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Charles Lee: Good afternoon.

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My name is Charles Lee, I am the Senior
Policy Advisor for Environmental Justice

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at the US Environmental Protection Agency.

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We want to welcome you to the third
session of our Environmental Justice

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and Systemic Racism Speaker Series.

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The first two sessions of this series focus
on the development of information resources

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on mapping inequality and the
production of research on the relationship

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between redlining and current
environmental conditions,

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particularly those
related to the climate crisis.

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Today's session will focus on how
communities are using this information

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to organize for policy change particularly
as seen through the work of youth

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who are working with these
communities to bring about these changes.

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Our three presenters today work with
the Climate Safe Neighborhood Partnership

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of Groundwork USA.

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First, Cate Mingoya serves as Groundwork
USA's Director of Capacity Building,

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leading their Climate Safe
Neighborhoods Partnership.

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Climate Safe Neighborhoods is
a data informed organizing process

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that aims to reduce heat and flooding related
to risk in neighborhoods with histories

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of institutional race-based
housing discrimination.

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Second, Victor Medina is a youth manager--

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Youth Programs Manager for
Groundwork Hudson Valley.

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He will talk about how his work in
Yonkers, New York is inspiring our youth

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to take on conservation
challenges in their communities

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and cultivate a more sustainable
world for future generations.

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And thirdly, Melissa Guevara is the
Youth Program Manager of Groundwork RVA

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where she provides
youth in Richmond, Virginia

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the opportunity to work within
their natural environments,

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benefit from green spaces, advocate
for themselves and their communities.

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As you will hear, this work has
produced some incredible results

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including the inclusion of programs
to address climate change impacts

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in Richmond's general plan.

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Before we go on to the presentations

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we want to make sure you have
some important logistical information.

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First, use your question and
answer pod to submit questions

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and we will answer as many as possible
including those we pose to our speakers

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during the Q&A portion of this session.

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This slide focuses on or I want
to say a few words about the slide

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to introduce this series.

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This series is predicated on the premise
that truly achieving environmental justice

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will require addressing systemic
racism and other structural inequities.

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Our objectives are first to provide
information to strengthen the evidentiary link

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between historical inequities and
current environmental disparities.

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Two, to inspire people everywhere
to think about this question.

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Three, to align the best thinking
available to create productive partnerships.

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And lastly to create
the intellectual ferment,

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necessary to effectuate a truly
transformative change.

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Please advance the slide.

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I want to show this slide quickly as
I've done in every one of this series

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to give everyone a picture of
how environmental disparities

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have their roots in systemic racism.

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Our colleagues at California EPA
overlaid the digitized redlining map

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for the city of Oakland, California

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with the results of their environmental
justice cumulative impacts mapping tool

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CalEnviroScreen.

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You can see the correlation between
those areas marked as the hazardous

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and the worst
environmental disparities today.

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Please advance the slide.

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So to set up today's presentation,
I also want to remind you about

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how as I have said this information
has led to a significant research,

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such as this study highlighted on this slide
that correlates redline areas from the 1930s

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with the current location
of urban heat islands.

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Notably this and other research was
done in part by engaging communities

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such as the ones
that you will hear from today.

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So with that, I want to
hand it over to Cate Mingoya

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who will be followed by Victor
Medina and Melissa Guevara.

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As they-- when they
conclude that we will directly--

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go directly to the audience,
our question and answer period

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which will be moderated
by Sabrina Johnson.

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So with that I will turn it
over to you, Cate.

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Cate Mingoya: Thank
you so much, Charles.

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Thank you everyone as well for
joining us today for this conversation.

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I'm so thankful to
get to be here with you.

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For the next hour, I'll be talking
for the next 15 minutes or so

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about the connection between historical
race-based housing segregation

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and the modern day climate crisis.

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If you're not familiar, my name
is Cate Mingoya

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and I'm the Director of Capacity
Building at Groundwork USA

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and if you're not familiar with us,

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we are a network of people centered
environmental justice organizations

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usually in the third or fourth largest
city in any given state.

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I encourage you to hop on
our website groundworkusa.org

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to see what's happening in a community
near you and see if you can get involved.

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And generally the work that we do is
to help put residents in the driver's seat

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around making changes to their built
environment, so they can live in the clean

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healthy prosperous spaces
that they want to live in.

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That's everything from acting
as an urban forester

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and helping to densify
the tree canopy cover

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to taking over contaminated plots of
lands or Brownfields and transforming them

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into community assets like
trails and parks and urban farms

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and very recently we've moved
into the climate mitigation space.

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And I want to start off our
conversation with this picture,

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it's an aerial photo of the Lower Price
Hill neighborhood in Cincinnati, Ohio

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and I want you to think to
yourself on a very hot July day,

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where in the city would
you like to be hanging out?

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If you're like me, you probably
want to be hanging out on the left side

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of this red dotted line.

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I see some trees, I see some nice shade I
even see a swimming pool down

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in the lower left-hand corner
while on the right side

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I see a lot of asphalt.

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The whole area of this picture is residential,
so why is it that part of this neighborhood

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the one that transitions from
the Lower Price Hill neighborhood

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into the Western Hill neighborhood
look so much different

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from the right side of that picture?

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Well, through our Climate Safe
Neighborhoods Partnership,

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we-- sorry, through our Climate Safe
Neighborhoods Partnership,

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we've dug into the fact that the
consequences of our changing climate

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are not being felt equally, not being felt
equally from state to state within our country,

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not from city to city within states and not
even from neighborhood to neighborhood

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within the same city
and that's not a coincidence,

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there's a really long history behind why
our neighborhoods look the way that they do.

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And we got to ask this really interesting
question as part of our partnership,

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is there a relationship between
historical race-based housing segregation?

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And we're using redlining as
a proxy for that

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and if you're not familiar with
redlining, I'll get you a little later,

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and the modern day risk of the climate crisis,
specifically, extreme heat and flooding.

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And I do want to note that
when I talk about flooding,

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folks tend to think like "Ah, my car just
got washed away"

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but I'm also talking
about that really insidious flooding

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that ruins everything in your basement,
that makes you have to replace your drywall,

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that maybe triggers asthma
for children in your home,

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so thinking about the full way in which
the climate crisis is manifesting itself.

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And you're going to see a lot of maps
and images as I go through my presentation

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and I highly encourage you to head back
to our website groundworkusa.org

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so that you can learn more and you can play
with some of these interactive maps yourself.

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As part of our Climate Safe Neighborhoods
Partnership, we've pulled together

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nine of our partner organizations called
Groundwork Trusts across the country,

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from San Diego to
Lawrence, Massachusetts

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which is a small mill town north
of Boston to help answer this question

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and help dig into the "Well, what
do we do about it?"

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And before I jump in, in case you're not
familiar with redlining,

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I want to give you a quick
like two-minute rundown.

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So pretend we're all going back in time,
it's the Great Depression,

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people are struggling, they're suffering,
they don't have enough money

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and at that point in history
in the 1920s, 30s or so,

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there was not the 20 or 30 year
mortgage that we enjoy today,

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instead what happened is folks got a
five-year mortgage,

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they paid down the principal
and at the end of the five years,

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you had a big balance that you
needed to get another mortgage to cover.

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Well, by 1933, 50 that's 50%
of homes were in default,

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so not only is everyone struggling
because they don't have enough money,

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there's also a looming eviction crisis,

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so the federal government had to figure out
what are we going to do to protect folks

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to make sure they
can stay in their home,

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to make sure that people can build
wealth through physical assets,

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in this case, they're the
owner-- owning of property.

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Well, that's where the federally
backed mortgage came in

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which is a very popular new deal
program and if you own any property today,

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you're probably a beneficiary of
this long lasting program.

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And the idea behind it is that the
federal government said

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"Hey banks, we get it the
global economy is in crisis,

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you don't want to
lend but check this,

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if you cover these people
and give them a loan,

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we the federal government
will back that debt,

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we'll pay it if the other people default."

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And that was meant to loosen and make
lending a little bit easier and safer

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and promote that wealth building,

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but how is the federal government going
to figure out which places were a safe bet

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for taxpayer dollars, and which
places were a risky bet?

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Well, that's where these redlining
maps or risk assessment maps come in.

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They surveyed major American
cities across the country

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and the areas that felt were too much of a
risky bet that they did not want to lend to,

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they outlined in red or redlined.

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These are neighborhoods that
are predominantly black and brown

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immigrant communities low in communities--

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low income communities
and poor housing stock.

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Those neighborhoods that
they felt was a totally safe bet,

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they were ready to give those federally
backed mortgages to, they outlined in green

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and those were predominantly
white or the right kind of white person

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because we know whiteness
changes in our cultural definition,

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high income folks and then people that have
really good housing stock available to them.

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And this creates a problem, if you're someone
who lives in this redlined neighborhood

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and you want to buy a place,
you're going to really struggle

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because you can't get a
mortgage to buy a home in that area.

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If you're someone who already owns
your property and you want to sell,

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guess what? No one's going
to be able to get a mortgage,

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so you're going to have
to accept a lower price.

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Property values are then
depressed in those redlined areas

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but if you're someone
who has enough money

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and maybe you want to move to that
beautiful neighborhood that is green lined,

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guess what? You're not going to be able to
go there if you're a black and brown family

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because the area is
going to be downgraded,

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so people are not going
to want to sell to you

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because they don't want the entire
neighborhood to lose access to that debt.

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So you see these neighborhoods that are
formerly redlined have a really big

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financial disincentive for investment,

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cities don't cite parks there, the
tree canopy cover isn't developed there,

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in some cases they don't
even upgrade the sewage lines

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in these formerly red line neighborhoods
because the property values aren't worth a ton

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and those people don't have a
tremendous amount of political power.

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So the next slide that I'm going to show you
is going to be of a digitized redlining map

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overlaid on top of Elizabeth, New Jersey
which is a city just south of New York city.

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And just as a quick reminder green-- you can get
that mortgage, the right kind of white person,

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good housing stock and then red is
that D Grade, black and brown low

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income poor housing stock.

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On this, next slide I want you to
keep your eye on any green polygon,

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it doesn't matter which
one, just find a green polygon.

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Next, you're going to see underlayed-- this
is tree canopy cover as of 2016.

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This is impervious pavement, so I want
you to think like driveways, parking lots

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and then this is relative
heat with red being the hottest.

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Now find any red polygon,
doesn't matter which one it is.

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Again, this is tree
canopy cover as of 2016.

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Impervious pavement, so
parking lots, driveways stuff like that

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and then relative heat
with red being the hottest.

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At this point you're probably starting
to see a relationship between the two

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but just in case you can't, here's a bar
graph that's going to help you out.

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As you go from A to D, that
green lined area to that redlined area,

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that red bar which is land surface
temperature, that goes up,

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it's hotter in red lined areas.

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That impervious pavement parking lot
driveways, that also goes up

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as you go from A to D.

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And this is my least favorite
one as you go from A to D,

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you see that tree canopy cover precipitously
decline, so we know that it's hotter

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and it's wetter in those
neighborhoods that are formerly redlined.

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You might be saying "Cate, why are you
trying to make this racial connection?

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Our cities look so different now from
the way they did in 1930s."

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Not really, about 75 percent of those
neighborhoods that were formerly D graded

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are still low to moderate
income neighborhoods today,

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about 2/3 of them are majority/minority.

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So as James Baldwin like to say
"The past is not passed."

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The work that Charles
referenced at the beginning

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that was done by Jeremy
Hoffman and Vivek Shandas,

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found that on average neighborhoods
that were formerly redlined

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are about 4.5 degrees hotter than those
neighborhoods that were formerly green lined

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but that could be as extreme as 16ºF,
in some cases even 20ºF on the same day

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in the same city, that's the difference between
turning your air conditioner on and not,

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that's the difference between a 200
cooling bill at the end of the summer

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and a 350 dollar one you can't afford.

