Youth Perspectives on
Climate Change
Best Practices for Youth
Engagement and
Addressing Health Impacts of
Climate Change
July 2018
National Environmental Justice Advisory Council
A Federal Advisory Committee to the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The National Environmental Justice Advisory Council (NEJAC) acknowledges the efforts of the NEJAC Youth
Perspectives on Climate Change Work Group in preparing the initial draft of this report. The NEJAC also
acknowledges the stakeholders and community members who participated in the Work Groups'
deliberation by providing public comments. In addition, the Work Group's efforts were supported by the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency staff, notably, Ms. Alyssa Edwards and Ms. Jasmine Muriel as
Designated Federal Officers.
DISCLAIMER
This report of recommendations has been written as part of the activities of the NEJAC, a public advisory
committee providing independent advice and recommendations on the issue of environmental justice to
the Administrator and other officials of the EPA. In addition, the materials, opinion, findings,
recommendations, and conclusions expressed herein, and in any study or other source referenced herein,
should not be construed as adopted or endorsed by any organization which any Work Group member is
affiliated.
This report has not been reviewed for approval by EPA, and hence, its contents and recommendations do
not necessarily represent the views and the policies of the Agency, nor of other agencies in the Executive
Branch of the federal government.
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NATIONAL ENVIRONMETNAL JUSTICE ADVISORY COUNCIL
NEJAC Executive Council
• Richard Moore, Los Jardines Institute (NEJAC Chair)
• Jill Witkowski Heaps, JD, Vermont Law School (NEJAC Vice-Chair)
• Charles Chase, University of Colorado - Boulder
• Ellen Drew, Rural Community Assistance Corporation
• Lisa Finley-DeVille, Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara (MHA) Nation Tomorrow
• Jabari O. Edwards, J5 GBL, LLC
• Michael Ellerbrock, PhD, Virginia Tech
• Rita Harris, Sierra Club
• Erica L. Holloman, PhD, Southeast CARE Coalition
• Na'Taki Osborne Jelks, West Atlanta Watershed Alliance
• Cheryl Johnson, People for Community Recovery
• Rosalyn LaPier, Saokio Heritage
• Mildred McClain, PhD, Citizens for Environmental Justice and Harambee House, Inc.
• Melissa McGee-Collier, Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality
• Sylvia Marie Orduno, Michigan Welfare Rights Organization
• Dennis Randolph, City of Grandview Missouri
• Cynthia Kim Len Rezentes, Mohala I Ka Wai
• Deidre Sanders, PhD, Pacific Gas & Electric Company
• Fatemeh Shafiei, PhD, Spelman College
• Nicky Sheats, PhD, Thomas Edison State College
• Paul Shoemaker, Boston Public Health Commission
• Karen Sprayberry, South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control
• Michael Tilchin, Jacobs Engineering
• Hermila Trevino-Sauceda, Alianza Nacional de Campesinas
• Sandra Whitehead, PhD, National Environmental Health Association
• Sacoby Wilson, PhD, University of Maryland
• Kelly C. Wright, Shoshone Bannock Tribes
• Dewey F. Youngerman III, Continental Maritime of San Diego
Youth Perspectives on Climate Change Work Group
• Amanda Nesheiwat, Town of Secaucus, New Jersey
• Anthony Torres, Sierra Club
• Kathy Tran, graduate student
• Devin Crowther, student
• Amber Vignieri, Elevate Energy
• Eriqah Vincent, Partnership for Southern Equity
• Kayla DeVault, graduate student
• Maya Carrasquillo, graduate student
• Yudith Nieto, youth organizer, (Work Group Vice Co-Chair)
• Oforiwaa Pee Agyei-Boakye, East Alabama Regional Planning and Development Commission
• Samantha Shattuck, Pegasus Technical Services, (Work Group Co-Chair)
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• Samantha Parker, international delegate in Paris for the UN Climate Change Conference
• Zoe Ackerman, Rachel Carson Council
• Nikita Robinson, Qawalangin Tribe of Unalaska
• Melake Getabecha, Groundwork Denver
• Stefan Petrovic, student
• Richard Moore, Los Jardines Institute (Work Group Co-ChairJ
• Fatemeh Shafiei, PhD, Spelman College (Work Group Vice Co-Chair)
• Charles Chase, University of Colorado - Boulder
• Lisa Finley-DeVille, Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara (MHA) Nation Tomorrow
• Cheryl Johnson, People for Community Recovery
• Erica L. Holloman, PhD, Southeast CARE Coalition
• Rosalyn LaPier, Saokio Heritage
• Mildred McClain, PhD, Citizens for Environmental Justice and Harambee House, Inc.
Alyssa Edwards, Designated Federal Officer, EPA Office of Environmental Justice
Jasmin Muriel, Designated Federal Officer, EPA Office of Environmental Justice
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t' 1
Members:
Richard Moore,
Chair
Jill Witkowski Heaps,
Vice-Chair
Charles Chase
Ellen Drew
Lisa Finley-DeVille
Jabari O. Edwards
Michael Ellerbrock
Rita Harris
Erica L. Holloman
Na'Taki Osborne Jelks
Cheryl Johnson
Rosalyn LaPier
Mildred McClain
Melissa McGee-Collier
Sylvia Marie Orduno
Jeremy F. Orr
Dennis Randolph
Cynthia Kim Len
Rezentes
Deidre Sanders
Jerome Shabazz
Fatemeh Shafiei
Nicky Sheats
Paul Shoemaker
Karen Sprayberry
Michael Tilchin
Hermila Trevino-
Sauceda
Sandra Whitehead
Sacoby Wilson
Kelly C. Wright
Dewey F. Youngerman
NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE ADVISORY
COUNCIL
July 12,2018
Andrew Wheeler
Acting Administrator
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20460
Dear Acting Administrator Wheeler:
The National Environmental Justice Advisory Council is pleased to submit the report
Youth Perspectives on Climate Change for the Agency's review. The NEJAC
developed this report in response to the Agency's charge of August 2015. EPA
requested that the NEJAC provide recommendations to assist the Agency in
developing best practices for addressing climate change concerns, as highlighted
from a youth perspective. Specifically, the NEJAC was requested to identify:
1. How can EPA effectively engage with youth on climate change and adaptation
planning using new resources and tools designed to help communities become more
resilient and better protect themselves from the impacts of climate change? What
activities and mechanisms (e.g. policy, guidance, or protocol) should EPA consider
to authentically engage and work collaboratively with youth, and other interested
stakeholders, to identify and address climate change impacts on overburdened and
vulnerable communities?
2. What best practices, including efforts to address the compounding health
vulnerabilities brought on by climate change, can be provided using youth driven
projects from across the United States from which results-oriented recommendations
can be drawn?
In response, the NEJAC's Youth Work Group developed both recommendations and
Principles of Youth Engagement. The NEJAC believes successful youth engagement
on climate change can be supported by efforts that:
• Mentor and Train Youth Leaders and Engage Youth in Decision-Making
• Build Capacity by Allocating Resources for Youth Development
• Develop and Implement Principles for Engaging Youth on Climate Justice
A Federal Advisory Committee to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
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Additional details and explanations of our recommendations and Principles are
included in the attached report. The EPA should continue to create opportunities for
youth, recognizing that integrating youth perspectives can greatly enhance EPA's
efforts to protect human health and the environment. Thank you for this opportunity
to provide recommendations and we look forward to hearing the Agency's response.
Sincerely,
Richard Moore
Chair
Attachment
cc: NEJAC Members
Henry Darwin, Acting Deputy Administrator
Brittany Bolen, Associate Administrator for the Office of Policy
Matthew Tejada, Director for the Office of Environmental Justice
Karen L. Martin, Designated Federal Officer and NEJAC Program Manager
A Federal Advisory Committee to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
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Table of Contents
Executive Summary 8
Introduction 11
A Brief History 11
Work Group Composition and Selection 12
The Youth Group Report 14
Methods 15
Work Group's Iterative Structure and Process 15
Data Collection Tools and Analyses 15
Internal Survey 16
In-Depth Interviews to Develop Case Studies 16
Analysis 16
Findings 17
Background 17
Internal Survey 17
Common Themes for Effectively Engaging Youth and Diverse Stakeholders 22
Recommendations 26
Mentor and Train Youth Leaders and Engage Youth in Decision-Making 26
Build Capacity by Allocating Resources for Youth Development 29
Develop and Implement Principles for Engaging Youth on Climate Justice 33
Conclusion 35
Appendix 36
Internal Survey Results 40
Case Studies 75
Examples of Climate Justice Efforts from Across the Country 95
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Executive Summary
This report is written at a time when resistance to climate change and environmental injustice, as well as
the stakes for vulnerable communities, has reached historic highs. Despite the urgency of the climate
crisis, political will at the national level has lagged behind or been outright captured by powerful
interests opposed to bold and just solutions offered by young people, desperate to defend their future
rights to a clean and healthy planet.
Climate change is inherently an issue of justice. Rising temperatures are predicted to affect the poorest,
yet the benefits of mitigation and adaptation strategies are inequitably distributed. For example, cap
and trade does not apply tougher carbon limits or rules on areas with greater concentrations of
hazardous facilities sited in low-income communities and communities of color. The health benefits of
reduced air pollutants will unlikely reach these communities. Low-income communities of color not only
bear most of the burden of hazardous environments, but also poorer health outcomes that are greatly
influenced by socioeconomic determinants. Rural, suburban, and urban youth leaders are therefore
demanding greater accountability, enforcement, and implementation of climate change policies within
their communities.
In 2015, the National Environmental Justice Advisory Council (NEJAC) and U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) Office of Environmental Justice (OEJ) developed the Youth Perspectives on Climate Change
(YPCC) Work Group (herein the "Work Group"). This effort creates a space for youth at the national
environmental justice table.
Through an application process, sixteen emerging young leaders across the nation were selected to
participate in the Work Group in early 2016 for a two-year term, from spring 2016 to spring 2018. Work
Group members hold intersecting identities and experiences with backgrounds in community building,
public health, movement building, and political advocacy at the local and national levels.
To address the charges below posed by the EPA, the Work Group collaborated to design, implement,
and assess a questionnaire among the Work Group members and perform in-depth interviews with
members' partners to develop a set of practical recommendations. The charges included:
Charge 1: How can EPA effectively engage with youth on climate change and adaptation planning using
new resources and tools designed to help communities become more resilient and better protect
themselves from the impacts of climate change? What activities and mechanisms should EPA consider
to authentically engage and work collaboratively with youth, and other interested stakeholders, to
identify and address climate change impacts on overburdened and vulnerable communities?
Charge 2: What best practices, including efforts to address the compounding health vulnerabilities
brought on by climate change, can be provided using youth-driven projects from across the United
States from which results-oriented recommendations can be drawn?
Through the assessments of members' and their partners' experiences in working and collaborating with
youth and vulnerable populations on climate change issues, the following recommendations and
principles were developed. Below is a one-page graphic titled "Principles of Youth Engagement on
Climate Change" which summarizes the recommendations, that can be distributed separately from the
report.
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Mentor and Train Youth Leaders and Engage Youth in Decision-Making
1. Support organizations with inclusive representation and community-based youth hiring practices
2. Provide trainings and grants for organizations to employ storytelling and other youth engagement
strategies
3. Increase accessibility to climate change curricula and educational resources
4. Provide youth a seat at the table in decision-making spaces
Build Capacity by Allocating Resources for Youth Development
1. Prioritize support for organizations that provide youth with work opportunities that pay a living
wage and align with their values
2. Support organizations whose goal is to build long-term and authentic relationships and bridge
cultural gaps
3. Expand youth capacity for technical and broader civic engagement skills around health
vulnerabilities
4. Allocate resources to address language and communication barriers
5. Allocate resources to address accessibility and participation barriers such as internet connectivity,
transportation, and competing conflicts
Develop and Implement Principles for Engaging Youth on Climate Justice
1. Apply the Jemez Principles of Democratic Organizing1 and Principles of Environmental Justice2 to
engagement with young people
2. Uplift intergenerational appreciation
3. Allow change to happen "at the speed of trust"
4. Engage in Seventh Generation Thinking3
This report not only serves as a guide for federal agencies, but for all stakeholders who are engaged in
public participation and decision-making processes surrounding climate change impacts. The
recommendations and organizations presented herein are models of best practices. The
recommendations are not meant to be universally applied to future engagement with youth and
vulnerable communities on climate action by every organization; rather, they provide valuable lessons
learned that may be customized and applied to future work based on the priorities, characteristics, and
demands of each unique community.
Furthermore, in order to advance the role and leadership of youth in the environmental field, the NEJAC
and EPA should continue to create opportunities for future Youth Work Groups that focus on issues
related to environmental justice, general public interest, and inter-agency coordination to expand on
the wisdom gained from tasking youth with such critical charges. The EPA and the NEJAC should also
consider having youth representation on the NEJAC itself, or add age as an additional diversity criterion
when selecting members.
Note: The materials, opinions, findings, recommendations, and conclusions expressed herein, and in any
study or other source referenced herein, should not be construed as adopted or endorsed by any
organization with which any Work Group member is affiliated.
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Principles of Youth Engagement on Climate Change
Building on the Legacy of the Jemez Principles for
Democratic Organizing and Principles for Environmental Justice
1. Let Youth Speak For Themselves
Prioritize working with partners with inclusive representation and frontline community-based youth
hiring practices. Require climate change and public health grantees, staff, boards, federal advisory
bodies, and other decision-making tables consist of at least 20% from impacted communities.
Create youth advisory work groups for every government agency. Affirm work that matters to young
people and aligns with their values.
2. Invest in Rising Leadership
Pay young people at a living wage for research, organizing, and education work, including
internships and apprenticeships. Increase accessibility to climate change curricula especially
outside higher education institutions, allocate resources for transportation, internet connectivity,
language, and communication barriers. Provide trainings for grant-writing and civic engagement
skill-building. Fund and facilitate professional development and scholarship to develop technical
competency to be fully knowledgeable in the various aspects of climate change and climate justice.
3. Uplift Intergenerational Collaboration
Allow change to happen at the speed of trust and apply respect and recognition in both directions.
Tlhis also requires a willingness by organizations to leam from youth, especially when it comes to
storytelling, movement-building, and technical training. An exchange of knowledge and expertise
can combat inequitable power dynamics of ageism and credentialism that often lead to competing,
co-opting, or providing inconsistent funding to successful youth 'work. Work with partners that have
already gained the trust of local youth leaders if there aren't already established youth-led spaces.
Review internal practices and retention of youth, particularly those of intersections! identities,
including but not limited to women and LGBT people of color and those from overburdened
communities. Be grounded in responsibility and seventh generation thinking.
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Introduction
A Brief History
Building on the origins of the American Environmental Justice movement in North Carolina in 19824 and
the call for systematic changes in climate governance from the Global South in the 1990s5, the youth
climate justice movement has emerged as a major force on the streets of Copenhagen, Paris, and New
York6, on the crossroads of pipelines in North Dakota and Virginia, in the sacrifice zones of the Gulf7 and
the rural West, on reservations and tribal lands, in Appalachia8, and beyond. Young people are lobbying
and intervening in international negotiations, mobilizing masses against unjust policies and projects, and
building more democratic and distributed renewable energy systems. In recent years, we have countless
students demand their universities to divest their endowments from fossil fuels,9 witnessed black and
brown youth shut down plans for dirty coal plants and incinerators, and heard the call of indigenous
youth to keep fossil fuels in the ground for the Seventh Generation.10
When investments are made in infrastructure and sustainable development with the goal of adapting to
the impacts of climate change, such as sea level rise or increased heatwaves, climate justice advocates
fight for the equitable distribution of those funds. Climate justice also demands greater spending to
address the subsequent health impacts of climate change, such as vector control and energy bill
assistance to maintain air conditioners during increasingly warmer summers. As adaptation to climate
change becomes an inevitable part of the American trajectory, climate justice advocates fight to ensure
that all Americans have equal protection under the law and equal access to life-saving and quality of life-
improving programs and technologies. It is our generation, and those that follow, that will be living with
the consequences of our actions—and inaction. Driven by the fact that younger generations have
everything to lose and, thus, demand a more equitable and just world, increasing numbers of young
people across all sectors are uniting. Young leaders realize that climate change is not simply an
environmental problem but rather intersects social, economic, and political issues.
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Not only are young people articulating what they are fighting against, but also elevating what they are
fighting for. From convening at Power Shift11 summits across the country, to mobilizing for the People's
Climate March12, young people have created the momentum to build a more sustainable, equitable, and
just world. Their leadership has held culprits accountable, their empathy has revitalized our public
connections to the natural world, and their innovative ideas have helped communities and ecosystems
adapt to the climate crisis. Internationally, young Americans have joined youth from other countries at
the United Nations Convention on the Climate Change Conference of Parties (COP), at the Conference of
Youth, and at hundreds of other demonstrations and events across communities.
Youth have always been on the frontlines of climate action. Herein "youth" is defined as young people,
ages 14-29, whose life stages are between middle school and young professional. The term youth more
generally refers to the millennial generation (also generation Y) and beyond, which encompasses the
demographic of youth who have reached young adulthood in the early 21st century. Research13
illuminates the importance of young people as critical stakeholders in the fight against climate change,
while recognizing activism and citizen science as distinct pedagogical practices14 that have expanded the
environmental justice movement. Yet, historically, youth voices have been largely absent from the policy
decision-making table, despite youth having to live with the consequences of our collective action and
inaction.
tion
The Work Group was formed by the NEJAC, in collaboration with the OEJ, as part of their effort to fulfill
the Environmental Justice 2020 Plan. As a goal within the Plan, they wanted to "include the perspectives
of young people in the conversations and thought processes about how overburdened communities are
disproportionately impacted by climate change and share in the distribution of opportunities that
enhance resiliency." This included the long-term goal of creating a model for youth engagement across
NEJAC work groups and other EPA and federal agency advisory boards. By late 2015, the NEJAC and the
EPA's OEJ collaborated to put out a call for applications and spent several months selecting the youth
who would form the inaugural Work Group. Among the 300+ youth across the country who applied,
sixteen emerging leaders were selected to serve on the new body, which was announced on March 16,
2016.
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Academic
Institution
NCO/Non-Proflt
13.1*
Local/State/T ribal
Government
13.1*
Private
T to B: Oforiwaa Pee Agyei-
Boakye, Maya Carrasquillo, Kathy
Tran, Anthony Torres, Nikita
Robinson, Amber Vignieri, Devin
Crowther, Amanda Nesheiwat
T to B: Sa ma nth a Shattuck,
Samantha Parker, Stefan
Petrovic, Yudith Nieto, Melake
Getabecha, Zoe Ackerman, Kayla
DeVault, Eriqah Vincent
Work Group members hail from across the country and range from 19 to 29 years old. The Work Group
is diverse in race (including 3 Native Americans), but not in gender, with just 4 of 15 members on the
Work Group identifying as male. Members offer experiences in academic research or work in sectors
including public, private, nonprofit, tribal, or non-governmental entities. Members fight climate change
impacts and support communities in various ways, such as rallying against poor climate and adaptation
policies, or building capacity among youth to give them the tools to care for the environment and their
communities.
• Amanda Nesheiwat: a UN Representative for the Foundation for Post-Conflict Development and
Environmental Director for Secaucus, New Jersey
• Anthony Torres: activist supporting cross-movement building and political organizing from
Washington D.C.
