Dr. Cristina Muñoz De La Torre (she/her) develops research and policy analysis and program evaluation around climate and environmental justice with a specialization in disaster resilience and equity. She connects BIPOC frontline organizations and communities to federal resilience resources and supports capacity building for community-led resilience programming and equitable solutions.

Cristina brings 15 years of research and leadership experience in the area of climate, environmental justice, and natural hazards and disasters. She obtained her PhD from the University if Iowa in the field of geography where she completed her dissertation entitled: Identifying barriers and access to equitable allocations of federal disaster assistance— The influential roles of social vulnerability and social capital and their interaction. She has published in peer review journals such as Natural Hazards Review and the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health and has presented her research at the Natural Hazards Workshop. She has served on the boards of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) of Iowa and the Bill Anderson Fund (BAF). She worked as a community resilience planner where she developed flood resilience and climate action plans and wrote a guidebook for planners on implementing equitable resilience planning.

Cristina was born and raised in South Central Los Angeles, CA and is a first-generation Latina from Salvadorian and Mexican descent. Her passion for environmental justice began at a young age growing up in a neighborhood surrounded by toxic facilities and having limited access to greenspaces. Her experiences in Los Angeles and in environmental justice communities inspired her to organize and advocate, and ultimately pursue a PhD to inform change and use her expertise to support the environmental justice movement.

Contact: cristina at justsolutionscollective.org