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That's the difference between hanging
out with your family on a warm summer night

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and ending up in the
hospital with heat strokes.

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So these are real consequences, real
economic consequences, health consequences

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and social consequences for real people.

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At this point, if you've studied anything
related to racial injustice or systemic racism

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you're like "Cool, got it Cate, I'm
disappointed but I'm not terribly surprised,

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I've kind of seen this story before.
What are you gonna do about it?"

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And I really don't want anyone
to leave this conversation and say

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"Aha, I got it the answer is to plant
some trees, get those trees in the ground"

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and you know, the
answer is well kind of,

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yeah if you don't have
trees in your neighborhood,

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I encourage you to make
sure that there is shade equity

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and tree equity in your community,
so please do advocate for that,

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00:14:32,971 --> 00:14:34,570
but that's not the whole story.

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This is a picture of
right outside my window,

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00:14:36,814 --> 00:14:40,280
I can see it if I turn to my right
in Somerville, Massachusetts

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and about three years ago they planted
trees for the first time in our neighborhood

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and you can see that this tree is not
particularly cute

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00:14:47,732 --> 00:14:51,709
and it's cast in a shade that's about
the size and shape of a pizza box

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00:14:51,733 --> 00:14:54,880
so that's not going to do a lot to
change the ambient air temperature,

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so eventually in a couple of 10
years this tree is going to be awesome

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and is going to cool the neighborhood

250
00:14:59,279 --> 00:15:03,519
but in the meantime I and you
really need to be asking the question

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why hasn't this been done already?

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00:15:05,592 --> 00:15:10,068
1964 redlining was
outlawed by the Civil Rights Act,

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why is it that today we still
see these types of disparities?

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00:15:13,680 --> 00:15:18,227
That should lead us to a couple other
questions like how does infrastructure impact

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00:15:18,251 --> 00:15:20,492
the way that we can make
changes to our environment.

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00:15:20,516 --> 00:15:24,968
Those rail lines, those highways are
things that are pretty impossible to move,

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00:15:24,992 --> 00:15:28,800
it can be done, it's very expensive
it's really hard to get the collective well

258
00:15:28,800 --> 00:15:32,639
and that means that those pieces of
infrastructure really do dictate the way

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00:15:32,639 --> 00:15:34,079
that our neighborhoods look today.

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00:15:34,079 --> 00:15:37,308
That should lead us to a series of other
questions like who gets to make the rules

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00:15:37,332 --> 00:15:39,199
about where this
infrastructure is placed

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and who has a right to
different parts of the city.

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00:15:41,572 --> 00:15:44,847
And this is again really close to my
home in Somerville, Massachusetts

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where there's a gas leak that's killing all of
the trees along a stretch of Somerville avenue.

265
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So those infrastructure things that happen
in the past are still impacting us today.

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So what do we do about it? It's all lost?

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00:15:55,199 --> 00:15:57,440
Are we hopeless, is
nothing going to ever change?

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00:15:57,440 --> 00:16:01,279
No, Climate Safe Neighborhoods pulls
together residents to help organize them

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00:16:01,279 --> 00:16:02,399
for systems change.

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We're not just interested in dropping in
some trees and peacing out.

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What we do is take this three-part
strategy where we organize residents

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00:16:09,012 --> 00:16:12,399
to help them learn about why
their communities look the way they do,

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00:16:12,399 --> 00:16:16,399
work closely with residents so that they
can prioritize the mitigation measures

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00:16:16,399 --> 00:16:18,000
they would like to see in their neighborhood

275
00:16:18,000 --> 00:16:22,588
and then work with them to build their capacity
to intervene in municipal planning processes

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00:16:22,612 --> 00:16:27,440
and budgetary cycles so that residents
can self-advocate for a more equitable

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00:16:27,440 --> 00:16:31,199
distribution of resources to help
protect them from the climate crisis

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and help to protect their
families from the climate crisis.

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00:16:33,932 --> 00:16:37,657
And we rely a lot on the maps and
images that I've used in this conversation

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because people respond to
the unfairness in these images

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00:16:41,452 --> 00:16:45,728
and they serve as a really great neutral
platform for conversations about equity.

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It's not that you specifically
did or didn't do anything,

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00:16:49,012 --> 00:16:51,988
it's that there's a really long history
that's made our cities look in a way

284
00:16:52,012 --> 00:16:53,839
that's really unfair and unjust.

285
00:16:53,839 --> 00:16:57,680
Why is it that the northern part of Richmond
that has a lot of black and brown families

286
00:16:57,680 --> 00:16:59,214
is disproportionately hotter?

287
00:16:59,238 --> 00:17:02,399
Why is it that the northern
section of Elizabeth, New Jersey

288
00:17:02,399 --> 00:17:04,727
where a lot of the
Hispanic residents live

289
00:17:04,751 --> 00:17:06,799
doesn't have a very
dense tree canopy cover?

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00:17:06,799 --> 00:17:09,679
These are questions we need to ask
ourselves, we need to be really upfront

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00:17:09,679 --> 00:17:10,720
with understanding that.

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I'm going to give you one example and
Melissa is going to give you another one

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00:17:13,520 --> 00:17:14,959
that I'm so excited about next.

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00:17:14,959 --> 00:17:17,348
I'm going to start with this quick
example from Denver.

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00:17:17,372 --> 00:17:19,861
In Denver, Colorado there have
been a couple ballot measures

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00:17:19,885 --> 00:17:22,264
that have gone through
over the past few years

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00:17:22,288 --> 00:17:28,000
to create a steady stream of tax-based
funding for the capital improvement of parks

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00:17:28,000 --> 00:17:32,320
and the installation of green infrastructure
to help protect folks from the climate crisis,

299
00:17:32,320 --> 00:17:36,000
but generally it hasn't been super clear
how that money is distributed

300
00:17:36,000 --> 00:17:41,666
and environmental justice communities have
not necessarily been involved in the process

301
00:17:41,690 --> 00:17:43,545
about how that money is
going to be distributed,

302
00:17:43,569 --> 00:17:46,559
whether or not their communities
will see the benefits of it.

303
00:17:46,559 --> 00:17:50,533
So we put together these maps and
residents from the Globeville neighborhood

304
00:17:50,557 --> 00:17:54,210
which is in the northern part
of Denver, it's a Superfund site,

305
00:17:54,234 --> 00:17:58,447
home of a former lead smelting plant, a
lot of environmental justice issues there,

306
00:17:58,471 --> 00:18:00,080
a lot of residents
of color there

307
00:18:00,080 --> 00:18:03,200
and there's actually the residents who
were poking around and said

308
00:18:03,200 --> 00:18:07,039
"Hey wait a minute, our neighborhood only
has 1% tree canopy cover"

309
00:18:07,039 --> 00:18:11,679
but if you hop on a bus and go across the
river to a former green line neighborhood

310
00:18:11,679 --> 00:18:15,919
they've got 24% tree canopy cover and
actually if you go a little bit further

311
00:18:15,919 --> 00:18:19,440
into a deeper green line neighborhood
you'll see 60% tree canopy cover.

312
00:18:19,440 --> 00:18:23,919
So these maps helped residents to have a
very clear and specific ask,

313
00:18:23,919 --> 00:18:27,728
"We want-- we the residents of
Globeville want 10,000 trees in 10 years

314
00:18:27,752 --> 00:18:29,840
and a say in funding distribution."

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00:18:29,840 --> 00:18:32,148
So you might say like "Hey Cate, I
thought you said the answer wasn't

316
00:18:32,172 --> 00:18:33,919
just to plant trees."

317
00:18:33,919 --> 00:18:36,745
And yeah, that's true, another piece of
what we've been working on

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00:18:36,769 --> 00:18:40,298
is to also get residents onto
the funding distribution boards

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00:18:40,322 --> 00:18:43,868
and actually there are four residents of
Globeville that are currently sitting on the board

320
00:18:43,892 --> 00:18:46,880
that decides funding
distribution in the Globeville

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00:18:46,880 --> 00:18:48,640
that are-- sorry across the city of Denver

322
00:18:48,640 --> 00:18:51,908
and so I suspect that presence,
that change in who makes decisions

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00:18:51,932 --> 00:18:54,400
and who makes the rules is
going to lead to these neighborhoods

324
00:18:54,400 --> 00:18:57,840
getting a lot more green infrastructure,
so stay tuned on that front.

325
00:18:57,840 --> 00:18:59,627
And the last thing that
I want to leave you with

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00:18:59,651 --> 00:19:04,480
is that there is no panacea, there's
no 100% solution that's going to fix

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00:19:04,480 --> 00:19:08,480
environmental injustice or fix
racism or fix the climate crisis.

328
00:19:08,480 --> 00:19:12,348
What we are looking at is putting
together a number of 1% solutions

329
00:19:12,372 --> 00:19:15,407
that cumulatively are going to
tip the scales towards justice

330
00:19:15,431 --> 00:19:17,919
and that's what our really big goal is.

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00:19:17,919 --> 00:19:21,760
And the way that we like to do that is
by putting residents into the driver's seat,

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00:19:21,760 --> 00:19:24,880
residents need to be in the driver's
seat when it comes to making decisions

333
00:19:24,880 --> 00:19:28,240
about their neighborhood and decisions
about how resources are distributed

334
00:19:28,240 --> 00:19:31,020
but so often they're not
even allowed in the car.

335
00:19:31,044 --> 00:19:32,462
So that's it for me for now.

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00:19:32,486 --> 00:19:35,360
Please head to our website just
to see the work that we're doing,

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00:19:35,360 --> 00:19:37,871
I would love to chat more with
you, my emails on the screen,

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00:19:37,895 --> 00:19:39,520
so feel free to reach out.

339
00:19:39,520 --> 00:19:44,080
And then otherwise, I'm so thrilled to
pass it over to Victor Medina

340
00:19:44,080 --> 00:19:47,280
and he's going to tell us about the work
that's happening with youth

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00:19:47,280 --> 00:19:51,360
and this Climate Safe Neighborhoods
Partnership in Yonkers, New York.

342
00:19:51,360 --> 00:19:54,240
Take it away, Victor.

343
00:19:55,760 --> 00:19:56,725
Victor Medina: Alrighty.

344
00:19:56,749 --> 00:19:58,799
Awesome, thank you so much, Cate.

345
00:19:58,799 --> 00:20:02,559
Thank you everybody at EPA for having us
here and thank you for all that are tuning in.

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00:20:02,559 --> 00:20:03,703
Victor Medina: My name is Victor Medina.

347
00:20:03,727 --> 00:20:07,028
Again I'm the Youth Program
Manager at Groundwork Hudson Valley.

348
00:20:07,052 --> 00:20:11,728
We have primarily three program areas
that we-- that really facilitate our work

349
00:20:11,752 --> 00:20:13,919
in climate safe neighborhoods.

350
00:20:13,919 --> 00:20:16,108
They're sustainability education where
people get to learn

351
00:20:16,132 --> 00:20:18,400
about these global
environmental issues.

352
00:20:18,400 --> 00:20:20,255
I am fortunate enough to
take that to the next step

353
00:20:20,279 --> 00:20:22,480
with our youth leadership
team, the Green Team

354
00:20:22,480 --> 00:20:26,287
where we build capacity in Yonkers youth to
tackle some of these environmental issues

355
00:20:26,311 --> 00:20:30,480
and all this is done at the end of the day
through engaging members of the community

356
00:20:30,480 --> 00:20:34,480
including helping build local capacity to
tackle challenges faced by climate change,

357
00:20:34,480 --> 00:20:38,640
focusing on the present needs of the
community while preparing for the future.