• Kathy Tran: graduate student who collaborated with vulnerable populations nationally and
internationally on health and climate adaptation while pursuing her MPH and current doctorate
• Devin Crowther: undergraduate who has presented critical research at national conferences
Amber Vignieri: Communications Coordinator at Elevate Energy working to ensure that the
benefits of clean and efficient energy use reach those who need them most
• Eriqah Vincent: serves as the National EcoLeaders Coordinator with the National Wildlife
Federation
• Kayla DeVault: a graduate student designing a program on her Native reservation to allow
students and professionals to work with tribal communities on climate adaptation and
sustainability projects
• Maya Carrasquillo: a graduate student in Florida working with climate-vulnerable communities
to provide multi-functional infrastructure solutions for improved health
• Yudith Nieto (Vice Co-chair): works with groups nationally and internationally to build inter-
generational movements that advocate for environmental justice
• Oforiwaa Pee Agyei-Boakye: has worked internationally on a climate change campaign in Ghana
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• Samantha Shattuck (Co-Chair): led workshops on youth engagement at the UN Climate Change
Conference in Peru and works on the integration of environmental justice and health impact
assessments
• Samantha Parker: served as an international delegate in Paris for the UN Climate Change
Conference
• Zoe Ackerman: campus coordinator with the Rachel Carson Council
• Nikita Robinson: graduate student who continues to work with her tribal community to combat
the impacts of climate change in Alaska
• Melake Getabecha: building climate resiliency in the Metro Denver Region and engaging urban
youth from low-income households in the environmental field through employment
• Stefan Petrovic: undergraduate who co-founded a youth initiative emphasizing climate activism
The following are the members of NEJAC directly involved with the production of this report:
• Richard Moore, Co-Chair
• Dr. Fatemeh Shafiei, Vice Co-Chair
• Cheryl Johnson
• Dr. Rosalyn LaPier
• Lisa Deville
• Dr. Charles Chase
• Dr. Mildred McClain
• Dr. Erica Holloman
The Youth Group Report
This report reflects the Work Group members' experiences and those of their partner organizations or
collaborators in work throughout the United States. Members do not represent the organizations they
work for or collaborate with; they represent themselves and the culmination of their experience and
dedication. Themes and lessons learned were generated both by the Work Group (from the membership
questionnaire) and case studies (products of in-depth interviews to inform the Work Group's
recommendations). The recommendations found in the following sections are meant to help the EPA,
civil society organizations, and communities authentically and effectively engage and uplift youth
leadership in the struggle against climate change. As mentioned, the power and leadership of young
people has been critical to the success of social movements and are necessary for agencies like the EPA
and organizations to integrate these effective strategies to combat the climate crisis. This Work Group
serves as a model for how policymakers and civil society actors across agencies and sectors can create
space for youth voices and, in turn, amplify and advance the goals of social, economic, and
environmental justice.
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Methods
Work Group's Iterative Structure and Process
The Work Group was provided with two charges and nearly complete liberty but without much
structured guidance as to how to address them. Through a democratized process of voting, the Work
Group assumed various sub-group structures. For the first six months, the membership split into two
groups to discuss the ways in which research and community inclusion efforts are currently being
utilized to fight climate change. The research team developed and implemented a survey of all members
about their experiences working with youth or vulnerable populations on climate change issues, and
then the team analyzed the results during Stage 1. Stage 2 developed when the Work Group began to
develop the report. In Stage 2, members split up into the following writing or research sections: the
introduction, a group for charge 1 (given by the EPA, see the Executive Summary), one for charge 2 (see
Executive Summary), and the editing team. During Stage 2, in-depth interviews of individuals from some
member's organizations were conducted to develop case studies with themes that reflected each
charge—youth engagement on climate justice and efforts to address health vulnerabilities to climate
change. After presenting the first report draft in April 2017, the Work Group split into groups by section
of the report to streamline the finalization of the report.
Data Collection Tools and Analyses
To develop best practices for youth engagement on climate justice with particular focus on building
resiliency and adaptation within overburdened communities and health vulnerabilities, a survey and in-
depth interviews were conducted. We gathered perspectives and experiences from Work Group
members and affiliates. Across both data collection tools, thematic analysis was performed to discern
common innovations, challenges, and strengths of ways to engage youth and vulnerable communities
while addressing climate change.
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Internal Survey
As our Work Group members possess a wealth of knowledge and were selected for their diverse
backgrounds, a survey was designed to collect information on members' experiences and perspectives
before connecting with other organizations. Survey questions consisted of both closed-ended and open-
ended questions. Questions focused on members' current and previous work experiences within the
climate change arena, communities that they serve(d) or engage(d) with, tools to help disadvantaged
populations build climate resiliency, and strengths and challenges of working with youth or vulnerable
groups. As in-depth interviews were pre-planned, members were also asked to recommend their own or
other organizations they were familiar with for subsequent interviews. The survey can be found in the
Appendix. After several drafts and consultation from NEJAC advising members and Climate Justice
Research sub-group youth members, the final version was created on SurveyMonkey and disseminated
via email to youth members. All members participated in the survey within two weeks.
In-Depth Interviews to Develop Case Studies
As many of our members have engaged directly with youth or vulnerable communities on climate
change-related work, five Work Group members conducted in-depth interviews within their
organization, community, or with their affiliates. A general interview guide was first created with broad
questions covering an interviewee's position and organization they work for, experiences in working
with climate change issues that involve youth or disadvantaged communities, meaning of authentic
engagement, best practices, and challenges. Interviewers then improvised as they prepared for and
during their interviews. A guide for contacting organizations was also created to help interviewers
initiate contact and introduce our Work Group and the purpose of the interview. Usage of the guides
was at the discretion of the interviewer. Most interviewers used or improvised the guide for
organizations they were not directly involved with.
The organizations were selected based on interviewers' own affiliation or referrals. Interviews were
conducted via email (in the form of a questionnaire), a phone call, an in-person meeting, or a
combination of those methods. Two or more people, some including the Work Group member, were
interviewed for each featured organization or community. Notes or a voice recording were taken during
the interviews and then some later transcribed. Interviewed organizations and groups include:
Groundwork Denver, Sustainable Jersey City, Town of Secaucus, Steven's Institute of Technology, Navajo
Nation/Youth, Alliance for Climate Education, Harambee House, and the East Tampa Community
Revitalization Partnership. Rather than focus on the individual that was interviewed, case studies were
developed for these organizations and communities based on information gathered through the
interviews, which can be found in the Appendix.
Analysis
To address each of the two charges, thematic analysis was conducted across both the survey and
interviews to identify key themes to develop findings and recommendations of best practices and
climate change adaptation and resiliency tools. Two analysts were assigned to each charge to review
case studies and one analyst for the internal survey. A profile of members was also developed from the
survey.
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Findings
Bac
Climate change is often referred to as the crisis of the 21st century, and the increasing threat of global
temperature increases, sea level rise, extreme weather events, and species extinction can be
overwhelming. The ways in which we address this crisis will shape the future of our planet for centuries
to come. The political capital and billions of dollars invested in the current economic system based on
fossil fuel extraction and combustion, industrialized agriculture, and deforestation can prevent many
from embracing systemic alternatives and lifestyle changes necessary to truly mitigate climate change.
Younger people are frequently less mired in the status quo and therefore can create unique and
transformative efforts to address these significant issues. It is this moral clarity, passion, creativity, and
vision that the climate justice movement needs.
Internal Survey
By examining the expertise held within our Work Group and analyzing environmental justice
organizations we work with and represent, we discovered common themes and best practices around
engaging youth. This section highlights those examinations and findings and uses them as the context
and justification for our recommendations.
The recommendations of this report were shaped by: the experience of Work Group members, an
examination of familiar organizations, and several case studies of organizations Work Group members
were affiliated with.
Wort >sition
Hailing from every region of the country, our 15 Work Group members draw knowledge from the
following organizations, institutions, and communities:
• Dine Policy Institute of the Navajo Nation
• Qawalangin Tribe of Unalaska
• Pegasus Technical Services
• Town of Secaucus, New Jersey
• Elevate Energy
• Groundwork Denver
• Harambee House, INC./Citizens for Environmental Justice
• National Wildlife Federation (NWF)
• Rachel Carson Council
• Sierra Club
• SustainUS
• Texas Environmental Justice Advocacy Services (t.e.j.a.s.)
• Florida Agricultural & Mechanical University
• Harvard University
• Stevens Institute of Technology
• University of California, Berkeley
• University of Pennsylvania
• University of South Florida
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Representative sectors include non-governmental organizations (33%), grassroots
organizations/community groups (27%), academia (27%), federal government, and tribal/indigenous
government. The types of work that Work Group members have done with these organizations are
varied and diverse in their approach to climate issues. Figure 2.3.1 illustrates the issues Work Group
members focus on, ranging in percentage of members from advocacy (80%) to issues around the built
environment (20%).
Figure 2.3.1 Percentage of Work Group Members with
Experience in Climate-Related Fields of Work
33.3 33.3
20
1
,
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health disparities and contaminant removal." [Work Group Member Maya Carrasquillo]
All members have served or are currently serving local vulnerable populations to address climate
change, particularly minorities and in urban settings. As shown below in Figure 2.3.2, these groups
consist of communities of color (66.6%), urban (60%), elderly (53.3%), children (40%), inner-city (40%),
indigenous (26.6%), women (26.6%), tribal (13.3%), rural (13.3%), and disabled (13.3%) populations.
Figure 2.3.2 Vulnerable Populations Work Group Members have
Engaged with in Current/Previous Work
66.6
26.6 26.6
+
* /' * y
13.3 13.3 13.3
-l—I—11—1—^l—I
&
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Work Group members have engaged these communities through education (80%), outreach (46.6%),
organizing (46.6%), mentorship (46.6%), mobilization, research, religious activities, and employment
(see Figure 2.3.3).
Figure 2.3.3 Mechanisms of Youth Engagement
Among Work Group Members
46.6 46.6 46.6
33.3
26.6
I
6.6 6.6
I ^ I ^ I
O? C>
* s jr
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residents with free home energy audits and efficiency upgrades; transforming brownfields into natural
parks; providing incentives and education around alternative modes of transportation; free tree and
bicycle giveaways; growing and distributing fresh, healthy produce; urban water and air quality
monitoring; park and alley cleanups and activation; climate change resiliency planning; and a youth work
and education program which employs youth from low-income households to help implement these
improvement projects.
Recommendations from this case study include: providing incentives for youth (especially pay if
possible), seeking out youth where they reside and spend time, being flexible and adaptive to embrace
new opportunities, and empowering youth rather than framing them as victims.
Harambee House, INC/Citizens for Environmental Justice
The Harambee House, INC./Citizens for Environmental Justice (HH/CFEJ) is a Savannah-based nonprofit
with nearly two decades of practice helping people create safe, healthy communities that promote
wellness, environmental justice, and sustainability. Their mission is to educate, inspire, organize and
build the capacity of African Americans and other communities of color to create and sustain
economically vibrant neighborhoods that promote healthy living, wellness, environmental justice, and
sustainability.
Although much of their work is intergenerational, HH/CFEJ targets and engages high school students,
college students, and college-aged youth through education, leadership development, research,
awareness-raising, outreach, surveys, participation in the Conference of Parties process, and policies
and programs that will impact environmental justice communities.
Recommendations from this case study include: deploying knowledgeable youth into communities to
raise awareness, entering into communities with an open-mind expecting to learn, communicating with
communities on their level, addressing the interaction between young people and elders, and making a
direct correlation between effects of climate change and how it will affect the community.
Navajo Nation—Various Organizations
The Navajo Nation has a population of around 180,000 people and an enrolled membership of over
300,000 who inhabit much of the Four Corners region (Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah). This
case study looks at how several communities have defended cultural and environmental rights and
supported youth. Organizations and movements mentioned include: Dine Citizens Against Ruining our
Environment (C.A.R.E.), Black Mesa Water Coalition, Ancestral Lands project, Dooda Fracking!!, Navajo
Nation Youth Council, Center for Native American Youth, and American Indian Science and Engineering
Society.
Recommendations from this case-study include: respecting traditional wisdom and cultural
perspectives, building movements through similarities of marginalized communities, providing flexibility
to culture and ethnic identification, seeking out youth in marginalized communities, and providing
funding to key programs.
East Tampa Community Revitalization Partnership
The East Tampa Community Revitalization Partnership (ETCRP) was developed as a nonprofit in response
to the community's designation as a community redevelopment area (CRA) focused on improving
economic justice and development in the area. The ETCRP serves as the direct linkage to the community
to ensure that resident voices and expertise are prioritized in the development of the community. Since
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2004, most of the investments made have been focused on improving the physical infrastructure, mainly
roadways, stormwater infrastructure, and recreational facilities. Although the ETCRP operates as an
overall community organization, more recently an emphasis has been placed on engaging and training
youth and providing youth learning spaces to ensure the continuity of these efforts in future
generations.
Recommendations from this case study include: engaging in shared learning with community residents
and experts, allowing climate justice to be influenced by work in other social justice movements, and
youth leadership develop rather than just exposure.
Common Themes for Effectively Engaging Youth and Diverse
Stakeholders
Work Group members come from diverse backgrounds with various professional and academic
experiences working on climate change-related projects. Our members have observed, participated in,
initiated, or supported various projects, youth-driven or otherwise, aimed at addressing climate
adaptation and resilience and/or climate-related health vulnerabilities. Through analysis of both the
internal survey and case studies, the following core themes emerged as crucial elements for achieving
project goals:
• Engage with communities and youth authentically;
• Put communities at the forefront;
• Provide and compensate youth for work that matters to them, their future, and their values;
• Allow for and support diverse voices and skillsets;
• Create an environment of shared learning within the community;
• Provide an environment that builds relationships; and
• Meet youth and communities where they are.
Authentic Engagement
Whether climate adaptation and resilience building involve youth or vulnerable populations, all our
members and organizations studied stated that authentic engagement is a key to success as it supports
the establishment of sustainable relationships. Authenticity involves the following elements:
• Acknowledging that climate change impacts are diverse and place-based by collaborating with
grassroots leaders to identify specific impacts uniquely experienced within communities
• Providing insight and education to community members
• Empowering youth to disseminate information to their networks and to take action via
educational opportunities
• Accessing and inspiring youth through the utilization of diverse platforms
• Using appropriate and diverse forms of engagement
• Providing opportunities for education and resource exchanges
• Allowing communities to organize themselves in ways that best serve them
• Being transparent and honest about motivations, roles, and capacity (i.e. what can and cannot
be provided) in collaborations
• Respecting and acknowledging the power of oral traditions in communities that operate in such
a way
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• Building long-term relationships based on mutual respect and co-learning with the goal of
individual and community capacity-building and systemic change
• Recognizing community resources as well as the lack thereof
• Allowing community members to maintain ownership over the objectives and processes of
collaborative efforts when working as a member outside of the target community
• Asking questions and being willing to change perspective rather than assuming an authority over
community matters
• Being open to changing perspectives, approaches, or methodologies when appropriate
• Approaching communities about developing climate actions related to issues within the
communities early on in the process, often, and through many different outlets
is at the Forefront
Discovered in the internal survey, Work Group members are passionate about ensuring that
communities are at the forefront of climate justice movements, both in the creation and
implementation of solutions. The organizations discussed in the case studies have partnered with youth
from frontline climate justice communities; when these young people are able to represent their own
communities, the benefits multiply.
The Groundwork Denver youth employment program is an example of how youth working in their own
community can lead to multiple benefits. By having youth improve their local environment, they gain
confidence in themselves and their community sees value in their ability to contribute. Many
Groundwork Denver youth mention that their favorite part of their job is how they help out their
community. By providing these opportunities for youth to represent and work with their own
neighborhoods, as well as possibly get to know communities different than their own, organizations
create a pathway for young people to engage with aspects of climate justice they find highly important
(such as building relationships and community health).
nsation
Another key factor identified in the internal survey and case studies is the importance of compensation
and leadership development among youth. Institutions like the federal government, local governments,
and universities can support the development of future leaders by providing paid opportunities to
develop these leadership skills. Without compensation, young people have to make difficult decisions
when prioritizing the type of work they can accept; some unpaid opportunities provide better
experience and networking access but they may choose a less advantageous position in order to meet
their basic needs.
Compensation for work also promotes diversity, equity, and inclusion in the field as there is a divide
between students who can afford to work without compensation because they have the financial
backing of their parents and other students who may lack that support or may be first generation
students or professionals. The divide between more affluent and less affluent young people widens as
the former are able to get into positions where the non-financial benefits like experience and
networking access further promote them into greater positions in the field. Less affluent students who
have to spend their time working in positions that meet their basic necessities are more at risk of being
left out of this professional development ladder.
When organizations create programs, trainings, or opportunities for young people to enhance their
leadership skills, youth feel empowered to be confident climate leaders. Work Group Member Kayla
DeVault explains that from her experience, incentives show respect and value for the time and
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knowledge of young indigenous people, specifically for those who may have far less opportunities than
their non-indigenous counterparts. It is also important to consider how these incentives manifest
themselves and if that means of compensation is culturally appropriate for the work that is being done.
Yout evelopment
The most effective leadership development efforts all encourage exploration of ideas, communication,
and action around climate change through equity, justice, and optimism lenses. Youth are also
encouraged in these programs to build awareness among their peers, schools, families, and local
communities about climate change and its interconnection to justice issues through their own spheres
of influence. This allows youth to operate at the center of a network they are familiar with and helps
inform their direction on how to organize, educate, and explore climate justice.
For example, in the case of the East Tampa Community Revitalization Partnership (ETCRP), various
collaborative partnerships with the University of South Florida, local schools, and local nonprofits
prioritize youth education, training, and development to ensure that residential students are equipped
with the necessary skillsets to improve environmental and infrastructural challenges in their
neighborhoods.
As youth are supported and they develop their voice and skills for leadership, elders in the movement
must remain engaged in the decision-making process as they possess extensive cultural wisdom.
Furthermore, it is important to realize many indigenous youth-led groups may still require intensive
networking with elders in their communities as a means of maintaining their cultural understanding of
authentic leadership and effective change.
One example of this is highlighted in the case-study focused on the Navajo Nation. The study mentions
how Dine College and the Navajo Nation Youth Council worked together to host a Youth and Elders
Program where youth sat with the Nation's oldest citizens and "every topic was covered from
environmental issues, language loss, and (...) such contemporary issues as gay marriage and LGBTQIA+
rights from a traditional perspective." These leaders also bring years of experience in the environmental
justice and social justice movements, often starting with the civil rights movement or before. Young
people, in their rise as leaders, should continue to value, respect, and learn from the lessons of their
elders.
Respect for Diverse Identitie. . killsets
Many organizations provide youth with an opportunity to speak about their own experiences with
environmental and climate justice issues, such as the health impacts related to climate change, the fossil
fuel industry, and siting of chemical plants, both formally and informally. Providing a space for young
people to have their voices heard—by each other, their community members, elected officials, or the
media—allows youth to be part of the climate justice story and to show external audiences that youth
are passionate and willing to take action on climate change.
The importance of respecting diverse experiences and cultural wisdom that young people bring from
their community was also identified as a key factor of successful coalitions to other environmental
issues. By giving youth the space to embrace and express their diverse backgrounds, they feel much
more supported and encouraged to take on leadership positions. One example comes from Work Group
Member Nikita Robinson:
"One overlooked method of collecting essential evidence of climate change and environmental changes
is the practice of obtaining data from Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK). Many researchers and
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stakeholders ignore the vital information that elders have obtained over many decades. As part of the
Alaskan culture, information is passed down onto accountable generations. Natural resources are a key
component of everyday life in the livelihood of many Alaskans. Ask any elder on how resources have
drastically changed, you'll be astounded. (...) Many Alaskan communities are raising young and
advantageous leaders to help combat climate change and those individuals are rapidly spreading
environmental awareness. Having young Alaskan natives representing a state that is at the forefront of
various environmental challenges is essential to help maintain a sustainable future, and keeping cultural
values alive. Values and beliefs can be easily lost in communication when passed on to individuals from
outside of the affected community. The youth and the remaining community are currently living in a
rapidly changing environment where climate change is not only affecting their livelihood, but their
subsistence food and cultural resources. It is fundamental to include the affected communities as
stakeholders in the planning process of climate and environmental justice initiatives."
