Ellie Alter is a program associate on the Natural Resources and Climate Justice (NRCJ) team. She supports strategy, learning, and alignment across the team.
Ellie is an experienced advocate for environmental justice, immigrants’ rights, and health equity. After a decade engaged in grassroots organizing and international human rights, she is dedicated to advancing community-driven solutions to social and environmental issues.
Ellie’s career began in urban farming, where she saw firsthand the connections between natural resources, climate resilience, and civic participation. This perspective shaped her work supporting asylum seekers in New York City and later guiding policy campaigns at Make the Road New York to secure rights for working-class communities. As an NYU Global Human Rights Fellow in Mexico, she provided capacity-building training to women land rights defenders at Just Associates, reinforcing her belief in the power of local leadership in climate justice.
Ellie holds a master of public administration in Environmental Science and Policy from Columbia University, a master of arts in Human Rights from New York University, and a bachelor of arts in Sociology from Fordham University.