358
00:20:38,640 --> 00:20:41,214
At the end of the day, the vision for
Groundwork Hudson Valley's

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00:20:41,238 --> 00:20:42,799
Climate Safe Neighborhoods Project

360
00:20:42,799 --> 00:20:46,080
is one of an organized and empowered
community of southwest Yonkers

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00:20:46,080 --> 00:20:49,201
holding the tools and skill set
necessary for communicating

362
00:20:49,225 --> 00:20:51,867
the risks climate change poses for them.

363
00:20:51,891 --> 00:20:54,588
Now, oftentimes
when you think about--

364
00:20:54,612 --> 00:20:56,233
when we talk about climate change--

365
00:20:56,257 --> 00:21:01,148
when you hear people talk about climate
change it's this distant often future problem

366
00:21:01,172 --> 00:21:04,400
to deal with and when you're talking
about working in the communities

367
00:21:04,400 --> 00:21:07,600
that are underserved
have high rates of poverty

368
00:21:07,600 --> 00:21:09,919
that are concerned with things like
whether or not they're going to pay

369
00:21:09,919 --> 00:21:13,948
their electric bill next month, it's a little
far-fetched to talk about it in that lens

370
00:21:13,972 --> 00:21:16,880
and so one of our biggest
goals was to make it real.

371
00:21:16,880 --> 00:21:19,470
That was coupled with another
challenge of the year 2020

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00:21:19,494 --> 00:21:21,600
where a lot of things were happening,

373
00:21:21,600 --> 00:21:26,720
namely the pandemic that exacerbated
some of these income inequality issues,

374
00:21:26,720 --> 00:21:31,558
but as well as the civil unrest that we
were experiencing during the summer.

375
00:21:31,582 --> 00:21:34,688
And so there was a lot of going
on, there was a lot of sort of hurt

376
00:21:34,712 --> 00:21:37,120
that was coming into the youth
program that summer

377
00:21:37,120 --> 00:21:39,388
but one of the things that
we really tried to focus on

378
00:21:39,412 --> 00:21:42,410
is the ways that climate change
is real and happening now

379
00:21:42,434 --> 00:21:45,304
and making it present
and relevant to the youth.

380
00:21:45,328 --> 00:21:49,868
And so this really kind of started with
developing a lesson plan and a curriculum

381
00:21:49,892 --> 00:21:52,880
that really took a moment to identify

382
00:21:52,880 --> 00:21:55,141
what some of these issues are relying on
some of the knowledge

383
00:21:55,165 --> 00:21:57,120
that they've already
come in from school

384
00:21:57,120 --> 00:22:01,494
and really connecting these youth with
experts in the field like Vivek Shandas

385
00:22:01,518 --> 00:22:05,347
from Capa Strategies, so that
they're getting a more tangible look

386
00:22:05,371 --> 00:22:08,799
at what's actually happening
in this field and in this research.

387
00:22:08,799 --> 00:22:12,960
They learned how to use our Climate Safe
Neighborhoods Mapping software and dashboard,

388
00:22:12,960 --> 00:22:14,988
learn how to critically read those maps

389
00:22:15,012 --> 00:22:19,200
and they themselves were ultimately
able to identify target communities

390
00:22:19,200 --> 00:22:23,039
which would ultimately have helped
our community engagement strategy

391
00:22:23,039 --> 00:22:25,428
leading into the fall.

392
00:22:25,452 --> 00:22:30,668
So through this process they not only
learned about what are these factors

393
00:22:30,692 --> 00:22:35,486
that lead to heat vulnerability, things like
surface temperature and impervious surfaces

394
00:22:35,510 --> 00:22:39,858
and canopy cover but also how to
measure people's adaptability and thinking

395
00:22:39,882 --> 00:22:42,847
about poverty as
a risk factor for heat.

396
00:22:42,871 --> 00:22:48,468
And so again, some of these youth are really
sharing their lived experiences with this

397
00:22:48,492 --> 00:22:51,288
and so they know this but they're
now learning able to articulate it

398
00:22:51,312 --> 00:22:53,600
and when you start
putting two and two together

399
00:22:53,600 --> 00:22:56,000
we then ask them to overlay that data

400
00:22:56,000 --> 00:22:59,728
and then look at the top 5 most
vulnerable neighborhoods in Yonkers

401
00:22:59,752 --> 00:23:05,600
which they are experiencing on average about
a 7 degree difference of surface temperature

402
00:23:05,600 --> 00:23:08,288
but sometimes
upwards of 10 to 15.

403
00:23:08,312 --> 00:23:10,148
Now, what did they find?

404
00:23:10,172 --> 00:23:17,118
Well, they found that the neighborhoods
in Yonkers that were most affected

405
00:23:17,142 --> 00:23:20,590
happen to be the
neighborhoods that they lived in,

406
00:23:20,614 --> 00:23:24,880
so their neighborhoods
most at risk as Cate mentioned,

407
00:23:24,880 --> 00:23:29,287
disappointing but not surprising
are formerly redlined neighborhoods

408
00:23:29,311 --> 00:23:32,320
and this project takes a
fight against climate change

409
00:23:32,320 --> 00:23:35,200
really down to that neighborhood level.

410
00:23:35,200 --> 00:23:39,548
Now kind of thinking about the
issues of systemic races in Yonkers,

411
00:23:39,572 --> 00:23:42,308
we know that the practice of
redlining was banned in 1964

412
00:23:42,332 --> 00:23:46,880
and those impacts are still really present in
our cities, not just in the built environment

413
00:23:46,880 --> 00:23:49,418
but sometimes in the attitude and the
willingness to talk about

414
00:23:49,442 --> 00:23:51,157
and tackle some of these issues.

415
00:23:51,181 --> 00:23:54,895
For example, Yonkers was the
subject of a major desegregation lawsuit

416
00:23:54,919 --> 00:24:01,424
as recently as, wait for it, 1988
based on the historic redlining practices

417
00:24:01,448 --> 00:24:05,360
which placed all the municipal
housing within a mile of each other

418
00:24:05,360 --> 00:24:06,765
in southwest Yonkers.

419
00:24:06,789 --> 00:24:13,348
If that wasn't the intention
then that's a thing to really say

420
00:24:13,372 --> 00:24:14,752
"What exactly led to this?"

421
00:24:14,776 --> 00:24:19,327
So this is kind of sort of eye-opening and
again, a lot of our youth were not surprised

422
00:24:19,351 --> 00:24:22,708
but very much frustrated
that this was the reality,

423
00:24:22,732 --> 00:24:26,270
but this reality that they now
stepped into and acknowledged

424
00:24:26,294 --> 00:24:30,580
now gave them a chance to look at
their neighborhoods with a new lens

425
00:24:30,604 --> 00:24:35,760
and quite literally a new lens because
we gave them these little infrared cameras

426
00:24:35,760 --> 00:24:39,120
to go into their neighborhoods and
actually look and measure those

427
00:24:39,120 --> 00:24:40,788
surface temperatures on their own.

428
00:24:40,812 --> 00:24:47,188
This was done without a guide,
this was done without really a teacher

429
00:24:47,212 --> 00:24:52,019
but we have them tasked to measure
out the temperature in the neighborhoods

430
00:24:52,043 --> 00:24:54,228
and look for areas that were hot spots.

431
00:24:54,252 --> 00:24:58,880
So I have to give credit to Vivek Shandas
to give us what we call our little zombie

432
00:24:58,880 --> 00:25:04,000
apocalypse exercise where we're looking for
the hottest places that zombies can't survive

433
00:25:04,000 --> 00:25:07,679
and it was just a way to get
our youth excited and engaged

434
00:25:07,679 --> 00:25:11,120
given the tone of everything that was
kind of going on during the pandemic

435
00:25:11,120 --> 00:25:14,156
and it really kind of took the
edge off a little bit for them

436
00:25:14,180 --> 00:25:18,559
but also got them really
thinking and let us see

437
00:25:18,559 --> 00:25:21,328
do they understand how to
look for some of these places

438
00:25:21,352 --> 00:25:26,568
and to look for some of the issues, these
visual accused in the built environment

439
00:25:26,592 --> 00:25:29,728
that really dictate the
temperature going forward.

440
00:25:29,752 --> 00:25:32,799
And so they wrote up these reports,
they looked at their own neighborhoods

441
00:25:32,799 --> 00:25:37,679
and ultimately ended up
coming back to us to then learn about

442
00:25:37,679 --> 00:25:39,600
"Okay, now that you
know what the problem is,

443
00:25:39,600 --> 00:25:46,070
now that you've seen where on your block
the problem is, what can we do about it?"

444
00:25:46,094 --> 00:25:50,501
And so we learned about a number
of different intervention strategies

445
00:25:50,525 --> 00:25:54,656
that they would be able to
theoretically implement or advocate for,

446
00:25:54,680 --> 00:25:56,738
giving them that vocabulary
to plan for heat mitigation

447
00:25:56,762 --> 00:26:01,200
and ultimately write up for
themselves a statement

448
00:26:01,200 --> 00:26:05,560
that they could then give to other
people about what they think makes sense

449
00:26:05,584 --> 00:26:08,640
for their neighborhoods, given the
shape, given the built environment

450
00:26:08,640 --> 00:26:12,640
and given what they
know having lived there.

451
00:26:12,640 --> 00:26:16,080
So all that being said, this
was a huge learning experience

452
00:26:16,080 --> 00:26:20,127
for both us as instructors
and as mentors but at the youth

453
00:26:20,151 --> 00:26:22,148
and it was an eye-opening
experience for us,

454
00:26:22,172 --> 00:26:27,279
we were able to give youth the tools
they need to make sense and take action

455
00:26:27,279 --> 00:26:31,261
and ultimately resulting in the organization
reaching a far more diverse audience

456
00:26:31,285 --> 00:26:33,082
than we ever could on our own.

457
00:26:33,106 --> 00:26:37,200
So the Green Team often
would say, like this is not--

458
00:26:37,200 --> 00:26:39,788
okay, like going back to that
idea that it's not surprising

459
00:26:39,812 --> 00:26:41,840
but being able to talk about it,

460
00:26:41,840 --> 00:26:44,400
one of the things that they would
take away is that there is intention

461
00:26:44,400 --> 00:26:46,128
behind the practices of redlining

462
00:26:46,152 --> 00:26:48,828
and these things that we start--
we associate with systemic racism

463
00:26:48,852 --> 00:26:52,467
in order to fix it, there also
must be intention to rectify it.

464
00:26:52,491 --> 00:26:58,640
And so these conversations of systemic
racism that were once taboo looking to today,

465
00:26:58,640 --> 00:27:03,535
are now happening a lot more
frequently at local county and state levels

466
00:27:03,559 --> 00:27:10,887
and Groundwork Hudson Valley has got a seat
at the table to guide that conversation.

467
00:27:10,911 --> 00:27:12,928
So how is that exactly happening?

468
00:27:12,952 --> 00:27:16,188
Well we are part of a climate
smart communities equity work group,

469
00:27:16,212 --> 00:27:19,414
really infusing equity in consideration
to New York state programs

470
00:27:19,438 --> 00:27:22,559
that help governments
take action to adapt to climate change.

471
00:27:22,559 --> 00:27:25,840
We are having these conversations at the
city level working really closely

472
00:27:25,840 --> 00:27:28,126
with the municipal
housing authority of Yonkers

473
00:27:28,150 --> 00:27:33,039
to engage the most vulnerable
people in directly improving the homes

474
00:27:33,039 --> 00:27:36,196
of these families that are
most affected by these issues

475
00:27:36,220 --> 00:27:40,868
and we're talking everything from
greening to painting cool roofs

476
00:27:40,892 --> 00:27:43,180
and things that are all
parts of the conversation

477
00:27:43,204 --> 00:27:48,489
but most importantly engaging the residents
that are there to have a say in that plan

478
00:27:48,513 --> 00:27:50,399
and in that future.

