Hannah Schanzer grew up in Chapel Hill North Carolina with a deep love for the environment and a passion for social justice. In 2019, she graduated from Washington University in St. Louis with a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Policy with concentrations in Environmental Justice and Urban Sustainability. At Wash U, Hannah served as the Student Union’s Student Environmental Council Chair and Office of Sustainability’s Environmental Justice Associate. Before CivicSpark, Hannah worked on food justice issues at Missouri Coalition of the Environment, regional sustainability at the St. Louis Mayor’s office, renewable energy education at Solar One, and building efficiency policy at the National Resources Defense Council.
Hannah Schanzer was part of the 2019-2020 Sac/Sierra CivicSpark. She served in the California Energy Commission’s (CEC) Energy Research and Development Division in the Market Facilitation Unit and Outreach Unit. From her position at the CEC, she worked directly with two local governments in disadvantaged communities, the City of Paramount and the City of Arvin, to identify and break down barriers to accessing funding for clean energy projects. For her volunteer service project, she worked with the City of Sacramento and the local organizations that make up the Sacramento Climate Justice Collaborative to program, organize and execute a 12-hour long livestream in celebration of Earth Day.
After completing her CivicSpark service year, she worked as a Field Organizer for the Arizona Democratic Party to flip the state Blue and elect Democrats up and down the ballot.