Meeting Yout :s V syAre
Another common theme that arose is understanding that communities have their own unique economic
and social challenges. Youth face specific impacts in their communities and thus have different
challenges and barriers to addressing them. While the impacts of climate change can greatly affect
vulnerable communities, the importance of and knowledge about these issues may not be priorities for
populations that will be most impacted. Intentionally and thoughtfully engaging with young people in
vulnerable communities requires meeting them where they are, both literally and figuratively, and
working with them on projects they prioritize.
Since the youth population spans a large age range, outreach must take place on multiple platforms to
effectively and inclusively reach all sub-populations. Widespread mobilization requires attracting youth
from all over the U.S. who possess diverse backgrounds and care about various issues surrounding
climate change. Yudith Nieto, for example, found that "using mixed media, digital art, music, and theater
in outreach efforts is always effective to gauge the level of interest and participation" and "recording
and preserving stories and traditions" is important when working with tribal communities. Others have
successfully lead outreach efforts through "established bodies like schools, perhaps churches or other
community organizations, [since these] spaces (...) can support youth activity on these issues," as such
organizations are a part of their daily lives.
These organizations utilize a diverse set of tools to engage youth. A survey of these organizations'
methods show the use of education, mentorship, writing letters to news publications and elected
officials, political lobbying, door-to-door canvassing, implementing physical improvements, collecting
petition signatures, participating in citizen science, attending rallies and events, testifying in public
hearings, speaking publicly at events and to the media, recruiting peers for events, and providing youth
with talking points and conversation skills when having one-on-one discussions with friends and family
about climate justice issues. These varied tactics all give youth concrete experience taking action and
build their self-confidence so they can be an instrumental part of the fight to improve community
resilience in the face of climate change. This wide variety of opportunities also provides youth who have
different skills, interests, personalities, and backgrounds with more opportunities to get involved.
Another tool in particular used by these organizations engages youth through a medium dominated by
young people—digital and social media. Ongoing digital and social advocacy engagement strategies use
campaigns via email, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and other sources to connect with youth both hyper-
locally and globally. These channels allow youth to find on-the-ground action happening in their local
community and also learn about current issues happening elsewhere, such as the Dakota Access Pipeline
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and the corresponding social media campaign "#NoDAPL." These channels also allow youth to amplify
messages of climate justice by sharing with their personal networks.
Recommendations
There are many obstacles that limit the full appreciation, affirmation, and empowerment of youth
around climate justice in the broader environmental community. Youth from vulnerable communities
face a multitude of economic, social, and environmental problems, and can feel unseen and abused in
exploitative partnerships that seek to tokenize rather than engage genuinely. This Work Group's goal is
to provide recommendations that empower youth from vulnerable communities by building
representation and inclusion in all levels of the environmental field through diversity, equity, and
inclusion.
These recommendations address how the EPA, foundations, community organizations, educational
institutions and others can invest in and further youth engagement in climate change and health
vulnerabilities. Each recommendation will be based on recorded challenges to youth engagement on
climate justice and specific best practices (from case studies and group knowledge). The purpose of
these recommendations is primarily to strengthen collaboration between youth from vulnerable
communities and the EPA. Secondarily, these recommendations can be used by organizations,
institutions, and generations hoping to foster deeper youth engagement on climate justice.
While this document refers to "youth" and "communities" as encompassing categories, we also
recognize that neither are monoliths. Recommendations and principles should therefore be tailored to
specific geographic and cultural contexts. For a quick reference, see the Principles of Youth Engagement
Graphic and the list of recommendations in the appendix, beginning page 31.
Mentor and Train Youth Leaders and Engage Youth in Decision-IVIaking
Main recommendation: EPA should establish a floor of participation for diverse young people with the
goal of including youth at more levels of decision-making by:
Suppor ms with inclusive representatic -based
yout ;tices
• Recommendation: require that climate change grantees, staff and board consist of at least 20%
youth from impacted communities
The expertise and wisdom of youth comes from a broad range of lived experience, not solely through
formal education. Therefore, it is imperative not to privilege only Western-defined, traditional
applicants. Some organizations, such as the Alliance for Climate Education (ACE), have an intentional
process for selecting fellows, who ACE then trains to be climate leaders. ACE recognizes that young
people have different ways of expressing themselves, and in the application process, they search
beyond the "4.0" environmental student who is already supported. They focus on young people who are
new to climate science and health, but may understand climate impacts on a visceral level and/or have
never engaged in a leadership program. ACE aims to make these spaces as diverse in identity as possible,
as they believe such groups will achieve the most profound impact. The organization recruits primarily
from Title lxv schools which have high percentages of children from low-income families. ACE looks for
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diversity characteristics in fellows including, but not limited to: gender identity and expression, race and
ethnicity, varying ranges of English fluency, educational background, and geographical diversity.
For many of the organizations studied, deeply-engaged youth advocates are hired from and rooted in
their own community. ACE Action fellows, t.e.j.a.s. youth organizers, and Groundwork Denver hires are
all firmly rooted in their communities, and therefore have established trust, which serves as the base for
shaping and building broader campaigns. This allows for organic youth-owned strategies to engage
young people differently and raise awareness around climate justice and health disparities in
underrepresented communities.1
Even organizations that do not focus on youth development or training in their mission statement
should prioritize youth membership in their organization and leadership structure as a way of operating
more in line with the tenets of climate justice. Developing future employees and leaders in the
environmental field, especially those from under-represented backgrounds should be well articulated as
a goal of the EPA and the 20% rate of engagement of youth in an organization's functioning may serve as
an appropriate threshold to develop these young leaders.
Prov ants for organizations 3y
youth engagement strategies
• Recommendation: create "Storytelling 101" webinars in partnership with youth organizers
• Recommendation: offer trainings on gathering stories and experiences from community
members and fellow youth (i.e. how to conduct interviews and document oral histories)
Youth often struggle to find a space where their perspectives are heard, especially in large social
movements or institutional settings. Their age and diversity of identity, experience, and opinion are all
assets. If given appropriate avenues of expression through storytelling, active listening, and other
interactive techniques, they can bring originality and insight to the organizations they work with.
For example, as an advocacy organization, SustainUS recognizes the power of individual and collective
storytelling on international platforms. SustainUS sends delegations of young people to the United
Nations climate negotiations to speak from each of their own complex, unique, and interweaving
experiences. This approach provides space for developing true common cause among young people and
diverse constituencies, and influences large governing bodies and movement spaces. They also support
domestic efforts to educate and mobilize high school and college students through organizations like the
Sunrise Movement.2
In a similar fashion, at ACE, each fellow creates a "Story of Self," or a public narrative. Youth form their
stories through a guided process built around a moment of struggle. ACE offers a space to share and
listen, and then integrates the narratives into their organizing and outreach. The organization views
storytelling as a way to place young, marginalized voices front and center and to tap into young people's
moral authority on climate change. ACE fellows were also trained to give testimony at public hearings on
1 A survey of our own Work Group members demonstrates that two-thirds of members work in communities of
color and more than 50% are community organizers serving their peers in vulnerable communities.
2 https://www.sunrisemovement.org/
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the Clean Power Plan, where they spoke about their own experiences with health impacts relating to
coal-fired power plants.
Increasing accessibi ¦ c rricula and educational resources
• Recommendation: create a youth climate change educational hub with curricular materials,
presentations, and interactive workshop plans on EPA website
• Recommendation: strengthen accessibility of these resources to those not in college or in the
college pipeline
• Recommendation: validate alternative ways of understanding climate change
• Recommendation: Integrate climate change curricula into the broader context of other social
justice movements
Well-established and funded environmental institutions have the capacity to centralize, distribute, and
democratize educational resources produced by and collaborated on with youth. For example, in
addition to providing interactive space for youth to express themselves, Harambee House INC./Citizens
for Environmental Justice (HH/CFEJ) recognizes the need to educate young people in culturally-
competent ways on the science of climate change and advocacy strategies.
HH/CFEJ created the Black Youth Leadership Development Institute (BYLDI), whose mission is to
empower African American youth to be change agents able to facilitate transformation of themselves,
their communities, and the nation by building capacity, skills, culturally-competent models, and
developing confident youth leaders. The organization consists of a group of young black teachers,
community educators, parents, and professionals committed to redirecting the talent and energy of
black youth into positive growth and development. In practice, the program puts youth in charge of
work assignments, asks for and uses their input, and lets them lead in a structured space with guidance
and feedback. One useful curriculum around climate change, the Climate Change and Civic Engagement
Course, is required for all BYLDI students, and gives them a stronger foundation in scientific knowledge.
Another effective climate change curriculum is the free, in-person education program offered by ACE,
the ACE Assembly, as well as the digital climate education resource and scaled-up version of the
assembly, Our Climate Our Future. The ACE assembly, like the fellowship, is geared toward and serves
many Title I schools. This hour-long series of video clips conveys the science of climate change and
related health impacts in an accessible and action-oriented manner.
However, it is also important for EPA to lift up resources and stories about alternative ways of
understanding climate change and its health impacts. This means uplifting the traditional and evolving
ecological knowledge of young people outside academia and in indigenous and non-Western-based
spiritual and religious communities. Indigenous approaches vary in each community. Some tribal-based
organizations, such as the Dine Policy Institute, routinely analyze and critique how topics have evolved
on the Navajo Nation and identify parts of the culture that have been left out.
Providing youth a s< :ision-making spaces
• Recommendation: recommend advisory youth work groups in every federal agency
• Recommendation: require that at least 20 percent of federal advisory bodies be composed of
youth
• Recommendation: EPA should review its offices and programs for retention of youth, particularly
from communities of color or overburdened communities
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If government and civil society actors are serious about youth engagement, they must also be willing to
step aside and hand over power. An example of this concept in practice is the Power Shift Network™,
which serves as a civil society model. The Network follows the direction of youth already doing the work
and uses its network and visibility to promote youth-based activism and solutions. This is represented in
their core mission: "Through the collective power of young people, the Power Shift Network is working
for a safe climate and just future where communities are thriving and own their power—whether that
power is electrical, economic, social, or political."
The Center for Native American Youth has roundtablesxv" and brings youth into its various programs,
including the first White House Tribal Youth Gathering. At this event, youth provided recommendations
to the U.S. government on program reform and, provided input on the Obama administration's
approaches to funding and programming for indigenous communities.
Too often, young people are relegated to the auxiliary. Therefore, clear benchmarks must be established
by which every federal agency and NGO can be held accountable to ensure actual involvement of youth.
We recommend that the federal government serve as a model to the nation by mandating advisory
youth work groups in every federal agency, requiring that each standing federal advisory body have a
youth quota of at least 20 percent, and conducting a full scale review of retention practices for young
people, particularly those from vulnerable communities.
Build Capacity by Allocating Resources for Youth Development
• Main recommendation: EPA and other organizations should support organizations that provide
youth with work that matters to them, their future, and their values and increase youth
involvement on health vulnerabilities relating to climate change
• Main recommendation: governmental and non-governmental bodies should work to minimize
accessibility and communication barriers for youth from vulnerable communities by establishing
a protocol around the following areas: language barriers, internet and technology access,
transportation, and competing priorities. Institutions and organizations can accomplish this by:
Prioritii : ' or] tions that provide youth with work opportunities
that pay a living wa with their values
• Recommendation: require climate change grantees to provide paid internships
• Recommendation: establish consistent funding for projects and leadership opportunities for
young people
Young people often have to choose to either participate in meaningful but unpaid or underpaid work or
holding a more lucrative job with less social impact. Organizations that can ensure youth feel their
contributions have impact are far more likely to retain youth leaders. For example, Groundwork Denver
works with the principle that youth engagement works best when youth can refer to something positive
in their community and say they helped make it possible. Youth appreciate when they can apply their
skills to address the needs of their community. If they are not empowered to participate, or if they are
participating in positions where they do not feel valued, their contribution may feel invisible to them.
Working for free is said to "build character," however youth from vulnerable or low-income
communities cannot afford to spend time on unpaid work. In tribal communities specifically, youth
wishing to pursue environmental endeavors often do not have access to the human and monetary
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resources they need to be successful. Although disadvantaged community faces similar issues, tribal
communities are particularly affected due to the semi-autonomous states of their tribal nations. Paid
work holds young people accountable and enables them to prioritize it over other responsibilities and
opportunities. Work Group Member Kayla DeVault explains that, in her experience, incentives show
respect and value for the time and knowledge of young indigenous people, specifically for those who
may have far fewer opportunities than their non-indigenous counterparts.
The EPA could provide grants for paid internships and require that grantee organizations pay youth a
living wage. Young people must be trained and compensated as leaders, and institutions like the federal
government, local governments, and universities can support them by providing opportunities to
develop these leadership skills.
Suppor ms whose goal is rig-term
relatior iclge cultural gaps
• Recommendation: recognize that trust-building takes time; design grant metrics that take this
into account
• Recommendation: involve youth in the planning and program design process of projects
• Recommendation: provide youth with accountable mentors
For any project or initiative to have long-term impact, all members of a community must be involved.
Work of import for youth involves fostering relationships with key stakeholders including business
owners, local government officials, utility companies, developers, students, local organizations, and
transportation authorities.
The Town of Secaucus, for example, has built relationships with diverse, local stakeholders (including
youth) to fund, support, and implement projects. Those partnerships made it possible to implement
sustainability initiatives that have improved the quality of life for all residents and saved money for the
town through energy savings and increased recycling and waste reduction. Across New Jersey, youth are
involved in green stormwater infrastructure projects as well as sustainability initiatives. Youth have also
taken on the role of grassroots activists and organizers because, at times, city officials do not prioritize
environmental projects that matter to youth.
Similarly to the work being done in Secaucus, New Jersey, the community of East Tampa has
demonstrated the impact of working collaboratively with local government, universities, K-12 schools,
and nonprofits to aid in the overall efforts of economic development and environmental justice in the
community. These partnerships have prioritized not only addressing these challenges, but training
community residents, particularly youth, in a more technical understanding of roadway and water
infrastructure in the community.
At Groundwork Denver, youth often say they enjoy building relationships internally with one another as
well as with outside stakeholders. The organization therefore works hard to foster opportunities for
youth to develop friendships, which motivates them to continue their participation. Groundwork Denver
has also discovered challenges when bringing together low-income, urban youth of color and
established institutions (such as the US Department of the Interior or US Forest Service) due to cultural
gaps. Both sides have historically been separate from and wary of each other. It has been a challenge to
break down preconceptions and create an environment of openness, trust, and curiosity.
Distrust stemming from cultural gaps is also common when working with tribal nations. In the thousands
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of Native American communities and cultures across the nation, indigenous people, as with many
people of color, face numerous debilitating stereotypes which require a meaningful effort to engage
with youth on an individualized basis.
Expanding youth capacity for technica ader civic engagement skills
i vulnerabilities
• Recommendation: provide summer internship funding for youth to practice technical skills, such
as air and water monitoring
• Recommendation: when designing programs, connect health vulnerabilities to intersecting
economic, political, and social disparities
• Recommendation: help build partnerships between communities and universities that center on
youth
Another challenge in engaging youth on "work that matters to them" is that health vulnerabilities
related to climate change may be harder for youth to engage with because additional technical training
is necessary. Dealing with health issues goes deeper than lifestyle changes or greening urban spaces; it is
a systemic and capacity-building issue. At the moment, youth seem to be more heavily involved in
renewable energy, energy efficiency, and green economy initiatives than addressing health
vulnerabilities.
Still, youth across the country are getting involved in addressing health impacts of climate change. After
extreme weather events, as observed by ACE, youth became more invested in dealing with health
disparities because they intersect with a loss of educational opportunities and economic devastation.
These crisis moments are important motivating forces for youth to learn about these intersections, and
increase their civic engagement skills. While these tragic events are overwhelming and complex, ACE
seizes the opportunity to get youth involved in climate change work when they see their community
directly impacted by it.
Youth are also encouraged to participate in these programs in order to build awareness about climate
change and its interconnected justice issues through their own spheres of influence, including their
peers, schools, families, and local communities. This allows youth to operate at the center of a network
they are familiar with and gives them a clear direction on how to organize, educate, and explore climate
justice.
The Deep South Center for Environmental Justice (DSCEJ) offers an opportunity for the community,
academics, and decision makers to share knowledge from their diverse backgrounds to formulate
sustainable and equitable solutions to issues that that community members may face. DSCEJ specifically
advances environmental justice education through their "Communiversity." The "Communiversity"XVMI
partnership model connects community members impacted by health issues, including youth, with
centers, universities, and researchers in nonthreatening forums. The "Communiversity" model
empowers youth and other community members to create effective policy and research combined with
academic theory and concepts. It is a replicable, collaborative tool for young people to engage with
institutions outside of their communities and a training ground to equip the public with the knowledge
they need to protect their homes.
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Allocati 5 Idress language and c :ation barriers
• Recommendation: address language barriers in hiring, outreach, and communication practices
Language barriers exist both between communities and between generations, as there may be a loss of
a culture's language over time or simply a lack of effective communication between generations. These
limitations can affect efforts to engage youth and reduce opportunities for youth to participate in the
environmental field. Conversely, young people can serve as a connection between those in their
community who may have limited proficiency and organizations working on climate action by
supporting an organization's efforts to work in the native language of the communities they work in.
Agencies and organizations must invest in translation and in young people who can communicate in a
variety of ways. Urban Indian centers around the country, for example, often provide indigenous people
who live in cities with a central location for cultural resources and other tools. These centers are not
isolated, and the language help provided is usually in their indigenous language rather than English.
Allocati ource: Idress accesf . on barriers such as
internet cc ;ivity, transportatic , irnpeting conflicts
• Recommendation: solicit and address youth's needs regarding internet connectivity and access
to technology
• Recommendation: provide travel stipends and host meetings in accessible locations
Although social media and online communication are appropriate mediums for youth and give them
access to global conversations about climate justice, certain communities with limited resources may
not have access to the internet or specific technologies. It is important to address the disparities in
internet access by listening to youth's needs and ideas on this topic, and then following up with the
appropriate financial and technical resources.
Not all youth are able to access meeting spaces, due to both time and distance limitations; they may not
be able to take time off from their school or work schedule and they may not have the money to travel.
While permanent positions can often pay for their representatives to attend, young people in unpaid or
underpaid positions do not have this benefit, and in more grassroots, youth-led organizations, they may
not even have an established organization to rely on for financial support. To ameliorate this, ACE
provides travel stipends to weekly fellowship meetings to all students, and a small general stipend for
participating in the fellowship. The organization hosts weekly meetings in locations that are accessible
by public transportation for students and arranges transportation to outside events.
A scarcity of economic resources in vulnerable communities can lead to participation issues among
youth. It is important to recognize that youth often need to support themselves through other work
after school or have family responsibilities caring for siblings. Organizations can poll participants about
work conflicts and provide childcare as necessary. The Michigan Environmental Justice Coalition
Summits and NEJAC meetings, for example, offer child supervision which helps to increase participation
for community members with competing responsibilities.
32
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Develop and Implement Principles for Engaging Youth on Climate
Justice
Main recommendation: EPA and other institutions should establish a code of conduct for working with
youth to address the gap of trust and to build just and accountable relationships. This code should be
based upon:
Applying tl riciple smocratic Organizirigxlx •' nciples of
Environ mental Justice5® 1 gement with yc eople
These guidelines already provide strong recommendations for how to engage with vulnerable
communities in general; all of these principles apply to working with youth as well as a constituency. The
Jemez Principles of Democratic Organizing, established in 1996 in Jemez, New Mexico, are centered on
building "common understandings among participants from different cultures, politics and
organizations."3 The Principles of Environmental Justice, created at the First National People of Color
Environmental Leadership Summit in 1991, serves as a foundational document in the practice of
environmental justice work across the nation. These principles incorporate the destruction of the
natural world with the destruction of the culture and life of historically oppressed groups.4 In addition,
creative praxes, such as Popular Education™ or Theatre of the Oppressed""1, are innovative tools
through which young people can gain ownership over their role in the movement and in relation to
institutions.
