Kenya L. Goodson, Ph.D.
Dr. Kenya L. Goodson is the Climate and Sustainability Coordinator for Hometown Action/Hometown Organizing Project. Dr. Goodson was the first Black woman to earn her Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Alabama. As an environmentalist, she is committed to environmental protection and climate resilience for Black, Brown, Indigenous, and rural communities. She has experience in wastewater management, stormwater quality, and environmental regulation. Her community work started in the rural community of Tuscaloosa County where she saw environmental disparities and poverty in Tuscaloosa that inspired her to develop solutions.
She serves as Vice-President of Black Warrior Riverkeeper having volunteered with its Advisory Council and Board of Directors for five years. She is also a Board member for Conservation Alabama. She taught and mentored students in Stillman College’s Upward Bound program for first-generation college students and as a faculty member at Stillman College and the University of Montevallo. During her tenure at Montevallo, she became a Board member for the Cahaba River Society, often bringing their expertise into her classroom. She is now the acting Secretary and Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion co-chair of Cahaba River Society. Since 2016, she has organized around voter registration and education, electoral campaigns, and climate change. Her work with Hometown Organizing Project is to organize Alabama around climate resilience and community protection for the sustainability of rural communities in Alabama.
