Jerome Foster II (born May 9, 2002) is an American environmental activist. He is the youngest-ever White House advisor in United States history,[1][2] as a member of the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council within the Biden administration.[3] Foster is a leading voice for marginalized and working class communities in spaces pushing for social, economic and environmental justice.[4] Foster is one of the major organizers of Fridays for Future; holding weekly climate strikes at the front gates of the White House for over 57 weeks.[5] He has previously served as a congressional intern for U.S. Representative John Lewis at the age of 16 and served on the Washington DC State Board of Education's Advisory Council at the age of 14.
Foster has helped organize some of the largest climate marches in Washington, D.C.,[6] and has spoken at the United Nations High Commission on Human Rights in April 2019[7] and the United Nations Youth Climate Summit in September 2019. Foster gained international recognition after organizing climate strikes outside the White House and being interviewed by former vice president Al Gore at the Atlanta Climate Reality Leadership Training in March 2019.
Early life
Jerome Foster II was born in Washington, D.C.,[8] on May 9, 2002, by his mother René Foster, and father, Jerome Foster Sr.[9][10][11] Foster attended Washington Leadership Academy High School, graduating in June 2020.[2] In 2019, he was selected by the D.C. Office of the State Superintendent of Education to attend Harvard University during his eleventh grade summer.[12][13] Foster graduated from high school in June 2020[2] and studies computer science at Pace University.[14][15]
Activism
TAU VR
When Foster was 14 years old, he founded an immersive technology organization, TAU VR, which built virtual reality environments regarding American History, Climate Change, and Latin American Immigration to the United States, and more. In September 2017, TAU VR was featured on XQ Super School Live,[16] which was aired on ABC, CBS, NBC, and FOX which depicted his story of placing 3rd at the World Series of Entrepreneurship.[16]
The Climate Reporter
Foster, in November 2017, founded The Climate Reporter, an international youth-led climate-focused news outlet that reports.[17][18]
White House climate strikes
As a part of Greta Thunberg's School Strike for Climate protest, Foster held weekly climate strikes in front of the White House in Lafayette Square.[19][20] On September 13, 2019, Thunberg as a part of her trans-American voyage to COP 25 in Santiago, Chile joined Foster's White House climate strikes which drew thousands to the site.[21][22][23] Through organizing these climate strikes, Foster met Jane Fonda and has gone on to collaborate with Fonda on her Fire Drill Fridays.[24]
OneMillionOfUs
Foster founded OneMillionOfUs in early 2019.[25][26][27] Which is an international non-profit youth voting and advocacy organization. It aims to "educate, empower and mobilise a movement of young people to be civically active and engage on the local and global stage through their intersectional youth-focused civic partnerships",[28] OneMillionOfUs has built a large coalition that will provide young people with the tools they need to spur systemic change in their communities, school buildings and political offices.[29] This organization also created a "Uniting Youth Coalition"[30] representing 5 youth social movements: gun violence, climate change, immigration reform, gender equality, and racial equality to have a space on both the local and international level to coordinate events and campaigns between movements.[31]
COP27 Scrutiny on LGBTQ+ Rights
In July 2022, Foster and his partner, Elijah McKenzie-Jackson, co-authored a letter to the UNFCCC[32] to call on the United Nations to move COP27 climate summit[33] due to Egypt's "LGBTQ+ torture, woman slaughter, and civil rights suppression" he says[34] after they started looking into logistics of traveling to Sharm El-Sheikh.[35] As Foster is an openly-public bisexual figure,[36] he and his partner "might be targeted"[34] according to Guardian News.
The letter, which was directed towards UNFCCC Executive-Secretary, Patricia Espinosa,[37] was signed by prominent activists such as Nadya Tolokonnikova, Ahmed Alaa, and Eric Njuguna. The couple are calling the UNFCCC non-action a betrayal of the community and "inherent discrimination."[38] Foster emphasized that, "there are better options of countries in Africa that will still include African voices. People shouldn't be cannon fodder for the climate movement. Cop27 will fail if it's in Egypt because critical voices will be left out."[39]
Politics
District of Columbia State Board of Education
At 15 years old, Foster became the sole student representative serving on the District of Columbia State Board of Education High School Graduation Requirements Task Force, working to modernize high school graduation requirements starting with the class of 2030 across the District.[40]
Congressional internship
At 16 years old, Foster applied to be an intern for U.S. Representative John Lewis, as described in an interview in late 2020.[41] On Fridays during his internship, he held weekly climate rallies at the front gates of the White House as a part of Greta Thunberg's Fridays For Future movement to advocate for the passage of the Climate Change Education Act which would add environmental education as a core subject in all American schools and provide funding for colleges to further research into the climate crisis.[42]
Foster has been in a relationship with British climate activist Elijah McKenzie-Jackson since 2021.[45][46] They announced their engagement on June 11, 2023.[47]