¦ational appreciation
• Recommendation: ensure that respect and recognition go both ways
• Recommendation: combat inequitable power dynamics caused by ageism and credentialism
Too often, young people are not taken seriously; stereotypes of being naive, idealistic, and
inexperienced undermine their authority in the face of more established figures, ideas, and protocols.
While youth may have fewer years of education and technical training, they can contribute a great deal
to decision-making spaces. Reciprocal mentorship is key to developing powerful relationships across
generations and for young people to own a greater stake of the work in their communities.
AIIo^ in "at the speed of trust"
• Recommendation: do not compete with successful youth work
• Recommendation: work with organizations and community leaders who have already gained
youth's trust
For organizations just now entering the sphere of environmental and climate justice, it is important to
build respectful, trustworthy partnerships that honor—and do not replicate or compete with—
successful work. ACE and Power Shift are national organizations with strong partnerships, both at the
national and local level. At the same time, both recognize that they are relatively new players on the
3 http://tejasbarrios.org/jemez/
4 http://tejasbarrios.org/ejprinciples/
33
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scene and that grassroots organizations have been fighting for environmental and climate justice for
decades. ACE occupies an interesting space between 'big greens' and local grassroots/environmental
justice organizations; they support young people to take action locally and also connect them to a
national network of young people and opportunities for their voices to have a broader reach beyond
local communities. In a similar vein, Power Shift Network focuses on investing in, validating, and
following the lead of young people on the frontlines of the climate crisis and systems change, and
connecting them with well-established spaces for funding and distribution.
Engc eventh Generation ¦ 1
Climate change is a problem that disadvantages those further down the timeline, including many
generations who do not yet have a voice. Many indigenous communities have already developed a
framework for holding themselves accountable to ensuring an equitable, just, and sustainable world
through Seventh Generation Thinking.""" This philosophy articulates the "responsibility, not just in terms
of balance for the immediate life [but also] the need to maintain this balance for the seventh generation
to come." Young people today are applying this concept by suing the federal government over its failure
to defend the health of future generations.XXIV If a genuine effort to combat the climate crisis is to be
successful, then actors must fully internalize how decisions made today impact the state of tomorrow's
young people.
34
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Conclusion
Climate justice is a concern that will continue to adversely impact the nation's most vulnerable
populations, those in coastal communities, black and brown communities, and those with historically
limited power to enforce regulations. The United States is at a critical point where many of the nation's
cities have been impacted by extreme weather events, more than any other time in its history, and
these same locations are only going to become increasingly vulnerable to climate impacts throughout
the remainder of the century. The longevity of these vulnerabilities demonstrates the importance of
engaging youth, the individuals who will be the next leaders in government, academia, industry, and in
nonprofits. Youth need the capacity and knowledge to more critically assess and address climate justice
challenges in the future, and engaging them effectively will aid in the development of future thought
leaders in this space to help with growing infrastructure, research, and policy issues.
The recommendations listed in this report serve as a preliminary list, providing a basis upon which
current and future organizations can develop their own models for successful engagement of youth in
climate justice-related work. Not only do the recommendations serve as a guideline, but the Work
Group process itself provides an additional foundation upon which other agencies and organizations can
effectively include youth in the decision-making processes to continue working to address climate and
environmental justice. As mentioned in the recommendations section, youth should comprise at least
20% of the staff, or representative board of related organizations, and should be invited to serve as part
of advisory groups for agencies across the federal government. This not only provides an opportunity to
gain insight from this particular demographic, but also helps foster intergenerational dialogue, a critical
component to moving toward increased equity and justice.
It is important to acknowledge that although the Youth Group provides a variety of experiences and
perspectives to this conversation, we recognize our own privilege and limited scope as college-educated
youth who have been active in this space for several years. With our limited scope, there are likely
populations and experiences not currently reflected in this report, and therefore while this report can
serve as a foundation to further the dialogue of youth engagement, it is in no way meant to provide a
complete narrative of the various solutions that exist. It is also important to acknowledge that, although
youth provide a valuable perspective, youth are not monolithic in thoughts, experiences, and beliefs. To
achieve climate justice, engagement across various demographics is necessary for a more holistic
perspective of climate impacts. Incorporating viewpoints from youth is a necessary start, but
acknowledging the diversity within these perspectives provides a better understanding of the variety of
challenges experienced throughout the country. As mentioned in this report, the ability to bridge gaps
across cultures and various sectors, each with a valuable stake in the fight against climate injustice,
proves to be a successful model as demonstrated in the case studies. The power of collective action only
occurs through thoughtful engagement, patience, understanding, and listening to the needs and wants
of communities. This ultimately is the optimal solution to achieve climate justice and equity.
35
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Appendix
36
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Principles of Youth Engagement on Climate Change Graphic
Principles of Youth Engagement on Climate Change
Building on the Legacy of the Jemez Principles for
Democratic Organizing and Principles for Environmental Justice
1. Let Youth Speak For Thernsefves
Prioritize working with partners with inclusive representation and frontline community-based youth
hiring practices. Require climate change and public health grantees, staff, boards, federal advisory
bodies, and other decision-making tables consist of at least 20% from impacted communities.
Create youth advisory work groups for every government agency. Affirm work that matters to young
people and aligns with their values.
2. Invest in Rising Leadership
Pay young people at a living wage for research, organizing, and education work, including
internships and apprenticeships. Increase accessibility to climate change curricula especially
outside higher education institutions, allocate resources for transportation, internet connectivity,
language, and communication barriers. Provide trainings for grant-writing and civic engagement
skill-building. Fund and facilitate professional development and scholarship to develop technical
competency to be fully knowledgeable in the various aspects of climate change and climate justice.
3. Uplift Intergenerational Collaboration
Allow change to happen at the speed of trust and apply respect and recognition in both directions.
This also requires a willingness by organizations to team from youth, especially when it comes to
storytelling, movement-building, and technical training. An exchange of knowledge and expertise
can combat inequitable power dynamics of ageism and credentialism that often lead to competing,
co-opting, or providing inconsistent funding to successful youth work. Work with partners that have
already gained the trust of local youth leaders if there aren't already established youth-led spaces.
Review internal practices and retention of youth, particularly those of intersectional identities,
including but not limited to women and LGBT people of color and those from overburdened
communities. Be grounded in responsibility and seventh generation thinking.
37
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List )ns
Meritor ¦ '5 . )utl 1 ;cision-Making
• Main recommendation: EPA should establish a floor of participation for diverse young people
with the goal of including youth at more levels of decision-making by:
Supporting organizations with inclusive representation and community-based youth hiring
practices
• Recommendation: require that climate change grantees, staff and board consist of at least 20%
youth from impacted communities
Providing trainings and grants for organizations to employ storytelling and other youth
engagement strategies
• Recommendation: create "Storytelling 101" webinars in partnership with youth organizers
• Recommendation: offer trainings on gathering stories and experiences from community
members and fellow youth (i.e. how to conduct interviews and document oral histories)
Increasing accessibility to climate change curriei educational resources
• Recommendation: create a youth climate change educational hub with curricular materials,
presentations, and interactive workshop plans on EPA website
• Recommendation: strengthen accessibility of these resources to those not in college or in the
college pipeline
• Recommendation: validate alternative ways of understanding climate change
• Recommendation: Integrate climate change curricula into the broader context of other social
justice movements
Providing youth a seat at the table in decision-making spaces
• Recommendation: recommend advisory youth work groups in every federal agency
• Recommendation: require that at least 20 percent of federal advisory bodies be composed of
youth
• Recommendation: EPA should review its offices and programs for retention of youth, particularly
from communities of color or overburdened communities
Build Capacity by Allocatir ources for Youth Development
• Main recommendation: EPA and other organizations should support organizations that provide
youth with work that matters to them, their future, and their values and increase youth
involvement on health vulnerabilities relating to climate change
• Main recommendation: governmental and non-governmental bodies should work to minimize
accessibility and communication barriers for youth from vulnerable communities by establishing
a protocol around the following areas: language barriers, internet and technology access,
transportation, and competing priorities. Institutions and organizations can accomplish this by:
Prioritizing support for organizations that provide youth with work opportunities that pay a
living wa align with their values
• Recommendation: require climate change grantees to provide paid internships
• Recommendation: establish consistent funding for projects and leadership opportunities for
38
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young people
Supporting organizations whose goal is to build long-te 1 1 I authentic relations!")!
bridge cultural gaps
• Recommendation: recognize that trust-building takes time; design grant metrics that take this
into account
• Recommendation: involve youth in the planning and program design process of projects
• Recommendation: provide youth with accountable mentors
Expanding youth capacity for technical and broader civic engagement skills around health
vulnerabilities
• Recommendation: provide summer internship funding for youth to practice technical skills, such
as air and water monitoring
• Recommendation: when designing programs, connect health vulnerabilities to intersecting
economic, political, and social disparities
• Recommendation: help build partnerships between communities and universities that center on
youth
Allocating resources to address language and communication barriers
• Recommendation: address language barriers in hiring, outreach, and communication practices
Allocating resources to address accessibility and participation barriers such as internet
connect! msportatic competing conflicts
• Recommendation: solicit and address youth's needs regarding internet connectivity and access
to technology
• Recommendation: provide travel stipends and host meetings in accessible locations
Devf Principles for Engaging Youth on C
• Main recommendation: EPA and other institutions should establish a code of conduct for
working with youth to address the gap of trust and to build just and accountable relationships.
This code should be based upon:
Applying the Jemez Principles of Democratic Organizing®™ and Principles of Environmental
Justicexxvl to engagement with young people
Uplifting intergenerational appreciation
• Recommendation: ensure that respect and recognition go both ways
• Recommendation: combat inequitable power dynamics caused by ageism and credentialism
Allowing change to happen "at the speed of trust"
• Recommendation: do not compete with successful youth work
• Recommendation: work with organizations and community leaders who have already gained
youth's trust
Engaging in Seventh Generatic king
39
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Internal Survey Results
Below are the contents and anonymous results of the internal survey. This survey was designed to
aggregate the knowledge and experience within the Work Group and to identify specific
recommendations or pathways to meeting the charge. The responses have not been edited.
1. Name
• Eriqah Vincent
• Yudith Nieto
• Will DiGravio (left workgroup in 2017)
• Stefan Petrovic
• KathyTran
• Nikita Robinson
• Zoe Ackerman
• Maya Carrasquillo
• Amber Vignieri
• Samantha Shattuck
• Amanda Nesheiwat
• Devin Crowther
• Melake Anthony Torres
• Oforiwaa Pee Agyei-Boakye
2. In what city and state do you work?
• Atlanta, GA
• Houston Texas
• Middlebury, Vermont
• I am originally from Lawrence, Kansas and am attending college in Cambridge, Massachusetts
• Berkeley, CA
• Unalaska, Alaska
• Washington, DC and all over North Carolina
• Tampa, FL
• Chicago, IL
• Cincinnati, Ohio
• Secaucus, New Jersey
• Tallahassee, Florida
• Denver, CO
• Washington, DC
• Philadelphia, PA
40
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3. Who is your current employer or academic institution ?
• National Wildlife Federation
• Texas environmental justice advocacy services
• Middlebury College
• Harvard University (Undergraduate Student)
• UC Berkeley
• Qawalangin Tribe of Unalaska and University of Alaska MatSu
• Rachel Carson Council
• University of South Florida
• Elevate Energy
• Pegasus Technical Services, Contractor for EPA
• Town of Secaucus NJ
• Florida Agricultural & Mechanical University
• Groundwork Denver
• Sierra Club, SustainUS
• University of Pennsylvania
4. In your current work, what general areas of climate change are you involved in ? [select all that
apply]
r
Mitigation
r
Adaptation
r
Resilience
r
Education
r
Community organizing
r
Advocacy
r
Energy
i
Built environment
r
Public health
r
Conservation
r
Climate justice
r
Other (please specify)
Leadership Development
Environmental justice
Sustainable Development
Trade and climate
41
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12
In your current work, what general areas of climate change are you involved in? Select all that apply.
10
I
u
Mitigation
Adaptation
Resilience
Education
Comm
organizing
Advocacy
Energy
Built enviro't
Public health
Conservation
Climate justice
Other
¦ Seriesl
5
2
8
8
10
10
5
2
6
1
7
4
42
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5. What sector do you primarily represent in your climate work? [select only one that most applies]
ip
Tribal/indigenous government
p
City government
County government
State government
' Federal government
j>~*
Private
f Academia
Rural communities
Grassroots organization/community group
Non-governmental organization (NGO)
p
Other (please specify)
43
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What sector do you primarily represent in your climate work?
0
NGO
Grassroots org/com.
group
Academia
Tribal/indigenous
gov't
Federal gov't
¦ Seriesl
5
4
4
1
1
44
-------
In your current work, do you primarily focus on adaptation and resilience?
Yes
No
In your current work, do you
primarily focus on adaptation
and resilience?
Please indicate whether your focus is on
adaptation and/or resilience.
0
Adaptation
Resilience
Open-Ended
Response
¦ 255
2
5
5
7. Please describe your current climate work.
45
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• NWF- Leadership development for youth looking to make climate work a career, DEL (Diverse
Environmental Leaders) Speaker-Speaking and providing guidance to government organizations
and NGO's on reaching youth and diverse populations in climate work
• I work with local schools, communities and universities to address the climate impacts in low
income refining communities of color.
• Creating and building resources to connect and educate climate leaders.
• Currently, I am drafting articles for the Harvard Political Review on the relationship between
climate change and national security. I have just started college so much of my grassroots
activism and environmental justice work with tribal groups is on hold.
• Research studies to understand the association between living within proximity to oil/gas fields
and birth outcomes, and aspects of environmental justice relative of biomass power plants
• The Rachel Carson Council's goal, and my role as Associate Program Director, is to build a
network carrying forward Rachel Carson's legacy and the environmental justice movement's
history of calling attention to the intersection between climate change, environmental pollution,
health, human rights, and industrial animal agriculture. On a broad level, the scope of our work
aims to influence the direction of research and teaching to work through an environmental
justice lens, build stronger relationships between higher education and communities through
popular education movement building techniques, and broaden the base of advocates ready to
take action to transform our food system. Through network-building, creative programming,
and course planning assistance, we specifically aim to expose higher education spheres in North
Carolina to the perspectives of impacted communities, workers, contract growers, and
organizations advocating for positive social change.
• Promoting and implementing smarter energy use for all through programs that bring energy
efficiency initiatives to those who need them most
• I am working on Health Impact Assessment practice and policy. The current HIA we're working
on includes resiliency in its objectives, Suffolk County responding to Hurricane Sandy.
• I am currently involved in, and presenting on topics related to water quality in and around the
North Florida area.
• I currently work with young people to create new stories of climate justice, advocate for policies
aimed at zero fossil fuels by 2050, and fight against corporate trade agreements like the TPP.
We organize, create, and work inside and outside halls of power to change narratives and
challenge power dynamics.
• Transportation policies in the built environment to remedy environmental issues, sustainable
urban planning, policies and design for climate change. How urban planning policies in the built
environment can be used to remedy climate change issues while promoting sustainable
environmental development.
46
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8. In your current work, do you focus on/work with/engage with communities that are vulnerable to
climate change?
In your current work, do you
focus on/work with/engage
with communities that are
vulnerable to climate change?
9.
Who are these vulnerable communities? [select all that apply]
r
Tribal
r
Indigenous
r
Women
r
Children
r
Elderly
r
Disabled
r
Communities of color
r
Inner-city
r
Rural
r
Urban
r
Other (please specify)
1
47
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9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
Who are these vulnerable communities? Select all that apply.
-------
10. How do you engage these vulnerable communities? [select all that apply]
^ nuiS
Organizing
Education
Outreach
_
Mobilization
r—
Mentorship
Religious activities
niin
Research
Other (please specify)
49
-------
How do you engage these vulnerable communities? Select all that apply.
50
-------
In your current work, do you engage with youth (ages 5-29) on climate change issues?
Yes
No
In your current work, do you engage with youth
(ages 5-29) on climate change issues?
0
No
Yes
¦ Seriesl
6
9
12.
In your previous work, professional and/or academic, what general areas of climate change were
you involved in ? [select all that apply]
r
Mitigation
r
Adaptation
r
Resilience
r
Education
r
Community organizing
r
Advocacy
r
Public policy
r
Energy
r
Built environment
r
Public health
r
Conservation
r
Climate justice
r
Other (please specify)
1 1
51
-------
In your previous work, professional and/or academic, what general areas of
climate change were you involved in? Select all that apply.
10
u
Mitigation
Adaptatio
Resilience
Education
Comm
Advocacy
Public
Energy
Built
Public
Conservat
Climate
Other
n
organizing
policy
enviro't
health
-ion
justice
¦ Seriesl
5
5
3
10
5
10
6
4
3
4
4
8
0
52
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13. Have you worked on adaptation and resilience focused projects in the past, professionally and/or
academically?
f Yes
1 No
Have you worked on adaptation and resilience
focused projects in the past, professionally
and/or academically?
14. Please indicate whether your focus was on adaptation and/or resilience, [select all that apply]
Adaption
Resilience
Please indicate whether your focus was on
adaptation and/or resilience. Select all that
apply.
0
Adaption
Resilience
¦ Seriesl
3
4
53
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15. Please describe your previous adaptation and/or resilience work.
• Worked with a local High school to include EJ principles and perspectives in adaptation and
resilience curriculum
• Working with tribal entities and grassroots environmental justice networks to make Traditional
Ecological Knowledge (TEK) part of the global community's response to climate change.
• To begin filling a knowledge gap on climate change vulnerability and adaptation within
developing countries, I conducted a master's thesis project that described how urban slum
dwellers in Ahmedabad, India are vulnerable to heat illness. I discovered that the slum dwellers
mainly accessed primary healthcare at local urban health centers (UHC) and the vulnerable sub-
population included the elderly, outdoor workers, and persons with preexisting chronic
conditions. I then developed target recommendations for the local state public health ministry.
• See previous response.
• Working along communities in Long Island to rebuild after Hurricane Katrina and working to
support communities and young people across the country resisting climate impacts.
16. In your previous experience, have you focused on/worked with/engaged with communities that are
vulnerable to climate change?
f Yes
f No
In your previous experience, have you focused
on/worked with/engaged with communities
that are vulnerable to climate change?
54
-------
17. Who were these vulnerable communities? [select all that apply]
Tribal
r
Indigenous
r
Women
r
Children
r
Elderly
r
Disabled
r
Communities of color
r
Inner-city
r
Rural
r
Urban
r
Other (please specify)
55
-------
Who were these vulnerable communities? Select all that apply.
u
Tribal
Indigenous
Women
Children
Elderly
Disabled
Co mm of
Inner-city
Rural
Urban
Other
color
BSeriesl
1
3
2
5
2
1
5
5
0
6
1
56
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18. How did you engage these vulnerable communities? [select all that apply]
^ nuiS
Organizing
Education
Outreach
_
Mobilization
r—
Mentorship
Religious activities
niin
Research
Other (please specify)
57
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9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
How did you engage these vulnerable communities? Select all that apply.
Organizing
Education
Outreach
Mobilization
Mentorship
Religious
activities
Research
Other
4
9
7
1
5
1
5
0
-------
19. In your previous experiences, did you engage with youth (ages 5-29) on climate change issues?
( Yes
f No
In your previous experiences, did you engage
with youth (ages 5-29) on climate change
issues?
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
¦ Seriesl
20.
1/1//?o were these youth communities? [select all that apply]
r
Tribal
r
Indigenous
r
Religious groups
r
Communities of color
r
Elementary school students
r
Middle school students
r
High school students
r
College students
r
Young professionals
r
Inner-city
r
Rural
r
Urban
r
Other (please specify)
1
59
-------
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
Who were these youth communities? Select all that apply.
I
I
I
Tribal Indigenous Religious Commof
groups color
Eiernen Mid school High school College Young Inner-city
school students students students profession-
students als
5 2 7 8 4 4
Rural Urban Other
60
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21. How did you engage the youth community? [select all that apply]
^ nuiS
Organizing
Education
Outreach
_
Mobilization
r—
Mentorship
Religious activities
niin
Research
Other (please specify)
61
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9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
How did you engage the youth community? Select all that apply.
