Sustainability Award Winners 2025

Congratulations to all the individuals and organizations working to build sustainable communities. The award winners were honored at the 17th Annual Leadership in Sustainability Awards Celebration on September 17, 2025.

Manya Mohan – Rising Star

Manya Mohan has been concerned with social justice since elementary school, when she helped package food for distribution to people in need. She grew that concern by organizing a meal-packing event in her middle school. When she proposed starting Kids Against Hunger at Heritage High School, she received 35 rejections in person — from teachers, administrators, and peers. But she persisted. After raising $3,000, the Kids Against Hunger team spent a recent weekend packing over 12,000 meals, to be sent to places like Haiti and the Ukraine-Poland border with severe nutritional needs. The program is now called Bites Beyond Borders. 

Manya also is tackling systemic inequality in the tech world by making advanced education accessible. She founded Quantum Kids, which partnered with The Coding School to negotiate sponsorships from Google and Microsoft. They secured over $6,000 in scholarships to offer students free coursework in quantum computing and artificial intelligence — taught by experts from MIT, Stanford, and leading tech firms. In doing so, she’s helping close the opportunity gap and build economic sustainability for youth, particularly those in underrepresented communities.

Manya’s strong leadership skills and deep concern for social justice position her to be part of the sustainability solution for Contra Costa County and perhaps even wider horizons.

Devin T. Murphy

Devin T. Murphy reflects a commitment to a sustainable and inclusive future through people-first problem solving. As a Pinole council member, former mayor, and director on MCE’s Board, Devin’s focus on clean energy, housing, and civic participation has created lasting benefits. 

Devin helped launch Pinole’s first Climate Action & Adaptation Plan and led efforts behind Walk & Roll Pinole for safer streets and cleaner transportation. He supported the approval of Valor Village, an all-electric affordable housing project for veterans, and continues to advocate for renewable energy and equitable access. He is a staunch backer of local clean energy projects and programs that help reduce pollution while keeping energy rates stable and cost-competitive for both residents and businesses. Devin leads by listening first and moving forward with purpose—whether it’s a neighborhood project or a countywide partnership. Devin brings a variety of voices into local government through internship programs for youth, expanded participatory budgeting, and inclusive policies that reflect the diversity of the community. As Pinole’s first Black, openly gay, and youngest-ever mayor, he brings personal insight and lived experience to the table. He serves in regional roles with the Association of Bay Area  Governments, RecycleMore, and the Green Empowerment Zone. He shows what’s possible when sustainability and equity aren’t just goals but the starting point.

Contra Costa Mosquito & Vector Control District

The Contra Costa Mosquito & Vector Control District is dedicated to the health and welfare of the county’s more than 1 million residents over an area of 716 square miles. The District has protected residents from vectors and their diseases such as the West Nile virus for more than 90 years, and Contra Costa County residents pay nothing for their services. 

The District prioritizes ecological balance and uses holistic methods such as prevention, surveillance, public education, and mosquito eating fish. If chemicals are required, they are used as a last resort and chosen for being the least harmful to the environment. The District ensures the safety of all aspects of the economy by protecting health crops,  livestock, and workers. Through early detection and consistent monitoring, the District prevents outbreaks that could overwhelm public health systems and cause serious illness and death. 

The District is on a pathway toward Zero Carbon Energy. Solar power covers a large portion of their building’s electrical needs, and remodels include energy efficient lighting and upgraded heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems. As an MCE Deep Green customer, the District is committed to using 100% renewable energy like wind and solar, reducing their carbon footprint, and installing electric vehicle charging stations for their employees and customers.

Innersense Organic Beauty

Innersense Organic Beauty, in Concord, is a leading producer of clean, salon quality hair and personal care products that integrate sustainability at every level. They are committed  to transparency and never use harmful cosmetic ingredients or unsafe toxins. 

Innersense is a Contra Costa Green Business and certified plastic neutral through rePurpose global, Carbon Neutral through Climate Neutral, and B corp. Innersense tracks its annual carbon emissions and aims to reduce business travel emissions by 20% in the coming year. Innersense uses packaging with at least 50% post recycled consumer content and partners with How to Recycle to provide clear recycling instructions on all packaging. Their warehouses and headquarters are powered by 100% renewable energy. Innersense is committed to creating a positive social impact and partners with Feeding America, Williams Syndrome Association, Lipstick Angels, The Loveland Foundation, and others. They advocate for legislation that creates impactful change within the beauty industry, including stricter standards and support for disadvantaged populations who might be more vulnerable to harmful ingredients. The inspiration for making clean cosmetics began when the founder’s daughter was diagnosed with Williams Syndrome. Ingredients are all natural, sustainably sourced, harvested seasonally and ethically, and cruelty-free, Leaping Bunny certified.

