A Spotlight on Disasters & Democracy

Beatrice Camacho is a first-generation Mexican-American woman born and raised in Sonoma County, California to low-income, working-class parents who immigrated to Sonoma County from Northern Mexico in 1985. As a lifelong renter, growing up on Section 8 Housing, she personally understands the importance of dignified and affordable housing. Beatrice studied Business Management at Sonoma State University and is trained in Restorative Justice and Restorative Practices. She is an organizing committee member for Sanación del People/The Peoples’ Healing Clinic, which offers mutual aid in the form of free healing modalities to community members in Sonoma County who otherwise would not have access to them. She has been a Tenant Organizer with North Bay Organizing Project since 2018 and helped organize the Sonoma County Tenants Union. Beatrice is now the first-ever Director of UndocuFund. UndocuFund was created in 2017, as a form of mutual aid that provides direct monetary assistance to undocumented community members in Sonoma County during times of disaster. Undocufund has disbursed over $16.5 million in direct assistance to Sonoma County’s undocumented community members impacted by wildfires, floods, power shutoffs, and COVID-19.

Amanda Devecka-Rinear is a fourth-generation Cedar Bonnet Island resident with more than 25 years experience in community organizing and strategic leadership. Formed after Superstorm Sandy in 2014, NJRP and NJOP have redirected hundreds of millions of dollars in disaster aid to keep working families in their homes and continue to work to shift our broken disaster recovery systems to ensure full and fair disaster recovery - now with Hurricane Ida.  Prior to co-founding the New Jersey Organizing Project and New Jersey Resource Project in 2015, Amanda was the National Campaign Director for National Peoples' Action. Prior to NJRP and NJOP, Amanda began her career as Program Director for New York City PoliceWatch, part of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights. She was a founding board member of FIERCE and the recipient of a Union Square Award in 2003 for work around criminal justice in NYC. She was part of city-wide student organizing to successfully preserve in state tuition, and thus access to public higher education for Immigrant New Yorkers. In 2005 as a lead organizer at NPA affiliate, the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition, she led an effort that brought 25 million dollars to construct new schools in one of NYC's most overcrowded school districts.

Andrew Rumbach, PhD, is a Senior Fellow and co-lead of the Climate and Communities program at the Urban Institute in Washington, DC. Rumbach is a leading expert on planning and policy- making for natural hazards, disasters and climate change impacts in the United States. His areas of emphasis include affordable housing, zoning and land-use planning, community disaster recovery, and local engagement in climate and disaster decision-making. He has published dozens of peer-reviewed studies on disaster and climate related topics in venues and sits on the editorial boards of the Journal of the American Planning Association and the Journal of Planning Literature. Before joining the Urban Institute in 2023, Rumbach was a tenured professor of urban planning at Texas A&M University. He earned a BA in political science from Reed College and a PhD and MRP in city and regional planning from Cornell University.

Zoya Teirstein is a staff writer covering climate politics and the impacts of climate change on human health. Her work can also be found in Rolling Stone, Wired, and the Associated Press. She has received awards from the Indigenous Journalists Association, the SEAL Awards, and the Society of Environmental Journalists.