Episode 031 - Dr. Emily Young is leading environmental leadership programs in San Diego

Dr. Emily Young is the executive director of The Nonprofit Institute. She has spent more than 20 years in various positions in philanthropy, as well as higher education. Prior to the University of San Diego, she served as vice president of community impact at The San Diego Foundation, where she was first hired to build its Environment Program in 2000. During her time at The San Diego Foundation, Dr. Young worked with numerous funders and community leaders to catalyze and facilitate regional and statewide collaboratives, developing and implementing grant-making programs around climate change, conservation and youth access to the outdoors, and clean air/water efforts in tribal and other disadvantaged communities. She also managed regional initiatives on arts and culture, civic engagement, education and youth development, and neighborhood revitalization, especially for underrepresented communities. Dr. Young received the 2011 Funder’s Network for Smart Growth Nicholas P. Bollman Award for leaders who inspire through values and action, while the Climate Initiative she led received both the 2012 HUD Secretary’s Award for Public-Private Partnerships and the City of San Diego’s Climate Protection Champion Award. Prior to The San Diego Foundation, Emily was an assistant professor at the University of Arizona, where she taught courses on environment and society, geography, and Latin America. Dr. Young graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a double BA in Ibero-American Studies and Spanish, and a MS in geography. She received a PhD in geography from the University of Texas at Austin.