479
00:27:50,399 --> 00:27:53,267
Our youth have on their own
gone on to speak at conferences

480
00:27:53,291 --> 00:27:56,437
that have facilitated advocating for
policies that address the inequities

481
00:27:56,461 --> 00:27:58,748
that have unearthed they've
unearthed for themselves

482
00:27:58,772 --> 00:28:01,120
and just to give you a
quick sense of numbers--

483
00:28:01,120 --> 00:28:03,687
a lot of them are talking to their
families and their peers about it.

484
00:28:03,711 --> 00:28:07,507
We're fortunate enough to hire 25
youth and we all task them to go home

485
00:28:07,531 --> 00:28:11,919
and explain that to their household, many
of them live in a household of 3 to 4 people.

486
00:28:11,919 --> 00:28:16,348
Doing the math, between 75 and 100 people
simply by engaging the families are reached

487
00:28:16,372 --> 00:28:19,160
which may not sound like
a lot for a national election

488
00:28:19,184 --> 00:28:23,840
but for a local advocacy and
policy, that can be a really huge deal.

489
00:28:23,840 --> 00:28:27,039
And so they're mobilized, they're engaged
and we've given them the tools to do so

490
00:28:27,039 --> 00:28:30,751
and this process has really
allowed us to amplify our voice

491
00:28:30,775 --> 00:28:35,507
and not only our voices organization
but the voice of the community at large.

492
00:28:35,531 --> 00:28:38,159
At the end of the
day, these syste--

493
00:28:38,159 --> 00:28:41,679
these issues of systemic
racism and climate change

494
00:28:41,679 --> 00:28:46,715
are not something that our youth are
going to inherit, it is real and it is now.

495
00:28:46,739 --> 00:28:49,704
However, these challenges
may seem insurmountable,

496
00:28:49,728 --> 00:28:52,336
they're not something that
we're going to overcome overnight

497
00:28:52,360 --> 00:28:56,207
but we are in a position to help
guide the conversation and ensure

498
00:28:56,231 --> 00:29:00,761
that those who are most vulnerable
have a voice in determining their future.

499
00:29:00,785 --> 00:29:04,337
And so there's a lot to look forward
to hear at Groundwork Hudson Valley,

500
00:29:04,361 --> 00:29:06,880
if you want more information
we encourage you to visit us

501
00:29:06,880 --> 00:29:11,440
at www.groundworkhv.org
and to stay tuned and be in touch.

502
00:29:11,440 --> 00:29:16,292
We are just at the beginning of our
process and we're really excited to see

503
00:29:16,316 --> 00:29:20,428
just how engaged our community
continues to be in the coming years.

504
00:29:20,452 --> 00:29:24,248
I'd like to turn the floor over really
quick to my colleague Melissa Guevara

505
00:29:24,272 --> 00:29:29,520
who's got a similar experience going on in
Richmond, Virginia from Groundwork RVA

506
00:29:29,520 --> 00:29:31,674
and a project that's a little more
flushed out than ours.

507
00:29:31,698 --> 00:29:34,580
So Melissa why don't you
take the floor and take it away.

508
00:29:40,480 --> 00:29:42,640
Melissa Guevara: Hi everyone,
my name is Melissa Guevara

509
00:29:42,640 --> 00:29:49,408
and I am the Youth Coordinator
Director at Groundwork RVA

510
00:29:49,432 --> 00:29:55,840
and it is my pleasure to talk
to you guys about our program.

511
00:29:55,840 --> 00:30:00,847
Okay, so we had
to do a couple of things.

512
00:30:00,871 --> 00:30:04,036
They've talked to you
guys about what redlining is,

513
00:30:04,060 --> 00:30:07,368
now I want you guys to hear
about what we did about it.

514
00:30:07,392 --> 00:30:11,760
So in collaboration with Jeremy Hoffman
from the Science Museum of Virginia,

515
00:30:11,760 --> 00:30:15,200
we assisted with the data collection
and then data representation

516
00:30:15,200 --> 00:30:19,200
with the help of Groundwork
USA, but we need to do more.

517
00:30:19,200 --> 00:30:21,908
We happen to stumble upon
like the perfect opportunity,

518
00:30:21,932 --> 00:30:26,173
we had this master planning process
that was going on when we started

519
00:30:26,197 --> 00:30:30,074
and the master plan was supposed
to dictate the future of Richmond, Virginia

520
00:30:30,098 --> 00:30:31,440
for the next 10 years,

521
00:30:31,440 --> 00:30:34,408
so we knew that our communities,
the communities that are vulnerable

522
00:30:34,432 --> 00:30:37,039
need to be part of that decision making,

523
00:30:37,039 --> 00:30:43,039
so we decided that we needed to teach our
residences a system in creating effective change

524
00:30:43,039 --> 00:30:48,799
and then encouraging them to become
the leaders and fighting for more justice.

525
00:30:48,799 --> 00:30:53,142
So those are some of our maps,
you can see like everyone else said

526
00:30:53,166 --> 00:30:56,080
all the redlined areas, hottest areas.

527
00:30:56,080 --> 00:31:00,240
Here's one more and it's just
supposed to be showing vulnerabilities.

528
00:31:00,240 --> 00:31:03,519
Okay, so how do we do this?

529
00:31:03,519 --> 00:31:08,190
So we decided that the perfect way to do
it, just like Victor was to engage our youth.

530
00:31:08,214 --> 00:31:11,848
We were going to go about
and teach our youth first

531
00:31:11,872 --> 00:31:19,215
what is happening, what is heat, what is redlining,
what is happening within their communities.

532
00:31:19,239 --> 00:31:23,421
So here's-- there's actually
Jeremy teaching them about

533
00:31:23,445 --> 00:31:28,931
what surfaces will collect more heat,
what plants wouldn't, things like that.

534
00:31:28,955 --> 00:31:33,279
But that's all nice and it was in the
classroom but then we need to check it outside.

535
00:31:33,279 --> 00:31:38,768
So we took it outside and our youth
went out outside of our teen center

536
00:31:38,792 --> 00:31:41,600
and actually went and
collected some data.

537
00:31:41,600 --> 00:31:44,988
So the picture on the right hand
is actually one of our youth

538
00:31:45,012 --> 00:31:47,622
and he's actually pointing a
temperature gauge at the floor,

539
00:31:47,646 --> 00:31:52,240
not just any floor, black asphalt, it
is a spring day about 2 years ago,

540
00:31:52,240 --> 00:31:55,360
pretty spring day for Richmond,
lower 80 degrees

541
00:31:55,360 --> 00:32:00,799
and yet that black asphalt was reading
out temperatures higher than 110.

542
00:32:00,799 --> 00:32:04,399
This is the same black asphalt that they
had just come off a bus off of,

543
00:32:04,399 --> 00:32:08,480
walked across the street to get into
this area, it affects us

544
00:32:08,480 --> 00:32:11,840
and then our other youths
on our left are actually teaching

545
00:32:11,840 --> 00:32:14,830
and learning about how
it affects our planter boxes

546
00:32:14,854 --> 00:32:17,279
that are just outside of our center.

547
00:32:17,279 --> 00:32:22,572
And then sometimes as all youth are, they do
silly things like point an infrared camera

548
00:32:22,596 --> 00:32:26,048
the floor camera at the sun
because once again they're youth

549
00:32:26,072 --> 00:32:29,440
and they're learning and they
wanted to figure out how hot the sun is.

550
00:32:29,440 --> 00:32:32,480
It didn't really work for
them but it was a nice try.

551
00:32:32,480 --> 00:32:36,559
So they learned all this,
it was time for step two.

552
00:32:36,559 --> 00:32:39,747
We need to go out there and work on
community engagement.

553
00:32:39,771 --> 00:32:43,519
We went out and we
decided they all did surveys

554
00:32:43,519 --> 00:32:47,767
and by surveys I mean like they got a
survey from the city and they answered it

555
00:32:47,791 --> 00:32:51,787
and they figured out it was too
difficult, the questions were too hard.

556
00:32:51,811 --> 00:32:56,399
So we reworked the surveys a little bit and
then it was still a little bit too difficult,

557
00:32:56,399 --> 00:33:00,752
so instead we told them that they had to
interview residences from these neighborhoods,

558
00:33:00,776 --> 00:33:06,559
I mean hundreds of doors knocked
on, like a hundred interviews conducted

559
00:33:06,559 --> 00:33:10,019
and I think it was partially successful
because these were youth

560
00:33:10,043 --> 00:33:13,039
from their very same neighborhoods,
some of these folks they knew

561
00:33:13,039 --> 00:33:15,108
just because they lived
down the street from them.

562
00:33:15,132 --> 00:33:19,600
And so the interviews went great, we
invited a lot of the residents to come back

563
00:33:19,600 --> 00:33:23,913
and then we were going to teach them
about redlining and heat and flooding

564
00:33:23,937 --> 00:33:27,468
and what was actually happening and
what were some means of changing all this

565
00:33:27,492 --> 00:33:31,380
and how they could influence the
Richmond 300 Process by joining in

566
00:33:31,404 --> 00:33:34,320
and going to consultations,
sent conversation meetings

567
00:33:34,320 --> 00:33:36,648
and doing other surveys.

568
00:33:36,672 --> 00:33:40,608
And we did all of this, our youth
were actually the ones presenting,

569
00:33:40,632 --> 00:33:44,080
they were doing it in groups
of two, they were showing maps

570
00:33:44,080 --> 00:33:48,559
and they showed up to
consultation sessions themselves

571
00:33:48,559 --> 00:33:51,120
and then we had some positive impact.

572
00:33:51,120 --> 00:33:55,008
Richmond 300 master plan for
the next 10 years will dictate how

573
00:33:55,032 --> 00:33:57,687
and in which direction
our city is moving.

574
00:33:57,711 --> 00:34:02,228
We all know we have this
climate like monstrosity ahead of us

575
00:34:02,252 --> 00:34:04,720
but what we
needed the city to recognize

576
00:34:04,720 --> 00:34:08,688
and what we want is that not all of our
neighborhoods are facing the same challenges

577
00:34:08,712 --> 00:34:12,728
and not all of them will have the
same resources to help themselves out.

578
00:34:12,752 --> 00:34:20,800
So that word equity is in every fiber of
that environmental group process.

579
00:34:20,800 --> 00:34:23,748
And when-- I mean we have
some lofty goals in Richmond,

580
00:34:23,772 --> 00:34:26,159
I mean we have some lofty goals.

581
00:34:26,159 --> 00:34:32,399
Here is our lofty goal of 100%
reduction of greenhouse gases by 2050,

582
00:34:32,399 --> 00:34:36,159
we are dreaming and hoping
but I'm sure we'll make it.

583
00:34:36,159 --> 00:34:42,239
Okay so we talk about what
we did with Richmond 300

584
00:34:42,239 --> 00:34:48,560
and are currently still doing with RVA
2050 which is the climate action part of it

585
00:34:48,560 --> 00:34:51,599
and how we'll be implementing all of
this and some of our youth are in that.

586
00:34:51,599 --> 00:34:55,520
But then we also want to
talk about the power of youth.

587
00:34:55,520 --> 00:35:01,481
So I asked the youth to dream about how
they could change their own neighborhoods,

588
00:35:01,505 --> 00:35:06,240
their streets,
their houses, all of that

589
00:35:06,240 --> 00:35:11,540
and they were each assigned a very simple
project, they were all assigned their own area.

