Majora Carter

While the term "green-collar jobs" gains more press and pundits daily, very few people have actually marshaled the resources to get unemployed Americans trained and placed in this growing economic sector. Majora Carter has. Born, raised, and continuing to live in the South Bronx, her career has taken her around the world in pursuit of resources and ideas to improve the quality of life in environmentally challenged communities. She founded Sustainable South Bronx in September, 2001 and by 2003 had implemented the highly successful Bronx Environmental Stewardship Training (BEST) program -- a pioneering green-collar job training and placement system -- seeding communities with a skilled workforce that has both a personal & economic stake in their urban environment.

Her vision, drive, and tenacity earned her a MacArthur "Genius" Grant. She started 2007 as one of Newsweek's "25 To Watch", ended the year as one of Essence Magazine's "25 most Influential African Americans", named one of the "50 most influential women in NYC" by the NY Post for the past two years, and "NYC's most influential environmentalist" by the BBC World Service, a board member of the Wilderness Society, and recorded a special national public radio series called "The Promised Land" which was released in 2008.