Greetings y’all! My name is Ben Pluska, and I am thrilled to join Piedmont Promise as the new Triad Regional Organizer. In this role, I will build relationships across Piedmont Promise’s institutional partners and community-based organizations to advance conservation-minded change at both local and statewide scales. 

I grew up in the Piedmont of North Carolina along the Neuse River, where I spent much of my time enjoying the natural beauty it had to offer. As I got older, however, I began to notice the increasing impacts of pollution driven by industrial and unsustainable development. This shift in my relationship to a place I loved deeply helped catalyze my commitment to environmental and community organizing. 

I went on to study Sustainable Development at Appalachian State University, where I engaged closely with communities experiencing environmental injustice in Eastern North Carolina. Through this work, I collaborated with the Environmental Justice Community Action Network (EJCAN) in Sampson County to better understand how industrial agriculture, waste management, and bioenergy production shape everyday life in frontline communities. 

I also worked with the Rachel Carson Council as a National Environmental Leader Fellow, deepening my engagement in Eastern North Carolina while connecting to environmental advocacy at the national level in Washington, D.C. Alongside this, I built a foundation in food systems work through an internship with Blue Ridge Women in Agriculture, an AmeriCorps VISTA term with Hospitality House in Boone, and my role as a Campus Garden Coordinator with Appalachian’s Office of Sustainability. 

After graduating, I continued developing my organizing practice as a Food Sovereignty VISTA with the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa in northern Minnesota, where I built relationships with Ojibwe farmers and Tribal government partners. I also worked as a tenant organizer in Duluth with TakeAction Minnesota and remained engaged in autonomous, community-based mutual aid efforts. 

All of these experiences have led me to my current role with Piedmont Promise, and I am grateful to be back organizing in North Carolina. My approach is rooted in relationships, built through intentional connection, and sustained through a culture of shared political education rather than directive leadership. 

My goal is to help move people from isolation to collective action, from concern to engagement, and from participation to leadership through listening, accountability, and shared purpose. At its core, I believe organizing is about equipping people with the tools, relationships, and confidence to pursue their own political goals while connecting individual experiences to broader systems of injustice. 

If you would like to connect, please feel free to reach out (ben@piedmontpromisenc.org). I would love to grab a coffee, learn more about your work, and explore how Piedmont Promise can support you.