Food Shift

Food Shift Executive Director Yuka Nagashima and her mighty team inject effectiveness, experience, equity, inclusivity, and education into Contra Costa County’s edible food recovery ecosystem. Food Shift’s strategy for diverting organics from landfill while feeding the hungry has become a paradigm to model. Food Shift has been a nonprofit project of Earth Island Institute since 2012 and focuses on feeding the hungry with otherwise wasted edible food. Food Shift promotes sustainable careers to people of all backgrounds with SB1383 compliance training and certification at no cost to food waste generators, including state agencies such as school districts in participating jurisdictions. 

Since 2020, Food Shift has redistributed more than 361 tons of food – approximately 310 tons of CO2e – and collected and invested $16,000 back into edible food recovery, along with $109,600 worth of in-kind food donations. Food Shift feeds 13,000 food insecure people in Contra Costa and Alameda Counties weekly and provides services to partners that arise from justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (JEDI). Food Shift launched “Operation Together Partners,” a network of 97 food donors, in-kind donors (for supplies, equipment and services), community organizations for distribution, and funders. Food Shift has consultant contracts in the Cities of Antioch and Oakley, and with RecycleMore, RecycleSmart, and StopWaste.

Raini Chugh – Rising Star

As a third-grader in 2018, Raini Chugh organized her classmates to hold up signs asking parents waiting to pick up students to turn off their engines. In 2019 she initiated a Lafayette School District anti-idling poster contest and raised funds to post banners in each District school. Over the following two years, she presented an idle-free ordinance to Lafayette’s Environmental Task Force and City Council. When the ordinance was blocked, Raini started a petition, tabled, used social media, and produced educational videos to successfully get a No Idling Resolution passed. In 2023 and 2024, she got “Idle-Free Zone” signs approved for Lafayette school parking lots and is expanding this effort to parks, community centers, and nearby cities.

Raini was instrumental in getting bike and pedestrian lanes implemented in 2023 near two Lafayette schools, again using a youth-led campaign. She is now focusing on plastic waste and has identified key loopholes in Lafayette’s existing ordinances. She’s working with the Environmental Task Force to strengthen those ordinances and educate local businesses. Raini has grown into a remarkably effective leader who has helped shape Lafayette’s sustainability landscape. She is able to work alongside adults and students and is an extraordinary role model.

Marti Roach

Marti Roach has devoted the last 13 years to bringing Contra Costa residents together to combat climate change through collective action. She founded and worked with the Contra Costa chapter of Citizens Climate Lobby, a national organization working to build Congressional support for climate solutions. She was a co-founder of the Interfaith Climate Action Network of Contra Costa. In 2018, Marti formed the Contra Costa Climate Action Network to share information with the various groups working on climate issues. 

Marti co-founded 350 Contra Costa Action in 2019 to provide a base for advocacy to cities and the County. She also was a board member of 350 Bay Area Action. In 2023, she contributed the organizational planning and facilitation skills developed during her professional work to making the Contra Costa and the Inflation Reduction Act Conference a great success, with over 120 attendees from government, labor, education, community groups, environmental groups, and workforce organizations. Marti and a colleague were asked to join the state’s CA Jobs First Initiative, where they proposed the East County Healthy Homes Project. Along with a partner group, they were awarded $717,000 to plan a home retrofit program for low-income residents of Pittsburg and Antioch, an effort now underway.

Kathy Kramer – Lifetime Achievement

In her nearly 40 years as an environmental educator, Kathy Kramer has innovated a wide range of adult and children’s programs that have awakened participants to the joy and benefits of our natural surroundings. As education director for the San Francisco Estuary Institute in the late 1980’s, she developed award-winning programs for children and teachers. She founded three of the Bay Area’s most successful creek restoration groups and helped launch the “creeks movement” that has spread nationwide.

Kathy became the first Executive Director of what is now The Watershed Project in 1996. This non-profit sponsors nature restoration and education projects, particularly in disadvantaged and flood-prone areas of West County. In 2005, she founded and still coordinates the annual Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour. The Tour, which partners with city and county Clean Water Programs, water districts, non-profits, and businesses, has resulted in more than 235,000 visits to gardens large and small. The Tour’s Native Plant Extravaganzas provide hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of sales to small native nurseries. During Covid, Kathy organized low-income Contra Costa youth to help convert thirsty lawns to drought-tolerant natives. In 2021, she initiated Green Home Tours that showcase homes with emissions-reducing electrification.