Profile
Leo Balik
My approach to social justice work, inside and outside of the nonprofit sector, is informed by the principles of collective liberation -- the recognition that my freedom is dependent on the freedom of all beings (human and beyond-human). My introduction to the climate justice movement as an undergraduate student at Clark University supported me in translating these principles into action. As a student organizer, I learned the importance of fostering relationships to realize change at the community level. I am deeply invested in relational organizing to build community power, dismantle systems of injustice, and ultimately, co-create a community that centers human and more-than-human wellbeing and safety. This desire for "a community by everyone, for everyone" led me to GenUnity.
Prior to working at GenUnity, my professional experience was devoted to education on the harms of our industrialized food system on human and more-than-human communities. I am currently pursuing my master's in clinical mental health counseling and art therapy.
Outside of class, work, and community organizing, you can catch me visiting my local library branch, watching a film at Coolidge Corner, making art, consulting my tarot decks, and giving my pup Chai lots of belly rubs.