Patrick Geans-Ali

Patrick is a two-time award winning journalist with over seven years of experience working in the profession both domestically and internationally. He is recipient of both the National Defense Medal and Navy Achievement Medal with seven years of combined service in the Arkansas Army National Guard and the U.S. Navy as a chaplains assistant. 

After completing his service obligation in 1993, Patrick worked as a program coordinator for the Project READ literacy program out of the Redwood City Public Library in Redwood City, California. He went on to work as an software instructor for one of the world's top software companies before returning to his hometown of Stuttgart, Arkansas to formally begin his career in his chosen profession as a journalist in 1999.

After working in several small newspapers in Southeast Arkansas for the better part of the next decade and gaining experience on all levels of media production such as digital photography, copy editing, web technology, graphics and page design, Patrick traveled to the small Caribbean island of Saba in the Dutch Caribbean. There he worked as a teacher at the local Adult Education Center, and as a community reporter for the St. Maartin Daily Herald before relocating to Detroit to work as Communications Coordinator for the East Michigan Environmental Action Council.

In September of 2012, Patrick joined the Detroit Sierra Club's Environmental Justice Office as an organizer working on climate change and alternative energy issues with the Beyond Coal Campaign.