Meet the 2026 Community Sentinels

Zulene Mayfield (she/her)

Zulene was born, raised and educated in Chester. She is a family-oriented person who enjoys the comfort of a large and loving family, and it was that love of family that led her to join a group of residents concerned about what was being billed as the Westinghouse trash-to-steam plant. She was the youngest of the group and the only woman of color. She became chairperson of Chester Residents Concerned for Quality Living (CRCQL) in 1993, a year after the group formed. CRCQL has defeated numerous waste processing facilities, shut down the nation’s largest processor of infectious medical waste, and successfully sued a sewage treatment and sludge burning plant, resulting in increased EPA and DEP fines. It also filed a Title VI lawsuit against the DEP alleging a discriminatory practice of issuing permits in Chester, the first of its kind in the nation, and its actions led Pennsylvania to create the Office of Environmental Justice. Zulene helped form Campus Coalition Concerning Chester (C4) at Swarthmore College, has served on the National Environmental Justice Advisory Committee (NEJAC), and advises C4 and CRCQL’s Choices Environmental Youth Leadership Group. A sought-after speaker, she is now leading her community and its allies in mobilizing against Penn America LNG, a proposed liquefaction facility that would be the largest LNG facility on the East Coast.

Eboni Neal Cochran (she/her)

Eboni is a wife and retired homeschool mom of one, who has three adult bonus children and six grandchildren. She is Co-Director of Rubbertown Emergency ACTion (REACT), a grassroots organization of residents living near or at the fence lines of Rubbertown chemical facilities and other industries that cause environmental injustice. She has worked with the organization since 2003, educating community members and decision makers and pushing for reduced exposure to toxic chemicals. REACT works for strong laws to stop toxic air pollution, protection of residents in a leak, fire or explosion at an industrial facility or railcar, and full disclosure of information on the impact of industrial facilities. Eboni is also founder and executive director of the West Louisville Math and Science Project, which builds math, science and literacy skills among children within the African diaspora and their families.

Qiyam Ansari (he/him)

Qiyam is the Executive Director of Valley Clean Air Now (VCAN), an environmental justice nonprofit fighting for clean air in Pennsylvania’s Mon Valley, home to U.S. Steel’s Clairton Coke Works. A community organizer rooted in the region, he has worked since 2019 to help residents hold industrial polluters accountable and assert their right to clean air under Pennsylvania’s Environmental Rights Amendment. With Clean Water Action, he led the campaign that won Pittsburgh’s plastic bag ban, helped secure EPA rule changes that reduced toxic emissions from coke oven batteries through fenceline benzene monitoring, and spearheaded a Community Health Assessment with the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. He has raised more than $4.5 million for grassroots groups in Allegheny County and serves on the Allegheny County Air Pollution Control Advisory Committee.

Karen Feridun (she/her)

Karen is a Pennsylvania-based activist and co-founder of two statewide coalitions, the Better Path Coalition and No False Climate Solutions PA. Her work in the anti-fracking movement began in 2010 when she founded Berks Gas Truth, and she went on to co-found Pennsylvanians Against Fracking and serve on the national steering committees of Americans Against Fracking and the Stop the Frack Attack Network. In 2022 and 2023, she was the lead organizer of the Pennsylvania Climate Convergence in the state capital. Her work spans local, regional, national and international levels, and she has written and spoken on these issues in The Huffington Post, Daily Kos and The Hill, and at a COP21 side event, the DNC platform committee meeting in Orlando, the National Geographic Society and New York’s Society for Ethical Culture.

Lois Malvo

Lake Charles, Louisiana

At 80 years young, Lois Malvo has spent more than four decades standing up for her community, guided by an unwavering faith in God and a deep commitment to justice. A longtime advocate in Southwest Louisiana, Lois has confronted environmental threats, racism, poverty, and inequity while working to protect the health and dignity of her neighbors. She has spoken before state representatives in Baton Rouge and at the U.S. Capitol, and has shared her community’s concerns with KPLC-TV, American Crest TV, and other media outlets. Lois successfully challenged the rezoning of Rice Mill from residential to industrial and opposed a pipeline near an elementary school. She also fought a proposed duplex on a landfill on St. Mary’s Drive, helping residents move to cleaner, safer housing. Through Fisherville Environmental Action Now (FEAN), founded after toxic chemical train derailments affected her family and community, Lois continues to educate and mobilize residents. Her work reflects her belief in spiritual warfare, compassion, unity, and protecting God’s people and creation.