Environmental Justice Network In Action

Presented by:Michael Davis

building relationships, increasing capacity,

and improving service delivery

What is Environmental Justice? Equitable distribution of risks and benefits

Inclusion of affected groups in planning and decision making

Why Is EJ Important? Right thing to do

Title VI

Social Bottom Line

SPU Strategic Business Plan

Mayor’s Race & Social Justice Initiative

Rate Payer Equity

EJNA Beginnings

• Local Hazardous Waste Management (LHWMP) funding

• Partnerships

– Immigrant & Refugee Community Based Organizations (CBOs)

– Local Governmental Organizations

– Non-governmental Organizations

– Community Groups

WHAT ARE THE CHALLENGES

The one-size fits all approach isn’t working Foreign born population doubled to 268,300, 15%

of King County population (1990-2000 census) How to make information and programs accessible

to all communities Joint project planning and

reciprocal training How do we share power Can we model equitable

community agency partnerships?

ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE NEEDS ASSESSMENT

To address these challenges the Local Hazardous Waste Management Program, together with Community Based Organizations (CBOs), other local government organizations, universities and community participants, established the Environmental Justice Needs Assessment (EJNA) project.

PROJECT GOALSTo establish and build reciprocal relationships between all participants to increase access to information and services.

To jointly conduct a needs assessment to identify what the top environmental health needs and concerns are of immigrant and refugee communities.

To identify service delivery strategies that work for the community.

Needs Assessment• Conducting

focus groups

• Doing surveys at events and in peoples homes

Training

• Household Hazardous Waste• Low-Income Rate Assistance• Water & Energy Conservation• Weatherization & Indoor Air Quality• Recycling & Composting• Environmental Health• Seafood Safety• Water Quality• Green Gardening• Public Safety

Providing training based on identified community concerns, and other partner interests on:

Field Trips

• Cedar River Watershed• Transfer Station• Duwamish River• Ballard Locks• Water Quality Lab• University of

Washington• Longfellow Creek

EJNA offers the following field trips to reinforce the community trainings:

Community EventsPartnering with community to do outreach at community events on:

– choosing and using less toxic and non toxic products for home and garden use, – proper disposal of waste – recycling– water and energy conservation– watersheds and water quality– indoor air quality

Outcomes (2002-2005)

800+Green Home Kits Distributed

57Community Training & Presentations

616# of community participants

12Focus Groups

52Community Meetings

12Languages Served

710# of community participants

46Field Trips

28Festivals

7Community Groups

Outcomes• Building relationships of trust with the community

• Creating a community-driven project

• Reaching audiences the program has not reached before

• Increasing equitable distribution of services

• Including communities in planning and decision-making

• Increasing Race & Social Justice

• Trying to do the right thing

Lessons Learned Reaching community members by neighborhood vs. language

group Partner. Partner. Partner. You can’t do it all. Build a strong and

diverse base to increase flexibility and address community needs. Involve community members in the development of programs and

messages in the twinkle stage. Once concerns have been identified, do what needs to get done to

address issues affecting the community. Layering information/presentations with field trips closes the loop. Just because people are from the same ethnic group does not

mean that they think & act alike. When things seem stuck try and keep the cross cultural piece in

mind.

Our Project Partners International District Housing Alliance Horn of Africa Somali Community Services Asian Pacific Islander Women and Family Services

Filipino community & Samoan community Pasefica Khmer Community of Seattle and King County Local Hazardous Waste Management Program Seattle-King County Public Health Seattle Public Utilities UW Center for Ecogenetics and Environmental Health Seattle City Light Environmental Coalition of South Seattle American Lung Association of Washington