Organizing
Education
Outreach
Mobilization
Mentorship
Religious
activities
Research
Other
7
10
7
4
6
0
2
0
62
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22. Please describe any tools and/or strategies that you have used or are familiar with that have been
utilized to help communities become resilient in the face of climate change.
• N/A
• I have personally used Art & Activism workshops to engage youth and get them prepared to
think differently about their environment and community
• Power points and binders with information and resources. Offering free courses that allow for
collaboration and for sharing of best practices.
• Bring members of vulnerable communities and interested parties/stakeholders together in a
forum where they can discuss threats they face. This humanizes the interaction between groups
that are effected by events and those that have resources to fix the problem. Encouraging oral
tradition and respecting protocol and elders in a community can go a long way toward
discussing resilient solutions. A specific resilience tactic would be to encourage the growth of
local polyculture food movements that keep indigenous/organic products within the community
and keep community members healthier and less dependent on external systems. This could
prove helpful for any community (particularly, those in isolated places) that finds itself with food
shortages following a natural disaster as a result of climate change.
• My master's work, along with subsequent studies, has led to Ahmedabad's heat action plan,
greater dissemination of heat illness prevention tips for vulnerable communities, and placement
of large displays of temperature warnings across the entire city. The state government has
worked closely with NRDC to implement the intervention. As of 2015, an evaluation of the HAP
suggested that the Plan has been effective at increasing awareness of the dangers of heat
waves, disaster risk management, and climate change in Ahmedabad. The city is much more
prepared for heat waves than it was in 2010. The innovative forecasting system along with
outreach activities have proven beneficial in efforts to save lives. There were fewer city -
reported deaths during Ahmedabad's annual heat season in the years since the Plan was
launched.
• Educating the general public, and making sure information was easily understandable for all
audience members, and then working on adaptive strategies to become resilient with current
and foreseeable climatic impacts.
• The main strategy for building resilience of which I'm familiar revolves around developing inner
resilience, and supporting expressions of wisdom and lived experience of the communities most
impacted to speak and act for themselves. The theatre of the oppressed methodology is a tool
to bring unheard stories into a space, and rehearse alternative options through embodied
learning techniques. Building inner resilience and deeper understanding among and beyond
communities is also about building the capacity of social movements to address the root causes
of climate change over the long run—tackling institutionalized systems oppression and inequity.
The vision and challenges to organizing and taking action on climate change is articulated well in
the North Carolina Environmental Justice Network's statement on climate:
https://ncejn.files.wordpress.com/2016/01/ncejn_positiononclimatechange_2016-01-05.pdf
63
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• Green Infrastructure development for storm water management; mobilization through churches
and other faith based communities closely connected to the community; University and
community group partnerships to address community concerns via research and development
solutions;
• I don't have a great answer to this question
• I propose health impact assessment as a method to evaluate how a policy, program, or can
affect health and resiliency in the face of climate change.
• Helping a community to become more sustainable, that is thinking more long term and thinking
about the economic AND environmental impacts of every decision that stakeholders in a
community make. This kind of thinking and decision making helps communities become more
resilient to economic and natural disasters.
• I found the use of visual aids helped to illustrate points that may prove difficult to
understand. Such as images, local reference points and hands on activities.
• Our work provides free home energy audits and weatherization. It's nice because people are
saving energy and money at home, they are contributing less to climate change, and they are
building resiliency against extreme heat. I think focusing on co-benefits helps when trying to
implement strategies addressing climate resiliency
• Providing them institutional access to tools, information, history, and relationships.
• Mapping tools like ArcGIS were beneficial in analyzing climate issues, developing and
establishing long term relationships with local governments and regulatory commissions while
consistently influencing planning decisions was an asset, preparing comprehensive development
plans, efficient time management while meeting aggressive deadlines in fast paced
environments
23. What does authentic engagement with communities mean to you?
• Provide education and insight on various points and allow the community to organize
themselves using the strategies and education provided.
• It means that we must build authentic, transparent and respectful relationships with the
communities we work with and support. It is important to help create a platform for the
impacted communities we wish to help and learn from.
• Developing and brainstorming ways to be active in one's community, not merely
generalizations. Creating a personalized action plan and relating the climate crisis to the
community you're addressing goes a long way.
• Being as present in a community as possible. This means meeting the community where they
are and respecting the oral traditions many carry with them.
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• A relationship that emphasizes mutual respect and co-learning between partners to work
towards individual and community capacity building and systems change. No one individual
dominates the decision-making process within the partnership.
• Presenting climate change as a holistic issue for all communities, and how those impacts can
affect different regions throughout the world. Most importantly, proving facts about climate
change issues that communities may not fully understand what is happening and/causing the
changes.
• The need comes from the community, and they have a huge stake in the project design,
executive, and evaluation. People who are outside of the community need to be open & willing
to detach from outcomes to ensure that that process amplifies voices & experiences of
impacted community members, not what outsiders believe to be true.
• Engaging with communities, and building relationships over the long-haul—not only
approaching an organization right before a project needs to be completed or a proposal is due.
• As someone who is not part of the communities where I work, I am working on checking my
own privilege at every turn—ideally, there is space in the outside organization/academic setting
to process hang-ups and prevent damage. "
• In qualitative research, action research is an approach that involves the community at every
major point and in the research itself to inform/influence engagement decisions and outcomes. I
think of authentic engagement from this perspective, in that the community itself is informing
and developing the decisions of projects and development, including self-organizing, to ensure
true sustainability and outcomes that will be most beneficial to those most affected by the
issues.
• Engaging in dialogue that places a special emphasis on truly listening to, valuing, and
implementing the input of vulnerable communities. Involving them in the decision-making
process, taking stock of community resources and knowledge, ensuring communities will not be
displaced after positive change
• I think authentic engagement means creating space for diverse community members to have
ownership over the agenda and decision making process. Engagement is not meant to be
pedantic, but rather we should serve as facilitators and conveyors of the community's various
needs and interests into the process.
• Listening to the needs of the community and engaging with community stakeholders and
provide them with skills and knowledge that you have that may help their cause.
• Building relationships with folks, and meeting them where they are. A boots on the ground
approach if you will.
• Basically treating a community as you would like to be treated. Actively listen and value their
opinions, ask questions a lot, value their time and show it (i.e. give them something in return for
their knowledge and time). Be honest about what you are able to provide, your restrictions and
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your motivations. Be willing to change your mind. Mold your efforts around the feedback your
given by community members. Don't cherry pick community member just because they agree
with you. And be ok with failing at your task if it comes down to it.
• It means tying your liberation with theirs and not viewing the experience as helping or
tokenizing.
24. Based on your experience and/or knowledge, what are some best practices to engage with youth
(ages 5-29)? Please provide examples and/or sources for your ideas of these best practices.
• For millennial (16-36): provide leadership training and skills building opportunities for budding
leaders. Example: We did a leadership development training for HBCU students and alums April
2015 and then provided follow up leadership. Mentorship in projects on campus and in their
communities
• I enjoy creative projects with the youth and it has proven to work in engaging youth. Using
mixed media, digital art, music, and theater in outreach efforts is always effective to gauge the
level of interest and participation.
• Allow for Q&A. Put the crisis in ways that they will understand and in ways that they can relate
to and see the information in their own life.
• Refer to answer in Q20... Also, young people also become more invested when an issue has to
do directly with their own community (relating to food security, sustainability, preservation of
culture through food practices, for example) rather than something larger. This is not to belittle
the importance of expansive social media platforms. Those are crucial to long-term success,
messaging and group viability. Recording and preserving stories and traditions would go a long
way toward valuably engaging communities, as well.
• Bes practices: inspire youth to care about environmental issues through education and avenues
that speak to them, and provide resources to help youth achieve their goals. Personally, after
learning about anthropogenic-driven climate change, I was inspired to take action. I
collaborated with several UCLA students to develop action research teams where we sought to
increase campus recycling in one year and improve dorm energy efficiency in the next, our
efforts led to the development of a course (http://www.eslp.environment.ucla.edu/) for action
research made up of a dozen teams to develop strategies to reduce the campus's carbon
footprint as well as to commitment and financial support from several campus administrative
entities. Furthermore, we generated greater interest and concern among the student body for
climate change issues and it appears this spirit of action has continued from 2008 till now. I also
volunteered with the Greening Youth Foundation to work with youth concerned with
sustainability. Through weekly creative lessons and hands-on activities, I expanded their
knowledge about climate change topics and invigorated their interest in managing their school
recycling program. I provided guidance to help them accomplish their recycling goals.
• Inform the youth on what is currently happening and what anthropogenic practices are
contributing to climate and environmental issues. Give them a sense of caring, and what they
can do themselves as well as giving them a "take home message" to inform their peers.
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• Many of the best practices for engaging with youth come from my experience with participating
in the North Carolina Climate Justice Summit. It is an extremely diverse, intergenerational space,
and creates leadership opportunities for youth at every turn.
• Through the Climate Justice Summit, I connected with the Alliance for Climate Education (ACE),
whose mission is to Mission of the organization is to educate young people on the science of
climate change and empower them to take action. The education side involves in-person
assemblies where young people present a multimedia presentation on climate facts in an
extremely imaginative and relatable way. ACE works in North Carolina, the Bay Area, Boston and
New York to train high schoolers to host assemblies, and also take action with local
environmental/climate groups on the most pressing issues in their communities (fracking,
nuclear, pipelines, renewable energy, etc.). Their model has been so successful that they scaled
up to create digital presentations as well. The online version of this presentation is called Our
Climate Our Future: https://ourclimateourfuture.org.
• ACE is very open to helping the work group, and I think it would be especially interesting to
learn more about how they're building a network to connect regional youth-driven projects
across the entire U.S."
• Hands-on project development where students feel they have ownership and authority over
what they are being taught (either in a school or church curriculum). This ensures that the
students can and will go back and inform their elders to better influence community
development.
• Working with academic institutions (ex: science classes but also high school students can learn
via politics, economics, social studies classes if innovative curriculum is included to identify the
multiple ramifications of climate change, empower students and illustrate how they can use
their talents to contribute to the efforts to act on climate), citizen science programs,
neighborhood/community organizations (ex: block clubs, YMCAs, after-school programs), social
media platforms (ex: photo campaigns, hashtag contests, encouraging original content creation
and storytelling)
• I think we should look to established bodies like schools, perhaps churches or other community
organizations, as spaces that can support youth activity on these issues. There can be too much
of a burden on youth to create the wheel over and over again, for it to fall apart when they
leave for another or part of their life. I think it is important to maintain youth leadership and
organizations should focus on trying to steward the work through cohorts, providing
organizational and financial support to they can continue to grow.
• Getting involved in schools and school clubs was the easiest way for me to engage youth.
Facebook also seems to be a good way to engage youth. Youth are concerned about what's
going on and want to find careers where they could do some social good. So inspiring them to
continue to fight for their causes is a way that I have been able to engage and work with other
youth in the past.
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• I found the use of visual aids helped to illustrate points that may prove difficult to
understand. Such as images, local reference points and hands on activities.
• All of the youth we work with are paid employees which is great because we have some people
who are really passionate about our work and some who just are interested in making some
money. Diversity in opinion is sometimes hard to find in environmental groups but it is
important and helps us grow and learn. Most of the work we do with youth is hands-on (i.e.
building gardens, sampling water, door to door canvasing, cleaning up alleys, building trails, etc.).
Doing specific tangible satisfying work with a finished product you can point to creates a
powerful feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction and builds a momentum which makes
bigger projects easier to tackle. I believe in starting small and local to help build that momentum
and confidence in oneself. Doing hard manual work is also helpful because even those who
struggle in the classroom can gain a sense of self confidence.
• The best practices are providing material resources for many young people who are already
building the future we need now. That means funding, relationships, guidance, and avenues to
speak for themselves in policy and movement spaces.
25. Based on your experience and/or knowledge, what are some best practices to engage with
vulnerable populations? Please provide examples and/or sources for your ideas of these best
practices.
• Provide education on the cause and effects on climate change. Example: our community
organization did a lightbulb swap and installed new CFL's in various vulnerable communities. We
used that opportunity to education each resident on why these lightbulbs were better and how
they connect to community health
• One has been Art & Activism workshops, theater of the Oppressed, community gardens, Civic
Club presentations, Community Health Festivals, Free Stores, and air monitoring projects
• See above.
• Refer to Answers in Q20 and Q22... One another thing- When it comes to vulnerable
populations, forging bonds based in trust should be the top priority. Lack of trust engenders
traumatic historical memories of old colonial tendencies and oppressive systemic forces.
Cultural competence and sensitivity is crucial in this context.
• Best practices: avoid creating unrealistic expectations by being honest and clear about goals,
and reach hard to reach populations through means that speak to them. While conducting my
master's thesis work within the slum dwelling population, several potential survey-takers were
under the assumption that I would address a specific problem for them since government
workers participated in disseminating the survey and may have been indirect coercion.
Whenever I had a chance to directly interact with my study population and
requests/expectations were made re: the aftermath of my work, I made sure to clear that up
even though it was written specifically into the survey intro. A Bay area organization has
seemingly been successful in generating interest in environmental issues within communities of
color via hip hop (http://www.colorlines.com/articles/greening-hip-hop). Interest and
commitment are more easily attainable when the message comes from leaders within
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vulnerable communities.
• Traditional Ecological Knowledge and/or indigenous knowledge.
• Setting realistic expectations about what collaborations can and can't yield. Sometimes, for
example, a health study may not always be in the community's best interest. I've found these
two resources to be very useful: Boston University/Madeleine Scammell's "Is a health study the
answer for your community?" http://www.bu.edu/sph/research/research-landing-
page/superfund-research-program-at-boston-university/research-cores/community-
engagement-core/health-studies-guide/ and Meredith Minkler's books on community
organizing and participatory research: Minkler, M. (2012) Community Organizing and
Community Building for Health and Welfare (3rd edition). Piscataway, NJ: Rutgers University
Press.
• Making time to build relationships in person, not only by phone and email. Find ways to support
community members outside of work spaces—if invited to an event like a birthday, wedding,
etc., don't hesitate to go! Hold events and meetings in spaces that are easy for communities to
attend. Always budget for reimbursing community members who travel (per mile, not gas total).
• If communities are visiting unfamiliar spaces like college campuses, be sure that they have
access to facilities (parking) and that they are comfortable navigating. It helps to meet them
right when they arrive, and also is extremely important that spaces are accessible to differently
abled people.
• Vulnerable communities know more and have a deeper understanding of the problems they are
facing, more often times than given credit for. This has been demonstrated in various
communities in terms of their own self-organizing and bringing light to certain issues they find
most critical. Engaging to listen and understand before engaging to actually engage is critical
and can be done in a variety of ways. The peace corps and anthropological models encourage
extensive engagement in the community to understand the scope and challenges of the
community from a more authentic lens (6 mos-1 year) prior to actually working on
implementing solutions. I have personally found this model to be effective and have seen many
other examples of successes in environmental justice cases that took a similar approach.
• One-on-one meetings (or at least smaller conversations with key community leaders), inviting
communities to public meetings (and supporting with transportation, aid in submitting
comments, etc.), engage leaders to be involved with outreach (messengers from the community
are oftentimes trusted more than outsiders)
• I would repeat some of those things mentioned above, and I would add that it is important to
ask communities to prioritize the issues they want to focus on. A researcher may be interested
in these certain health impacts, but if a community is focused or feeling another one more
acutely, that should be addressed. This flexibility can strengthen the partnership and provide a
better foundation for the work and future engagement.
• Connecting vulnerable populations with organizations and services who want to help is
something I have done in the past. At this point in my career, I am most interested in learning
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about vulnerable communities and learning with them.
• Each group requires a tailored approach, this may involve some trial and error on the part of the
environmental worker. It may help to have a person who can relate to the target population.
• Again starting smaller and local. Finding something strait forward and doable to start. Once that
is accomplished you can build momentum and accomplish bigger and bigger things and more
people will want to join because everyone like to win. I think focusing on the immediate benefits
is helpful but also put it in context.
• The best practices include having diverse voices from vulnerable communities speak and
represent themselves, providing them with direct grant relationships, and connecting their local
priorities to macro strategies and providing them a seat at the table rather than just on the
menu.
26. Have you participated in a youth driven project that sought to address climate change?
C
Yes
C
No
Have you participated in a youth driven project
that sought to address climate change?
0
No
Yes
¦ Seriesl
6
9
27. Please briefly describe the project(s). What made the project(s) effective and/or ineffective at
achieving the goal of the project(s)?
• Lightbulb swap described on the previous page. The project was effective because it educated
community resident that otherwise would not know about climate change and its effects. It was
ineffective because we did not do the planned follow up with the community to contribute to
mobilizing and other advocacy
• The Free Store project was mostly ineffective because more community engagement and
outreach was needed to be had prior to setting up the free store. It was initiated by people who
had good intentions but we're not sensitive to the culture of the people in the community. The
initial idea behind the free store was to create a space for people to come and exchange things
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they no longer needed instead of paying for things.
• Students for Climate Action (SFCA), is a non-profit organization dedicated to empowering
aspiring and current environmental activists through advocacy, training, and networking. The
purpose of the organization is to engage students from across the United States on the most
pressing issue facing our planet: anthropogenic climate change. Our mission is to connect
aspiring activists, climatologists, engineers, and any and all youth who hope to one-day work in
the fields of climate change advocacy, science, green energy, journalism, etc. By doing so, we
will create a generation that better understands science, and create a cohort of scientists and
engineers who are better able to advocate for themselves and their work. Over the past two
years, SFCA (previously named the Youth Climate Coalition) has offered climate-education
workshops and trainings to over one thousand individuals. While we are focused on connecting
students, our free trainings are available to anyone; workshop guests have ranged from sixth
graders to sixty year-olds.
• Conducting needs assessments on Pine Ridge Reservation and working with local high school
students to address the local suicide epidemic through a plan for a community recreation center
(that utilizes TEK, as well as traditional practices, to heal and remedy certain issues). When
groups have numerous stakeholders and invested parties involved, it is incredibly helpful to
have a clear, distinct message and focus. Competing interests can often clash, rather than
complement each other.
• Providing many opportunities to learn about climate change and environmental issues through
outreach of weekly campus events, tabling, and conferences.
• I'm currently in the process of working alongside communities, academics, students, and
advocacy groups to connect the dots between industrial agriculture, climate change, and
environmental justice. Communities in eastern North Carolina that are impacted by confined
animal feeding operations (CAFOs) are also extremely vulnerable to increases in extreme
weather events, drought, sea level rise, and warmer days. In order to really contribute to the
movement - as an outsider - it has become essential to dig into history, and understand
divisions between climate advocates, EJ groups, and campuses. In the Rachel Carson Council's
effort to be a bridge between issues and stakeholders, we are in the process learning the history
of CAFOs in NC over the last 30 years, and familiarizing ourselves with the divisions, spaces
where trust was lost, and opportunities for hope. The project is still in its beginning stages, and
so far has been effective because we're taking things slowly, listening to many different
stakeholders about desires and fears, cultivating meaningful relationship with partner
organizations, and also building space for youth to lead the way.
• Co-led student-run campaign to urge Loyola University to divest from Fossil Fuels. Initially was
ineffective to just show student support. Ultimately presented to the University Senate,
obtained support of key leaders, created a town hall panel of University faculty, staff, and
administrators to demonstrate the benefits of and need to divest, presented to the University
President and then was successful after gaining support of University finance experts and
decision makers. Demonstrated how divesting from fossil fuels tied in with key University values
and mission. This was another important tactic (finding out how our goal was connected to the
values of the target audience).