590
00:35:11,564 --> 00:35:16,048
If it was their school, if it was
the new fried chicken place

591
00:35:16,072 --> 00:35:22,228
across from our teen center or if it
was what's called an a public housing unit

592
00:35:22,252 --> 00:35:26,708
and they were all said-- told try to
design something where it's cooler

593
00:35:26,732 --> 00:35:28,400
and I mean like these youth went

594
00:35:28,400 --> 00:35:30,688
above and beyond, some of them said

595
00:35:30,712 --> 00:35:34,548
"Well we need to just bring it down and
rebuild it with all sustainability in mind

596
00:35:34,572 --> 00:35:38,720
with rain gardens and with rain
barrels and catchment systems"

597
00:35:38,720 --> 00:35:42,268
and then others said "Well, our
school has three baseball fields

598
00:35:42,292 --> 00:35:44,548
and there's no reason for us
to have three baseball fields

599
00:35:44,572 --> 00:35:49,088
since we never played baseball, at
all so we could sacrifice one, why not?"

600
00:35:49,112 --> 00:35:51,358
And then other folks
were very small--,

601
00:35:51,382 --> 00:35:55,440
they were like "Oh, if we just paint this
white and we put in some like more trees here

602
00:35:55,440 --> 00:35:57,327
that would reduce it."

603
00:35:57,351 --> 00:36:01,615
And so our main part-- our main
priority here is to allow kids to dream

604
00:36:01,639 --> 00:36:04,240
because sometimes when we
allow them to dream

605
00:36:04,240 --> 00:36:06,868
and to envision what could
be within their communities

606
00:36:06,892 --> 00:36:10,320
they come out with
some of the best ideas.

607
00:36:10,320 --> 00:36:14,800
So we have various
existing problems

608
00:36:14,800 --> 00:36:17,348
and then our youth come out
with some of these great solutions

609
00:36:17,372 --> 00:36:22,164
like creating flower bombs, seed bombs that
they then give away to younger children,

610
00:36:22,188 --> 00:36:27,514
I'm talking about 4 to 8 year olds that can
then engage about how they can turn vacant lots

611
00:36:27,538 --> 00:36:31,440
that are just filled with gravel or
have no absolutely nothing in them

612
00:36:31,440 --> 00:36:33,839
into beautiful wildflower fields

613
00:36:33,839 --> 00:36:37,119
or working collaboratively
to make sure that all schools,

614
00:36:37,119 --> 00:36:42,594
not just schools with that house
wealthier folks have access to trees

615
00:36:42,618 --> 00:36:46,880
where they can take up
some shade before they--

616
00:36:46,880 --> 00:36:51,284
while they're waiting for their buses or help out
the most vulnerable within their neighborhoods

617
00:36:51,308 --> 00:36:56,480
like our elderly folks in that right hand picture
to make sure that their trees are maintained,

618
00:36:56,480 --> 00:37:00,320
that the fruit trees that they
planted there 20 years back

619
00:37:00,320 --> 00:37:02,806
that are now beautiful and provide
shade doesn't become a burden,

620
00:37:02,830 --> 00:37:04,960
so that they feel like
they have to tear it down

621
00:37:04,960 --> 00:37:08,320
or like cut down that
tree in order to survive.

622
00:37:08,320 --> 00:37:12,720
And sometimes what we really,
really need is to just give a new face

623
00:37:12,720 --> 00:37:15,920
to really old solutions.

624
00:37:15,920 --> 00:37:19,359
So the great thing about our
youth is that they are young

625
00:37:19,359 --> 00:37:22,328
and they are willing to do everything
to help their communities out.

626
00:37:22,352 --> 00:37:26,800
So the picture above
or the picture right hand--

627
00:37:26,800 --> 00:37:30,160
I mean yeah right
hand corner to the right,

628
00:37:30,160 --> 00:37:34,480
that's actually of-- Maisha,
she's a resident at Hillside Core

629
00:37:34,480 --> 00:37:39,359
and she has a huge
issue--not only is Hillside hot,

630
00:37:39,359 --> 00:37:44,028
Hillside has no food I mean zero
access to food, she's a vegetarian

631
00:37:44,052 --> 00:37:48,388
and she had to just go to the store
once a month to get access to food,

632
00:37:48,412 --> 00:37:53,760
so she dreamt of an idea that she should
do a community garden, so we did that,

633
00:37:53,760 --> 00:37:56,592
and then she was like "that's not enough
food though, we need something bigger",

634
00:37:56,616 --> 00:38:00,708
so she told us that we needed to
put in a farm, and so we said sure

635
00:38:00,732 --> 00:38:04,079
and we found her the tool
so she's running a bcs--

636
00:38:04,079 --> 00:38:09,668
a bcs walk behind tractor to chill up
the ground and this is all happening today.

637
00:38:09,692 --> 00:38:11,963
A bunch of this happened
already like two weeks ago

638
00:38:11,987 --> 00:38:14,640
and they're gonna be putting
in plants by the end of the week

639
00:38:14,640 --> 00:38:19,308
and she's the one who rallied her community,
she's the one who went to city council

640
00:38:19,332 --> 00:38:23,227
and asked for funds, she's the
one who went to the tenant council

641
00:38:23,251 --> 00:38:27,040
and asked them to support
her ideas and her dreams

642
00:38:27,040 --> 00:38:30,640
and she's the one who
then joined us in a meeting

643
00:38:30,640 --> 00:38:35,247
to talk to Richmond Redevelopment
Housing Authority, to the RHA

644
00:38:35,271 --> 00:38:39,908
and asked them to allow her to
use this land and not just for one year,

645
00:38:39,932 --> 00:38:46,480
that was not fast-- ask to keep it in
perpetuity-- in whatever 5 years

646
00:38:46,480 --> 00:38:49,520
and they said that we reassess it
and she got that approved as well.

647
00:38:49,520 --> 00:38:54,548
So many times what we should
be doing to find solutions

648
00:38:54,572 --> 00:38:58,308
is to ask the very residences
that live in these communities

649
00:38:58,332 --> 00:39:00,560
what they need and
how we can help them

650
00:39:00,560 --> 00:39:03,680
to make their futures better,

651
00:39:03,680 --> 00:39:07,588
because in the end what all these
communities really deserve are tools

652
00:39:07,612 --> 00:39:11,290
and resources and opportunities
to do the work themselves.

653
00:39:11,314 --> 00:39:16,240
It's been coming down from 
a long time, these problems

654
00:39:16,240 --> 00:39:19,988
didn't happen yesterday and the
solutions aren't going to be quick

655
00:39:20,012 --> 00:39:25,359
but by providing them with the
resources, we can hopefully help them

656
00:39:25,359 --> 00:39:27,076
achieve much better dreams.

657
00:39:27,100 --> 00:39:30,560
So these are a picture of a lot of
our youth just learning different skills,

658
00:39:30,560 --> 00:39:34,640
building out staircases where
they think they need them.

659
00:39:34,640 --> 00:39:40,028
And you know what happens a lot
of times when we assist residences

660
00:39:40,052 --> 00:39:45,440
to learn all these things, learn the tools,
learn the resources, give them opportunities,

661
00:39:45,440 --> 00:39:51,119
teach youth that they are powerful and are
able to create change within their own lives,

662
00:39:51,119 --> 00:39:54,400
well in this case,
everybody's going to win

663
00:39:54,400 --> 00:39:59,200
because that's the way we
change this climate resiliency issue.

664
00:39:59,200 --> 00:40:02,560
Someone once told me that
when we talk about resiliency

665
00:40:02,560 --> 00:40:06,560
we have to always include these residences
because they are already resilient.

666
00:40:06,560 --> 00:40:09,788
What we need to give them
is funds in order to make sure

667
00:40:09,812 --> 00:40:13,920
that they're able to allocate
them where they're most needed.

668
00:40:13,920 --> 00:40:19,948
So I'd like to thank you all
today for sitting through our talks.

669
00:40:19,972 --> 00:40:24,160
And oops-- okay there you
go, some more happy children.

670
00:40:24,160 --> 00:40:28,765
Yeah I'd like to thank you guys
all today about sitting through our talks

671
00:40:28,789 --> 00:40:31,200
and there's my email case
you have any questions

672
00:40:31,200 --> 00:40:39,599
and I'm gonna pass it on back, thank you.

673
00:40:39,599 --> 00:40:44,319
Sabrina Johnson: Yes, thank
you so much Cate, Victor and Melissa,

674
00:40:44,319 --> 00:40:50,000
those were great accounts of what's happening
in neighborhoods all over the country.

675
00:40:50,000 --> 00:40:55,520
And so I'm Sabrina Johnson with the
Office of Environmental Justice at EPA

676
00:40:55,520 --> 00:41:02,880
and I'd like to pose some of the many questions
that have come through during our presentation

677
00:41:02,880 --> 00:41:07,472
and also announce that we are not
going to be able to get to all of them

678
00:41:07,496 --> 00:41:14,240
but we will inform you of our upcoming
process to have further conversation

679
00:41:14,240 --> 00:41:18,160
about all of these issues and
these questions that have been raised.

680
00:41:18,160 --> 00:41:24,960
So the first question is from Ian Mundy
and I think I'd like to pose it to Cate.

681
00:41:24,960 --> 00:41:30,028
Ian asks: How can rejuvenation
of formerly redlined neighborhoods,

682
00:41:30,052 --> 00:41:36,400
for instance, planting trees be done in
a way that doesn't lead to skyrocketing

683
00:41:36,400 --> 00:41:43,200
property prices and gentrification as well
wealthier and predominantly white folks

684
00:41:43,200 --> 00:41:48,079
then want to move into those areas and
push out the existing residents?

685
00:41:48,079 --> 00:41:50,168
So this question of displacement.

686
00:41:50,192 --> 00:41:52,528
Cate Mingoya: Yeah thank you
so much Ian, I feel like you're a plant

687
00:41:52,552 --> 00:41:54,688
and you've been sort of spying
on the background conversations

688
00:41:54,712 --> 00:41:58,808
that we've been having at Groundwork because
this is a huge one green gentrification

689
00:41:58,832 --> 00:42:00,212
as the neighborhoods improve.

690
00:42:00,236 --> 00:42:02,787
We do see the property
values tend to go up

691
00:42:02,811 --> 00:42:04,656
and that means that people
do tend to get displaced.

692
00:42:04,680 --> 00:42:08,423
And I think-- Melissa spoke to that around
folks maybe have lived in neighborhoods

693
00:42:08,447 --> 00:42:10,908
for a really long time,
maybe they own their homes

694
00:42:10,932 --> 00:42:14,607
and they all of a sudden are
under this intense pressure to leave

695
00:42:14,631 --> 00:42:17,440
and I think that there's a
couple different ways.

696
00:42:17,440 --> 00:42:21,839
The first is to set the framework for
the fact that if you are hoping to push

697
00:42:21,839 --> 00:42:25,728
against gentrification and displacement
pressures that is a values-based decision

698
00:42:25,752 --> 00:42:30,000
and communities need to work together to figure
out what type of values they want to support.

699
00:42:30,000 --> 00:42:33,680
So do you want to make it so that
those rising property values end up

700
00:42:33,680 --> 00:42:39,280
benefiting the people who had to live through,
the extreme heat, flooding, Brownfield sites

701
00:42:39,280 --> 00:42:44,319
so that they are able to capitalize on
their increasing assets, that's a value,

702
00:42:44,319 --> 00:42:47,599
and is preventing displacement something
you want to do, that's a value,

703
00:42:47,599 --> 00:42:52,480
is decommodifying land
which sounds like a really radical idea

704
00:42:52,480 --> 00:42:55,468
but it's one that a lot of folks
are starting to dig into the idea

705
00:42:55,492 --> 00:42:57,520
that maybe the land
shouldn't have a value,

706
00:42:57,520 --> 00:43:01,587
that's quite like that where people can
take advantage of improving conditions

707
00:43:01,611 --> 00:43:02,560
and push people out.

