Our Team

Clare is the Chief Programs and Operating Officer of the Solutions Project. She is an experienced and imaginative social impact executive with deep expertise in creative advocacy and philanthropy. She brings a strong gender lens to her work on climate action with a track-record working on issues of gender equality.

Clare previously served as a Senior Advisor to the United Nations’ milestone Generation Equality initiative, where she played a leading role in the initiative’s launch, which garnered an unprecedented $40 Billion in new global commitments for gender equality. She was also previously the VP of Programs and then COO of Global Fund for Women, leading the organization’s global strategy, operations, grantmaking and advocacy. Her responsibilities included oversight of grantmaking of over 250 grants in over 50 countries per year, benefiting 1.5 million individuals annually and contributing to significant legal and policy change.

Clare has a track record catalyzing creative projects that drive money and attention to critical social causes. She is the former CEO of International Museum of Women (IMOW), an innovative online museum and a global hub for digital story-telling, art and advocacy. During her tenure, the organization created 7 digital exhibitions reaching more than 2 million online visitors and initiated events and installations in 14 countries on five continents. As a VP at the Women’s Funding Network (WFN) she spearheaded the communications launch of Women Moving Millions, a major giving campaign that garnered over $180 million in its initial phase.

Clare was previously Head of Communications at King Charles’ UK charity for young people, The Prince’s Trust, overseeing media relations, celebrity engagement and all marketing communications.

When not working towards climate action, Clare enjoys reading, travel and exploring Northern California with her husband and two children.

After 8 years working on grants for an international non-profit, Caroleena (Caro) is excited to bring her experience to The Solutions Project as the Grantmaking Manager. Caro worked with the Food Systems and Climate Change teams at Oxfam America where she was getting grants out to partners around the globe. Caro was inspired by all the voices making an impact around the world on climate change, food justice and gender justice.  

Before starting her work in the international non-profit space, Caro started her journey with Year Up Providence in the career services department supporting BIPOC youth from 18 - 24. During her time there she saw how important it was to see her peers, family and community members occupy voice and space across many sectors. She wants to continue to work in spaces where BIPOC people are supported and seen.  

Caro currently lives in Providence, RI where she grew up and attended the University of Rhode Island. Caro loves spending time with those closest to her, helping her friends however she can, getting in a good hike, and always enjoying food with some good music. 

Linetta J. Gilbert serves as Managing Partner of Gilbert & Associates. A respected leader in the
philanthropic community, Linetta provides consulting, coaching and network-building support to
foundations, large and small non-profits and emerging thought leaders. Her areas of practice
include strategy development/planning and technical assistance for advancing organizational and
community wide racial equity outcomes; board development; strategic planning; leadership
development; and group facilitation.

Linetta has held leadership positions with a number of notable foundations. She served as Senior
Program Officer for Social Justice Philanthropy with The Ford Foundation, where, over nearly a
decade, she invested, monitored and leveraged $1 billion in resources dedicated to transforming
and strengthening community-based philanthropic organizations worldwide. A significant portion
of her career has focused on influencing the reach into Black and other communities of color as
donors and leveraging their leadership on critical national and global issues.

In the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, Linetta helped guide decisions on philanthropic
investments that would help to rebuild infrastructure and increase capacity in government,
resident leadership, non-profit organizations and the business community and transition the
region from recovery to transformation. She served as a place-based consultant in New Orleans to
the Annie E. Casey Foundation for its Neighborhood Transformation Initiative. As the former Vice
President of Programs for the Greater New Orleans Foundation, Linetta designed and
implemented grant-making and programs for this regional foundation, expanding its
programmatic reach to include critical issues such as housing and community development; work
force development; violence prevention; neighborhood resident engagement; faith-based
economic development; and rural development initiatives. She has also served as a national
consultant on public policies in the fields of early learning/education, health, housing and child
welfare services.

Linetta actively uses her years of development experience to help improve her community and
currently serves on the boards of Agenda for Children, the Amistad Research Center and the Old
Algiers Main Street Corporation and as a Trustee of The Solutions Project. She is the immediate
past Chairman and founding member of the Board of Directors for the Foundation for Louisiana,
a statewide public charity that invests in people and practices working to reduce vulnerability and
build stronger, more sustainable communities.

