WE ACT Updates: September Membership Meeting, 35th Anniversary Gala, Justice40rward, and More!

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September Membership Meeting: Asthma Disparities, Transit Fares, and Energy Assistance

Join us in-person for our September Membership Meeting on Saturday, September 9 from 10 am - 1 pm at the New Heights Academy Charter School, located at 1818 Amsterdam Avenue (look for the signs between 150th and 151st Streets). We will be covering a wide-range of topics, with Cameron Clarke discussing asthma disparities in our community, Lonnie Portis talking about the Fair Fares campaign in response to the MTA’s latest fare hike, and Briana Carbajal explaining how the Energy Assistance Program could help you reduce your utility bill.

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WE ACT’s 2023 Annual Gala: Celebrating Our 35th Anniversary

Join us for our 35th Anniversary Gala on Wednesday, October 18th from 6 - 9 pm at Columbia University’s Alfred Lerner Hall at 2920 Broadway (between 114th & 115th Streets) in Harlem. We are excited to announce Former Vice President Al Gore as our 35th Anniversary Gala Special Guest Speaker! He is the founder and chairman of The Climate Reality Project, a nonprofit devoted to solving the climate crisis, a founding partner and chairman of Generation Investment Management, and a co-founder of Climate TRACE (read his full bio).

We are also excited to announce this year’s honorees: Richard Moore, Co-Founder & Co-Coordinator, Los Jardines Institute (Albuquerque, NM); Joshua Klainberg, Senior Vice President, New York League of Conservation Voters (New York, NY); and Donele Wilkins, President & CEO, Green Door Initiative (Detroit, MI). We are looking forward to marking this major milestone with our friends and supporters. Don’t miss out - reserve your seat today!

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60th Anniversary March on Washington

WE ACT members and staff will be heading to Washington, D.C. on Saturday to join the 60th Anniversary March on Washington. On August 28, 1963, around 250,000 people from around the country participated in the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom to advocate for civil and economic rights. The event, considered a milestone in the Civil Rights Movement, is most widely remembered for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have A Dream” speech. The 60th Anniversary March is not a commemoration but a continuation of that call for justice, and we are proud to be a part of it. We are also working with the Environmental Justice Leadership Forum to bring in other groups from around the country to join the march and participate in a day of workshops and other activities. Stay tuned next week for photos and a full report!

Peggy Shepard to Speak on Sacred Earth: Growing Beloved Community

Tune in to Sacred Earth: Growing Beloved Community, a video webcast series hosted by the Episcopal Diocese of California that explores the intersections of faith, ecology, justice, and spirituality. Bishop Marc Andrus and Dr. Paloma Pavel will sit down with Peggy Shepard for a conversation on environmental justice and WE ACT's work on Wednesday, September 13 at 9 pm ET.

Justice40rward Helping to Raise Tribal Voices in Alaska

Indigenous communities have long been at the forefront of environmental justice, and nowhere is this more true than in Alaska. Our Justice40rward campaign co-hosted a three-day gathering in Fairbanks with Alaska Community Action on Toxics (ACAT) and Native Movement. During the three days, local tribal leaders and community organizations had the opportunity to present Biden administration officials with some of the environmental injustices that they have been facing including the Willow Project, the military contamination on Sivuqaq, the proposed Donlin Creek Mine, and the proposed Ambler industrial road. We also toured toxic sites around Fairbanks that are environmental justice concerns.

The purpose of the tour was to raise awareness of environmental injustice and connect communities with historic amounts of funding now available, thanks to the Biden administration's Justice40 initiative, from the Inflation Reduction Act to help address local environmental justice concerns. More and more resources are becoming available to empower communities to act and we're making sure they know it. The tour was also featured in the media, including Alaska Public News, KUAC, KCAW, Daily News-Miner, and KTVF.

IRA Anniversary: Dana Johnson was quoted in reference to our Thriving Communities Technical Assistance Center in a Guardian article on the anniversary of the signing of the Inflation Reduction Act.
Direct Air Capture: Dana also spoke to the Washington Examiner about the U.S. Department of Energy’s plans to create Direct Air Capture Hubs to capture and sequester carbon dioxide, raising concerns about investing federal funds in this unproven technology and the potential harm – including the potential contamination of the soil and drinking water – it could cause to local communities.
Heat Assistance for Seniors: Caleb Smith was quoted in a City Limits article on the introduction of New York State Senator Cordell Cleare’s bill that would eliminate the need for seniors – one of the most heat-vulnerable populations – to have a medical condition to qualify for New York’s Cooling Assistance Benefit program, part of the federally funded Home Energy Assistance Program (HEAP). It should be noted that the Cooling assistance program already ran out of funds, less than a month into what’s likely the hottest summer on record, for the second year in a row.

Uptown Chats: New Episode Next Week!

Have you listened to Uptown Chats yet? Uptown Chats is WE ACT's new podcast about all things environmental justice. Stay tuned for a new episode coming on Monday, when Lonnie and Jaron talk with Leslie Vazquez from South Bronx Unite and WE ACT's Tyisha Smalls about air quality in New York City and how air monitoring is crucial to environmental justice. Check out all the episodes here.