Andrea Crooms

Andrea Crooms (nee: Andrea Poniecki) (born November 20, 1979) is currently the Director of the Department of the Environment for Prince George's County, Maryland. They also serve on the Board of Directors for District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority, the water utility for Washington, DC and as a representative to the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (MWCOG) where they serve on the Climate, Energy and Environment Policy Committee (CEEPC), Chesapeake Bay & Water Resources Policy Committee (CBPC),https://www.mwcog.org/committees/members/details/?key=IHrZXgCm59ssG%2FxxM3AR6nc6Ms%2Bm9UCDVKGOpmPBYcA%3D and the Anacostia Watershed Steering Committee (AWSC).https://www.mwcog.org/committees/members/details/?key=ztSOk%2B8c%2BAHF48Ca7ToquR0urBb3kZB4vzNPSTNYGPU%3D Prior to their current position, they served as Senior Advisor in the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy at the United States Department of Energy and as a Public Defender in both Harlan County, Kentucky and the City of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They are an environmental attorney, with expertise in natural resources economics, plant science, and energy engineering and 20 years of leadership experience in environmental regulation and climate change mitigation. 
== Department of Environment, Prince George's County ==
Since joining the Department, Director Crooms has been recognized as a leader on Climate Action across Maryland. They have overseen the rollout of a county-wide food scraps curbside collection program, one of the nation’s first and largest, led the capture of fugitive zebras in a case that made global headlines,https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-59662322 rolled out a county-wide bulky trash strategy, oversaw the upgrade of the materials recycling facility, issued the County’s Draft Climate Action Plan, https://umdsbs.wordpress.com/2021/12/15/plenty-of-obstacles-to-implementing-prince-georges-county-climate-action-plan/https://streetcarsuburbs.news/county-moves-climate-action-plan-forward/https://pgccouncil.us/DocumentCenter/View/7349/Draft-Climate-Action-Plan and developed the County's Climate Smart Commodities program.
== U.S. Department of Energy ==
From 2015 to 2021, Crooms served in a number of leadership positions in transportation, solar, weatherization and manufacturing and oversaw a number of programs and initiatives at the US Department of Energy.In that role they received the Secretary of Energy’s Achievement Award as a member of the Hurricane Response Team, for serving at FEMA's National Response Coordination Center (NRCC) during Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Irma Prior to serving as a federal employee, Crooms served as a contractor to the US Department of Energy from 2011 until 2015 and oversaw the Buy American Program implemented under the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. https://www.energync.net/wdocs/WorkshopReciepeintsARRA/BuyAmericanProvisions_AP_10052010.pdf
==Defender Association of Philadelphia==
Crooms served as an Assistant Public Defender in the City of Philadelphia from 2007-2010.
==Kentucky Department of Public Advocacy, Harlan County==
Crooms graduated from the University of Kentucky College of Law in May of 2004, and served as the District Court Public Defender in Harlan County working out of the Pineville office of the Kentucky Department of Public Advocacy from 2004 until 2006.
==Advocacy and Political Work==
Crooms was elected as the Democratic Party Delegate for Bernie Sanders for Washington, D.C. District 2 for the 2020 election.https://www.dcdemocraticparty.org/candidates-for-delegatehttps://www.dcdemocraticparty.org/post/dc-democratic-party-district-level-delegate-election-results However, Sanders did not get enough of the vote and all of the democratic delegates went for Joe Biden.https://electionresults.dcboe.org/election_results/2020-Primary-Election 
Crooms also volunteered as an environmental and social justice advocate with the We Power DC campaignhttps://wepowerdc.org/,a coalition "fighting for a power system that works for and is owned by the residents of the District of Columbia–one that works transparently and democratically to fight the climate crisis and meet everyone’s needs regardless of their ability to pay"https://biologicaldiversity.org/w/news/press-releases/on-covid-anniversary-justice-groups-gather-in-dc-to-demand-utility-shutoffs-moratorium-2021-03-13/https://edocket.dcpsc.org/apis/api/filing/download?attachId=108255&guidFileName=834c1d85-2115-4360-b76f-c723ac0fbe86.PDFhttps://www.eater.com/23552026/gas-stove-ban-safety-fears-portable-butane-burner-solution
From 2015-2016, they served on the Board of Directors for the Girl Scouts of the Chesapeake Bay, where they had received the Gold Award in 1995,https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/510064337 and in 2014 served on the Board of Directors for Solar Household Energy https://www.she-inc.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/ar2014.pdf an organization that "strives to unleash the potential of solar cooking to improve social, economic and environmental conditions in sun-rich areas around the world".
==Early and Family Life==
Andrea Crooms was born in Wilmington, Delaware. Their parents were Francis Ponieckihttps://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/delawareonline/name/francis-poniecki-obituary?id=16483770 and Dorothy Poniecki.https://www.delcotimes.com/2010/04/11/dorothy-dot-marie-taylor-poniecki-72devoted-volunteer-enjoyed-bowling-bridge/ They graduated from Archmere Academy in Claymont, Delaware in 1997.https://issuu.com/archmereacademy/docs/archmere_archmerean_2010-12_v10/29
Category:1979 births
Category:People from Wilmington, Delaware
Category:People from Upper Marlboro, Maryland
Category:University of Kentucky alumni
Category:University of Delaware alumni
Category:New York Institute of Technology alumni