Vision

We accelerate equitable engagement to empower underserved communities in tackling climate, disaster, food, biodiversity, and pollution challenges. We address the following two key challenges for government agencies

  • By transitioning from ad-hoc, fragmented processes that rely on coarse data or individual staff knowledge to scalable and enduring institutional knowledge

  • By overcoming historical relational challenges between government and community by providing consistent and effective community connection and continuity.

Agencies face many challenges in implementing Environmental Justice Policies

Through our research and interviews, we understand agencies could use support in implementing environmental justice policies to help address:

  • A need for deep knowledge of underserved communities

  • Staff capacity and turnover

  • Training needs in inclusive stakeholder engagement

  • A need for easy use of technology tools.

In addition, the success of such engagement activities is scattershot and often not monitored, creating inconsistencies in the agencies, and frustration and confusion in communities. By creating a fully integrated platform for communities, we have the opportunity to connect similar projects across the community, share resources, and reduce burdens to community organizations, while advancing support for effective technical assistance and funding.

Origin story

In 2021 Calm Waters Group LLC, founded by Marcus Griswold, and Climate Data Hub, founded by Sumeet Sandhu, joined forces to tackle the lack of proper support infrastructure to do equitable stakeholder management at scale. After talking to several government agencies, we found a strong partner in Bay Conservation and Development Commission.

In 2023, after receiving an NSF SBIR Phase I grant, we grew the team and continued work toward building and understanding of community needs and creating a platform to connect governments and CBOs.

Meet the Team

  • Marcus Griswold, PhD

    FOUNDER

    Marcus Griswold, PhD, CEO and Founder, CWG & Our Town Hall, is a scientist and community engagement specialist. He has 15 years of experience communicating science and policy, providing strategic leadership, fundraising, and empowering communities on complex and controversial projects. He has developed and implemented stakeholder discovery and engagement processes and policies for governments including the State of Maryland, County of San Mateo, US EPA, and NSF. He has worked with dozens of local and national nonprofits and tribes to provide capacity building and policy support so they are heard by government agencies and corporations. He believes that communities know what is needed to solve climate justice, and helps them tell their story, advocate for their needs, and engage with agencies.

  • Sumeet Sandhu

    CO-FOUNDER and CTO

    Sumeet Sandhu, PhD, Co-founder of Our Town Hall, is a seasoned technologist with 25 years of experience across: eCommerce/fashion, legal/IP, telecom/wireless; data science/AI/ML, wireless communications, speech; R&D, product planning, operations; Intel Corporation, Myntra/Flipkart/Walmart, AT&T Bell Labs and others. She built an AI based Information Retrieval platform for patents at Elementary IP. She founded Climate Data Hub in 2019 to serve communities taking action on Climate. CDH has run Climate-KIC Climathons, helped launch ClimateVoice.org, won AI for Earth grants, won a Stage 1 ConXTech Prize, and published in top AI conferences. At OTH, she leads AI and technology design and development.

  • Yousef Kazerooni

    FOUNDING DESIGNER

    Yousef Kazerooni, received his Masters of Human Computer Interaction from Carnegie Mellon University. As a product designer, he has worn many hats, helping teams with research, strategy, User Experience, team dynamics, and delivery. He has worked on projects ranging from small startups in IT services to large scale corporations. He particularly cherishes the time he spent working closely with Indi Young, one of the pioneers of the field of foundational research. At OTH, he advises product and engagement design.

  • Tyrell Thompson

    DATA ANALYST

    Tyrell Thompson grew up in the country of Guatemala where he worked with non-profit organizations, orphanages, schools, and other projects. Tyrell holds bachelor degrees in International Business and Financial Planning, as well as has varied work experience in the fields of consulting, data analytics, and logistics. His first job was as a volcano tour guide, and now he currently works as a data analyst with Meta. Tyrell founded his company Nucleus in 2021 where he and his team perform online services in marketing, consulting, coaching, and data analytics for businesses and nonprofits. Tyrell believes we can harness the power of data, and then present it in a digestible way that is useful and compelling to the viewer. He is passionate about serving people globally while remaining involved with his local community.

  • Katherine Carstensen, MSc

    DATA ANALYST

    Katherine Carstensen is a passionate environmentalist who likes to take a systems thinking approach to problem solving. She received her Master of Science in Environmental Science and Policy from Johns Hopkins University. As a data analyst, she is interested in how data can tell a story and be translated into action. She has worked on non-profit and government projects ranging from conservation work to environmental cleanup, but is most interested in environmental justice, equity, and climate change adaptation.

