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Issue Category: Chispa

Fighting for Healthier Communities: Chispa MD Speaks Up for Clean Car Standards

Johana Vicente, a community organizer for Chispa Maryland, spoke at a Clean Cars Press Conference about the impacts of transportation pollution on her community. Vicente was joined by Maryland attorney general Brian Frosh, and spokespeople from the Maryland Environmental Health Network, the Central Maryland Transportation Alliance, and the Maryland Chapter of the Sierra Club, with each group providing their own perspective on the importance of implementing Clean Car Standards.

As an organizer for Chispa Maryland, Vicente works closely with Latino families and leaders to ensure that their collective voice is powerful in protecting their communities and the environment. In many cases, that means fighting for important policies such as Clean Car Standards. As Vicente mentioned in her remarks, the current clean car standards are critical to reducing the pollution in our communities.

“Curbing pollution could not be more important in our fight against climate change. Transportation is the leading contributor to climate-disrupting pollution and as such we need policies like the Clean Car Standards to continue reducing pollution from the transportation sector.”

Although air pollution stemming from our transportation represents a serious public health concern for millions of people in this country, our nation is one in which cars are ubiquitous and often a crucial mode of transportation. Given our country’s reliance on cars, the administration’s ploy to reduce fuel efficiency standards, which are already underway and attainable, means ever-more unnecessary pollution in our air and, with rising gas prices, more strain on peoples’ pocket books.

In fact, 46.9 million people will travel at least 50 miles over this July 4th holiday. According to the American Automobile Association (AAA), the number of travelers has been steadily rising for the last five years and would represent the highest travel volume in the 18-year history of AAA tracking data. Nevertheless, the administration still plans to roll back the money-saving clean car standards that make driving more affordable and our air healthier.

And, like so many other environmental issues, low-income communities and communities of color bear an out sized burden of this air pollution.

“Working with Latino communities in Prince George’s County, I have seen the effects that air pollution has on our families and our communities. These are families who live in some of the most polluted areas of our state, surrounded by high trafficked areas as well as other sources of pollution.”

Vicente went on to share the stories of three people from Prince George’s County who are affected daily by transportation pollution.

“Tyrese Robinson is a concerned mother from Mount Rainier who has to deal with her daughter, Shawna Marie’s severe asthma attacks on a regular basis. This June, Shawna participated on her very first 5K as a proud member of her school’s Girls on the Run Program and as Tyrese shared, her daughter’s ‘major concern was not the strength of her legs but the strength of her lungs.’

Being undocumented, a student from a local high school has to wonder every single school day about whether riding dirty public transportation will trigger her asthma attacks. Having no access to health insurance, pollution does not only affect her health, but it also affects the economy of her entire family.

As concerned parents at their school, Candida and Edith are concerned about students missing school days due to respiratory conditions. As their principal shared, asthma is one of the most common causes of student absences in their school. Candida and Edith are concerned about students’ academic performance when they miss so many school days.”

And those are just a few of the stories. The impacts of air pollution extend far beyond Maryland as millions of people in the United States struggle with the very real consequences of dirty air.

“The burdens of air pollution are real and very common, and we need policies that will protect the health and well-being of communities. Tearing down successful and achievable climate change and air pollution protections endangers communities especially low-income communities and communities of color. We strongly oppose this administration’s attempts to roll back the Clean Car Standards. We need policies that continue to reduce air pollution and combat climate change. We do not want or need to go backwards.”

 

LCV Chispa Newsletter March-April 2018

Chispa is an organizing program of the League of Conservation Voters (LCV). We are dedicated to community organizing to build the capacity of communities of color to influence policy makers and pressure polluters to protect communities’ rights to clean air and water, healthy neighborhoods, and a safe climate for generations to come.

We focus on fighting the effects of climate change with and on behalf of the low-income and communities of color who are disproportionately affected by pollution. Last year, Chispa launched the Clean Buses for Healthy Niños campaign, which is calling on elected leaders to invest in electric school buses, and will, in turn, protect our children from breathing dangerous diesel toxins. We’re also standing with immigrant and climate refugee communities, fighting to advance clean energy measures at the state and local levels, and holding lawmakers accountable so the needs and priorities of communities of color are front and center when policy decisions are made.

Here are some of the highlights of these efforts from the last couple months:

We are winning and protecting children

The Clean Buses for Healthy Niños campaign is gathering speed, as Chispa organizers continue to grow support among families, elected officials, government agencies, public health institutions, community organizations, and other local groups in each city and state.

