Celeste Flores

SPEAKER | LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS OF ILLINOIS, ISSUES BRIEFING 2023

Celeste Flores, a child of immigrant parents, serves as Director of Community Building at Mano a Mano Family Resource Center. She is responsible for developing and implementing civic engagement, immigrant community organizing, and policy advocacy. She also oversees the Democracy in Action program and the Liderazgo program for emerging leaders in Lake County.

Celeste has also worked in the national environmental justice movement for the past nine years. Her work with frontline community members has drawn national attention to the environmental injustices associated with corporate polluters in Lake County, Illinois. As the former Co-Chair of Clean Power Lake County, she has built pivotal relationships with coalition partners and elected officials around the country, and champions for environmental justice and frontline communities to be part of conversations shaping policy decisions. She has been awarded numerous recognitions for her state and federal legislative work. Celeste received the 2017 Archdiocese of Chicago Hispanic Ministry Gaudium et Spes Award, she was a recipient of the 2020 Energy News Network 40 under 40 award, and Celeste was the 2020 guest of Senator Tammy Duckworth for the State of the Union.

Celeste recognizes that political engagement is critical at every level of government. In 2022 she was appointed to the Warren Newport Library Board. Celeste was named to the 2022 Class of the Edgar Fellows Program. Most recently she was chosen to be part of the 2023 Illinois Women Institute for Leadership Training Academy Class.