Naomi Davis
Naomi Davis
Naomi Davis is an experienced environmental justice advocate dedicated to improving economic opportunities for Black communities. Her career has spanned from government to theater before her investigation into the disintegration and investments in Black communities led her to found Blacks in Green in Woodlawn Chicago. She has over 25 years of expertise in advocacy, leadership, and managing development strategies. Davis is the Founder and CEO of Blacks in Green. She is also the Green Executive Officer at The Green Living Room. She graduated from Fisk University with a Bachelor of Arts in Speech and Drama & English. She later obtained a Juris Doctor from the University of Illinois Chicago - School of Law.
Davis, who grew up in the 1960s, was born and raised in St. Albans, New York. She has pulled much inspiration for her journey from her grandparents, who were Mississippian sharecroppers. Davis grew up in an “Afrocentric” household. Her mother grew up in the rural south and was trained in sewing. Growing up in the 60s during the Great Migration instilled in Davis values of justice, community, and economics. She learned about social justice, economic justice, and boycotts from studying Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
Davis attended high school at Woodmere Academy County Day School. She graduated from Fisk University with a Bachelor of Arts in Speech and Drama & English. She obtained a Juris Doctor from the University of Illinois Chicago - School of Law in 1975. She has garnered several certifications, including LEED Green, Turner Construction Management, NCCER Maritime, GPRO Fundamentals & Construction Management, and Marine & Coastal Planning.
Davis has worked in several industries, including retail, politics, theatre, and government. In 1998, Davis worked for the League of Chicago Theatres as Manager of Membership for Advertising, Marketing, & Business Partnerships with League of Chicago Theatres in 1998. In 2001, she founded Daughter’s Trust/ The Village Builders based in Southside Chicago, focusing on providing advisory consultancy that supported environmental, economic development, and social impact initiatives. Davis was interested in learning why Black communities fell apart.
In 2007, she dissolved Daughter’s Trust to found Blacks in Green (BIG) in West Woodlawn, Chicago, to address poverty and blight within the Black community through a whole systems solutions approach. BIG has grown into a national network dedicated to closing the racial health and wealth gaps with environmental justice and economic development. BIG works to transform Black communities by reducing pollution and poverty and focusing on rebuilding Black communities grounded on green economies. BIG is working on developing a “green village” in Woodlawn through BIG’s Sustainable Square Mile Initiative—the initiative to eventually create a sustainable community powered by a renewable power microgrid.
Davis is incredibly active in her community and dedicated to building relationships and collaborations. In 2009, Davis joined the Chicago Environmental Justice Network as a Board Member. In 2011, Davis became a board member of Bronzeville Community Development Partnership. In 2014, she joined the Great Lakes Advisory Board; in 2015, she joined the Illinois Clean Jobs Coalition and the Imani Village Planned Urban Development. In 2016, she became a member of the Woodlawn Chamber of Commerce Board. In 2017, she became a Chicagoland Owners Land Trust board member of the Emerald South Economic Development Collaborative.
In 2019, while still CEO of BIG, she also became CEO of The Green Living Room. In 2023, Davis received a $10 million award from the Biden Administration to fund environmental justice projects in the Midwest. Davis’s work is also grounded in the principle of GRannynomics, which Davis describes as having a trade by the age of ten. Her work at BIG with the Sustainable Square Mile seeks to connect communities with walkable villages and neighborhoods to increase economic opportunities for Black communities.
Naomi Davis. n.d. Home [https://www.linkedin.com/in/naomi-davis-019bb35/]. LinkedIn. Retrieved October 7, 2023 from https://www.linkedin.com/in/naomi-davis-019bb35/.
Survey and interviews conducted by Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Sustainability Initiative staff. 2022-2023. Yale University-School of the Environment. New Haven, Connecticut.
Chase, Brett and Campa, Aydali. June 16, 2023. In Woodlawn, Naomi Davis planted a seed that now will help find green solutions to help Black communities. https://chicago.suntimes.com/2023/6/16/23760258/naomi-davis-woodlawn-environmental-justice-social-blacks-in-green
Center For New Economics. N.d. https://centerforneweconomics.org/people/naomi-davis/