A group of young people, mostly women, gathered outside on a sidewalk, holding notebooks and clipboards, listening attentively during a community event or tour.
A text flower icon with two leaves and a green circular background.

About Me

I’m a climate adaptation and community engagement practitioner with 10 years of experience. My work spans community organizing, climate adaptation, and public-sector systems.

I’m rooted in environmental justice organizing, which I’ve been involved in since I was a student, and is shaped by years of hands-on experience supporting frontline communities to plan, engage, and implement their own climate solutions.

In order to shape climate strategies grounded in lived experience, cultural knowledge, and collective power, I focus on supporting:

  • Frontline communities

  • Youth leaders

  • Local partners

I was born in Sacramento, California, with family roots in both Sacramento and Dallas, Texas. As a military kid, I grew up between Tucson, Arizona and Okinawa, Japan. These experiences that shaped my early awareness of global power dynamics, U.S. militarization, and the ways empire impacts people, culture, and the environment. Moving across places and communities deepened my curiosity about identity, land, and the systems that shape our lives.

As a first-generation college student at The University of Texas at Austin, I quickly recognized how lower-income students navigated predominantly white institutional spaces with limited access to mentorship and opportunity, especially in STEM fields. While studying Environmental Science, I saw that sustainability conversations often ignored environmental justice and the racial history of land development in Austin. In response, I founded and led the first initiative to incorporate an environmental justice and equity framework into the Campus Environmental Center, creating space for critical dialogue, organizing, and accountability within a university-sponsored space. My work expanded beyond campus through organizing on Austin’s East Side with PODER and other grassroots groups addressing gentrification, environmental racism, and displacement. Through housing and land-use struggles, I deepened my commitment to community power and collective action, work that eventually led me to organize with Community Powered ATX. Across my journey, I remain grounded in relationship-building, curiosity, and a belief that justice must be rooted in place, culture, and lived experience.

People at a workshop presenting maps and discussion points on a wall with a group seated at tables with food and drinks.

Research & Publications

  • Community-Centered Regional Resilience Collaboration, Southern Climate Impacts Planning Program (SCIPP)
    Research Dates: 2024–2025
    Investigators: Cassandra Jean, Celine Rendon, Sascha Petersen
    Affiliate Organization: Adaptation International
    View the research overview

  • Narrative Case Studies: Building Resilience in South Texas
    Southern Climate Impacts Planning Program (SCIPP)
    Read the Annual Report 2024–2025

  • SCIPP Hosts Shreveport Disaster Resilience Community Network Workshop
    October 27, 2025
    Read the post

  • Wisdom of the Past, Power for the Future: Centering Local Traditions in Community Organizing to Co-Develop Climate Adaptation Practice
    Weather, Climate, and Society
    November 2025, Vol. 17(4): 849–864 DOI: 10.1175/WCAS-D-24-0133.1

  • Path Toward Community Resilience: Examining Stakeholders’ Coordination at the Intersection of Built, Natural, and Social Systems
    Sustainable Cities and Society, Volume 68,
    May 2021, Article 102774

  • Contributing to the Legacy of Austin’s Racism in Land Development Planning
    People Organized in Defense of Earth and Her Resources (PODER)
    January 2018
    Read the report 

Press & Media (Referenced or Quoted)

Conference Sessions, Panels & Webinars

  • SCIPP Leads 2024 South Central Climate Resilience Forum, Youth Engagement and Climate Justice Workshop
    April 2024
    Cassandra Jean (Adaptation International, SCIPP), Celine Rendon (Adaptation International, SCIPP), Alexia Leclercq (Start: Empowerment), Jasmine Butler (Start: Empowerment)
    View the event page

  • 9th Annual Peace & Conflict Studies Symposium — ACC Center for Peace & Conflict Studies
    May 10, 2023
    Watch the panel

  • TRACS Virtual Student Summit 2022 — Career Panel
    April 18, 2022
    Panelists included faculty and practitioners from UT Austin, EcoRise, Texas Campaign for the Environment, and Southwestern University
    View the event page

  • Linking Equity, Research, and Implementation — Climate Planning in Austin Panel Discussion
    February 2022
    Watch the panel

  • Planet Texas 2050: Resilience Roundtable
    January 19, 2022
    View it

My work prioritizes community leadership, participatory research, and storytelling to support climate resilience planning, implementation, and long-term investment across the Gulf South and beyond.

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Featured Projects

Featured
South San Heat Resilience
South San Heat Resilience

Community-Led Extreme Heat Adaptation & Neighborhood Cooling

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Community Change Grant Technical Assistance
Community Change Grant Technical Assistance

Climate Resilience Planning & Community Engagement

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South Central Climate Resilience Catalyst (SCIPP)
South Central Climate Resilience Catalyst (SCIPP)

Regional Community-Led Climate Resilience & Adaptation in South Texas and Northern Louisiana

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View All Featured Projects