  • Katelyn Yoo

    DATA ANALYTICS

    Katelyn is a student, artist, and aspiring computer scientist who will be attending the University of California, Berkeley. By utilizing their interests of fine art and programming, they want to explore the ethics and potential of machine learning and exponentially advancing technology. In their free time, they like death metal and spending time with their family.

  • Jacob Gomez Rubio

    MACHINE LEARNING ENGINEER

    Jacob Gomez Rubio is a passionate data scientist and machine learning engineer. After growing up on California’s central coast and studying mathematics and data science at the University of California, Irvine, he’s determined to build technologies that uplift and educate every community that fights climate change. He has led teams building scaled machine learning systems at Activision Blizzard and has also led development of data platforms with equity in mind for other startups.

Advisors

  • Matthew Dalbey

    ECONOMIC REVITALIZATION

    Matthew Dalbey is  proven thought leader in developing community-driven economic revitalization strategies at the local, state, and federal level. These strategies identify economic drivers, build on existing assets, and support economic growth that improves environmental and human health outcomes. He has experience across the country in large cities and rural towns and villages and in all types of economic, environmental, and political climates. He is a senior advisor in the polity office at the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). During his more than 20-year career at EPA he has lead the Office of Sustainable Communities (later changed to the Office of Community Revitalization) and served for more than a year as the initial deputy director of the White House Council on Strong Cities, Strong Communities. In 2024 he was a visiting researcher at Resources for the Future. He also teaches as an adjunct professor in the Sustainable Urban Planning program at George Washington University. He received his PhD degree from Columbia University in the City of New York, two masters degrees from the University of Virginia, and a bachelor’s degree from the College of William and Mary. His three children are grown and hopefully out of the house. 

  • Dr. Mayank Kejriwal

    COMPUTATIONAL SOCIAL SCIENCE

    Dr. Mayank Kejriwal, holds joint appointments as Research Assistant Professor and Research Team Lead at the University of Southern California, in applied AI and computational social science. He collaborates with industry, academia and government on problems ranging from human trafficking to crisis response. His peer-reviewed publications were covered by World Economic Forum, The Houston Chronicle, Big Think, Popular Science, Associated Press, CNN Indonesia, and Global News Canada. He has been funded by DoD, corporate grants, and philanthropic foundations. His book “Knowledge Graphs: Fundamentals, Techniques and Applications”, MIT Press, was published in March, 2021.

  • Dr. Jalonne White-Newsome

    SOCIAL EQUITY

    Dr. Jalonne White-Newsome, CEO of Empowering a Green Environment and Economy, LLC, takes intersectional approaches to tackle climate change, public health, environmental injustice, and advance racial equity. She created the Climate Resilient and Equitable Water Systems Initiative at the Kresge Foundation; was the first Director of WE ACT for Environmental Justice’s federal policy office in Washington, DC; and her Ph.D research illuminated the impact of climate change & extreme heat on the low-income, elderly in Detroit. She serves on the National Academies of Sciences Board on Environmental Change and Society, American Geophysical Union Board, and is Senior Advisor on Equity and Justice for The Water Center at The University of Pennsylvania. She is a Lecturer at The George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health.

  • Indi Young

    INCLUSIVE DESIGN

    Indi Young, is a researcher who coaches, writes, and teaches about inclusive product strategy. Her work is rooted in the problem space where the focus is on people, not users. Indi pioneered opportunity maps, mental model diagrams, and thinking styles. Her approach allows teams to truly pay attention to people, without letting cognitive bias and assumptions creep in. Indi has written two books, Practical Empathy and Mental Models. She was one of the founders of Adaptive Path, the pioneering UX agency.

  • TECH FUTURES GROUP

    FUNDING

    Tech Futures Group is a group of expert advisors helping tech startups in Northern California get the funding, resources, and end-to-end support they need to not just launch, but excel. They work closely with startups to arm them with the tools, technologies, and strategies they need to accelerate, and enhance their business.

  • Tami Lee

    SOFTWARE ARCHITECTURE

    Tami Lee, brings over 20 years of experience in software design and development including: enterprise architecture for distributed and complex systems; entity resolution on big data; and platform integration and migration. She won a number of TR Innovation Awards in 15 years at FindLaw (now part of Thomson Reuters).