Editor’s note: This interview is the third in a series highlighting professionals at work in the Chesapeake Bay arena. Listen to the full interviews in our Chesapeake Uncharted podcast.
ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Forget a business card. Randy Rowel needs a legal pad to list his various ventures.
He oversees the Chesapeake Research Consortium’s internship-placement and mentoring program, chairs the city of Annapolis Environmental Commission, operates a private company that builds green infrastructure and is working remotely on his doctorate from the University of Miami in applied learning sciences. As Rowel sees it, he has to stay busy.
“Some of my white counterparts in my industry, they’re always amazed. ‘You’re in this commission or that commission? You’re a grant writer? You’re doing this? How do you do it all?’” said Rowel, who is Black. “My response always is this: I wish I did not have to do all of that. But being a person of color, we have to fight extra hard to get at the minimum bar.”
After a sustained increase from 2017–21, the hiring of people of color has slowed in the environmental sector in recent years. According to Green 2.0, a nonprofit that advocates for more diversity in environmental fields, the growth in board members identifying as people of color ticked up by less than 1 percentage point from 2021–2023. The group’s nationwide survey found a similar trend among senior staff.
Rowel, 43, hopes that his own narrative — a story of transforming from a disaffected youth into a respected environmental authority — inspires his students and others to overcome their own challenges. His interview with the Bay Journal has been edited for length and clarity.
Question: Your main job is running C-StREAM, the Chesapeake Student Recruitment, Early Advisement and Mentoring program. Help us understand what you do.
A: The program focuses on providing internships, professional development and paid internships for those seeking a leadership position in the environmental industry throughout the Chesapeake Bay region. We help with connecting interns to research projects throughout the summer at various institutions, such as the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, or the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Chesapeake Bay Program Office and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, just to name a few.
Q: How many undergraduate students do you work with each semester?
A: Anywhere between eight to twelve interns.
Q: What was it that drew you to that position?
A: I had to figure out something that made sense for what my cause was. I worked on the Diversity Action Workgroup for the EPA for many years, and I did a lot of advocating for this exact thing. When you talk about providing HBCUs [historically Black colleges and universities] and other organizations that are underrepresented with more resources, what better fit? And myself being an HBCU graduate who also understands the programmatic side of development and the environmental components of this type of work? It’s a very rare connection.
Q: Why is a program like C-StREAM needed?
A: There are a lot of disparities as it relates to people of color around the environmental field. Individuals from underserved and underrepresented populations have long comprised a disproportionately smaller percentage of degree recipients in the STEM fields. They collectively form around 20% of the U.S. population but only account for 13% of the science and engineering workforce. Clearly, this is a major roadblock toward creating a network where institutions can help diversify the faculty, as well as role models and mentors who can help break the cycle.
Q: It sounds like you’re talking about a lack of social capital.
A: Yes, and that’s why it’s so important for C-StREAM to offer a variety of services around cohort-building events, in person, to engage our fellows in a way to make them build a community. We offer lunch and learns. And we award them travel monies to attend events and professional development.
Q: You’d mentioned that you’re studying at the University of Miami remotely, seeking a Ph.D. What are you hoping to do with that degree?
A: As an entrepreneur, I want to lead by example, showing there are other avenues in which you can engage with this industry, not necessarily always working for the federal government or for some other organization. I want to be at the forefront of providing input around environmental curriculums for environmental literacy, environmental education and culturally appropriate materials that are attractive to diverse audiences.
Q: A theme that we keep coming back to is supporting diversity in the environmental workforce. Why do you think that matters so much?
A: For years, there’s been a great monopoly in the environmental industry as it relates to those who are actually installing environmental restoration projects or doing science and research. It’s important that contractors look like the communities that they’re serving.
With the [federal] stimulus package, we want those funds to be directed where they matter most, and for those that are making decisions to get it right the first time. We want to use this as an opportunity to level the playing field and provide some resources to communities that are most vulnerable to climate change — and those are Black and brown communities.
A: It seems like a throughline in your life is helping people overcome adversity. From what I understand, you have had some yourself. Do you mind sharing a bit of a bit of your own story?
Q: Yeah, I failed 11th grade. I was taken out of regular school and middle school and put in a Sylvan Learning Center. To me, I was having trouble with making a transition to the public school system, much of which was because I didn’t have teachers that looked like me and had an understanding of how to teach a young black boy in the ‘80s and early ‘90s. … When I was 15, I got in trouble with the law, where I got into a fight at a party. I got community service, and I did go to a Scared Straight program. I went to Jessup [Correctional Institution] and sat down with lifers one-on-one to get input. I guess it kind of worked. They scared me straight.
I never really got into trouble with the law after that. But when I talk to young kids, I talk about all this. I tell them how we can relate. How often do you hear environmentalists with that type of backstory?
Q: Do you have any thoughts for employers in this sector about how to improve diversity within their own ranks?
A: Please put an end to volunteer work. If you’re still relying heavily on volunteerism by people of color, you are doing a disservice to that community. You are not recognizing the value in the assets that they represent in their community. You are not recognizing the historical and cultural context of the discriminatory practices that existed over the last 400 years in America. Let’s advocate for them to get more of what we call wealth resource powers.
Listen to the full interview on our Chesapeake Uncharted podcast.