Van Jones

short description for the scroller
Short Description: 

Van started the Bay Area Police Watch

Winner/Finalist Info
Twitter Handle : 
vanjones68
Finalist or Winner: 
Grand Prize Winner
State: 
CA
Describe what this winner does/did: 
Van Jones launched the hotline, Bay Area Police Watch in 1995, under the auspices of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights. With quick expansion, The Ella Baker Center opened in 1996, and has led critical fights to reform the California Youth Authority, advocate for victims of police brutality and abuse, and launched a pioneering campaign to end inner city violence. Driven by the passion to heal society by transforming it, their mission is to document, challenge and expose human rights abuses.

Van Jones later went on to found Green For All, a U.S. organization that promotes green-collar jobs and opportunities for the disadvantaged. He is the current Special Advisor for Green Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation at the White House Council on Environmental Quality, for the Obama administration. He is also a TIME Magazine 2008 Environmental Hero, one of Fast Company's 12 Most Creative Minds of 2008, and the New York Times Bestselling author of The Green Collar Economy: How One Solution Can Solve Our Two Biggest Problems (Harper One 2008), which is endorsed by Nancy Pelosi, Tom Daschle and Al Gore.

Year in which award/grant was awarded: 
1996