Whitnye Long Jones
Whitnye Long Jones
Whitnye Long Jones was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and grew up in Cleveland, Ohio. Jones has had many community-based positions, with organizations such as AmeriCorps, the YMCA of Greater Cleveland, and Case Western Reserve University. Jones is the Founder and Executive Director of Organic Connects, Inc., a company reconnecting people to nature and preparing the next generation of environmental leaders. Along with being an entrepreneur, Jones currently works at Ohio City Incorporated, where she is the Director of Community Engagement.
While in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Whitnye Long Jones loved playing outside. When she was younger, she was able to visit family around the state and appreciated the tall grass and fields. Jones states that “playing outside was everything” (Survey, 2024). When she was an older youth, her family moved to Cleveland for her dad’s career, where there was more access to nature with landmarks such as Lake Erie, the Cuyahoga River, and the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. In her twenties, Long Jones lived in Providence, Rhode Island, close to the Atlantic Ocean, for five years. Between these places, Long Jones experienced the water in different ways. Due to these experiences, Long Jones has dedicated her life to building relationships with those who want healthy relationships with the outdoors.
Long Jones has a fine arts background and worked in the hospitality management field in her early career. In the hospitality industry, she learned how to connect with individuals on a personal level. With her fine arts background, Long Jones states she can “…look at life creatively.” This creative mindset “allows me to have a solution-oriented view to problems in a system that intentionally places barriers,” such as access to the outdoors (Survey, 2024).
Long Jones began her career in 2009 as a member of AmeriCorps, where she was placed at the JumpStart Youth Literacy Program implemented by the University of Rhode Island and the Providence YMCA. In 2012, Long Jones founded Aesthetics Squared, a creative justice and strategic engagement firm. After completing a one-year term with AmeriCorps, Long Jones worked as a restaurant manager from 2013 to 2016 before returning to AmeriCorps again. Within her second term at AmeriCorps, Long Jones worked with the YMCA of Greater Cleveland.
Long Jones continued to work on youth initiatives at the Summer Health Academic Enrichment Program at Case Western Reserve University from 2016 to 2017. In this role, she engaged Lorain High School students on topics relating to STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math). From 2015 to 2017, Long Jones also worked for the YMCA of Greater Cleveland as the Let’s Move! Outside Community Coordinator for Northeast Ohio.
In 2017, Long Jones founded Organic Connects, Inc., a nonprofit created to address social barriers and acknowledge the cultural history of Black and Brown people in the outdoors. Organic Connects, Inc. is the legacy of Let’s Move! Outside, a Michelle Obama initiative in partnership with the Department of the Interior. The company addresses the needs of Black and Brown youth and families to remember their role in the environmental movement. Long Jones states, “everyone is engaged in the outdoors in one way or another” (Survey, 2024). Organic Connects, Inc. focuses on the history of our connection to nature and Indigenous history (e.g., kayaking and lacrosse). Long Jones states, “If people can see their reflection in history, they might feel more inclined to participate” (Survey, 2024). She believes nature can relieve stress for communities such as those living in toxic surroundings and impoverished communities.
Since 2017, Long Jones has worked at Ohio City Incorporated, a Community Development Corporation in the Ohio City neighborhood of Cleveland, where she is the Director of Community Engagement. She strives to (1) create platforms that elevate underrepresented voices in larger development projects and planning processes, (2) empower residents to advocate against environmental injustices, and (3) develop and implement equitable and sustainable programs that build community within the organization and alongside community stakeholders. Long Jones emphasizes that Ohio City has so much diversity and hopes to benefit the community and all the diverse needs as much as possible. As a current priority, Long Jones is working with local institutions, the City of Cleveland, and Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority residents to combat poor air quality from industrial particulate matter and freeway fuel emissions.
Long Jones credits her success to those who have supported her throughout her journey. Specifically, Long Jones thanked her husband, her father, and mentors along the way.
Long Jones’s husband, Jefferson Jones, is the Operations Director for Organic Connects and a social entrepreneur who stands by his beliefs. Long Jones’s father, Cal Long, was in the athletic and education fields for more than 40 years as a sports coach, basketball referee, and Athletic Director for the Cleveland Metropolitan School District, and greatly inspired his daughter to connect with others and build meaningful relationships in her career and general life. Long Jones thanks mentors such as Dr. Terri Wade-Lyles (Cleveland Metropolitan School District) and Shauna Sanders (Malachi Center), who have provided leadership examples and support and have helped her understand the importance of nature-based programming.
Long Jones emphasizes the importance of mentoring through Organic Connects, Inc. Long Jones quotes the African proverb and states, “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” Organic Connects, Inc. also provides mentoring opportunities such as youth internships, where the focus is to support the youth’s vision and let them choose what they want to do, as one can become an expert in any area and still work in the environmental sector. Long Jones and Organic Connects, Inc. provides mutual respect in mentoring children, learning from them as they go.
Long Jones’s advice for young professionals is “[you] might be focusing on a specific industry, but you should stay open-minded. Keep your mind and heart open because you might not realize your passion and purpose until you take a chance” (Survey, 2024).
Organic Connects, Inc. (2021). Organic Connects, Inc. Organic Connects, Inc. https://organicconnects.org/about-us
Survey and interviews conducted by Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Sustainability Initiative staff. 2022-2024. Yale University-School of the Environment. New Haven, Connecticut.
Whitnye Long Jones. (2023). Linkedin.com. https://www.linkedin.com/in/whitnye-long-jones-42a89357/details/experience/
Hattie Kotz, 2017