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** Support WE ACT: Tickets & Sponsorships Available for Our Gala
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Tickets are now on sale for WE ACT’s 2025 Annual Gala ([link removed]) on Tuesday, October 14th from 6:00-9:00 PM at 583 Park Avenue (at the corner of 63rd Street). We will be honoring environmental justice champions (see our honorees below) and celebrating our ongoing work for a more equitable future. You can reserve your tickets ([link removed]) , become a Gala Sponsor ([link removed]) , and purchase an ad in our Gala Journal ([link removed]) . Contact Gianna Folz at [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]?subject=&body=) for more information.


** MEET OUR 2025 HONOREES:
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** THANKS TO OUR 2025 SPONSORS:
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** September Membership Meeting: Come Learn About the EJNYC Report & How You Can Help Advance Environmental Justice in NYC
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Our September Membership Meeting will be on Saturday, September 13th from 10:00 AM-1:00 PM at the Most Worshipful Prince Hall, located at 454 West 155th Street. With special guests from the Mayor’s Office of Climate & Environmental Justice, we will be discussing New York City’s EJNYC Report ([link removed]) and how you can get involved ([link removed]) in helping the city develop its EJNYC Plan, which – with your involvement – will become a comprehensive citywide action plan to address the issues identified in the report. After the meeting, we encourage you to join us as we canvass select parks ([link removed]) to raise awareness of and support for them (see below). RSVP ([link removed])

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** Northern Manhattan Parks Canvassing: Help Raise Awareness & Support
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Whether providing cooling benefits in the face of extreme heat or absorbing runoff from flash flooding, parks and green spaces are a vital tool to help lessen the impacts of climate change on a community. That is why – as part of our Our Parks, Our Backyard initiative ([link removed]) – we and the New York League of Conservation Voters Education Fund are going to be canvassing in select parks on Saturday, Sept. 13th from 1:15-3:15 PM. We will be visiting Jackie Robinson, St. Nicolas, and Riverside Parks to engage Northern Manhattan park users to raise awareness of our parks, particularly when it comes to climate change and parks investment. We are meeting at the Most Worshipful Prince Hall, located at 454 West 155th Street, right after our September Membership Meeting ([link removed]) (see above). Staff members will accompany volunteers to each of these three parks and provide
hands-on training along the way. RSVP ([link removed])

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** Protecting Environmental Justice in 2025 and Beyond Panel
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At 10:10 AM on Friday, Sept. 12th, Leslie Fields and Manuel Salgado will be on the Our Earth Is for Everyone: Protecting Environmental Justice in 2025 and Beyond panel at the 11th Annual Environmental Justice and Health Disparities Symposium hosted by CEEJH INC ([link removed]) (Center for Engagement, Environmental Justice and Health INpowering Communities). Bringing together community leaders, experts, and activists dedicated to advancing environmental justice and addressing health disparities, the event will be virtual on Sept. 10th and then in-person Sept. 11-13th in Baltimore, Maryland. Register ([link removed])

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** Legionnaires Disease: Help Us Make Sure This Doesn’t Happen Again
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Last night we brought community members together in-person and online with the Upper Manhattan Tenants Union ([link removed]) to discuss the latest outbreak of Legionnaires Disease in Harlem. While the City has declared it officially over, we want to make sure that it doesn’t happen again. Participants learned that out of the eight community outbreaks since 2015, all but one have occurred in in Northern Manhattan or the South Bronx, indicating a clear disparity in the City’s preventative measures. And we also discussed actions you can take, from joining or starting a tenants union ([link removed]) to testifying in-person or via Zoom ([link removed]) at the City Council Committee on Health public hearing at 10:00 AM on Monday, Sept. 8th. Contact Valentina Rojas at [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]?subject=&body=) to learn more.

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We all deserve personal care and beauty products that are safe - free from cancer-causing and other harmful chemicals - no matter where we live, work, or shop. Click here ([link removed]) to tell Congress to support the 2025 Safer Beauty Bill Package!

The temperatures may have cooled this week, but extreme heat is still the deadliest impact of climate change, and communities of color bear the brunt of it. Click here ([link removed]) to urge New York City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams to call for a vote to implement a Cool Pavement Pilot, which will prioritize installation of cool pavement technologies in neighborhoods that face the highest risk of harm from extreme heat – like ours!

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** Need an AC? State Cooling Assistance Program Extended
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You may not need it this weekend, but you eventually will need an air conditioner to cope with the extreme heat we experience every year. New York State has extended its Essential Plan Cooling Program until Sept. 30th, while the funds last. Click here ([link removed]) to see if you are eligible for a free air conditioner.

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Lonnie Portis was featured in an Inside Climate News ([link removed]) article on the status of environmental justice in the city ahead of the mayoral election, focusing on the City’s overreliance on federal funding and general underfunding of environmental and climate justice initiatives as well as discussing some of our work on issues like extreme heat.

Lonnie was also quoted in an El Diario ([link removed]) story about the Green, Healthy Schools Report ([link removed]) (PDF) released by the Climate Works for All coalition, which WE ACT is a part of. “To ensure our city has a healthy and vibrant future, we must invest today in the health and well-being of our children, and in particular, in the schools that allow them to grow and develop during their most formative years. The Green and Healthy Schools initiative will fulfill this obligation to future generations by providing a healthy and sustainable learning environment and prioritizing schools in environmental justice communities, where children are already disproportionately exposed to air pollution and other environmental hazards.”

Mae Kennedy was quoted in a Cosmetics Design USA ([link removed]) article on the news that Washington has become the first state to adopt a comprehensive ban ([link removed]) on all formaldehyde-releasing chemicals in cosmetics, noting that the “ban will give all consumers access to safer cosmetics while also addressing the poor health outcomes faced especially by Black women as a result of racist, Eurocentric beauty standards that encourage chemical hair straightening.”

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** Help Build the Movement: Become a Cecil Corbin-Mark Fellow
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Applications are now open for our Cecil Corbin-Mark Fellowship ([link removed]) . This fellow will be part of our National Organizing Department, based in our New York City office, and focusing on environmental health and the energy sector. This is a great opportunity to help build our movement at a time when it is under constant attack. Click here ([link removed]) to learn more about our previous fellows and click here ([link removed]) to download the job description.

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