• Tara Bozick •
• Originally published July 1, 2008 at 12:04 a.m., updated July 1, 2008 at 12:04 a.m.

Joni Brown plans to say goodbye to the city to join Keep Victoria Beautiful as executive director.

Her boss and director of environmental services Jerry James doesn’t feel too excited about finding a replacement.

“It’s going to be difficult to do, especially since she’s done such a good job and has had such a positive effect on the community,” James said.

Her air quality program received three national awards and recognition throughout the state, James said. Her key is finding practical programs that resonate with and make sense to residents.

She helped the city’s mission of raising awareness of residents’ environmental footprints with recycling, alternative fuels and the clean cities program, James added.

Dian Denker, chairman of the board for Keep Victoria Beautiful, remembers Brown was with the organization when it originally started. Her talents, such as grant writing, and her community influences can only help the nonprofit in its mission of litter prevention, community beautification and solid waste minimization, she said.

“I’m very happy she’s taking the organization on,” Denker said. “I think she’ll be a great asset to the group.”

Brown will leave the city Friday and start her new job Monday. After seven years as the city’s environmental programs coordinator, Brown leaves to serve the public with a group for which she feels passion.

“At heart, I’m a public servant,” Brown said.

She continues to hope Victorians will embrace environmental responsibility through simple everyday behaviors like sharing a ride to lunch. Her family stopped using the dishwasher.

One sixth-grader inspired her when he developed a campaign for the student body to put a toothbrush in the shower.

“Education is and in itself a wonderful thing, but until it changes behaviors, it doesn’t change society,” Brown said.

How did she become such an advocate for the environment?

Brown’s father raised his children in nature, always pointing out plants, birds and even weeds in the yard.

“I grew up in a family that had a great respect for nature,” Brown said. “My parents saw it as God’s creation.”

Over time, she became involved with organizations that shared those values, like the city’s environmental services. She recalls personally, dressed in suit and heels, slapping “Stop at the Click” stickers on the 1,100 gas pumps in Victoria County in April 2006.

The idea popped into her head when a Corpus Christi gas station placed notices to stop at the click for safety reasons. So, why not for air quality?

When cities across Texas and the nation replicated that program, Brown felt honored.

“Replicability is the hallmark of nonprofit work,” Brown said.

But she feels just as honored when someone tells her,” Because of you, I stop at the click.”

Because of Brown, the city feels confident in its environmental services future, James said. She leaves behind long-term sustainable programs that she developed for the city.

“We look forward to her having a positive effect on the community with her new job,” James said.

Brown will continue to keep Victoria beautiful.

Tara Bozick is a reporter for the Advocate. Contact her at 361-580-6504 or tbozick@vicad.com, or comment on this story at www.VictoriaAdvocate.com.

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