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• Once I worked with the Ramapough Lenape Tribe in North Jersey to stop a pipeline from being
built through the Ramapough reservation. What made the project effective (even though the
pipeline did actually get built) was the connections that we were able to make with other groups
in the local area and the college community nearby. It made the Ramapough Lenape Tribe
happy to know that nearby students also cared about the reservation and shared concerns with
them. To this day, local organizations and students still reach out and support the Ramapough
Lenape.
• The #ZeroBy2050 Campaign was an effort by 20 young people across the country to advocate
for a long term goal in the Paris climate talks that paved a path to zero fossil fuels and provided
losses and damages to vulnerable communities. On the former, we influenced language in the
text and cultivated prominent relationships, while on the latter were not able to reach
substantial progress, but developed key contacts and media content with voices who needed to
be heard in the space and across the world.
28. What types of youth driven project(s) do you think would effectively address climate change issues?
Please provide examples you are familiar with to support your ideas.
• Again, projects that are developed through the leadership of members within a specific
community. E.g. Greening Hip-hop (http://www.colorlines.com/articles/greening-hip-hop).
Education and resources are important to drive youth driven projects as well as giving them
leadership responsibilities with trust that they will deliver. For example, while the
Richmond, CA government mandated engagement with youth to address climate change, it
is the youth at elementary schools that determine their focus after training. The Y-Plan
program has been sustained since 1999 (http://citiesandschools.berkeley.edu/blog/y-plan-
richmond-ca-5-years-of-authentic-youth-engagement-in-city-planning).
• I can't think of specific examples but I am biased towards allowing students to be creative
enough to develop them on their own. I witnessed this happen in a summer program led by
Intel this summer with students from Oakland. They were given the task to develop
solutions to problems that their communities are facing. Several of the groups chose
projects related to sustainability and climate resilience (given that the Bay area is highly
susceptible) because these are problems they are aware of, and were creative enough to
think of solutions on their own, solutions that were practical yet effective. I think this
approach could work in any setting and that the adults and community organizers can be
the ones to provide the appropriate resources to get the tasks done.
• I think the youth voice is powerful in organizing to speak to politicians and others in power.
If youth are able to organize over broader distances and build coalitions and collaborations,
like the DREAMers, undocumented youth from around the country, they will be more
effective than if they are just regional or limited to their school.
• One that is tailored for a targeted population, and has ways to get folks involved. If we could
break down the issues into their main points, and make it attractive and fun I am sure that
will work well.
• I've worked to with youth building gardens, building trails, canvassing for energy audits,
planting trees, cleaning up alleys, sampling water quality, and many other environmentally
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focused activities. These were all through youth employment programs which I strongly
believe in. While the money is what drew a lot of youth in, the relationships they built and
the pride they developed for the work they accomplished to better their own community is
what kept them coming back. Youth are great workers, especially when they believe in what
they are doing and are doing it with friends. I think we should give the youth work with clear
tangible goals that they can accomplish in a reasonable amount of time. I don't have much
experience with youth coming up with their own ideas, we usually just show up get the job
done and talk about it after, but I do believe that a youth led project is something that can
be done well. But what drew me into doing environmental work was the work, the
education part I could get from school, the work, the satisfaction of accomplishing
something tangible is what really made me want to work in the environmental field.
29. Please suggest specific organizations and/or people who engage youth and/or vulnerable
communities in climate change projects. Please provide names, contacts, and relevant links. If you
have none, write none in the first row. [Contact information withheld for publication]
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• West Atlanta Watershed Alliance wawa-
online.org
• Youth in Action (EYCEJ)
• Dr. Daniel Wildcat
• Deborah McKoy, Y-Plan
• Arctic Youth Ambassadors
• Maayan Cohen, Deputy Director for
Partnerships
• Alliance for Climate Education
• MayaTrotz
• Elevate Energy, Anna Markowski,
Community Projects Manager,
• EMEAC, Eastern Michigan
Environmental Action Council
• Captain Planet Foundation
• Deep South Center for Environmental
Justice
• Shane Wright, Groundwork Denver,
Youth Programs Director
• Garrett Blad, SustainUS
• National Wildlife Federation
• Furr High school
• Julie Maldonado
• Roger Lin, Communities for a Better
Environment
• Aleutian Bering Sea and Island
Landscape Conservation Cooperative
• North Carolina Climate Justice Summit,
info@ncclimatejustice.org
• Little Village Environmental Justice
Organization, Kim Wasserman-Nieto,
Executive Director,
• DWEJ, Detroiters Working for
Environmental
• SustainUS
• Florida A&M University School of the
Environment
• Donny Roush, Earth Force, Urban
Waters Program Director
• Destiny Watford, Free Your Voice,
Baltimore
• Greening Youth Foundation; Gabriella
Logan
• Los Jardines Institute
• Kalani Souza
• Ingrid Bostrom, The Center on Race,
Poverty & the Environment
• Alaska Native and Tribal Health
Consortium - LEO Network
• NC Warn
• Southeast Environmental Task Force,
Peggy Salazar, Director
• UN Department of Public Information
(Global Youth Involvement)
• Think About Personal Pollution
• Jes Ward, City Wild, Executive Director
• Lydia Avila, lydia@powershift.org,
Power Shift Network
• Bob Gough
• Greening Youth Foundation
• Katy May, Center for Human Health and
the Environment, NC State
• Englewood Community Development
Corporation
• Energy Action Coalition
• FAMU Green Coalition
• Curt Collier, Groundwork USA, Youth
Programs Director
• Ryan Camero, Restore the Delta
• JeanTanimoto
• Bickerdike Redevelopment Corporation
• 350.org
• Adam Hasz, SustainUS
• Ryan Madden, Long Island Progressive
Coalition
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Case Studies
T 1 1 'ork Denver you
stakeholders in environmental justice work
Background
The Denver Metro area is home to over 2.8 million people, many who face new challenges brought on
by climate change. These challenges include, but are not limited to, more frequent and intense heat
waves, diminished air quality, drought, and flooding. Populations who are most vulnerable to these
climate change impacts tend to be those living in low-income households, and are often people of color
living in communities that face disproportionate environmental burdens in comparison to the rest of the
Denver Metro Area. Neighborhoods like, Globeville, Elyria-Swansea, Westwood, Northeast Parkhill, and
Montbello have higher populations of low-income families of color and face environmental challenges,
including proximity to polluting industrial factories and major highways, a lack of parks or open spaces,
or an inability to access fresh produce within their neighborhood.
Groundwork Denver is an environmental nonprofit that focuses on addressing inequities in
environmental health, public health, and climate impacts by improving the physical environment
through community partnerships and actions. This mission is manifested in many different ways such as
providing residents with free home energy audits and efficiency upgrades; transforming brownfields into
natural parks; providing incentives and education around alternative modes of transportation; free tree
and bicycle giveaways; growing and distributing fresh produce; urban water and air quality monitoring;
park and alley cleanups and activation; climate change resiliency planning; and a youth work and
education program which employs youth from low-income households to help implement these
improvement projects. A key component of the work taken on by Groundwork Denver is community and
stakeholder engagement and partnerships. Partnerships with community members, local, state, and
federal agencies, as well as the private sector, are vital to accomplish meaningful environmental and
community improvement. Each project balances these partnerships differently, depending on variables
such as the goals of the project, available resources, stakeholder interest, and stakeholder relevance.
Findings
One Groundwork Denver project which depends on various partner/stakeholder collaborations is the
youth employment program (also known as the Green Team). Green Team partners range from national
parks to neighborhood improvement organizations, city foresters to urban farmers, EPA scientists to
volunteer groups, and of course, the youth themselves. These partnerships provide youth with diverse,
meaningful work where they act as citizen scientists, trail builders, urban farmers, foresters, canvassers,
community advocates, and overall environmental stewards. Groundwork is able to pay the youth to
work alongside these partners who are provided a reliable workforce that can be guided toward
environmental projects. These projects could be building a garden, maintaining a trail, canvassing a
neighborhood, inventorying trees, cleaning up alleys, or other projects which improve health and well-
being of the environment and surrounding community. Projects tend to have at least three
stakeholders: the youth, the project lead, and the community being served, with each stakeholder
benefitting from the completion of each project.
The youth receive valuable job skills, training, education, and exposure to environmental, conservation,
and community improvement careers. Additionally, they receive a paycheck and build friendships with
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coworkers (a benefit that is often mentioned by the youth as their favorite part about working at
Groundwork).
The project leads benefit by having access to a young, able-bodied workforce which is often already paid
for by Groundwork. Government organizations and nonprofits tend to need extra hands and are grateful
for having a reliable workforce they can count on for help. In addition to the actual labor, project leads
often benefit by simply working alongside the Green Team. Youth (especially those coming from non-
English speaking households) are often ambassadors for their families and can be powerful community
advocates. By working with young people, organizations can gain a better understanding of the
communities the youth are coming from (whether that community is a neighborhood, a demographic, a
culture, etc.). For example, the National Park Service has an initiative to broaden their appeal and
workforce so their visitors and employees better represent the changing face of America's future. When
our youth go to a national park to build a trail, the Park Service benefits from the trail being built, as well
as the exchange park employees have with a demographic they do not typically encounter and are trying
to draw in.
The final beneficiary of this collaborative effort is the community the project takes place in. The Green
Team has helped increase the urban canopy of Denver's low-income neighborhoods, has grown and
distributed organic produce in food deserts, turned dirty alleyways into public spaces for art and
activities, collected water samples to help identify the source of E.coli contamination, signed hundreds
of residents up for free home energy audits, removed invasive species from hundreds of acres of public
lands, and many other projects, all of which have directly benefited the environment and surrounding
community.
Best Practices
The Groundwork Denver Green Team Youth Employment Program began in 2007 with one team of five
youth. Over the past 10 years, it has grown to a program that, in 2016, ran five teams employing over 60
youth and partnering with over 110 organizations. The success of the Green Team program is owed to a
multitude of variables—Groundwork's ability to secure funding, the strength and character of youth
leaders, and the hard work and determination of the youth themselves. However, two key components
for success have been collaboration with youth and stakeholders. Below are some best practices
identified by Groundwork Denver's Youth Programs Director on engaging and collaborating with both
youth and other stakeholders.
Youth Engagement/Collaboration
• Meet the youth where they are
"When looking to get youth involved in programs, it is important to go to the places youth congregate.
This could be schools, recreation centers, YMCA, Boys and Girls Clubs, or parks. Online spaces also work,
but physically going to places where youth spend time has been more effective."
• Provide youth with work that matters
"Youth (like all people) appreciate being valued so give them valuable work and a way to share their
accomplishments with the people that matter to them. Youth find pride in pointing to something
positive in their community and saying they helped make it possible. Even if the work has a significant
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positive impact on the environment, if the youth do not understand the value in their work or do not
feel their work is appreciated, the work and its impacts can be significantly diminished."
• Provide incentives
"Groundwork Denver focuses on employment-based youth development. This means that the youth we
work with are paid either through a stipend or a steady paycheck. The employment model has worked
great for Groundwork as it has drawn in youth who would not necessarily be interested in
environmental work but like getting paid, as well as those who have a passion for the work, which
makes for a more inclusive and representative workforce and environmental movement. Paid work also
holds youth accountable, showing them that their work matters."
• Allow for diverse opinions
"Rather than guiding youth towards an idea and rewarding them for reaching the conclusion you desire,
it is important to let youth expand on ideas or present an alternative. Within the context of
environmental or social justice work, it is important to frame for the kids how their work fits into the
bigger picture and the motivation for professionals to pursue this work as well. However, within this
framing, it is important not to create bias or hint at a "right" view or opinion."
• Provide an environment that builds relationships
"The relationships that youth build with their peers is the reason they continue to come back to the
Green Team. It is consistently the thing youth say they like best about working at Groundwork. If their
friends do environmental work, they are more likely to enjoy environmental work, so Groundwork does
its best to create a work environment where youth can become friends."
• Connect youth with peers who are doing similar work and have similar interests
"While Groundwork Denver operates as its own nonprofit, it is connected to a network of Groundwork
trusts across the country. Each year, Groundwork trusts bring several youths to convene in a national
park, learn about each other's work, work together in the park, and build relationships. These trips are
always beneficial experiences where youth build lasting friendships and discover that they are part of a
nation-wide movement of young people who look like them and come from similar backgrounds. Our
youth always return from these trips energized and ready to do great work due to the people they have
met and the work these people are doing across the country."
Engaging Partners and Stakeholders
• Understand the needs of each stakeholder or partner and show dedication in completing the
work
"Some organizations can view working with youth as more work than it's worth. Youth programs can be
focused on education and exposure rather than completion of a project. Groundwork emphasizes the
fact that we will get the job done and value accountability. Groundwork wants its youth to be an asset
to partners rather than a burden and this accountability is the reason the organization is consistently
invited back to work with partners."
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• Go to where the people are
"Just like engaging youth, when you engage stakeholders you need to go into their community and the
places they work. Find events and where organizations of shared interests congregate, or show up to
events hosted by stakeholders which would make good partners. Understand their goals and
motivations and what influences them so you can better understand how you could partner."
• Be open to new opportunities and be flexible
"Actively think of new opportunities for partnerships and ways to improve and expand upon the
partnerships that already exist. Even if funding is unavailable or the timing will not work, raise the topic
and plant the seeds; it may take some time but will allow for all partners to be on the same page and to
jump at an opportunity if it comes up."
• Be adaptive
"Do not over-plan, and be flexible. The Green Team program rarely has every week planned beforehand.
This gives the program the flexibility to jump into new projects as they come up. Groundwork's partners
are rarely on the same schedule and timeline as the Green Team program but the ability to help
partners with short notice is one of the qualities that is appreciated by partners. For example, if
suddenly an urban garden needs to get plants in the ground before the weekend, if fliers need to be
distributed before an event, or if a trail build just got last-minute approval, the Green Team can jump in
and help these projects get accomplished."
• Build relationships
"The Groundwork Green Team program would not operate if not for the trust that partners and youth
put into the program. The youth trust that the work they are doing is worthwhile and appreciated and
that Groundwork can provide a safe and positive work environment for them to be themselves. Partners
trust that Groundwork will follow through on deliverables, meet the expectations agreed upon, and that
the team is capable of completing the project."
Recommendations
• Provide incentives, if possible, and pay the youth
Employment is a wonderful way to attract youth from different backgrounds and communicate that
their work is valued. Youth who know nothing or very little about the environmental field will learn that
not only is it a diverse field which affects their lives, but that there are jobs and opportunities available if
they wish to pursue this line of work as a career.
• Go to where the people are
For both youth and partners, meet them where they are. Go to their offices, schools, clubs, worksites,
and communities. Show up and take the time to understand their motivations, what they value, and
what shared interests exist. Successful partnerships rely heavily on trust and trust requires
understanding.
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• Be flexible and adaptive
Challenges and new opportunities will constantly arise with increased flexibility and adaptability. If an
idea comes up that has no funding or current opportunities, mention it to stakeholders and something
may come of it eventually. Keep the conversation going so if one opportunity does not work out, there is
another opportunity that can take its place without losing momentum. Communication is vital to
keeping a flexible and adaptive work environment, so keep in touch with all stakeholders regardless of if
they are directly involved in current projects.
• Do not frame youth as victims
In doing work related to environmental and social justice, the goal is to empower communities and the
youth in them, rather than remind them of their disadvantages and the injustices they face.
Gaps and Barriers
• Cultural compromise
One of the challenges of bringing together low-income, urban youth of color and established
environmental institutions like the Department of Interior or Forest Service is a cultural gap. Both sides
have historically been separate from, wary of, or even exclusionary of the other. Breaking down the
preconceptions of both groups and creating an attitude of openness, trust, and curiosity can be
challenging.
• Rigid Partners
Another gap occurs when organizations wish to partner but are not flexible. The work done requires that
partners instill trust in the organization, the youth, and their supervisors to get the job done. Older
institutions that have a model already in place often have a hard time deviating from that strict model.
Life on the Navajo Nation sral Youth-Led Climate Justice Movement
Cc es
Background
"Indian Country" is common jargon for describing the lands within the United States that are held in
trust on behalf of indigenous groups and individuals. In fact, this concept of land tenure is central to
arguably any indigenous issue since the beginning of European colonization. According the US Bureau of
Indian Affairs (BIA), "Indian Country" currently consists of approximately 56.2 million acres of land
contained within 326 Indian land areas (e.g. reservations, pueblos, Rancherias, missions, villages,
communities, etc.). The largest of these areas is the Navajo Nation, a reservation of 16 million acres in
the Four Corners region. The smallest is the Pit River Tribe's cemetery, a 1.32-acre parcel in California.
Many smaller reservations are, in fact, less than 1,000 acres apiece.
This land trust relationship between tribal governments and the United States is crucial to economic
development, resource management, and even environmental regulation due to jurisdictional issues.
Most land is either trust, individual trust, or fee-simple land, and the status of a land's surface might
differ from its subsurface. "Indian Country" is also rich in large quantities of the nation's oil, gas, coal,
and uranium resources.
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For the last century or so, this once "useless" reservation land is now sought after by a variety of energy
developers. Due to jurisdiction, however, investors have to go through so many steps of the federal
government to seek leases and approvals, that they are often discouraged from entering agreements.
When they do enter them, however, two major issues affect tribal communities: (1) The BIA has
notoriously mismanaged payments from leases that were poorly negotiated in the first place and (2) a
lack of occupational safety, environmental responsibility, and ethical business practices have left
communities ill, contaminated, and violated on a number of socio-environmental levels.
The Navajo Nation is one example of a tribal nation in the thick of climate- and energy-related issues,
like many tribal nations across the resource-rich and arid southwest. With a reservation population of
about 180,000 people, but an enrolled membership of over 300,000, members inhabit much of the
traditional Four Corners region (in Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah). Poverty and unemployment are two
hindrances to the population, exacerbated by uranium contamination, a lack of accessible clean water,
heavily regulated grazing permit structures, allotment fractionation, obesity, and diabetes. Traditional
medicine has become less readily available as Western medicines in recent years through the
government-funded Indian Health Services. Land jurisdiction and a lack of needed resources contribute
to the "food desert" crisis across the Nation.
The youth that the Nation invests in to get education off the reservation often choose not to return
home, contributing to the infamous "brain drain" predicament plaguing many tribal nations in the
modern era. The framework used for energy development has contributed to the abuse of tribal
resources and the creation of untrustworthy political structures, both at a federal and tribal level.
Laying this complex background for both "Indian Country" and, specifically, the Navajo Nation is crucial
to understanding tribal youth-led climate justice movements. With just this small amount of
background, it becomes clear how restricted true tribal sovereignty is. Even on the Navajo Nation, which
is also rich with solar resources, companies profit heavily from exploiting non-renewables, and the Four
Corners region has become a "sacrifice zone" to produce energy and deliver water to non-tribal
communities. The framework is abusive to traditional beliefs and sustainability of the land, yet the fear
of losing even more jobs keeps the tribal government locked in a state of dependency, uncertainty, and
fear.
Despite the goings-on of the Office of the President and Vice President (OPVP) and the Tribal Council,
however, communities at both the chapter and nonprofit levels have taken matters into their own
hands through grassroots movements. Examples of community nonprofits on the Navajo Nation include
Dine Citizens Against Ruining our Environment (C.A.R.E.) and the Black Mesa Water Coalition. These
groups have been crucial in defending cultural and environmental rights, such as in the fight against the
Grand Canyon Escalade project, as well as initiatives like wool buyback programs to cut out the
middlemen in exploitive shearing and off-reservation wool-exporting operations.
These organizations also manage to support youth through a variety of internship programs. The
Ancestral Lands project hires youth to practice local conservation relevant to their traditional
homelands. Additionally, community-led movements include "Dooda Fracking!!", an opposition against
fracking operations in the sacred Chaco Canyon, and the unification of communities such as the Shiprock
Chapter in supporting indigenous movements like #NoDAPL, an opposition to the construction of the
Dakota Access Pipeline.