708
00:43:02,560 --> 00:43:04,928
And so I can't say that Groundwork
has like cracked the nut on it,

709
00:43:04,952 --> 00:43:07,468
it's something that we're
working on across the country,

710
00:43:07,492 --> 00:43:11,887
how do we make sure one, that when
we're put putting money into these projects

711
00:43:11,911 --> 00:43:13,568
that money stays in the community,

712
00:43:13,592 --> 00:43:16,800
so doing things like hiring
folks at or above a living wage

713
00:43:16,800 --> 00:43:21,040
to actually work on these projects, help
to build out the parks and green spaces.

714
00:43:21,040 --> 00:43:23,119
I think that Groundwork Jacksonville,

715
00:43:23,119 --> 00:43:25,648
if you have a chance to look
into the work that they're doing,

716
00:43:25,672 --> 00:43:28,462
they are building this
really long trail that goes

717
00:43:28,486 --> 00:43:31,980
throughout pretty much the entire city
of Jacksonville called the Emerald Trail,

718
00:43:32,004 --> 00:43:36,188
it connects a bunch of former Brownfield
sites, creates recreation opportunities

719
00:43:36,212 --> 00:43:39,356
and they're starting to
see in some of the areas

720
00:43:39,380 --> 00:43:41,520
that above the trail, those
increasing property values.

721
00:43:41,520 --> 00:43:43,616
So something that they tried to do to
get ahead of it is to work

722
00:43:43,640 --> 00:43:46,800
really, really closely with
government officials and with residents

723
00:43:46,800 --> 00:43:52,000
to try all of these multiple strategies that you
can use against gentrification and displacement.

724
00:43:52,000 --> 00:43:55,599
So things like the development of
community land base and land trusts,

725
00:43:55,599 --> 00:43:59,239
making sure that for certain areas
of the trail are just green enough,

726
00:43:59,263 --> 00:44:02,328
so that they're green enough to
help push against the climate crisis,

727
00:44:02,352 --> 00:44:07,599
to help green the space but not enough so that
it's truly, truly attractive to developers

728
00:44:07,599 --> 00:44:11,631
and also creating opportunities
through the city for residents

729
00:44:11,655 --> 00:44:15,467
in the community to grab onto
and hold on to that land,

730
00:44:15,491 --> 00:44:17,522
so giving them opportunities to
purchase these properties,

731
00:44:17,546 --> 00:44:20,407
opportunities to hold on to
it and really focusing equity

732
00:44:20,431 --> 00:44:23,119
and coming together with the
residents to look at that solution.

733
00:44:23,119 --> 00:44:25,728
So I can't say that we have the
perfect answer for gentrification

734
00:44:25,752 --> 00:44:29,331
and displacement pressures but I think it
starts with working closely with residents

735
00:44:29,355 --> 00:44:32,768
to figure out what sort of values
you want to see in your community.

736
00:44:32,792 --> 00:44:36,648
And then to being really open to
ideas that are successful in other places

737
00:44:36,672 --> 00:44:41,108
but might seem radical in your community,
so things like land banks and land trusts.

738
00:44:41,132 --> 00:44:44,563
Groundwork organizations
generally, we don't own housing

739
00:44:44,587 --> 00:44:49,200
and the properties that we do work with and
do own tend to be non-revenue generating

740
00:44:49,200 --> 00:44:51,280
so that sort of limits us to some capacity

741
00:44:51,280 --> 00:44:55,188
but Groundwork Denver is using
their existence as a non-profit

742
00:44:55,212 --> 00:44:58,219
to act as a financial sponsor
for community land banks.

743
00:44:58,243 --> 00:45:01,164
There's lots of different ways
where we can pull together,

744
00:45:01,188 --> 00:45:03,220
there's 1% solutions, there's no panacea

745
00:45:03,244 --> 00:45:07,627
but there's a lot of 1% solutions that we
can do so start by pulling residents together.

746
00:45:07,651 --> 00:45:10,684
Second, figure out what
values you want to further.

747
00:45:10,708 --> 00:45:16,668
And then the third is look for those 1%
solutions to try and achieve those values.

748
00:45:16,692 --> 00:45:20,160
So thanks for that question, Ian.

749
00:45:20,880 --> 00:45:24,400
Sabrina Johnson: Great and our
next question I think I'll pose to Victor.

750
00:45:24,400 --> 00:45:28,835
It's from Kathy Fay, I mean
it's specific around equipment

751
00:45:28,859 --> 00:45:32,560
and a specific technical approach.

752
00:45:32,560 --> 00:45:37,527
Kathy asks: How about engaging
community members in the struggle

753
00:45:37,551 --> 00:45:41,468
for home energy equity and electrification,

754
00:45:41,492 --> 00:45:45,647
for instance, heat pumps that
provide heating and cooling

755
00:45:45,671 --> 00:45:48,880
not opposed to trees parks, etc.,

756
00:45:48,880 --> 00:45:53,108
but in a heat wave, it's
easier for vulnerable residents

757
00:45:53,132 --> 00:45:56,160
to be able to use their heat
pumps for cooling

758
00:45:56,160 --> 00:46:01,839
than to transport
them to a cooling center.

759
00:46:02,480 --> 00:46:03,348
Victor Medina: Absolutely.

760
00:46:03,372 --> 00:46:04,761
Kathy, thank you so
much for that question.

761
00:46:04,785 --> 00:46:06,720
I'll give a little bit of context.

762
00:46:06,720 --> 00:46:09,987
Many of the properties and many of
the residents that we're working with

763
00:46:10,011 --> 00:46:14,068
do not own a lot of their homes
and so it's a little challenging for them

764
00:46:14,092 --> 00:46:16,354
to take charge and ownership of that

765
00:46:16,378 --> 00:46:21,988
but we do have one program that's starting this
year that helps address some of the cost issues.

766
00:46:22,012 --> 00:46:27,188
We are working with Sustainable
Westchester to provide solar credits

767
00:46:27,212 --> 00:46:32,567
to families for switching their electrical bill
to community solar projects in New York state

768
00:46:32,591 --> 00:46:36,720
to help grow the capacity
of solar energy produced in the state

769
00:46:36,720 --> 00:46:40,148
and in exchange to get a 10%
discount on their electrical bills.

770
00:46:40,172 --> 00:46:45,428
So that be said, shameless plug for folks
that are in Yonkers, please reach out to me

771
00:46:45,452 --> 00:46:51,119
but that's one of those ways that we're
able to provide some of those savings

772
00:46:51,119 --> 00:46:55,748
in neighborhoods that are often overlooked
simply because they may not have the ability

773
00:46:55,772 --> 00:47:00,160
to use that much electricity or use that
much energy because they have to be conscious

774
00:47:00,160 --> 00:47:01,680
about whether or not their lights are on

775
00:47:01,680 --> 00:47:04,000
or whether or not their
computers are left on overnight.

776
00:47:04,000 --> 00:47:06,586
And so it's not again, I can go-- I think
that the theme over here

777
00:47:06,610 --> 00:47:09,488
is that there is no
one-size-fits-all, there is no panacea

778
00:47:09,512 --> 00:47:13,008
but that's one way that we're
experimenting with actually

779
00:47:13,032 --> 00:47:19,440
providing addressing some of
those issues of energy equity in Yonkers.

780
00:47:22,839 --> 00:47:27,758
Sabrina Johnson: Okay, thanks and
the next question I will pose to Melissa,

781
00:47:27,782 --> 00:47:32,960
it's coming from
Peyton Gibson and Peyton asks:

782
00:47:32,960 --> 00:47:37,328
I've been experiencing pushback
in trying to teach younger engineers

783
00:47:37,352 --> 00:47:41,528
the unjust historical context
behind the built environments

784
00:47:41,552 --> 00:47:44,400
we are designing and building today.

785
00:47:44,400 --> 00:47:48,000
A lot of engineers believe
that they have no autonomy

786
00:47:48,000 --> 00:47:53,658
or role or understanding the
broader context of infrastructure,

787
00:47:53,682 --> 00:47:57,839
they are merely "instruments of policy."

788
00:47:57,839 --> 00:48:02,960
So how can we ensure that engineers
designing and constructing our infrastructure

789
00:48:02,960 --> 00:48:08,747
understand that these systems
that are built for--

790
00:48:08,771 --> 00:48:14,960
or understand about systems
that are built for communities?

791
00:48:15,839 --> 00:48:18,079
[SIGHS]

792
00:48:19,119 --> 00:48:21,268
Melissa Guevara: Honestly, I
might have to push this to Cate

793
00:48:21,292 --> 00:48:22,960
if you have a better response,

794
00:48:22,960 --> 00:48:28,547
just because all these I work with are
actually under the age of 18 for the most part,

795
00:48:28,571 --> 00:48:33,255
so the biggest problem for us
is something Victor mentioned

796
00:48:33,279 --> 00:48:37,827
where it's that a lot of our youth
have to find some sort of employment

797
00:48:37,851 --> 00:48:40,960
or some sort of money revenue

798
00:48:40,960 --> 00:48:42,973
because they're paying
for a lot of their own things,

799
00:48:42,997 --> 00:48:45,920
so we actually pay our youth.

800
00:48:45,920 --> 00:48:49,408
Engineers, I'm guessing you're talking
about it in the school setting,

801
00:48:49,432 --> 00:48:54,727
in the university setting
which would be very different.

802
00:48:54,751 --> 00:48:57,208
Cate, do you have a
better answer to that?

803
00:48:57,232 --> 00:48:59,148
Cate Mingoya: I yeah, I
can jump in with that too.

804
00:48:59,172 --> 00:49:01,042
That's a huge question, a huge problem.

805
00:49:01,066 --> 00:49:03,599
Actually, Melissa I think
you have more to say on it than you do

806
00:49:03,599 --> 00:49:05,549
and I'm actually going to steal from
some things that I know

807
00:49:05,573 --> 00:49:07,599
that you've done to
help answer that question.

808
00:49:07,599 --> 00:49:11,119
Peyton that's a really tough one,
folks tend to not like a couple of things.

809
00:49:11,119 --> 00:49:15,704
One, when we talk about race in
our culture it is really moving for people

810
00:49:15,728 --> 00:49:19,200
and how can it not be
considering the history of our culture

811
00:49:19,200 --> 00:49:22,960
and the way that we've approached race
over the last 400 plus years,

812
00:49:22,960 --> 00:49:27,119
and that's something that I really
like about looking at infrastructure

813
00:49:27,119 --> 00:49:28,626
and looking at these maps.

814
00:49:28,650 --> 00:49:30,559
So one of the things
Melissa didn't mention,

815
00:49:30,559 --> 00:49:33,768
I think when she was walking around
with the youth throughout Virginia,

816
00:49:33,792 --> 00:49:36,807
was that not everybody-- that
they were going door-to-door with

817
00:49:36,831 --> 00:49:40,468
was super comfortable with like looking
at the GIS maps on the computer

818
00:49:40,492 --> 00:49:42,707
and instead something that
they did that was really clever

819
00:49:42,731 --> 00:49:45,839
and I promise this is related, Peyton,
I promise I'm not going too far aside,

820
00:49:45,839 --> 00:49:46,584
it's actually printed out--

821
00:49:46,608 --> 00:49:49,839
I don't know if you remember those
old like acetate transparency papers,

822
00:49:49,839 --> 00:49:51,592
I'm not sure how old you
are, you might be too young

823
00:49:51,616 --> 00:49:54,880
but it's pretty much just like
clear plastic that you can print on.

