Na’Taki Osborne Jelks

Headshot of Fellow Na’Taki Osborne Jelks

Assistant Professor
Environmental and Health Sciences Department Spelman College
Atlanta, Georgia
nosborne@spelman.edu

Fellowship Project: Water insecurity framework

Na’Taki Osborne Jelks is an assistant professor at Spelman College. She also is the manager for Community and Leadership Development Programs for the National Wildlife Federation and chair of the West Atlanta Watershed Alliance, an organization committed to ensuring environmental justice in southwest and northwest Atlanta’s African-American neighborhoods. An environmental engineer by training, Osborne Jelks is committed to being a social change engineer.

Osborne Jelks is a nationally-recognized leader in engaging urban communities and youth of color in environmental stewardship through hands-on watershed and land restoration initiatives, environmental education, and training. In 2001, Jelks co-founded the Atlanta Earth Tomorrow® Program, National Wildlife Federation’s multi-cultural, youth environmental education and leadership development program that engages urban youth in investigating causes of environmental challenges, helps them connect to nature, fosters their leadership of youth-led community action projects, promotes civic engagement, and nurtures leadership skills for building personal environmental stewardship. The Program has directly reached over 2,500 youth and was recently selected as a 21st Century Conservation Service Corps (21CSC) member organization. Graduates have gone on to gain internships and permanent employment in the fields of environmental science and engineering, forestry, public health, environmental geography, and natural resource management.

Jelks is an alumna of Spelman College and Emory University and is currently a doctoral candidate at the Georgia State University School of Public Health.

Fellowship Project: Water insecurity framework

This project seeks to address the escalating global issue of water insecurity, particularly its impact on Black communities in the United States. With the World Health Organization projecting that half of the world’s population will reside in water-distressed areas by 2025, and millions lacking access to clean drinking water, including many in the U.S. facing inadequate water systems and aging infrastructure, the need for action is urgent. Despite varied definitions of water insecurity, current frameworks fail to fully grasp its root causes and related health disparities, hindering effective policy and practice. This study aims to develop a comprehensive water insecurity framework through a mixed-methods approach, focusing on how water insecurity compounds existing health disparities in Black communities. By initially examining Atlanta, Georgia, and expanding to broader regions across the United States, the project seeks to inform future interventions and policy changes to promote environmental justice and secure equitable access to clean water for all.