Keeping it Fresh (Energy): Insights from Krusell Fellow Linda Lubi

Keeping it Fresh (Energy): Insights from Krusell Fellow Linda Lubi

A Lifelong Interest in Environmental Justice

Linda Lubi is a long-time Gopher with a lifelong interest in environmental work. She first came to the University of Minnesota as an undergraduate, graduating with a BA Urban Studies and Sociology in December 2022. With early seeds planted around green infrastructure and environmentally-conscious urban design as an undergrad, her interest in environmental work continued to blossom as time progressed.

Fast forward to September 2024, which marked Linda’s return to campus—this time as both a Master’s student of Urban and Regional Planning and as a Charles R. Krusell Fellow with CURA. Each year, CURA selects one student (from either the Master of Public Policy or Master of Urban and Regional Planning programs) as Krusell Fellow, to honor Charles Krusell’s legacy as an early leader in the Twin Cities urban development community.

The fellowship offers a win-win-win outcome for all involved: students, CURA, and community partners. It is designed to increase the number of highly trained community development professionals from historically underrepresented communities and provide hands-on work experience for students entering the field—all while offering capacity-building support to community-based organizations on the frontlines of innovative development work.

With recommendation from a mentor, Linda applied to the Krusell fellowship. After receiving the award, she worked with the Community Programs Team at CURA to match with a community-based organization. “I have experience in housing, but I really want to know more about the environment, environmental justice, and policy,” Linda shared with Lee Guekguezian, Director of Community-Based Research Programs at CURA. “We worked together and went through different organizations that were already familiar with CURA, and I got paired with Fresh Energy.”

It’s a Match!
 

And just like that, it was a match. Since Linda joined Fresh Energy, a clean energy and climate policy nonprofit in Minnesota, as Krusell Fellow, she hasn’t looked back. Approaching the halfway point of her placement, she’s already worked on multiple projects, including:

• An extensive status update and review of all energy funding programs passed in the 2023 legislature, with a specific goal of understanding whether or not funding from Minnesota’s Solar on Schools grant program was being utilized by designated environmental justice communities. As part of this project, developed a statewide GIS map in collaboration with Jeff Matson, Community Geographic Information Systems Program Director at CURA, to visualize program utilization.
• Recording a podcast episode with undergraduates at the University of Minnesota Institute of the Environment who interviewed nonprofit leaders, policymakers, environmental advocates, and other stakeholders for candid conversations about the impacts of funding uncertainty on the clean energy sector. The episode, The Impact of Uncertainty, is available on all streaming platforms.

In the past two years, Linda continued contributing to core community-partnered projects of Fresh Energy while also working with Renewing the Countryside and crafting stories for them about their urban agriculture initiative.

As much as Fresh Energy has been a perfect match for Linda, Linda has also been a perfect match for Fresh Energy. “Fresh Energy is relatively new to hosting graduate-level researchers that work on specific projects. Having Linda on board is opening our eyes to future possibilities, as well as getting some things done that are important to our mission,” said John Vaughn, Managing Director, Community and Economic Development at Fresh Energy. “We couldn’t be more happy to be partnering with CURA.”

Thinking Expansively—Community-Partnered Planning Beyond the Krusell Fellowship

The points of connection between Linda’s work at Fresh Energy and what she studies every day at the Humphrey have also enhanced opportunities for deep career exploration throughout her time as a Krusell Fellow. “Working at Fresh Energy and being at the Humphrey School has reawakened my love for planning, and I can see myself taking different avenues in urban planning,” said Linda. “I’m seeing a lot of the things I’m learning about connecting to the work I do, which is really cool.”

She graduates this May and Linda hopes to bring her expertise to state or local government as an environmental planner. If a city has goals of making its infrastructure more environmentally friendly or reducing racial injustices via planning, she is ready to be part of that work. She also wants you to join in and participate alongside her. “I want more people to know that planning is expansive and so important to our everyday lives,” says Linda. Through her work with Fresh Energy, she knows first-hand that our neighborhoods are better when the community is deeply engaged in decision-making around urban planning and placemaking. “What’s happening locally in your neighborhood is very vital to know how your city is growing,” said Linda, true to the spirit of Charles Krusell. Together (and only together) we can shape the cities we love and the neighborhoods we call home.

Subscribe to CURA Stories