Rev. Lennox Yearwood and Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins

Rev. Lennox Yearwood, Jr., is a minister, community activist, and one of the most influential people in Hip Hop political life. Firmly grounded in his Caribbean and Louisiana roots, Rev. Yearwood is a fierce advocate for human and civil rights in the 21st century. A powerful and fiery orator, Rev. Yearwood works diligently and tirelessly to encourage the Hip Hop generation to utilize its political and social voice.

He currently serves as President of the Hip Hop Caucus in Washington, D.C. The Hip Hop Caucus is a national, nonprofit, nonpartisan, organization that inspires and motivates those born after the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s.

Rev. Yearwood was a co-creator of the 2004 campaign "Vote or Die" with Sean "P Diddy" Combs. He was also the Political and Grassroots Director for Russell Simmons' Hip Hop Summit Action Network, and a Senior Consultant to Jay Z's Voice Your Choice.

Rev. Yearwood was the National Director of the Letelier-Moffitt Human rights Award winning, Gulf Coast Renewal Campaign in which he organized a coalition of national organizations and grassroots organizations to advocate for the rights of Hurricane Katrina survivors. Rev. Yearwood has become an important figure in the peace movement as an outspoken critic of the war in Iraq and the Bush Administration. He was an Officer in the U.S. Air Force Reserve and led the "Make Hip Hop Not War" national bus tour to engage more young people in the movement for peace.

He is currently working with Grammy Award Winning artist T.I. and Platinum Selling artist Keisha Cole on Respect My Vote! which is a non-partisan voter registration, education, and mobilization campaign of the Hip Hop Caucus. This groundbreaking initiative focuses on the 18-29 year old demographic that did not attend college.

Rev. Yearwood, was born in Shreveport, Louisiana. He earned his undergraduate degree from University of the District of Columbia in 1998 and was awarded a Master of Divinity from Howard University in 2002. Rev. Yearwood has been seen on CNN, BET Tonight, XXL magazine, Newsweek, The Nation, MTV, AllHipHop.com, Al Jazeera, Streetz Magazine, BBC, C-Span, and Hardball with Chris Mathews and featured in the Washington Post, The New York Times and VIBE magazine.

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Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins - Chief Executive Officer, Green For All (www.greenforall.org)

Prior to coming to Green For All, Phaedra was head of the South Bay AFL-CIO Labor Council and Working Partnerships USA. While there, she earned her reputation as one of the nation's most brilliant, inspirational and creative problem solvers for working families. She also earned a wealth of experience that will help her lead Green For All to new heights:

* Expanded job opportunities in the realm of green improvements. Working Partnerships USA's efforts to integrate environmental projects included additional training for roofers on solar panel installation, retrofit programs and state policy advocacy.

* Expanded the Living Wage. Phaedra's experience crafting and making the case for policy centered on economic justice will be key in making sure the new green economy benefits everyone

* Launched the Partnership for Working Families. Phaedra co-founded the Partnership for Working Families, a national coalition to bring the principles of good jobs and community benefits to local economic development. This is the sort of national, inclusive scale-building that non-profit organizations need to maximize their always limited resources, while helping to drive a specific agenda more broadly.

* Community Benefits Agreements and Team San Jose. Phaedra led the fight to create one of the first Community Benefits Agreements in the country. That agreement provided community standards for a large-scale economic development project in San Jose. Now she is bringing her innovative thinking about how public investment can assure benefit to workers and the community to make sure the green jobs movement can create real pathways out of poverty and into prosperity.

That is just the beginning of Phaedra's highlight reel. The scope and scale of her many achievements have won her wide praise. San Jose Magazine named her one of the 100 most powerful people in Silicon Valley. The Silicon Valley Business Journal called her one of "40 to watch under 40" by the Silicon Valley Business Journal.

As a woman of color, Phaedra has distinguished herself as an innovative leader in California and led the way for emerging leaders in the American progressive movement, directing campaigns to win policy victories on local, regional, and state levels. She has been featured in the Wall Street Journal online, San Francisco Chronicle, San Jose Mercury News, America at Work, NBC News and ABC News.

An alumna of American Leadership Forum, she has served on the boards of the Progressive Technology Project, New World Foundation, the Women's Fund of Silicon Valley, the City of San Jose General Plan Update Task Force and the Central Labor Council Advisory Committee. She serves on the board of the Leadership Council of California Forward and is Chair and Co-Founder of the Partnership for Working Families.