Kimberly Hill Knott After spending over a decade working under the leadership of Congressman John Conyers (Ranking Member, House Judiciary Committee), as a Legislative Assistant, Kimberly furthered her interest in the political arena by joining the staff of Detroiters Working for Environmental Justice (DWEJ), as Policy Director. DWEJ is an award winning social enterprise, dedicated to Detroit becoming the global model of a vibrant urban center, with an emphasis on promoting sustainable redevelopment and environmental justice.
During her tenure at DWEJ, she has convened strategic high level meetings with elected officials, government representatives, academic, non-profit and business leaders to address a variety of environmental and workforce development issues. In particular, her leadership has forwarded an increased interest from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in addressing the historically high concentration of pollution in vulnerable communities, known as cumulative impact. Positioning Detroit as a sustainable world leader, she spearheaded the Detroit Climate Action Collaborative, which is currently developing the city of Detroit’s Climate Action Plan.
As a national and global leader, in 2009, she attended COP15 (Conference of the Parties of the United Nations) international climate change conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, where she facilitated a meeting between the White House, EPA, and U.S. environmental justice delegates, to discuss the importance of passing a binding agreement that protects low-income and minority communities from the adverse impacts of climate change.
In 2013, she was nominated and selected for the White House Champions of Change Award for Community Resilient Leaders. This was an extremely competitive process and only 12 people throughout the country were selected. The White House award was for leaders who are actively involved in addressing climate change and sustainability issues in their respective communities. In May 2013, she was one of 100 women invited to participate in the White House Women’s Summit on Climate and Energy, and is leading the Climate Conversations initiative.
Kimberly has received several invitations to speak at conferences and before state and federal regulatory agencies on topics ranging from the Clean Air Act and its impact on low-income and minority communities to how urban centers prepare for climate change. Some of her most notable speaking invitations include: The World Bank (Washington, DC); Annual Legislative Congressional Black Caucus discussion on Climate Justice (Washington, DC); Center for American Progress Midwest Resilience Cities Summit: Building Equity in Climate Change (Cleveland, OH); Center for Climate and Energy Solutions (C2ES) City-Business Collaboration on Climate Change Resilience Planning in the Kansas City Region (Kansas City, KS); National Adaptation Forum (Denver, Colorado & St. Louis, Missouri); EPA Clean Air Act Rule Making and Permit Training (Research Park, South Carolina); Congressional Black Caucus Legislative Briefing-Family Economic Success Forum ((Washington, DC), and others. Additionally, she has published scholarship on post legacy cities and climate change and has been featured in several articles.
Recently, she was invited by The Kresge Foundation and the University of Notre Dame to serve as an Adaptation Assessment Advisor, which will create a reference set of national measures for urban adaptation. In Spring 2014, Kimberly received a full scholarship to attend Harvard University’s Executive Education Training—Women and Power: Leadership in a New World. She has a bachelor’s in education from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and a master’s in educational administration from Temple University in Philadelphia.
Additionally, Kimberly is the President of Future Insight Consulting, LLC, which focuses on government relations, working with issue experts to develop legislative policy briefs and coalition building with diverse audiences around a variety of issues.
She is married to Dr. Cedric Knott and a resident and active community member in Detroit, MI, for over 18 years.
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