After hosting our first webinar in late winter, state programs achieved several local victories this spring. Chispa Maryland worked with Councilmember Deni Taveras to pass a resolution at the Prince George’s County Council that calls on Governor Hogan to invest in electric school buses.  Earlier this year, a group of 27 municipalities in the county passed a similar resolution.  Prince George’s County is keeping up the pressure, and with one of the largest school districts in Maryland, it can — and will — lead the state’s transformation to an electric school bus fleet.

Meanwhile, in Connecticut, New Haven Public Schools’ Board of Education passed a resolution that unanimously supports replacing their diesel school buses with clean, electric buses. Thanks to the advocacy efforts of Chispa Connecticut, New Haven Public Schools plan to ask for bids from electric bus companies during their contract renewal this summer.

The New York League of Conservation Voters’ Adriana Espinoza toured electric school buses and filmed an informative video on the benefits of switching to clean, quiet, and safer zero-emission buses. Check out the video here.

New Mexico’s State Representative Patricia Roybal Caballero authored an op-ed in the Albuquerque Journal, calling on Governor Martinez to invest in electric school buses that won’t pollute the air our children breathe each day.

Following the release of the American Lung Association’s 2018 State of the Air report, which found that millions more people in this country are breathing dangerous levels of air pollution, Chispa programs are gearing up to host Asthma Summits to highlight the health risks of diesel and other types of fossil fuel pollution. Juntos in New Mexico has already hosted an Asthma Stakeholder Meeting with dozens of new and old allies. After the meeting, several new community groups pledged their support for the Clean Buses for Healthy Niños campaign, and the New Mexico Department of Health has also committed to hosting more public events to learn about the campaign from local families.

Supporting Climate Refugees and Immigrants

The fight for environmental solutions and racial justice are inextricably linked. We stand with our immigrant and refugee brothers and sisters who deserve action from elected officials.

In Connecticut, Chispa Volunteer Da’kquie and Promotor Taylor Robertson secured co-sponsorships from two state representatives on a bill that provides funds for hurricane victims from Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.  Chispa Connecticut volunteers also spoke at a rally for Puerto Rican families and called on state legislatures to match federal aid dollars to help climate refugees — who have been displaced and now reside in Connecticut — find jobs and provide for their families while their island home is rebuilt.

In Colorado, Protegete and Conservation Colorado joined dozens of allied community organizations in testifying against a bill that would have endangered public safety and put immigrant communities at risk of profiling and discriminatory policing practices.

Amplifying the Voices and Power of Grassroots Leaders of Color

Across the country, our promotores, youth activists, and grassroots activists are leading the way towards healthier, safer futures.

In early March, Chispa Arizona held a community retreat with 18 statewide leaders to discuss environmental justice, our common struggles, and the path forward. Leaders of color from state and regional movements shared lessons from their organizing work and helped our promotores listen to and learn from one another, getting ready to tackle the next organizing challenge.

Several of our team members were in the national spotlight this spring. Wildaliz Bermudez, Director for Chispa Connecticut, joined U.S. Congresswoman Barragán and other national Latina leaders for a telephone town hall with UnidosUS Action Fund. Rudy Zamora, state director for Chispa Nevada, was ranked one of this year’s top “50 Fixers” by Grist, a environmental publication that recognizes leaders working towards a sustainable planet. 

The Juntos’ team graduated a new class of 11 promotores, including 5 youth promotores who plan to lead the charge for the Clean Buses for Healthy Niños campaign in New Mexico. These promotores help recruit, train, and retain other local volunteers, from mothers to students.

Connecting Local Communities to their State Governments

Connecticut hosted its Youth Climate Action Day at the state Legislature in mid-April. Chispa Connecticut and the Connecticut League of Conservation Voters hosted six young people who spoke with their legislators about the importance of reducing greenhouse gases and fossil fuel pollution, increasing clean energy use and access to community solar gardens, and teaching climate science in public schools.

In mid April, Chispa Maryland co-hosted a candidate forum with the Langley Park Civic Association so local families could meet candidates and ask about their plans to protect the environment and invest in clean modes of transportation, like electric school buses for children. More than 65 community members and 15 candidates attended the forum.

Most Recent Report on Electric Buses

Our allies at Environment America and U.S. PIRG published an eye-opening and comprehensive report on electric buses, showing that they are cleaner, safer, and often cheaper than diesel buses. Read the full report: Electric Buses: Clean Transportation For Healthier Neighborhoods and Cleaner Air.

