Carolina Prado

Dr. Carolina Prado works at the intersection of community based research, environmental justice, and border studies. As a first generation queer Chicana, she believes that her struggles for social and environmental justice should create an impact on both sides of the border. Her current work is using environmental justice mapping indices in the U.S. as a guide to create a spatial analysis of environmental inequality in the border city of Tijuana, México. She is also passionate about food justice and anti-domestic violence work.

• PhD, Environmental Science, Policy, and Management with Designated Emphasis in Gender, Women, and Sexuality | University of California, Berkeley
• BA, Environmental Studies & Women’s Studies | San Diego State University

Environmental justice, U.S.-México border issues, Gender and the environment, Climate justice, Water pollution, Participatory Geographic Information Systems, Community based research

• LTNS 210: Latina/o/x Health Care Perspectives
• LTNS 350: Gender and Latina/x Feminisms
• ETHS 500: Race, Ethnicity and Health

• 2020- Ongoing   Board Member. Oakland Bloom. Oakland, CA
• 2020- 2021         Project Coordinator and Volunteer. Eastlake United Mutual Aid for Justice. Oakland, CA
• 2019- 2021         Neighborhood Leadership Council Leader. Equitable Climate Action Plan. Oakland, CA.
• 2018- Ongoing   Board member. Colectivo Salud y Justicia Ambiental. Tijuana, CA.
• 2017- Ongoing   Domestic Violence Counseling Interpreter. Asian Women’s Shelter, Multilingual Access Model. San Francisco, CA.
• 2017- 2020         Board Secretary. Oakland Communities United for Equity and Justice. Oakland, CA.

University Service

• 2023-2025 Climate Justice Faculty Learning, Communities Coordinator. Climate HQ. San Francisco State University
• 2023-2025 Climate Justice Mini Grants Program coordinator. Climate HQ. San Francisco State University.
• 2024-2025 Faculty Advisor: Latinx Queer Club. San Francisco State University.
• 2024-2025 Climate Action Fellowship Selection Committee Member. Climate HQ. San Francisco State University.
• 2023-2024 CSU-Wide Climate Change Faculty Learning Community, San Francisco State University’s Campus Coordinator. CSU-wide Climate Change Teaching Climate Change & Resilience FLC, Hosted by Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.
• 2023-2024 CEETL Advisory Board Member. Center for Equity and Excellence in Teaching and Learning. San Francisco State University.
• 2022-2023 CEETL Latinx Solidarity Statement & Teaching Resources Curator. Center for Equity and Excellence in Teaching. San Francisco State University.

College Service

• 2022-2025 Scholarship Committee. College of Ethnic Studies. San Francisco State University.

Departmental Service

• 2024-2025 Departmental Self Study Committee. Latina/Latino Studies. San Francisco State University.

Peer Reviewed Articles

• Prado, Carolina, Guillermo Douglass-Jaimes, and Colectivo Salud y Justicia Ambiental. "Surveying Community Environmental Justice: Urban Runoff Patterns in Eastern Tijuana, México." Social Sciences 14, no. 2 (2025): 63.

https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci14020063

• Prado, Carolina, Zsea Bowmani, Chad Raphael, and Martha Matsuoka. “Law, Policy, Regulation, and Public Participation.” In Ground Truths: Community-Engaged Research for Environmental Justice, edited by Chad Raphael and Martha Mutsuoka, __. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2024.

https://doi.org/10.1525/luminos.174    

• Ellington, Alycia, and Carolina Prado. "Connecting schools and communities: a look at place-based learning and equitable access in SF Bay Area outdoor environmental education." Environmental Education Research 30, no. 8 (2024): 1327-1347. 

https://doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2024.2321260

• Prado, Carolina, Katherine Cushing, Elizabeth Figueroa, Imelda Rodriguez, Mayra Pelagio, and Marisela Castro. "The confidence to speak: Measuring impacts of a community leadership program on community leadership skills and self-identification." Community Development (2021): 1-20.

https://doi.org/10.1080/15575330.2021.1943695

• Prado, Carolina, Colectivo Salud y Justicia Ambiental, and Red de Ciudadanos para el Mejoramiento de las Comunidades. "Border Environmental Justice PPGIS: Community-Based Mapping and Public Participation in Eastern Tijuana, México." International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 18, no. 3 (2021): 1349.

https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18031349

• Prado, Carolina. "Community Participation and Recognition Justice in Border Environmental Governance." Journal of Borderlands Studies (2020): 1-19.

https://doi.org/10.1080/08865655.2020.1774407  

• Prado, Carolina. "Borderland environmental justice and governance apertures." Environmental Politics 29, no. 7 (2020): 1264-1283.

https://doi.org/10.1080/09644016.2019.1629172               

• Prado, Carolina. "Just community participation and Border environmental governance: A view from the Border 2020 program." Journal of Environmental Policy & Planning 21, no. 6 (2019): 662-674.

https://doi.org/10.1080/1523908X.2019.1665991 

• Gonzalez, Alejandra, Irene Lara, Carolina Prado, Sophia Lujan Rivera, and Carmen Rodriguez. "Passing the Sage: Our sacred testimonio as CuranderaScholarActivists in academia." Chicana/Latina Studies (2015): 110-155.

White Papers/Technical Reports

• Prado, Carolina. “RE: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Mexican SEMARNAT’s ‘Border 2025 Program’ Draft Framework and Increasing Community Participation.” Policy Memo. Border 2025 Program Coordinators.
• Prado, Carolina, Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity, Freedom for Immigrants, and the Immigrant Defenders Research Group. “2018 West County Detention Facility Report: An analysis of conditions at West County Detention Center (Richmond, CA).” Policy Report. West County Detention Center Sheriff.