, and emissions inventory), environmental resources (water/wastewater, air, natural resources, food systems, hazardous materials, and other), and sustainability (planning and operations of buildings and best practices for the human element). She leverages her experience and expertise for climate action and focuses on environmental justice and equity. She graduated from the University of California at Berkeley.
Crystal has ample strategic leadership experience in planning, implementing, and managing progressive energy, environmental, and sustainability impact programs that are integrative and comprehensive.

She has earned the following awards and recognitions:

• Appointed by former MA Governor Baker to the Energy Facilities Siting Board
• ACEEE Summer Study Paper - Shaping the Future of Equity in Energy Efficiency
• Sustainability and Energy Strategist Award, United Indigenous Peoples of the World, United Nations
• Boston Business Journal Emerging Leader – Sustainability
  YWCA Academy of Women Achievers
• Boston Exhale Magazine Cover Model/Story - Environmental Leadership

Highlights of Crystal’s experience and expertise include the following:

• Serves as the EEA Assistant Secretary of Environmental Justice.
• Provided policy and technical advising, as well as program design and management to Energy Efficiency Advisory Councils in Massachusetts, Delaware, and Connecticut, particularly regarding equity and environmental justice communities.
• Served as a Sustainability Mentor to NECEC CleanTech Open Northeast start-up teams for two annual programs.
• Served as an Energy Strategy consultant to Eversource focused on environmental justice and energy equity. Focused on developing new channels of LMI customer engagement, an energy efficiency/clean tech industry workforce pipeline, and a robust DEIJ and supplier diversity plan. Developed a new methodology for identifying moderate income neighborhoods in Boston and other urban areas other than utilizing state median income.
• Helped educational institutions navigate the organizational, operational, and infrastructure changes required to reach climate neutrality. Presented a session on Community Engagement Pathways for Cultivating University / Community Collaboration to Advance Energy Equity / Environmental Justice at AASHE's Annual Global Conference on Sustainability in Higher Education, November 2022.
• Served as a Sustainability Strategist to the MA Department of Transportation focusing on the following projects:
  • Planned and managed the procurement process of a first-in-the-nation public agency 10megawatt solar PV energy program on multiple sites along the Mass Pike.
  • Managed and monitored operational compliance review.
• Contracted as the Sustainable Economy Strategist for the U.S. EPA Office of the Administrator to develop an Environmental Legacy and Sustainable Economy Imperative Strategic Plan for the Former U.S. EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson.
• Served as the Sustainability/Senior Environmental Planner and Strategist to United Indigenous Peoples of the World (UIPTW), United Nations. Co-developed and co- chaired panel for an UNDRIP Resolution Outcome.
• Developed the Ocean 2030 Climate Restoration Strategic Action Plan. Included in the United Nations 2018 Nature-based Solutions Climate Meetings.
• Developed the well-received annual MA Sustainable Economy Conference (SEC) to build bridges across MA’s multi-sectors to cultivate a sustainable economy (2010-2014). Also developed the MA Annual Urban Farming Conferences (now managed by UFI) and the MA Annual Youth Environmental Forum.
• Developed The Gaia Report YouTube Show and the annual Brookline Youth Climate Adaptation Challenges (2016-2019).
• Served as the Senior Environmental Planner at NYCDEP for high profile projects, including 7 of the 14 NYCDEP wastewater treatment plants. Provided project management and monitoring of all technical issues and their resolution.

Crystal currently serves at the Assistant Secretary of Environmental Justice.