**Staffing News: National Director of Chispa Ernesto Vargas recently accepted an exciting new position at Friends of the Earth, an organization that LCV works with regularly.  While we will certainly miss him and the great talent he’s brought to Chispa, we’re excited to see his next big accomplishments. 

Chispa Newsletter January-February 2018

Chispa is a community organizing program of the League of Conservation Voters (LCV). Chispa builds the capacity of communities of color to influence policy makers and pressure polluters to protect communities’ rights to clean air and water, healthy neighborhoods, and a safe climate for generations to come.

As always, Chispa is working to change environmental injustices.  Last year, we launched the Clean Buses for Healthy Niños campaign to call on elected leaders to invest in electric school buses, which will protect our children from dirty diesel pollution. We’re speaking out for the Clean Power Plan, a pollution-cutting safeguard that Scott Pruitt’s EPA is trying to upend.  We’re fighting for clean energy at state legislatures.  And, we’re using LCV’s National Environmental Scorecard to hold lawmakers accountable.  Across the country, Chispa is fighting for the environmental rights every community deserves.

Here are some of the highlights of these efforts from the past couple months:

Demanding an Investment in our Children’s Health

Across the country, members of our Clean Buses for Healthy Niños coalition have collected over 145,000 petitions and delivered over 35,000 petitions to their governors in five states, calling on them to invest their state’s Volkswagon settlement funding in clean, zero-emission school buses for our children.

The people involved in this campaign range from lawmakers to promotores to the children themselves—in Arizona, Oslin and Tonantzin, ages 10 and 9 respectively, made a special appeal for Santa Claus to bring electric buses to schools in their state, acting as the voice for millions of children of color who suffer from asthma at higher rates than their peers. You can sign our petition and ask others to join our campaign too. For more info, check out the website: http://www.cleanride4kids.org/

Sharing Resources for the Clean Buses for Healthy Niños Campaign

This past February, Chispa and our partners hosted a webinar where we shared resources on how schools can join the push for zero-emission electric bus fleets. Nearly a hundred school administrators, public health officials, transportation directors, and others attended the webinar, which included presentations from the Environmental Law and Policy Center, Sierra Club, and the University of Maryland. So long as teachers and mothers like Chispa volunteer Tyrese have to pull their children from school buses due to health complications, we’ll continue sharing resources for how to join this fight.

Advancing State Legislation for Electric School Buses

In New Mexico, Juntos testified before the State Legislature in support of their $18 million Volkswagen settlement funds to be used to purchase electric school buses. Thanks to the compelling testimony of mothers like Martha, a promotora with Juntos, and the advocacy of legislators like Representative Patricia Roybal Caballero and Senator Linda Lopez, the Senate committee passed the bill.

Meanwhile, in Arizona, Representative Charlene Fernandez introduced a similar bill. Joined by Chispa AZ families and supporters, Fernandez called on Governor Doug Ducey to make the right choice for Arizona’s children. Nearly 20 state representatives  cosponsored the bill. Despite the House committee chair’s refusal to consider the bill, Fernandez is continuing the fight by asking people to participate in the public comment period for the state’s use of the VW settlement funding.

Defending the Clean Power Plan

We continued to fight for the Clean Power Plan (CPP), which Scott Pruitt’s EPA wants to end. Maryland legislators held a hearing, and along with allies from Moms Clean Air Force, GreenLatinos and LULAC, Chispa MD organizer Johanna testified about the importance of protecting the CPP. Johanna shared stories from her community—those of Maryland parents, teachers, students, and even her own mother—all of whom struggle with asthma and other illnesses because of the very pollution the CPP is meant to tackle.

Chispa AZ participated in National Council of La Raza (NCLR) Action Fund’s environmental roundtable with U.S. Representative Ruben Gallego to discuss the importance of community participation in fighting against the repeal of the CPP.

Fighting for Clean Energy

Chispa Nevada and Arizona joined efforts to require that by 2030, 50 percent of the energy generated by their state come from renewable energy like wind and solar. In Arizona, Chispa promotora and mother Herlinda spoke at a press conference about raising her daughter, who suffers from serious health issues including asthma, and lives in a neighborhood contaminated by fossil fuel pollution. She hopes that renewable energy will help phase out these pollutants. In Nevada, college students shared their concerns about our future, given the rapidly changing climate, and they cited renewable energy as a necessary part of the solution.