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Since the last presidential election, Vice President Jonathan Nez has been especially involved in
reinforcing many of these movements and community efforts. These various departments of the Navajo
tribal government have the potential to encourage youth into the work they are already interested in
pursuing. However, there needs to be the inspiration, initiative, and longevity for these projects to
ensure an impact is made—whether that impact is on the community, tribal policy, or on the individual
youth involved in the work.
This networking and these structures of inspiration can be seen on the local Navajo Nation level as well
as the national and international level, and appears to be the most effective. In July 2016, Dine College
and the Navajo Nation Youth Council worked together to host a Youth and Elders program. The
conference was a hit, and it was inspirational to see so many youth sit with the Nation's oldest
citizens. Every topic was covered, from environmental issues, to language loss, and even to reviewing
contemporary issues such as gay marriage and LGBTQIA+ rights from a traditional perspective.
Findings
The tribal outreach on the Navajo Nation, across the country, and internationally have a few key
components in common which help promote the success of youth-led climate movements.
Storytelling is a powerful element used in meetings, speeches, and to share experiences relevant to a
wide variety of issues, ranging from climate change to cultural loss and damage. Non-indigenous entities
have the tendency to quantify loss and damage with dollar figures, yet it is impossible to tack a
monetary value on the displacement of people from their homelands and the destruction of plants,
natural formations, and other non-human objects which are at the core of tribal religions and existence.
Uplifting indigenous voices to greater, non-indigenous platforms often shakes the public audience out of
their ignorance and into reality. In many cases, ignorance is the greatest barrier to the voices of affected
indigenous peoples.
While connecting indigenous peoples on national and international levels delivers a powerful message
to the world about the injustices commonly faced by the world's tribal communities, working within a
singular community can also have a dramatic impact on youth interested in engaging their tribe. The
elders in a community are often, per traditional standards, highly respected citizens that carry valuable
knowledge such as songs, ceremonies, stories, and the identification of plants central to the culture.
While youth are the future and therefore necessary for the survival of the tribal nation, they are also the
apprentices to these elders and must find time to sit down with elders to transmit such ancient
wisdom.
The Navajo Nation Youth Council's Youth and Elders Summit is a perfect example of how modern issues
can be tackled by exchanging both ancient wisdom and new ideas through simple, intergenerational
dialogue. Although some language barriers may exist between elders and youth even within the same
tribal community, this interaction is pertinent for the passing on of information, for inspiring future
generations, and even for encouraging the participation of youth within their tribal communities. It
builds pride in the identity of people who have been historically abused and marginalized simply
because of who they are.
Another key component to promoting successful youth-led climate movements is being sensitive to the
uniqueness of the world's vast indigenous cultures. It is necessary for the cultural diversity of Native
Americans to be understood and respected; understanding this diversity is also essential to
understanding the diversity of cultural barriers and geographical separations between nations under the
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same political status of "Indian." The differences between the operations of tribes and their programs
also affect the way youth and others within that tribal nation can engage with such issues as climate
change. Also, seeing the ways in which both intergovernmental and internal conflict hinder the success
of youth aspiring to be climate justice leaders should not be forgotten.
Finally, Native American representation in mainstream media is not only inaccurate, but also offensive.
Understanding the reality of climate and environmental challenges on tribal lands, as well as
understanding tribal diversity, can help prevent non-indigenous peoples, organizations, and
governmental structures from perpetuating information or concepts that are inaccurate, racist, and
discrediting to the intricate cultural identity that defines so many youths disproportionately affected by
environmental issues within their individual tribal communities.
Best Practices
The success of the organizations mentioned depends on a variety of aspects, regardless of their methods
of outreach. These aspects include: respect for the true identity of indigenous peoples, respect for
traditional wisdom and cultural perspectives, and movement building through the similarities of
marginalized indigenous communities around the world. Uplifting youth requires engaging directly with
their communities, attempting to respect their traditional languages and perspectives, and desiring to
uplift their voices as critically impacted areas of the American population.
Recommendations
• Actively provide flexibility to culture and ethnic identification
Marginalized communities often have a contextualized experience related to their historical trauma that
has contributed to their current economic status. Whether in work with indigenous or non-indigenous
communities, it is crucial to evaluate the role of community identity and to be able to adapt to best
meet the needs of the community and its youth.
• Intentionally seek out youth in marginalized communities
The youth are the future, and the marginalized are the ones feeling the impacts of climate and
environmental injustices the heaviest. Their stories are powerful, but their resources are limited;
therefore, it is pertinent to seek out these groups of people who will likely have the personal
experiences to provide the most moving effect of anyone else involved in the issues at hand.
• Provide funding to key programs, if possible
Many organizations that work within these communities, especially tribal communities, are in need of
support that is specifically focused on encouraging youth into climate and environmental
issues. Additionally, any ability to provide oversight of these organizations and their funds, without
being too intrusive, will help commit funded programs to the fulfillment of their youth engagement
objectives.
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Gaps and Barriers
• Cultural compromise
One of the challenges of bringing together marginalized, and especially Native American, demographics
of the United States with various federal entities is a cultural gap. Both sides have historically been
separate from, wary of, or even exclusionary of the other. It has been a challenge breaking down the
preconceptions of both groups and creating an attitude of openness, trust, and curiosity.
• A lack of resources
Another gap that especially occurs in impoverished, rural tribal communities is a lack of
resources. Economic development is hindered on numerous levels because of tribal trust relationships
with the federal government and the layers of red tape that hinder change. Youth are often placed in
school systems that struggle to meet their educational needs at both a Western and a cultural level.
Youth wishing to pursue aspirational endeavors may never have access to the human and monetary
resources that can guide them to achieving their dreams. Any disadvantaged community faces similar
issues; tribal communities are particularly affected by these constraints due to the semi-autonomous
states of their tribal nations.
s, INC./ Citizens for ntal Justice
Background
The Harambee House, INC./ Citizens for Environmental Justice (HH/CFEJ) is a tax-exempt organization
located in Savannah, Georgia. HH/ CFEJ primarily works with communities in Georgia and South Carolina
on environmental justice issues, but partners with business, governmental, and academic entities at the
local, regional, national, and international levels. Its strategic goal is to ensure that community
stakeholders participate effectively in representing their own interests and act as partners with
government agencies who are tasked with safeguarding the health of the people and the environment.
HH/CFEJ is a community-based and accessible organization that is spiritually and culturally grounded in
the African American community. With over twenty years of experience, this grassroots organization has
a proven track record of being a catalyst and incubator for promoting civic engagement, environmental
and climate justice, and social change.
The communities represented are low-income, working class Americans in small, rural communities in
the southeastern region of the United States. The organization targets youth and young adults, although
most of the work is intergenerational. Primarily, communities that are negatively impacted by economic,
social, and environmental injustice are the focus for supporting community organizations that need
capacity- building.
HH/CFEJ is in the initial stage of its work on climate change. It has worked with communities that are
vulnerable to climate change and has engaged with youth on climate change issues. The primary goal is
to use education and awareness to bring young people into the climate action movement. They engage
high school students, college students, and college-aged youth through education and leadership
development, research, awareness raising, outreach, participation in the COP process, and with policies
and programs that will impact environmental justice communities.
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Findings
HH/CFEJ works with organizations and communities to build
their capacity; implements leadership development programs
for youth; develops strong partnerships with government,
business, and academic institutions; advocates for the
development and enforcement of progressive public policies;
and promotes cultural and spiritual consciousness about the
relationship between humans and the environment. All of these
strategies work together with the goal of empowering
communities to challenge the status quo and against the
harmful economic and environmental impacts of climate
change.
Best Practices
HH/CFEJ puts youth in charge of work assignments, asks for and
uses their input, and lets them lead. This approach has been
effective particularly in the Black Youth Leadership
Development Institute (BYLDI), a youth-driven initiative of the
HH/CFEJ.
BYLDI's mission is to reconnect African American youth to their
legacy as change agents who are able to facilitate their own
transformation and that of their communities and nation. The
primary objective is to implement an effective training program
that builds capacity and relevant skills, and innovative and
culturally competent models to develop confident, capable, and
civic-minded youth leaders for the future. HH/CFEJ sees this as
an investment in youth, and understands that this work is long-
term and often arduous, but through a unified effort, can be
successful.
BYLDI is a group of young black teachers, community educators,
parents, various professionals, and regular citizens committed
to redirecting the talent and energy of black youth into positive
growth and development. The Institute trains, mentors, and
cultivate young black leaders committed to social change in all
areas of life. BYLDI's work focuses on creating replicable models
for community centers, schools, and faith-based organizations.
Each program, activity, and resource is designed to foster a
worldview within black youth that links their reality of poverty,
illiteracy, involvement in drug use, trafficking, and violence to
the lack of access to the nation's resources and positive
channels.
BYLDI Climate
Change Curriculum
Climate Change and Community
Engagement-101
A New Reality for Environmental
Justice Community Work
I. What is Climate Change?
II. Impact on Place
a. Planet/ Global Environment
b. National
c. Coastal Communities
d. Rural Community
e. Urban Centers
II. Impacts on:
a. Health
b. Economy
c. Vulnerable Populations
Policy
a. International/ COP Process
b. National- United States
Organizing, Educating the People
Solutions: "What can be done?"
a. Global
b. National
c. State
d. Local
VII. Role/Response of Federal
Agencies
VIII. Emergency Preparedness/ First
Responses
a. Community Mitigation
b. Community Adaption
c. Community Resilience
IV.
V.
VI.
The BYLDI has created a curriculum specifically for climate
change. This course is known as Climate Change and Community Engagement 101. All students are
required to complete this course and report back on what they have learned.
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Another approach to educate youth about climate change used by HH/CFEJ is the implementation of the
Coastal Communities and Climate Change Collaborative (C5 Collaborative). The C5 Collaborative focuses
on the disproportionate impact of climate change on vulnerable and marginalized communities. Coastal
communities, as evidenced by Hurricane Sandy, Hurricane Katrina, and the BP Oil Spill, will be hard hit
by the impacts of climate change, and will require innovative measures, policies, and infrastructure to
respond effectively. Vulnerable communities in these areas are already suffering from burdens to
protect the environment, human health, and quality of life.
The C5 Collaborative will bring together community, academia, government, business, industry and
young emerging leaders to develop strategies that inform, mobilize, and organize the people who live in
these vulnerable communities. C5 also advocates for policies and programs that will prepare
communities and address their needs. Community capacity must also be built to respond to anticipated
and unanticipated impacts of climate change. For example, community-based disaster management
should be coupled with practices and policies that create a win/win situation, such as creating
adaptation and mitigation plans that promote justice and sustainability.
Recommendations
Youth-driven projects can be a way to effectively address climate change issues, so HH/CFEJ is providing
engagement opportunities through the BYLDI. The recommendations created by BYLDI participants
include finding ways to train in the sciences, deploying knowledgeable youth into communities to raise
awareness, building their capacity to have a voice, inserting themselves in activities that focus on
climate justice, and networking them with other youth and training them in emergency preparedness
and response. HH/CFEJ heavily encourages established organizations to take these varied approaches
while engaging both with youth and with vulnerable communities.
When entering into a community, it is important to have an open-mind, expecting to learn and not
assuming that all of the information to be learned is unidirectional. Allow people to share their stories;
no one knows their story better than they do. Avoid using acronyms or language that they may not
understand. If they can't understand the language of the information that is shared with them, then it is
not useful.
One of HH/CFEJ's most crucial recommendations is to successfully address the interaction between
young people and elders in the community. Create spaces that allow leaders to provide youth with their
wisdom.
In some vulnerable communities, tradition outweighs scientific evidence, so it is important that partners
be able to facilitate personal connections to the issue they are attempting to address. In the experience
of HH/CFEJ, it has proven that communities are more likely to show interest in and absorb the
information that partners share if they can make a personal connection to it.
Gaps and Barriers
The strongest barrier to engaging with vulnerable communities is that they are over-burdened by a
multitude of economic, social, and environmental problems. HH/CFEJ addresses this by using
community-based participation and capacity-building activities, providing technical assistance, and lots
of "hand-holding" while avoiding micro-management.
Additional challenges include issues of trust, lack of community participation, and the refusal to accept
information. In communities with a history of being caught in relationships with external partners that
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prove to be one-sided, community members can often feel as though they're being used or taken
advantage of. This can make it difficult to gain the trust and participation of the community, which is
essential to the long-term sustainability of any climate justice project.
While trust can be a large barrier to participation, other factors may be at play as well. Internal conflict
between community members that may cause some members not to participate, work schedules that
conflict with meeting times, or even mobility issues of community members for the elderly or disabled
all can interfere with participation.
Alliance for itiori
Background
The mission of the Alliance for Climate Education (ACE) is to educate young people on the science of
climate change and empower them to take action for climate justice. ACE's current work is rooted in
educating and training emerging leaders in public high schools. They aim to create a culture shift toward
climate action by teaching science that "puts teenagers at the center of the story" and cultivating
leadership qualities in a diverse network of youth.
ACE was founded in 2008 in Oakland, CA by Michael Haas, a wind entrepreneur and father, who was
concerned about the impact of climate change on his children's futures. The organization has a strong
focus on the human health impacts of climate change and fossil fuel extraction in both its education and
leadership programs.
ACE's free in-person education program, the ACE Assembly, and their digital climate education resource,
Our Climate Our Future27, focus on the health impacts of climate change through videos focused on air
pollution, coal ash, and fracking.
In their Youth Action Fellowship, learning curriculum explores health and justice issues such as air
pollution, urban heat islands, fossil fuel extraction, and impacts of extreme weather (hurricanes,
droughts, and heat waves). Each fellow works on a regional campaign. For example, in Las Vegas, fellows
conducted interviews about environmental injustices and health impacts related to climate change
experienced by Nevadans. In the Bay Area, fellows organized around banning fracking wastewater used
to irrigate crops, and looked at related health vulnerabilities. In Phoenix, where asthma is a leading
cause of school absenteeism, fellows discussed the impacts of fossil fuel extraction, and how burning
fossil fuels contributes to poor air quality and higher asthma rates.
In its first five years of operation, ACE reached over 1.8 million teens nationally through ACE assemblies
held at high schools. ACE now has field programs in the Greater Boston Area, New York City, Greater
Raleigh Area, Las Vegas, and San Francisco Bay Area. In the past, field programs also existed in Atlanta,
Chicago, Dallas, and Los Angeles. ACE is an excellent example of how a small national organization that
began without an explicit "climate justice" lens has shifted to become a mobilizing force for youth to
address climate justice and health inequities.
Findings
ACE utilizes cross-cutting tools of education, mentorship, organizing, and outreach to achieve their goals
and help communities become resilient in the face of climate change. The popular ACE Assembly is an
in-person, energetic presentation that "combines climate science with pop culture entertainment."28
The ACE Assembly includes a component that focuses on the local impacts of climate change, teaching
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students in North Carolina about local coal ash clumping, for example. Over 60 percent of the students
reached with the ACE Assembly are youth of color and 77 percent of all schools ACE reaches are public.
ACE intentionally targets Title I public schools in its regions with the live ACE Assembly program. They
also recruit from these schools for the Action Fellowship program.
Due to high demand for the assemblies, the Our Climate Our Future tool was launched in January 2016.
It is a 40-minute online animated version of the live assembly, and a way of scaling up the program to
reach a wider audience. The tool is available on a subscription basis (and has a free two-day trial). In the
first part of the film, the narrator gives a comprehensive explanation of climate change, beginning by
asking viewers to visualize all the space they occupy when they use natural resources. The sequence
describes other phenomena including carbon sinks, the greenhouse effect, and fossil fuels in a way that
is approachable and interesting to a high school audience.
In the second section, the narrator discusses climate justice, specifically how young people are affected.
This section features stories from youth in Watsonville, California; Kipnuk, Alaska; and New York City.
The young people discuss changes they see relating to climate change, including drought, flooding,
permafrost, and increasing frequency and intensity of extreme weather. This section does not highlight
health vulnerabilities specifically, but rather focuses on the loss of business revenues in agriculture in
California, forced changes in fishing and lifestyles in Alaska, as well as losing homes and educational
opportunities in New York.
The third section of the tool revolves around solutions, and highlights the untapped potential in youth to
participate in the green economy, as well as connecting to a national network of young people working
to mitigate the impacts of climate change. The resource includes a "Facilitator's Guide" that supports
community groups who want to use the resource as an educational tool. An additional included
resource links to the National Climate Assessment29, an online tool developed by the U.S. Global Change
Research Program with detailed information on local impacts of climate change across the country.
In addition to educating youth, ACE trains and mobilizes young leaders through the year-long Youth
Action Fellowship, a program that grew in response to needs after Hurricane Sandy hit New York in
2012. The goal of the fellowship is leadership development and training of young people to be confident
climate leaders by encouraging exploration, communication, and action about climate change through
lenses of equity, justice, and optimism. Students meet weekly as a group with mentors and exchange
education, knowledge-building, organizing, and campaign strategies. ACE chooses seven Action Fellows
per year in NYC, Boston, Raleigh, the Bay Area, and Las Vegas. According to its 2015 Annual Fellowship
Evaluation, the fellowship program is intentionally composed of a diverse group: in 2015, 63 percent of
youth identified as youth of color. The program is designed to specifically support organizing and
leadership qualities in non-white youth, and was successful in its efforts to do so in 2015.
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SUPPORTING YOUTH OF COLOR
The Action Fellowship gives leadership skills to youth of color. Despite entering
the Fellowship with significantly lower self-ratings than white students, young
people of color report greater improvement in public speaking and petitioning.
STUDENTS OF COLOR |
WHITE STUDENTS 1
27%
improvement in petitioning
skills reported by students
of color. White students
reported a 1% increase.*
PETITIONING
*90% confidence
The Fellowship also gives students the chance to partner with frontline communities in the struggle for
climate justice. Fellows work to create awareness about climate change and its interconnected justice
issues, through their spheres of influence including their peers, school communities, family, and broader
community. ACE Fellows play a key role in their regional campaigns and ACE works to make sure that
they have agency in choosing how their Fellowship team contributes to the larger campaign work.
Examples of their activities include: letter-writing to newspapers and elected officials, lobbying their
elected officials, canvassing door-to-door, collecting signatures on petitions, attending rallies and
events, testifying in public hearings, speaking publicly at events and to the media, recruiting peers and
classmates for events, and having one-on-one conversations with friends and family about climate
justice issues.
STUDENTS OF COLOR ¦
WHITE STUDENTS ¦
25%
improvement in public
speaking skills reported
by students of color. White
students reported a 5%
increase.1
*90% confidence
PUBLIC SPEAKING
PRE POST
In the Greater Raleigh Area of North Carolina, for example, ACE has been working with grassroots
organizations since 2010 to stop nuclear energy and natural gas infrastructure, some of which
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contributes to poor air quality and negative health impacts such as asthma, allergies, respiratory
diseases, and cancer. Fracking and coal ash deposits specifically have been proven to contaminate
water. Communities in North Carolina have also witnessed more extreme heat events and increases in
vector-borne diseases.
Most of the activities ACE is undertaking in North Carolina include organizing youth to advocate for
energy efficiency and renewable energy; however, a partnership with the UNC Institute for the
Environment's Climate Leadership and Energy Awareness Program (LEAP) gave youth the opportunity to
explore health impacts relating to climate change. During the 2015-2016 school year, the ACE Action
Fellows spoke about their own experiences with health impacts relating to coal-fired power plants at a
regional hearing on the Clean Power Plan in 2015. Action Fellow Jasmine Gregory testified for
environmental justice and health: "Everyone deserves to live a healthy life in a healthy environment, but
this is not always the case. In the United States, the number one reason that students miss school is
asthma. Currently in North Carolina, 519,000 adults and 320,000 children have asthma, which can be
directly linked to coal power plant emissions. I would like to emphasize that this is especially prevalent
in minority and low-income communities where African-American children are three times as likely to
suffer asthma attacks. Studies also show that race is the number one indicator in the placement of toxic
facilities. This is the definition of injustice."30
In Boston, air pollution is disproportionately concentrated in low-income communities and communities
of color due to transportation infrastructure and Department of Public Works vehicle parking lots. Local
toxic sites also create large amounts of construction dust and debris in low-income neighborhoods.
