{"id":213054,"date":"2025-04-01T13:00:24","date_gmt":"2025-04-01T23:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=213054"},"modified":"2025-04-01T13:00:24","modified_gmt":"2025-04-01T23:00:24","slug":"better-tomorrow-speaker-colette-pichon-battle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2025\/04\/01\/better-tomorrow-speaker-colette-pichon-battle\/","title":{"rendered":"UH<\/abbr> Speaker Series: Disaster recovery and community change"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> < 1<\/span> minute<\/span><\/span>
\"Battle
Colette Pichon Battle<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When Hurricane Katrina hit Louisiana, Colette Pichon Battle saw more than flooding. She saw deep cracks in the systems meant to protect people. Since then, she\u2019s made it her life\u2019s work to help communities rebuild—not just their homes, but their power. Hosted by the University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Better Tomorrow Speaker Series this April, Pichon Battle will host a public lecture to share insights from her transformative work.<\/p>\n

The presentation, Reclaiming Democracy: From Disaster Recovery to Community Governance, is free and open to the public, and will be held on Wednesday, April 16 at 6:30 p.m. in Kuykendall Auditorium, Room 101 on the UH<\/abbr> Mānoa campus (register online).<\/p>\n

“The University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> has a key role to play in disaster preparedness and recovery,” said UH<\/abbr> Mānoa Provost Michael Bruno. “We know the recovery process is long and complex, and so we’re looking forward to talking with Colette Pichon Battle about building community resilience over years and even decades.”<\/p>\n

Rooted in justice<\/h2>\n

Pichon Battle will share lessons from years of grassroots recovery work that centers justice, sustainability and local leadership. As founder of Taproot Earth, she combines Indigenous environmental knowledge with strategies from the Black freedom struggle to reimagine community governance.<\/p>\n

“We are honored to host Colette Pichon Battle on Oʻahu<\/span>. The organizing work she and her team have done in New Orleans and elsewhere has helped communities build back not just structures but spirit,” said Michelle Kaʻuhane<\/span>, chief impact officer of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Community Foundation.<\/p>\n

This lecture is part of the Better Tomorrow Speaker Series, a collaborative initiative of the Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Community Foundation, Kaiāulu by Kamehameha Schools, UH<\/abbr> Mānoa and the Learning Coalition.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UH<\/abbr> Better Tomorrow Speaker Series features attorney Colette Pichon Battle, the founder of Taproot Earth, which fights for just recoveries in the wake of climate disasters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[154,73,9],"class_list":["post-213054","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","tag-law","tag-sustainability","tag-uh-manoa","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t