[close] Anthony "Van" Jones is the Special Advisor for Green Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation at the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ). Appointed by Barack Obama in March 2009, the newly created position will find Jones working with various "agencies and departments to advance the administration's climate and energy initiatives, with a special focus on improving vulnerable communities."

Jones is an environmental advocate, civil rights activist, attorney and author. He founded the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights in 1996, a California NGO working for alternatives to violence. During his tenure as Executive Director for the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, Jones signed a petition for 911Truth.org in 2004; subsequently, he has said the petition "didn't reflect my views now or ever." In 2005, Jones co-founded Color of Change, an advocacy group for African Americans. Formerly based in Oakland, California, Jones founded Green For All in 2007, a national NGO dedicated to "building an inclusive green economy strong enough to lift people out of poverty." His first book, The Green Collar Economy, was released on October 7, 2008, and reached number 12 on the New York Times bestseller list.

In 2008, Time magazine named Jones one of its "Environmental Heroes." Fast Company called him one of the "12 Most Creative Minds of 2008."
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