During the celebration of the 300 th anniversary of the City of New Orleans, Linetta was
recognized as one of 300 residents of New Orleans who had made significant contributions to the
people of New Orleans. In 2019, she was recognized for her achievements in philanthropy by
being selected as the 29 th James A. Joseph Lecturer by the Association of Black Foundation
Executives. In that same year the Community Investment Network, a group of young adult
community donors established a service award in Linetta’s name to be awarded annually to
persons with distinguished service to and financial contributions in their community.

Other recognition and awards recognizing Linetta’s service in philanthropy include: The Paul Ylvisaker
Award for Creative Grantmaking from the National Council on Foundations (2008), The Seed
Planting Award from Emerging Partners in Philanthropy (2011) and recognition from the
Foundation for Louisiana as a founding Board Member ( 2015).

Linetta is an alumna of Howard University, Class of 1970. She is married to Rev. Paul H. Gilbert
and they have 2 daughters, Dr. Marita Gilbert and Mrs. Ashleigh Gardere. She is the proud
grandmother of Jayden and Justin Gardere. Linetta is a woman of faith and currently serves at Christian Unity Baptist Church in New Orleans.
She is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated, Rho Pi Omega Chapter serving
Orleans Parish and communities on the West bank of the Mississippi River.

George is the Executive Director of National People’s Action, a network of metropolitan and statewide membership organizations dedicated to advancing economic and racial justice in all aspects of society. George began his career as the founding president of the Coalition of Low-Income and Homeless Citizens. In 1996, he began working with the National People’s Action, and designed a national campaign to pressure HUD to address fraud and abuse within the FHA home loan program. As a result of three years of work on the issue, the Credit Watch Program was established to hold lenders accountable for excessive defaults on FHA-insured mortgages. George then became an organizing director and supervised an effort that forced statewide anti-predatory lending regulations and legislation in Illinois.

In addition, George works as a strategist and field organizer with the Center for Community Change where he has launched a national summit of immigrant and allied organizations from more than 30 states, resulting in establishing the national “Stop the Raids” movement, in response to a wave of immigration raids that separated young children from their parents.

Zelalem Adefris is the Vice President of Policy & Advocacy at Catalyst Miami, where she oversees Catalyst’s Policy & Engagement Department. Zelalem joined Catalyst Miami in 2016, directing the organization’s climate resilience programs and advocacy work. Her previous work experiences include environmental justice organizing at the Environmental Justice League of Rhode Island and conducting emergency preparedness research at the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She holds an MPH in Global Environmental Health from Emory University and a bachelor’s degree in Community Health from Brown University. In addition to being a philanthropic trustee of the Solutions Project, Zelalem serves as a steering committee member of the Miami Climate Alliance, as well as a board member of the Miami-Dade College Earth Ethics Institute and Miami-Dade County Community Action Agency.

Miya has an extensive background in community organizing, campaign strategy, leadership development and training, organizational development, and fundraising, and a long history of working in the environmental justice movement. In her twenties she was the executive director of the largest student environmental network in the US, the Student Environmental Action Coalition, SEAC, and worked broadly in international environment and development networks organizing for environmental and economic justice. Miya was a participant in the First National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit in 1991, and was on the drafting committee of the original Principles of Environmental Justice, a defining document for the environmental justice movement.

Miya first joined the Asian Pacific Environmental Network (APEN) staff in the mid-90’s as a youth organizer, and has served as lead organizer, development director and spearheaded APEN’s strategic planning. APEN has been fighting – and winning – environmental justice struggles for the past 18 years and remains one of the most unique organizations in the country explicitly developing the leadership and power of low-income Asian American immigrant and refugee communities. APEN has been a trailblazer in bringing the voices of APA communities to the forefront of environmental health and social justice fights in the Bay Area, winning real policy solutions for the community across a gamut of issues including occupational safety of high-tech workers, affordable housing, transportation and land-use, and challenging multinational corporations to mitigate pollution that is devastating the health and well-being of countless low-income communities of color.