About LJCS
We were formerly Start:Empowerment and worked to advance climate justice education across turtle island & are now transitioning to a new era under Land Justice Community School!
Our Mission
Land Justice Community School prioritizes the building of relationships to decenter individualism and center community based learning. Our values are rooted in those left to us by our Elders – in which storytelling is an act of education, expression, and liberation.
Community is the root of change across the globe, both in our relationships to ourselves as the land and to each other. We understand that justice can only be found through collective liberation. To achieve this, we strive to understand each other by learning from each other’s stories.
Our Vision
Our vision as a group of Indigenous and People of Color community organizers, artists, and educators is to honor intergenerational storytelling as a changemaker through our various Community School Programs for Land Justice.
Land Justice Community
School Team
Alexia
Alexia Leclercq
Founder & Executive Director
(she/they)
Alexia is an environmental justice organizer, scholar, and artist with over a decade of experience winning clean water protections, land-use reforms, and fossil fuel phaseouts. She co-founded Start:Empowerment her leadership has been recognized by Forbes 30 under 30 and the WWF Conservation Award.
Celine
Celine Rendon
Climate Resilience Planner
(she/her)
Celine (she/her) is a sustainability and environmental planning professional grounded in environmental science and grassroots environmental justice. She has led community engagement and climate planning with cities and community groups across the Gulf South. Her work includes creating the Austin’s Climate Equity Plan, youth councils, strategy development, and resilience research.
Noé
Noé Elias
Education Director
(he/him)
Noé is an Indigenous Mexican educator, community organizer, and social and environmental justice advocate from East Austin. He spent over 13 years as a dual language educator in Austin ISD. Dedicated to uplifting marginalized voices, he serves with local organizations and chairs the Austin Community Development Commission.
John
John Redhawk Gutierrez
Environmental Educator
(he/him)
John Redhawk is a Tejano educator, organizer, and herbalist rooted in Texas and Northern Mexico. A devoted nature enthusiast, he studies ecology, flora, fauna, and fungi. Guided by transformational justice, he advances community agriculture, education, and habitat restoration.
Maxochitl
Maxochitl Cortez
Creative Director
(they/them)
Maxochitl is Chichimekah and Coahuiltecan from Aridoamerica. A Two-Spirit Indigenous resistance artist, educator, and community organizer, they use storytelling as a pathway to liberation by asking what freedom means, how we reach it for all people, and which narratives we honor on our path to healing.
Our Board Members
Rev
Yearwood
Yearwood
Lennox Yearwood Jr
Board Member
(he/him)
Rev Yearwood is a Pentecostal minister, community activist, and national leader in political hip hop and environmental justice. As president of the Hip Hop Caucus, he mobilizes civic engagement, youth voting, and policy advocacy, and has led major campaigns advancing human rights and environmental justice, including post–Hurricane Katrina Gulf Coast efforts.
Jasmine
Jasmine Butler
Board Member
(they/them)
Jasmine is a Black queer writer, cultural worker, and afrofuturist-abolitionist from Memphis with deep Mississippi roots. Committed to collective liberation through mutual aid and education, they are a network weaver, educator, historian, and archivist. Jasmine holds a BA in Geography from Dartmouth College.
Cassandra
Dr. Cassandra Jean
Board Member
(they/she)
Cassandra is an interdisciplinary scholar and practitioner in social science, climate resilience, and environmental justice. With over a decade of experience, they combine research, community engagement, and policy development to address systemic inequities. Dr. Jean holds degrees from Adelphi and Howard University and completed a postdoc at the University of Washington.
Kianna
Kianna Pete
Board Member
(she/they)
Kianna is a Diné/Navajo environmental advocate, policy researcher, and media justice creator from the Southwest. Guided by Diné teachings, she collaborates globally to advance Indigenous self-determination and educational equity. Her work bridges collective knowledge through digital storytelling, curriculum development, Rights of Nature advocacy, MMIWG2S+ work, and community-centered research.
Our Partners
We work in partnership with community-led organizations, educators, and cultural institutions rooted in land, justice, and collective care — building pathways for youth leadership and climate justice from the ground up.
Join our movement
Land justice is built through relationship, care, and collective action. Stay connected to frontline organizing, youth leadership, and community-led systems shaping a more just future.
