City of El Paso appoints new climate and sustainability officer
Published: Sat, 02/04/23
City of El Paso appoints new climate and sustainability officer
KFOX14
by Fallon Fischer
EL PASO, Texas (KFOX14/CBS4) — The City of El Paso announced Nicole Alderete-Ferrini will lead the city's new Office of Climate and Sustainability.
"As the Climate and Sustainability Officer, Ferrini will work to address the specific impacts of the global climate crisis as they relate to the urban desert environment and vulnerable populations of the Chihuahuan Desert while ensuring consistent and transparent collaboration, inclusive of all stakeholders assuring tangible results and appropriate public accountability," the city stated in a news release.
Ferrini joined the City of El Paso in 2014 as the City’s Chief Resilience Officer and in 2017 she was appointed Director of Community and Human Development.
“During her 8 years of service, Nicole has led her team with skill and compassion to provide solutions to some of our community’s biggest challenges,” said Deputy City Manager Dionne Mack. “She has been instrumental in addressing homelessness and tackled various challenges throughout her time with the City.”
Nicole Ferrini (KFOX14/CBS4)
In her role as the Chief Resilience Officer, she and City leadership developed the City’s first resilience strategy
The strategy was integrated into the City Strategic Plan and helped serve as a guideline to address housing, homelessness, climate change, social justice, civic empowerment, and economic prosperity.
As Director of Community and Human Development, Ferrini worked with the multidepartment COVID-19 Cross-Functional Team on the transformation of policy and process enhancing municipal efforts to advance equity, reduce poverty and build sustainability for the community.
Over the course of the COVID-19 crisis, she worked with the Vulnerable Population Support Task Force to deploy more than $77 million dollars in aid to thousands of El Paso’s most vulnerable residents.
Prior to joining the city, Ferrini spent over a decade as a community advocate focused primarily on environmental issues while working in leadership roles across a number of local architecture and design firms.
Ferrini has a bachelor’s degree in architecture and a bachelor’s degree in interior design, both from Texas Tech University.