Many vulnerable communities in Boston also lack access to fresh food. In Boston, ACE's focus tends
more toward activities like supporting divestment from fossil fuels (through platforms like the Get Loud
Challenge) and trying to push Massachusetts to commit to 100% renewable energy. However, there are
organizations like Alternatives for Community and Environment that work at the grassroots level to
organize youth and allow them to lead the way against urban health harms.
ACE plays a unique role in climate education and climate justice work, given that they have on-the-
ground field programs in addition to coordinating a national youth network. Through digital advocacy
campaigns, ACE can amplify the work of Fellowship teams. ACE currently communicates with an active
list of 270,000 youth contacts each month in their ongoing digital engagement strategy. This national
youth network provides support for fellows to take action in their community and at the national level.
Best Practices
During its 10 years in existence, ACE has formed many best practices for engaging with vulnerable
populations and youth. As part of foundational knowledge-building for the Fellowship program, ACE
introduces the Jemez Principles for Democratic Organizing. Storytelling is also central to ACE's approach.
Each youth fellow creates a "Story of Self/Us/Now" or a public narrative, through a guided process. The
model, supplemented by Marshall Gaines, a Harvard professor and organizer, has been used to build
relationships and inspire action. ACE has used this technique for a number of years, and it's a powerful
way to connect people to why they're showing up and wanting to be part of the work. Each story
includes a moment of struggle. There are many ways to integrate the narratives into organizing and
outreach. The method brings marginalized voices front and center at hearings, and specifically taps into
young people's moral authority on climate change.
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Below is a basic introduction to the Story of Self/Us/Now model:
• Story of Self: What brings an individual to the work? What is their personal connection to
climate change?
• Story of Us: Collective story and bonding.
• Story of Now: Why is this story so urgent?
Though ACE did not originally begin with an explicit "justice" framework, it has worked over the last ten
years to approach climate change through this lens, as well as connect climate change to other
intersecting issues in communities: labor, health, economies, and wellbeing, for example. They currently
occupy an interesting space; they are not a "big green" or a grassroots organization, nor are they
explicitly an environmental justice organization. Rather, as a national organization they function as a
bridge to support and partner with environmental justice organizations and help amplify that work, all
while lifting up youth voices. They also support and collaborate with "big greens" and coalitions such as
the People's Climate Movement. Due to their structure and unique size, they are flexible to work both at
a national scale and also in depth at regional levels.
• Youth
When selecting youth, ACE recognizes that young people have different ways of expressing themselves,
and in the application process to become a fellow, they search not only for the "4.0" climate student
who is already being supported, but also young people who are new to climate science, and may
understand climate impacts on a visceral level, and/or have never engaged in a leadership program. The
fellowship provides opportunities for peer-to-peer learning, and ACE aims to make the spaces as diverse
as possible, as they believe such groups of young people will achieve the most profound impact.
Diversity characteristics include gender identity and expression, race and ethnicity, varying ranges of
English fluency, and geographical diversity.
ACE fellows are students rooted in their local communities, and ACE specifically looks for grassroots
partners that will allow youth to play a central role in shaping and building campaigns. Partner
organizations ideally possess the following qualities: they value youth input and have experience
working with youth or youth organizing; they have a campaign in the works that young people can plug
into, as well as space for fellows to have autonomy over their engagement; and they operate within a
justice frame for their campaign work, or are open to having Fellows bring a justice frame to the
campaign. Ideally, youth-driven tactics and strategies can influence the larger campaign.
Recommendations
ACE uses the model of popular education in the Fellowship program. Students draw from the collective
knowledge in the room to learn from each other. ACE staff members intentionally make the curriculum
as interactive and group-based as possible. Some examples: ACE starts meetings with interactive
icebreaker activities; they do small group, one-on-one, and full group discussions; they each asset
mapping to understand the full spectrum of connections in a campaign; and they create community
guidelines to support all participants in the meetings.
ACE looks specifically to partner with grassroots organizations that have a capacity and/or history of
allowing youth to play a central role in their work. Some qualities of these organizations that ACE looks
for include: they value youth input and have experience working with youth or youth organizing; they
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have a campaign in the works that young people can plug into, and also space for fellows to shape and
have agency over their engagement; and they already have a justice frame for their campaign work, or
are open to having Fellows bring a justice frame to the campaign.
The Story of Self/Us/Now model is a useful way to politicize the personal, and connect vulnerable
populations to youth as well as strengthen connections between vulnerable youth. The organization has
found that if people are able to find and speak publically about connections between climate change
and the issues they most care about and are impacted by, their passion and commitment to climate
work grows and solidifies.
Gaps and Barriers
ACE is a national organization with strong partnerships, both at the national level and the local level. At
the same time, at all levels of their work, ACE recognizes they are a relatively new player on the scene.
Their regional teams have been operational between five and eight years, at most. They respect their
partners, recognizing that in most cases, they have been fighting for environmental and climate justice
long before ACE came into existence.
At the same time, ACE has a valuable role to play as an intermediary between local environmental
justice organizations and "big green" organizations. ACE fits between these ends of the spectrum, both
in size as well as in the dual local and national scope of its work. Because the regional programs are
focused on similar issues (preventing additional fossil fuel infrastructure and promoting access for all to
renewable energy), ACE can help to connect local campaign work to a larger, national perspective.
ACE is in the middle of a three- to five-year strategic planning process in an effort to evaluate the kinds
of structures and changes in programming they want to make to have the biggest climate justice impact.
Staff members say it is an interesting time to be undertaking this strategic planning process while the
political landscape is shifting beneath everyone's feet. The main question ACE asks itself now is, "How
will the climate movement continue to shift, and what is ACE's role in that?"
The ACE Fellowship program does not meet on-site at schools, which can be a barrier to participation.
Conflicts with after-school jobs or care for siblings and lack of reliable internet or computer access are
also challenges. ACE provides travel stipends to weekly Fellowship meetings to all students, and a small
general stipend for participating in the Fellowship. They also host weekly meetings in a location that is
accessible by public transportation for students, and work to arrange transportation to outside events.
ACE provides healthy, hearty snacks at the beginning of meetings and tries to rely on text messaging
with students outside of meetings instead of email. In ACE's in-person education program, the ACE
Assembly, the organization works with schools with students who are English language learners. ACE is
working on adding English subtitles to the ACE Assembly for those learners. They also have both English
and Spanish subtitles in Our Climate Our Future. One barrier that exists is getting the tools into the
schools and communities on the frontlines of climate change that haven't traditionally had access to
such tools.
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East Tampa Community Revitalization Partnership
Background
The impact of environmental degradation on African American communities, particularly in urban
environments, is well-documented. However, each community is unique and has varying approaches of
how to tackle social and environmental injustices in their neighborhoods. East Tampa, Florida is a unique
community in addressing these challenges because it demonstrates the integration of other aspects of
social injustice, particularly economic, as a mechanism to address environmental injustice resulting from
physical infrastructure.
Historically, East Tampa is a predominantly African American community in the city of Tampa, uniquely
situated between the city's major highways, I 275 to the west and 1-4 to the south (see below).
East Tampa CRA boundary31
In addition to neighboring major highways, East Tampa also has various industrial businesses scattered
throughout the community, mainly along the northern and eastern boundaries of the community.
Historically, East Tampa has experienced several health, crime, education, and economic challenges,
making the community an area of interest for the State of Florida.
In 2004, East Tampa was designated as a Community Redevelopment Area (CRA) through the City of
Tampa with the goal of revitalizing communities to support economic development in areas that
demonstrate specific needs and characteristics, under Florida Law (Chapter 163, Part III). Examples of
conditions that can support the creation of a CRA include poorly maintained and developed
infrastructure, minimum housing, insufficient roadways, etc.32
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The East Tampa Community Revitalization Partnership (ETCRP) oversees the governing of the CRA and
ensures that the community's input across all neighborhoods within East Tampa are heard and
prioritized. Despite the disparate conditions in East Tampa, the community has nonetheless
demonstrated a level of agency to advocate for what they deem as necessary improvements within their
own community. This has led to strong partnerships with universities, public schools, local nonprofits,
and neighborhood associations.
Findings
The ETCRP has been successful in advocating for infrastructural changes through the City, but also
through collaborations with the University of South Florida and other local nonprofits, including the
Corporation to Develop Communities (CDC) of Tampa. Since 2004, one of the major focus areas for the
ETCRP has been the revitalization of stormwater ponds within the community. Stormwater flooding
poses a major climate threat for Tampa, and although East Tampa is landlocked, the community has
over 30 stormwater ponds that have created their own challenges for the community. Due to increased
industrial activity and high incidences of illegal dumping in the community, these stormwater ponds
have presented environmental health challenges for the community. As a result, residents advocated for
improved management of these ponds and specific revitalization efforts of a few selected ponds, mainly
those situated nears schools and major businesses to not only increase foot traffic for these local
businesses, but to use the preexisting green space as a way to increase walkability throughout the
community.
Building upon these larger scale revitalization efforts, the University of South Florida collaborated on
efforts to work with these local schools and train students on basic environmental science collection and
measurement techniques. More recently, efforts with a local nonprofit, Computer Mentors, and the
University are working to pay and train students on collecting environmental data to further support
revitalization efforts at the intersection of environmental management and smart technology. Not only
did the infrastructural improvements aid in health efforts for the overall community, but also have
served as spaces of learning and training for youth and continue to provide access to further these
efforts.
At the heart of these collaborations is the ETCRP, without whom the necessary connection and trust
within the community towards these outside entities would not exist. The ETCRP not only serves as a
management body, but allows for meaningful collaboration, partnerships, and work to take place within
the community, all in service to what the community itself has identified as being priority. Additionally,
the ETCRP has helped to demonstrate the connection between economic justice and other justice
movements, including environmental justice and the role that economic and infrastructure
improvements can play in the overall movement towards creating health and education equity within
African American communities, like East Tampa.
Best Practices
• Meaningful collaboration with different agencies
The success of the ETCRP has been largely dependent on the organization's ability to connect various
pre-existing entities including city government, universities, public schools, and local businesses.
• Youth leadership development
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Although youth development is not at the forefront of the ETCRP's mission, support from the University
has led to over 80 service learning projects prioritizing the teaching and training of youth, particularly in
projects related to infrastructure and stormwater management.
• Economic justice linking to climate and environmental justice
The ETCRP functions as a subsidiary of economic development within the city; however, based on
community driven priorities, much of the work that has been done in the community is largely related to
environmental and infrastructure conditions in the community. This linkage is important because it
demonstrates the intersectionality of multiple justice movements and how one is dependent on another
for overall success.
• Community voice and knowledge at the forefront
As a community driven entity, the ETCRP ensures that through these meaningful collaborations,
community voice is always the driving force behind all projects that are conducted. Beyond community
voice, ETCRP emphasizes the importance of the knowledge that exists within the community as being
equally valuable, if not more so, than those coming from an outside perspective.
• Intergenerational approach to improving community
Due to the various partnerships that have stemmed from the ETCRP, youth have not only been
supported, but have been essential in the continued management of the ETCRP and the ongoing
community development strategies. East Tampa as a whole has a fairly evenly distributed age
population, and through the various projects that have occurred in the community, elders are not only
working with youth, but continuing the training and knowledge sharing of the history and skills
necessary for youth to step up and be the next leaders in the community.
Recommendations
Climate justice movements can learn from larger social justice movements that have a longer history of
prevalence in African American communities, and other marginalized populations. Linking economic
justice and climate justice is essential to not only creating a larger movement but in connecting climate
justice to everyday societal challenges, thereby closing an understanding gap that seems to exist within
the climate justice movement. Climate justice is only a small portion of the holistic fight for justice and it
is important that as leaders we recognize the need to integrate this work with other justice movements
and not treat them as mutually exclusive.
The success of youth and engagement within the climate justice movement largely depends on
collaborations with various partners and ensuring that, with these partners, community wisdom is not
only respected but prioritized within efforts to improve the living conditions of a particular community.
Youth leadership development is critical within this movement. It's not enough to simply attempt to
engage youth in the work but to make intentional efforts to train the next generation to take on the
tasks of leading the movement. This can only happen with a deep technical and structural understanding
of climate justice.
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Gaps and Barriers
Community trust is an ongoing challenge, particularly within East Tampa where, because of their
demographics, residents have felt like they are only an experiment or even have received false promises
over the years. The most meaningful experiences for both residents and outside collaborators have
occurred when people took the time to learn about the community, which can take multiple years.
However, depending on certain interests, some entities may not be willing to invest that much time to
learn about the community, but it is important that that time be taken as there is a necessary learning
that should take place to ensure that community knowledge and interests are considered.
Turnover of community partners dependent on the entity has presented challenges to ensure longevity
of projects and knowledge sharing. For example, when working with the public schools, teacher
turnover has either stalled projects or led to the abandonment of certain projects altogether. In addition
to taking time to learn about the community, partners need to be identified more carefully to ensure
that those partners will have more of a lasting presence within the community.
ETCRP was developed as a result of government intervention and the creation of the CRA. While all
communities may not have this same supporting infrastructure, it may be more challenging to create
the same level of agency. However, several communities have demonstrated capacity to do the same
job as ETCRP and mobilize to advocate on their own behalf. For example, residents of Augusta, GA in the
early 2000s mobilized to reduce the toxicity impacts of industrial activity in a neighborhood similar to
East Tampa (Checker, 2005)33.
Examples of Climate Justice Efforts from Across the Country
Many organizations stand out for their support of local youth in leadership positions in their
organizations and in the development of youth-led projects in their community. These organizations all
prioritize working with youth and utilize tools like "communiversity" (a model of community
partnership) and culturally-based education programs that emphasize meeting youth where they are.
All these organizations emphasize a respect for youth knowledge and experience and the importance of
supporting the next generation to take the lead in these struggles. Though these examples do not
represent the entirety of the work being done to promote youth leadership in the climate justice
movement, they do represent a diverse set of practices, from working in university-community
partnership to promoting national and international civic engagement. These examples were highlighted
by members of the Work Group through the Work Group member internal survey, outlined in the
methods section and presented in full in the Appendix.
Detroiters Working for Environmental Justice
Detroiters Working for Environmental Justice (DWEJ) works through policy innovations, education
programs, and workforce initiatives to build a cleaner, healthier, and safer community in Metropolitan
Detroit, and was established in 1994.34 DWEJ focuses on building local leadership through job training
and community development projects. The Detroit Youth Climate Summit is an annual program through
the Detroit Climate Action Collaborative (DCAC) which brings high school students from across the city
together to discuss the impacts of climate change in their communities and the world. DWEJ also
supported a participant in the Youth Climate Justice Summit to attend the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change Conference of Parties 21 in Paris, France in 2015. Their work training
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programs have provided the groundwork for career opportunities for low-income minority residents in
the environmental and construction-related industries in Detroit.
Powershift Network
The Power Shift Network is a nationwide coalition that has been one of the most visible forces in youth
activism on climate change across the country through their regional meetings and social media
presence. On their website, they explain their mission: "Through the collective power of young people,
the Power Shift Network is working for a safe climate and just future where communities are thriving
and own their power—whether that power is electrical, economic, social, or political."35 The Network
uses volunteers to engage with individual members and member organizations from across the country.
Member organizations include 350.org, Alliance for Climate Education (highlighted in this report),
Climate Generation, Community Power, Global Zero, iMatter, Groundswell, National Wildlife Federation
EcoLeaders, Sunrise Movement, SustainUs, and many student organizations such as the California
Student Sustainability Coalition, the Midwest Student Coalition for Climate Action, Pennsylvania Student
Power Network, and the United States Student Association.36
th Foundation
The Greening Youth Foundation (GYF) is based in Atlanta, Georgia and works with children, youth, and
young adults from diverse, underserved, and underrepresented communities. GYF uses culturally-based
environmental education that encourages healthy lifestyles and exposes youth to career opportunities
in the environmental field. The latter is accomplished through working with land management agencies
to provide service and internship opportunities that can lead to conservation careers.37
Little Villaf ;ice Organization
Founded in 1994, Little Village Environmental Justice Organization began as an effort to stop particulate
pollution from renovations at a nearby school in the Little Village neighborhood of Chicago from
impacting the predominately-Hispanic surrounding community. They then moved on to other
environmental justice issues, such as a nearby power plant, a Superfund site, and a bus line, all of which
they eventually shut down.38 They provide internships for both high school and college-aged youth.
These positions are geared toward building youth leadership in the community and in the field of
environmental justice. Youth are vital to their climate adaptation efforts with their participation in
programs to address climate-related health vulnerabilities, just transition and energy resiliency, and
zero-waste and recycling programs.
1 "Jemez Principles for Democratic Organizing - t.e.j.a.s." Texas Environmental Justice Advocacy Services. October
02, 2014. Accessed January 12, 2018. http://teiasbarrios.org/iemez/.
2 "Principles of Environmental Justice - t.e.j.a.s." Texas Environmental Justice Advocacy Services. December 09,
2014. Accessed January 12, 2018. http://teiasbarrios.org/eiprinciples/.
3 Clarkson, Linda, Vern Morrissette, and Gabriel Regallet. "Our Responsibility to The Seventh Generation:
Indigenous Peoples and Sustainable Development." International Institute for Sustainable Development, 1992, 24-
25. Accessed January 12, 2018. https://www.iisd.org/pdf/seventh gen.pdf.
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4 Sloan, Emily, Jacqueline Stedman, and Saira Butt." Environmental Injustice in North Carolina." Duke University.
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iustice/historv/.
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and Heiko Garrelts. New York, NY: Routledge. December 2012. Accessed January 12, 2018. http://www.social-
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10 Dhillon, Jaskiran. "Indigenous Youth Are Building a Climate Justice Movement by Targeting Colonialism."
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vouth-are-building-a-climate-iustice-movement-bv-targeting-colonialism.
11 "Power Shift '09: 12,000 Students Attend Largest Youth Summit on Climate Change in US History." Democracy
Now! March 2, 2009. Accessed January 12, 2018.
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13 Pandve, Harshal, Poonam Deshmukh, Rahul Pandve, and Neha Patil. "Role of Youth in Combating Climate
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14 Mueller, Michael and Deborah Tippins. EcoJustice, Citizen Science and Youth Activism: Situated Tensions for
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xv" "CNAY Hosts Close Up Native Youth in Washington, DC." Center for Native American Youth at the Aspen
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xvi" Wright, Beverly, Dr. "Integrating Academia and Activism...Moving Towards Participatory Research and
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xix "Jemez Principles for Democratic Organizing - t.e.j.a.s." Texas Environmental Justice Advocacy Services. October
02, 2014. Accessed January 12, 2018. http://teiasbarrios.org/iemez/.
xx "Principles of Environmental Justice - t.e.j.a.s." Texas Environmental Justice Advocacy Services. December 09,
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Indigenous Peoples and Sustainable Development." International Institute for Sustainable Development, 1992, 24-
25 Accessed January 12, 2018. https://www.iisd.org/pdf/seventh gen.pdf.
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31 "East Tampa Community Redevelopment Area." City of Tampa. Accessed March 29, 2018.
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32 "CRA Basics." Florida Redevelopment Association. Accessed March 28, 2018. http://redevelopment.net/cra-
resources/q-a-for-cras/.
33 Checker, M. "Polluted Promises: Environmental Racism and the Search for Justice in a Southern Town." New York
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34 "About Us - Detroiters Working for Environmental Justice." Detroiters Working for Environmental Justice.
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35 "Power Shift Network About Page." Power Shift Network. Accessed January 14, 2018.
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36 "Power Shift Network Members Page." Power Shift Network. Accessed January 14, 2018.
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37 "The Company - Greening Youth." Greening Youth. March 30, 2016. Accessed January 14, 2018.
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