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1 8 MAY 2022 | DU
AtlantalntownPaper.com
SUSTAINABILITY Recycling • Resources • Lifestyle
The next generation
of green leaders
By Amy Wenk
Atlanta Intown is proud to recognize a group ofgoung professionals who are working on critical environmental issues, from cleaning up water to improv
ing communitg greenspaces. While some on this list have local ties, we decided to broaden our scope and highlight people making an impact across metro At
lanta.
Rachel Maher, 36
Director of communications
and policy, Park Pride
Rachel Maher has spent nine years at Park Pride,
a nonprofit that helps communities improve their
parks.
She was just named director of communications
and policy, in part due to her efforts with the
Greenspace Advisory Council, which will help guide
Atlanta’s policy on parks and greenspace.
It’s an effort that began back in 2017, Maher said.
Park Pride brought together 13 nonprofits aimed at
making greenspace a critical issue to the mayoral campaign.
The group came back together for the 2021 mayoral election, putting together a
list of collective priorities for the candidates.
About a month after Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens took office, he announced
those 13 nonprofits would form a “green cabinet,” becoming his trusted advisors on
parks, greenspace and recreation. The groups include the Chattahoochee Riverkeeper,
Atlanta BeltLine Partnership, Trees Atlanta, West Atlanta Watershed Alliance and Eco-
Action, among others.
Michael Halicki, executive director of Park Pride, called Maher the glue that held
the group together, crediting her for coordinating with the 13 nonprofits and keeping
the effort going.
Maher said she’s excited for what they can accomplish. They are already meeting
on Activate ATL, the city’s 10-year master plan for parks and recreation.
“I am very hopeful,” Maher said. “There hasn’t been a time in my last nine years at
Park Pride where this many nonprofits have come together for a shared purpose.”
Maher is a native of Buffalo, New York, and grew up on Lake Erie. “Being in
nature was always front and center,” she said.
Maher double majored in communications and biology at the University of
Richmond.
After college, she spent time in Morocco as an environmental and community
development volunteer with the Peace Corps.
Outside of work, Maher is an avid gardener, and her home garden in Edgewood is
certified as a wildlife sanctuary through Georgia Audubon.
She’s currently in a graduate program at Georgia State University, studying urban
planning and economic development.
Brionte McCorkle, 29
Executive director, Georgia Conservation Voters
Brionte McCorkle is on a mission to tackle both
environmental and social justice issues.
Early in her career, she was really struck by the lack of
diversity in the field.
“Some of the strongest and most passionate people who care
the most about the environment are people of color, who are
largely excluded,” said McCorkle, who studied public policy at
Georgia State University. “That narrows our thinking. It stunts
the solutions that we’re coming up with and promoting, because
we don’t have all that perspective.”
McCorkle currently serves as executive director of the Georgia Conservation Voters, where
she is working to elect pro-environment candidates and hold elected officials accountable. The
organization also educates voters and lobbies for environmental and social justice issues.
One of her proudest accomplishments is raising awareness about the Public Service
Commission and clean energy issues across the state.
Among her efforts, McCorkle is a plaintiff in a lawsuit that challenges how Georgia elects its
utility regulators, claiming the Public Service Commission’s statewide at-large districts dilute the
voting power of Black residents. It’s set for a hearing in federal court in June.
“We spent a lot of time working on that voting rights lawsuit to try to secure more
representation on the Public Service Commission, which we hope will lead to more clean energy,”
she said.
McCorkle’s impressive resume includes past roles with the Atlanta Regional Commission
and Southface Institute. She also previously served as assistant director for the Sierra Club
Georgia Chapter, where she led its involvement in the successful effort to expand MARTA to
Clayton County. McCorkle said she learned a valuable lesson from that experience — how to best
approach communities about environmental issues.
“When you connect it with their immediate concerns, which are usually economic in nature,
they will be more receptive to the environmental message,” she said.
She also ran for Atlanta City Council District 11 in 2017, almost making it to the runoff by a
difference of 166 votes.
“I was just overwhelmed by the amount of support,” she said, noting she’s open to running
for office in the future. “It really taught me that every relationship matters.”
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