Shamar Bibbins serves as managing director of The Kresge Foundation’s Environment Program, which helps U.S. cities combat and adapt to climate change while advancing racial and economic justice.

Shamar joined Kresge in 2014 as a program officer to manage a new grantmaking strategy designed to fund community-based, equity-focused, nonprofit organizations to deepen their expertise on climate change. In 2018, she was promoted to senior program officer, where she co-designed and oversaw the implementation of the foundation’s Climate Change, Health, and Equity Initiative, a multi-year national partnership between Kresge’s Environment and Health programs that addresses the intersecting impacts of climate change on human health.

Her work at the intersections of social justice and environmental protection within the nonprofit and philanthropic fields aims to directly benefit communities of color and low-income communities disproportionally impacted by climate change and historically underrepresented in policy development and implementation. Prior to joining Kresge, she served as director of national partnerships at Green for All, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to building a green economy strong enough to lift people out of poverty.

Shamar serves on the board of directors of Community Wealth Partners, a mission-driven consulting firm, and is a Philanthropic Trustee to The Solutions Project. She previously served on the steering committee of The Climate and Energy Funders’ Group, a community of funders unified in their commitment to combat the global climate crisis.

Shamar holds a master’s degree in public administration from the Harvard Kennedy School, a bachelor’s degree in science, technology, and society from Vassar College, and received a Fulbright Fellowship to Fukushima University where she conducted research on environmental social movements in Japan. She is a proud Detroit native.

Photo: Douglas Schaible