Climate change, the greatest threat of our time, drives my environmental activism and originally led me to run for the Executive Committee of the Huron Valley Group. I currently serve as group representative to the state Executive Committee, where I am Chapter secretary. In addition, I am chair of the HVG’s Political Committee and am active in the Fundraising Committee. Previous to my participation in the HVG ExCom, I helped found an Ann Arbor 350.org group, which I chaired for one year. As climate lead in Organizing for Action, Washtenaw County, I organized multiple educational outreach programs, reaching hundreds of participants. The Sierra Club plays a vital role in the climate struggle and other environmental issues. It is my goal to further that work in any way I can.

Stephen Colby Brown

I’ve been a member of the Sierra Club since 1975, participating in local groups in California and North Carolina before moving to Ann Arbor in 1997. I’ve been serving as the HVG Conservation Committee Chair since 2017, where I’ve helped respond to various issues as they arose statewide. During this tenure, I sought to engage with our membership outside Ann Arbor with very limited success. I discovered that most environmental issues are still local. This experience led me to understand that good communication tools were essential, and that an active Outings Program is essential to our mission. After my election in 2024 as HVG ExCom Chair, I decided that my main focus would be recruitment, building a better communication network with our membership, and rebuild our Outings Program since it’s eclipse during the Covid pandemic. Ongoing support of our sister College groups at UofM and EMU must continue, at their direction. The ongoing controversies about permitting Data Centers represents an opportunity to organize our membership, which I will continue to focus on.

Jason Frenzel

Hello fellow HVG members. I’m honored by the potential opportunity to serve on the executive committee for another two years. For over two decades I’ve worked in the Washtenaw/SE Michigan area creating and supporting environmental initiatives. For my first years out of college, as an AmeriCorps worker, I worked with local farmers to install measures that protect environmental resources. I worked for 10 years at the City of Ann Arbor’s Natural Area Preservation, drastically increasing the number of stewardship workdays, Park Stewards, and other volunteer positions. For the past 15 years I’ve worked at the Huron River Watershed Council. Again, my work has been to increase resident participation in promoting the health of our shared environment, mostly through citizen science.

I look forward, with your support, to increasing the Huron Valley Group's diversity, community voice, transparency, impact, and team health over the next two years.