Joelle has served as IPL-DMV’s Director since the fall of 2009 and speaks widely on the role that faith communities can play in the climate movement. She grew up in Baltimore at Chizuk Amuno congregations and is now active in several Jewish communities in the DC area, including Minyan Segulah, and serves on the advisory board of Dayenu: A Jewish Call to Climate Action.

Joelle finds communities of faith and spirit to be among the most powerful places in the world to talk about the climate crisis and why it matters to each of us. She loves opening conversations with people of all ages and backgrounds about what is happening to our world, and how we are each called to protect the people, places, and creatures we love. She is grounded in her own Jewish tradition’s fierce spirit of intervention which demands that we act boldly even when we feel uncertain, if life may be at stake.

Prior to coming to IPL DMV, Joelle worked at Green America, where she screened applicants to the Green Business Network and wrote dozens of articles about greener living for the organization’s newsletter and magazine. For more than a year, she counseled hospital patients of all backgrounds and led interfaith worship services through a chaplain training program at Washington Hospital Center.

Joelle is a graduate of Harvard University where she received a BA in Social Studies, and completed the coursework for a minor in the Study of Religion. There she sang with two soulful singing groups, Mizmor Shir and the Kuumba Singers, and subsequently was a founding member of Songrise, DC’s all women’s social justice singing group.

Joelle is thrilled that the co-housing building she and her family live is both LEED Silver certified and going solar in 2023!

She is a recipient of:

• The Bethesda Magazine Green Award (2017)
• Sustainability Advocate of the Year from Pearlstone Center (2017)
• The Maryland Clean Energy Advocacy Award (2014)
• The Heschel Vision Award from Jews United for Justice (2008)