Harold Mitchell Jr. is a results-driven CEO and former State Representative with a proven ability to leverage leadership, strategic vision, and public policy expertise to drive organizational growth and positive social impact. In 1998, he founded the ReGenesis project – an Environmental Justice organization – in response to a spate of respiratory illnesses in neighborhoods near waste and toxic chemical facilities in his community.
ReGenesis received a $20,000 EPA small grant and began conducting a community-led planning process to chart the necessary infrastructure projects needed to repair the history of harm and rebuild the Arkwright and Forest Park communities. Since that inception, ReGenesis has executed a plan of cleanup, redevelopment, and revitalization that now serves as a model for meaningful environmental justice. To date, almost $300 million in federal, state, local, private sector, and philanthropic investments have been leveraged toward site clean-ups, economic development, affordable housing, and healthcare for communities affected by environmental racism.
Now, the ReGenesis Institute is launching its second phase to complete the vision the community outlined while helping expand the ReGenesis Model to lead the Just Transition. Additionally, the ReGenesis Institute has launched a first-of-its-kind accelerator for communities like Spartanburg to lead their own social, economic, and climate resiliency transformation.
Mitchell was also a member of the South Carolina House of Representatives from the 31st District, serving from 2005 to 2017. He received the National Black Caucus of State Legislators Regional Legislator of the Year Award in 2015. He is a lifelong resident of Spartanburg, South Carolina.