DIRECTOR OF EDUCATION & ENGAGEMENT

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As the Director of Education and Engagement, Lauren Burke leads strategic education and engagement efforts across BGA to bridge the concerns of the members of BGA’s labor and environmental partners on climate and clean economy advocacy. She focuses on planning, coordinating, and executing partner education programs for rank-and-file union members and environmentalists, strengthening their advocacy in BGA coalitions, policy work, and campaigns. Lauren started at BGA in 2024 as the Deputy Director of State Affairs designing systems to support state staff and improve internal coordination.

Lauren brings over twenty years of experience leading teams winning comprehensive campaigns for workers’ rights and climate justice. Her passion for building worker power is rooted in the decade she organized with low-wage workers to win union recognition at UNITE HERE. She has led collaborative campaigns forging solidarity between the climate and labor movements as the Organizing Director at Labor Network for Sustainability. Immediately prior to joining BGA, as a consultant with the Cornell Climate Jobs Institute, Lauren co-authored Reclaiming Our Future: A Climate Jobs Agenda for the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM).

Lauren is a Senior Atlantic Fellow of Social and Economic Equity at the International Inequalities Institute at the London School of Economics. As a Senior Fellow she has led a collaboration to build a peer-network of Global Atlantic Fellows working on climate action. She has a Masters in Inequalities and Social Science from the London School of Economics and a BA in History, Ethnicity Race and Migration from Yale University.

Lauren loves to explore the great outdoors – rock climbing and hiking as much as possible.