824
00:49:54,880 --> 00:49:59,228
And so what we can do is take a map and
print that over and then add on top of that

825
00:49:59,252 --> 00:50:02,079
and show residents like "Hey, you
live here, this is your neighborhood."

826
00:50:02,079 --> 00:50:06,196
Add redlining maps that are on the acetate,
then add a layer of tree canopy cover

827
00:50:06,220 --> 00:50:10,640
and sort of build that gif that I showed to show
the relationship between historical segregation

828
00:50:10,640 --> 00:50:12,960
and the impacts of the climate crisis.

829
00:50:12,960 --> 00:50:14,994
And that served as a really--
so it really surprised me

830
00:50:15,018 --> 00:50:18,720
that this served as a sort of a neutral
platform for conversations about race

831
00:50:18,720 --> 00:50:22,720
and removed some of that
what-can-I-do-about-it hesitancy

832
00:50:22,720 --> 00:50:26,034
that people can tend to have when you're talking
about making changes to the built environment,

833
00:50:26,058 --> 00:50:29,068
"What can I do about it? I'm just
one person what can I do about it,

834
00:50:29,092 --> 00:50:30,160
I'm just a zoning person."

835
00:50:30,160 --> 00:50:34,268
Well, everybody has a role to play
in either designing or in sanctioning

836
00:50:34,292 --> 00:50:35,828
the decisions that have been made.

837
00:50:35,852 --> 00:50:38,640
A really big thing that you can
encourage your young engineers to do

838
00:50:38,640 --> 00:50:40,979
is to go out and talk to
people in these communities

839
00:50:41,003 --> 00:50:44,358
and think about the impact
of these things that feel immutable,

840
00:50:44,382 --> 00:50:46,043
these things that feel unmovable.

841
00:50:46,067 --> 00:50:48,960
What's the impact of this
highway that's been put through?

842
00:50:48,960 --> 00:50:53,668
What's the impact of the combined sewer
overflow system on people in Rhode Island

843
00:50:53,692 --> 00:50:57,119
that might be suffering from that
sewage backing up into their basements?

844
00:50:57,119 --> 00:51:01,388
And having a conversation about how
to pull people into these design processes,

845
00:51:01,412 --> 00:51:05,180
each one of your engineers should
be having conversations with residents

846
00:51:05,204 --> 00:51:08,640
and in the types of communities
that they're designing for

847
00:51:08,640 --> 00:51:12,319
and have conversations with them about
how that infrastructure impacts their life.

848
00:51:12,319 --> 00:51:18,328
It's a little bit of a cop-out if they do say
that they're just mere instruments of policy,

849
00:51:18,352 --> 00:51:20,573
they have a lot of
technocratic knowledge

850
00:51:20,597 --> 00:51:24,087
that helps them to decide to
put a road through one place

851
00:51:24,111 --> 00:51:27,847
or to decide to build a
bridge through another

852
00:51:27,871 --> 00:51:31,580
and there's ways to push back against
the system, and there's ways to speak up

853
00:51:31,604 --> 00:51:35,839
and there's ways to pull in community voice
that the sort of shakes up that system.

854
00:51:35,839 --> 00:51:38,308
I'd love to chat with you more about
that, feel free to email me about it

855
00:51:38,332 --> 00:51:41,599
but something that's really
surprising is that the use of these maps

856
00:51:41,599 --> 00:51:44,892
has served as a platform for
conversations about equity

857
00:51:44,916 --> 00:51:46,982
in a way that completely
depersonalizes it

858
00:51:47,006 --> 00:51:49,760
but tends to imbue people
with a sense of responsibility,

859
00:51:49,760 --> 00:51:52,800
that's the biggest surprise that I have
had throughout this climate safety

860
00:51:52,800 --> 00:51:56,467
neighborhoods process, so I would love to have
a conversation with you if you're up for it

861
00:51:56,491 --> 00:51:58,067
about how to bring
that into the classroom.

862
00:51:58,091 --> 00:52:04,960
So feel free to reach out if you'd like
and I can drop my email in the chat again.

863
00:52:04,960 --> 00:52:08,413
Sabrina Johnson: Yeah, thanks Cate
and while you have the mic so to speak,

864
00:52:08,437 --> 00:52:13,848
Cate, I think this next question
from Laura Supple

865
00:52:13,872 --> 00:52:18,960
builds on what you explained
concerning some of the steps

866
00:52:18,960 --> 00:52:22,240
in capacity building and self-advocacy

867
00:52:22,240 --> 00:52:25,280
and she wants a little bit
more specific information.

868
00:52:25,280 --> 00:52:28,800
So her question is: How do
you help community members

869
00:52:28,800 --> 00:52:35,188
and residents engage in time and
resource intensive self-advocacy activities,

870
00:52:35,212 --> 00:52:42,079
like sitting on funding boards, attending
planning commission meetings and hearings, etc.

871
00:52:42,079 --> 00:52:46,480
when residents in low-income and
historically disinvested neighborhoods

872
00:52:46,480 --> 00:52:52,716
typically face even more
barriers for these types of activities?

873
00:52:52,740 --> 00:52:58,106
Have you found replicable strategies to
secure funding for community members

874
00:52:58,130 --> 00:53:01,808
to attend meetings and
provide child care, meals, etc.?

875
00:53:01,832 --> 00:53:04,400
Cate Mingoya: Thank you for that question.

876
00:53:04,400 --> 00:53:06,319
And I'm going to flip
it on its head a little bit.

877
00:53:06,319 --> 00:53:09,359
We shouldn't expect people
to go to these meetings,

878
00:53:09,359 --> 00:53:11,544
we should expect the meetings
to come to these people

879
00:53:11,568 --> 00:53:16,288
and I think that using the power
and privilege and ability that we do

880
00:53:16,312 --> 00:53:21,162
as organizers, as non-profits, as
municipal agents, as government officials

881
00:53:21,186 --> 00:53:24,928
to try and bring those conversations
to residents as much as possible,

882
00:53:24,952 --> 00:53:28,057
is really important, so I would
focus more attention there.

883
00:53:28,081 --> 00:53:30,880
Anybody who has sat
through like a utilities meeting,

884
00:53:30,880 --> 00:53:33,348
knows that it is very
long and it is very boring

885
00:53:33,372 --> 00:53:36,352
and there's often very limited
opportunity for people to speak up

886
00:53:36,376 --> 00:53:38,880
and there's procedure and
protocol that you have to follow

887
00:53:38,880 --> 00:53:40,559
to even get on the agenda to speak,

888
00:53:40,559 --> 00:53:43,727
that people sometimes don't pick up until
their second or third or fourth meeting

889
00:53:43,751 --> 00:53:45,200
or sometimes they never pick it up.

890
00:53:45,200 --> 00:53:48,895
So I think more so than trying to say like
"Hey, can you show up to this utility meeting"

891
00:53:48,919 --> 00:53:51,368
where you maybe don't have
the background knowledge

892
00:53:51,392 --> 00:53:54,669
and no one's going to be there
to explain to you what they mean

893
00:53:54,693 --> 00:53:57,440
when they reference this
obscure municipal ordinance,

894
00:53:57,440 --> 00:54:01,412
instead focus on pulling residents
together to make the ask

895
00:54:01,436 --> 00:54:04,348
at the people who are making
these decisions come to them.

896
00:54:04,372 --> 00:54:07,599
I mean that's something that's really
helpful to do with political officials,

897
00:54:07,599 --> 00:54:11,359
government officials, people where it
would be really hard for them to turn down

898
00:54:11,359 --> 00:54:14,559
that invitation because it would
look really callous if they did.

899
00:54:14,559 --> 00:54:16,408
So that's sort of where we focus on.

900
00:54:16,432 --> 00:54:19,707
I'm really glad that people have started
to focus on things like providing meals

901
00:54:19,731 --> 00:54:23,359
and child care for these meetings,
that is important, keep doing that thing

902
00:54:23,359 --> 00:54:27,280
but it also is a way that
upholds the status quo

903
00:54:27,280 --> 00:54:30,179
that I think we don't always pay
attention to or recognize

904
00:54:30,203 --> 00:54:32,676
that "Hey, you know we're not gonna
change the structure of the meeting,

905
00:54:32,700 --> 00:54:34,559
we're not gonna
make it more accessible to you"

906
00:54:34,559 --> 00:54:38,154
but we'll do sort of these like 1%
solutions that'll make it a little bit easier

907
00:54:38,178 --> 00:54:39,760
potentially for you to get there.

908
00:54:39,760 --> 00:54:42,187
So, definitely like still do those
things but I think turning it on its head

909
00:54:42,211 --> 00:54:45,520
and saying if we're going to organize
residents who have really limited time,

910
00:54:45,520 --> 00:54:48,268
they've got jobs, they've got family
members they can't be hanging out

911
00:54:48,292 --> 00:54:50,559
at 10 AM on a Tuesday at City Hall,

912
00:54:50,559 --> 00:54:54,160
instead focus on getting those people
who are making those decisions,

913
00:54:54,160 --> 00:54:56,160
those government officials
to come to residence,

914
00:54:56,160 --> 00:54:58,108
that's something that's really important,
show up in the neighborhood

915
00:54:58,132 --> 00:55:00,648
come to this park,
meet people where they are

916
00:55:00,672 --> 00:55:03,261
that's something that still
seems to be pretty revolutionary

917
00:55:03,285 --> 00:55:07,280
in the way that we do civic participation
but that has to be the future

918
00:55:07,280 --> 00:55:10,948
because people are not coming to
the City Hall at 10 AM on Tuesday.

919
00:55:10,972 --> 00:55:13,520
We need to make sure
that the residents are coming

920
00:55:13,520 --> 00:55:17,512
or that the government officials are coming
to the playground after school lets out

921
00:55:17,536 --> 00:55:19,599
so that they can hang out
with the parents and their kids

922
00:55:19,599 --> 00:55:21,359
and have those conversations on site.

923
00:55:21,359 --> 00:55:23,947
So that's something that we push a
lot in the Groundwork network,

924
00:55:23,971 --> 00:55:26,678
is just flipping that script a little bit
and meeting people where they are

925
00:55:26,702 --> 00:55:29,852
instead of trying to like chip
away at these institutional barriers

926
00:55:29,876 --> 00:55:32,720
that have kept people out of
political and policy processes.

927
00:55:32,720 --> 00:55:36,559
And that's something that is a little
bit easier to fund than this--

928
00:55:36,559 --> 00:55:40,167
like more sort of fungible "Hey I can spend
it on child care I can spend it on food"

929
00:55:40,191 --> 00:55:44,319
it's a little bit easier to fund a staff member's
time for planning and program development

930
00:55:44,319 --> 00:55:46,240
to pull and organize residents together

931
00:55:46,240 --> 00:55:50,720
and like a lot of nonprofits, we tend to rely
really heavily on philanthropic funding for that.

932
00:55:50,720 --> 00:55:53,468
And that's something that you can
do sort of with smaller grants

933
00:55:53,492 --> 00:55:57,168
to get an organizer-- to get the word out

934
00:55:57,192 --> 00:55:59,507
and have those one-on-one
conversations with people,

935
00:55:59,531 --> 00:56:04,319
get them to congregate and get
them get the official to show up instead.

936
00:56:05,280 --> 00:56:08,847
Sabrina Johnson: Thank you and
when we follow up with these questions

937
00:56:08,871 --> 00:56:10,967
that don't get answered in this forum,

938
00:56:10,991 --> 00:56:15,728
I'll add some information about a particular
project that EPA was involved with

939
00:56:15,752 --> 00:56:19,760
that confronted this issue
with a novel approach,

940
00:56:19,760 --> 00:56:23,599
but for now I think we have
time for one more question.

