Abre' Conner

Abre’ Conner is an environmental justice and civil rights attorney and the Director of the Center for Environmental and Climate Justice at the NAACP. She oversees the strategy and collaboration across the NAACP to dismantle environmental racism. She also leads the Association’s Stop Dirty Data Campaign and started the Association’s first climate film and storytelling program, Climate in Color, among other work within her Center. She has taught Education Law and the Environmental Policy Clinic in the Environmental Policy and Management Program at the University of California-Davis. 

A native of Lakeland, FL, Abre' served as the Directing Attorney of Health at the Law Foundation of Silicon Valley where she led the litigation, direct legal services work, and advocacy regarding health equity and the social determinants of health that impact historically excluded communities across the Silicon Valley. Before joining the Law Foundation, Abre' was a staff attorney with the ACLU Foundation of Northern California, where she advocated for the civil rights and liberties of Central Valley and Northern California residents, including an emphasis on issues that impact people of color in rural communities such as environmental justice. As a staff attorney at the Center on Race, Poverty, and the Environment in Delano, CA, Abre' primarily worked with migrant farmworkers and in unincorporated communities.  

She has worked at numerous civil rights entities including the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, the U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights, and Capitol Hill. She was also an associate in the White House Office of Presidential Personnel in the Obama Administration. She currently sits on the ABA's Board of Governors, Earthjustice’s Board of Trustees, and was appointed to the EPA's first HBCU-MSI Advisory Council. A graduate of American University, Washington College of Law, and the University of Florida, Abre' has been named a top 40 under 40 Nation's Best Advocate by the National Bar Association, 40 under 40 alumni by the University of Florida, 40 under 40 Young, Gifted, and Green recipient, and has been featured in the New York Times' The Daily, Essence, Forbes Magazine, Bloomberg Law,  American Bar Association Journal, Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Incorporated's National Magazine, The Archon, Cosmopolitan Magazine, and a 2026 Honoree for TIME magazine’s The Closers list.