941
00:56:23,599 --> 00:56:28,508
And this question came
from anonymous but asks:

942
00:56:28,532 --> 00:56:33,042
How can manufacturing plants,
members of industry, etc.,

943
00:56:33,066 --> 00:56:37,760
that are located in or near
formally redlined neighborhoods

944
00:56:37,760 --> 00:56:42,079
become involved in a positive way?

945
00:56:43,040 --> 00:56:44,968
Cate Mingoya: I think probably
each of us can dig into this,

946
00:56:44,992 --> 00:56:47,769
especially since it's the last
question but I can kick it off.

947
00:56:47,793 --> 00:56:50,431
I love that question, I love that
for their folks who are thinking

948
00:56:50,455 --> 00:56:54,060
"Hey, how do I take responsibility for
maybe some of the negative externalities

949
00:56:54,084 --> 00:56:57,040
of the industry that I work
in, of the business that I own."

950
00:56:57,040 --> 00:56:59,568
And I think going out and talking to
people who have bought that property,

951
00:56:59,592 --> 00:57:01,387
who have bought that area,

952
00:57:01,411 --> 00:57:03,988
who are sort of in the zone of
where you do your business,

953
00:57:04,012 --> 00:57:05,599
is something that's really important.

954
00:57:05,599 --> 00:57:08,347
Go out and chat with people, meet them at
the park ask them their opinion

955
00:57:08,371 --> 00:57:09,645
"What's your life like?

956
00:57:09,669 --> 00:57:12,240
What are the things you're really
concerned about in your community?"

957
00:57:12,240 --> 00:57:14,388
And the residents
know what they need,

958
00:57:14,412 --> 00:57:17,128
I think one of the things that
folks tend to get wrong--

959
00:57:17,152 --> 00:57:19,528
I'm not saying this
anonymous has done this

960
00:57:19,552 --> 00:57:22,748
but I think generally one of the
things we tend to get wrong is we think

961
00:57:22,772 --> 00:57:25,778
"Man, low income people are
too busy to worry about air quality."

962
00:57:25,802 --> 00:57:28,480
No, they're not, when your
kid's in the hospital with asthma

963
00:57:28,480 --> 00:57:29,848
and you're really
scared for their safety,

964
00:57:29,872 --> 00:57:32,079
you're not too busy to worry
about the air quality,

965
00:57:32,079 --> 00:57:35,288
they don't worry about trees or
beautiful environments

966
00:57:35,312 --> 00:57:36,960
because they're
so busy and bogged down

967
00:57:36,984 --> 00:57:39,520
by the grinding gears of
capitalism and prejudice.

968
00:57:39,520 --> 00:57:42,559
Yeah everybody's under that grind
but people really do care about it,

969
00:57:42,559 --> 00:57:46,428
low-income residents, people of color
we are people too and we care about these,

970
00:57:46,452 --> 00:57:49,248
we care about living in beautiful
and healthy and safe environments

971
00:57:49,272 --> 00:57:51,119
but no one comes and talks to us.

972
00:57:51,119 --> 00:57:54,279
So go out, get where through
the bottom of your shoes,

973
00:57:54,640 --> 00:57:57,839
knocking on doors talking to people in
playgrounds, be brave in that way

974
00:57:57,839 --> 00:58:00,452
and you'll get to learn a lot more about
what resident priorities are

975
00:58:00,476 --> 00:58:03,308
and how to get involved and how
to use the privilege that you have,

976
00:58:03,332 --> 00:58:07,280
the resources that you have, the understanding
that you have, the time that you have

977
00:58:07,280 --> 00:58:09,579
to move the needle on
equity for these people.

978
00:58:09,603 --> 00:58:14,960
Residents tend to know what they
need, they just tend to not be listened to.

979
00:58:14,960 --> 00:58:18,799
I don't know if Melissa or
Victor has anything to add to that.

980
00:58:18,799 --> 00:58:20,446
Victor Medina: Yeah, absolutely.

981
00:58:20,470 --> 00:58:23,144
So thanks, I think the only
thing I really have to add to that

982
00:58:23,168 --> 00:58:26,160
is it's so easy and
I really love the energy to like

983
00:58:26,160 --> 00:58:28,480
"What can we do and
how can we get started."

984
00:58:28,480 --> 00:58:31,028
One of the things that I'd like to
kind of talk to about is

985
00:58:31,052 --> 00:58:36,548
just take the time to not rush in, build
a relationship with that community,

986
00:58:36,572 --> 00:58:42,468
sometimes it's as simple as showing
up to the events that are already there

987
00:58:42,492 --> 00:58:44,160
and meeting people where they are,

988
00:58:44,160 --> 00:58:47,448
because if your organization, if your
industry hasn't had a presence

989
00:58:47,472 --> 00:58:50,302
or has a tenuous relationship
with the neighborhood,

990
00:58:50,326 --> 00:58:54,427
it's important to acknowledge that
and rebuild or start building that trust

991
00:58:54,451 --> 00:58:59,407
to then ask the question because it is kind of
a vulnerable thing to say-- to have people say

992
00:58:59,431 --> 00:59:03,168
"This is what we need from you"
without having built that trust first.

993
00:59:03,192 --> 00:59:07,508
So I think that's really the first step
whether it's a large-scale industry,

994
00:59:07,532 --> 00:59:11,860
or a small business, know-- kind
of observe what your relationship--

995
00:59:11,884 --> 00:59:13,508
is with that community, build it

996
00:59:13,532 --> 00:59:16,748
and then bring the
conversation up to the table

997
00:59:16,772 --> 00:59:18,748
in "How can we help?"

998
00:59:18,772 --> 00:59:22,648
Really listen and take those
next steps that are in your power

999
00:59:22,672 --> 00:59:26,960
and if not, connect them or facilitate
the connection to somebody who can.

1000
00:59:26,960 --> 00:59:29,307
There's a lot of resources that we
often tend to overlook

1001
00:59:29,331 --> 00:59:32,000
and whether it may be
something as simple as hosting us,

1002
00:59:32,000 --> 00:59:35,760
hosting a physical space to have some of
these meetings and conversations

1003
00:59:35,760 --> 00:59:38,960
is something huge that
we don't often think about

1004
00:59:38,960 --> 00:59:43,127
that you could be at the center of and
really ultimately improve your relationship

1005
00:59:43,151 --> 00:59:47,839
and your business with the community.

1006
00:59:48,000 --> 00:59:53,148
Sabrina Johnson: Well the interest remains
but-- oh I'm sorry go ahead please, Melissa.

1007
00:59:53,172 --> 00:59:55,040
Melissa Guevara: Oh okay.

1008
00:59:55,040 --> 01:00:00,308
So my main thing is if reach out one, to
non-profits already

1009
01:00:00,332 --> 01:00:02,640
in the space already doing the work,

1010
01:00:02,640 --> 01:00:08,108
and then number two, for me and this happens
with a lot of manufacturing-- not a lot

1011
01:00:08,132 --> 01:00:10,657
there's one in particular
which will not be named

1012
01:00:10,681 --> 01:00:13,119
but the manufacturer
actually provides funds,

1013
01:00:13,119 --> 01:00:17,226
and a lot of times they're not
restricted or you should--

1014
01:00:17,250 --> 01:00:20,400
if you are able to provide funds,
you should provide funds to do

1015
01:00:20,400 --> 01:00:24,908
the good work that's already being done
within these communities and not restrict it

1016
01:00:24,932 --> 01:00:28,268
because restricting it and saying "Well
these funds can only be used to plant trees"

1017
01:00:28,292 --> 01:00:29,920
when the community wants shrubs

1018
01:00:29,920 --> 01:00:34,628
is not going to buy you any
kindness with folks that decide

1019
01:00:34,652 --> 01:00:37,920
and once again I'm not saying
anyone in this call does that

1020
01:00:37,920 --> 01:00:42,248
but just key of word, is not going to
buy you any trust with a community

1021
01:00:42,272 --> 01:00:46,000
by being dictated what they
should and should not want.

1022
01:00:46,000 --> 01:00:49,920
And that's my final spiel.

1023
01:00:49,920 --> 01:00:53,119
Sabrina Johnson: Thank you the
interest remains but the clock says

1024
01:00:53,119 --> 01:00:57,839
I have to toss it back
to Charles for conclusion.

1025
01:01:06,160 --> 01:01:11,839
Male Voice: You're on mute, Charles.

1026
01:01:14,880 --> 01:01:16,788
Charles Lee: Thank
you, sorry about that.

1027
01:01:16,812 --> 01:01:20,000
Well I want to close
out on today's session.

1028
01:01:20,000 --> 01:01:25,628
I think everybody will agree with me
it was really informative and inspiring.

1029
01:01:25,652 --> 01:01:31,359
So a note of a great appreciation
to Cate and Victor and Melissa

1030
01:01:31,359 --> 01:01:35,100
for their wonderful
presentations and great insights

1031
01:01:35,124 --> 01:01:40,640
and thanks to Sabrina for a
great question and answer period.

1032
01:01:40,640 --> 01:01:46,948
I want to thank the production team which
includes-- at OBJ which includes Sabrina

1033
01:01:46,972 --> 01:01:52,000
but also Matt Tejada,
and Maria Wallace and Rebecca Huff,

1034
01:01:52,000 --> 01:01:55,440
Christina Motilall and Ericka Farrell.

1035
01:01:55,440 --> 01:02:01,839
I also want to thank all of you who helped
spread the word around this series

1036
01:02:01,839 --> 01:02:08,147
and for this one, it was really important to
me that we show support for the young people

1037
01:02:08,171 --> 01:02:12,880
who are doing this work as they
are truly our leaders of the future.

1038
01:02:12,880 --> 01:02:16,640
Our next session which
is scheduled for June 10th,

1039
01:02:16,640 --> 01:02:21,963
will focus on how a government agency
has taken on the work of researching

1040
01:02:21,987 --> 01:02:27,234
and educating and doing education
around redlining and environmental justice

1041
01:02:27,258 --> 01:02:30,240
as part of his racial equity work.

1042
01:02:30,240 --> 01:02:36,799
This is done through California EPA's
Pollution and Prejudice Project.

1043
01:02:36,799 --> 01:02:40,528
Our guest will be Yana Garcia
who is the Deputy Secretary

1044
01:02:40,552 --> 01:02:46,799
for Environmental Justice, Tribal
Affairs and Border Relations for Cal EPA

1045
01:02:46,799 --> 01:02:50,720
and Jaimie Huynh who is
the Environmental Scientist

1046
01:02:50,720 --> 01:02:55,039
for Environmental Scientists for CalRecycle.

1047
01:02:55,039 --> 01:02:59,039
The registration information
for this is on the slide

1048
01:02:59,039 --> 01:03:01,428
and we will email
it to all of you.

1049
01:03:01,452 --> 01:03:06,480
Along with that, we'll email you
a evaluation form for this session,

1050
01:03:06,480 --> 01:03:11,103
we'll hope that you will fill it out.

1051
01:03:11,127 --> 01:03:17,599
Additionally, I want to report
that we have posted the recordings

1052
01:03:17,599 --> 01:03:23,448
for the first two sessions on the
EPA's EJ and Systemic Racism website.

1053
01:03:23,472 --> 01:03:30,079
Thanks-- a great thanks to Christina
and to Rebecca for bringing this about,

1054
01:03:30,079 --> 01:03:35,920
particularly to ensure that they are accessible
to persons with limited English proficiency

1055
01:03:35,920 --> 01:03:37,508
and disabilities.

1056
01:03:37,532 --> 01:03:43,039
With that, I want to close and thank all
of you for participating in this dialogue

1057
01:03:43,039 --> 01:03:48,799
which I have said over and over again, is
truly important to the future of the nation.

1058
01:03:48,799 --> 01:03:53,119
Thank you and have a great day.