Holding Elected Officials Accountable with the 2017 National Environmental Scorecard

As part of the LCV family, Chispa is leveraging the recently published LCV Scorecard to inform communities which senators and representatives enable polluters, and which have the courage to stand up for the health of our families and world. Please read the scorecard here, available in Spanish, to see how your state’s congressional delegation ranked.

In Pursuit of a Clean Ride for Kids: Q&A with Tyrese Robinson, Maryland Mother and Educator

Maryland resident Tyrese Robinson is a special education teacher and mother of four. Chispa Maryland, a community organizing program of MDLCV, run in coordination with LCV, sat down with her to talk about diesel emissions and the Clean Buses for Healthy Niños campaign – an initiative urging governors across the country to use Volkswagen (VW) settlement dollars for clean electric school bus fleets.

Tyrese Robinson stands in front of a diesel school bus in Maryland. Photo credit: Matt Roth for LCV

Q&A:
Chispa Maryland: What are your concerns with diesel school bus emissions, as an educator and parent?
Tyrese Robinson: As a special education teacher here in Prince George’s County, Maryland, I know firsthand that many of our children, particularly and disproportionately those of color, who are riding the buses, generally have to be on the bus for an extended amount of time. This doesn’t include the time that the bus is idling outside of the school during pick-up and drop-off.

Our children are literally packed into a box on these school buses where they are exposed to different kinds of harmful emissions which can trigger asthma, bronchitis and different allergies – or worse.

Chispa Maryland: Why are you so concerned about diesel emissions from school buses?
Tyrese Robinson: I have a daughter that was diagnosed with asthma within the last year and her asthma is very severe, landing her last year in the hospital on three separate occasions. And so as a parent, it’s important for me to be informed as to what her triggers are, so that I can try to alleviate them as best as possible. Diesel-powered school buses are one of them.

Chispa Maryland: Does she ride the bus to school?
Tyrese Robinson: She previously rode the school buses and I subsequently took her off of the school buses and had to look into private transportation for her.

Chispa Maryland: Why did you make that decision of switching her to private transportation?
Tyrese Robinson: Private transportation offered me a better quality of care with my children so that I can be more cognizant of their environments. Not only because of the emissions, but even just being on the school bus for two hours, that’s a really long time. And you couple that with the health concerns on top of that, and that’s just a recipe for disaster, especially for children who suffer with severe allergies and asthma as well.

Let’s save money for our communities, put this money back into our public schools, and ultimately give our children a healthy environment so they can learn and grow without worrying about these respiratory illnesses.

Tyrese Robinson with Chispa staff. Photo by Matt Roth

Protecting the Clean Power Plan: An organizer’s plea for her community

After being denied a public hearing by the Trump Administration’s Environmental Protection Agency to share the need to protect the Clean Power Plan, Maryland leaders held a hearing Thursday, January 11, 2018. Here is the testimony delivered before a panel by Johana Vicente, Chispa Maryland’s community organizer. Announced on the same day, three additional February dates in other states were been set, along with a comment period extension to April 26th. Photo credit: Matt Roth for LCV

Good afternoon,

My name is Johana Vicente and I have been a resident of Montgomery County, Maryland for more than a decade. I stand before you today as a concerned community member and a proud organizer of Chispa Maryland, a community organizing program of the Maryland League of Conservation Voters growing the political power of Latinos for climate action.

I am here today to defend the Clean Power Plan – its protection is urgent to me and the communities that are most impacted by filthy air and industry pollution.

Often times, words like “climate change” and “pollution” seem very big and broad — terms that we cannot fully grasp. The issues may seem like a far away thing that is not really affecting us. However, it is affecting us more than we think.

I have witnessed the impact that environmental pollution has on the health of people, especially communities of color and children from those very same communities.

From meeting a concerned mother who is worried about whether her child with asthma will breathe to a concerned teacher with absent student who are home due to respiratory problems, the effects of environmental pollution are clear – they are real concerns.

On a personal level, as a child who had only lived in the United States a few years, I watched as my mother went to the hospital for the first time. Not because of an injury, but because of her inability to breath. There, in the hospital room, she was diagnosed with asthma only two years after we arrived in this country.

This is a painful memory that I still remember vividly to this day and it was one of the scariest ones I have.

Candida, a mother and powerful community leader in Hyattsville, had to navigate the medical system to treat her son’s severe asthma – all while speaking very little English. As the PTA president of her children’s school, she asked the principal what the leading cause of absences were and he listed respiratory problems as a main factor – unsurprising as it’s an area plagued by air pollution.

And, Candida is not alone. Another Hyattsville mother, Clenia, also has a child with severe breathing issues, it’s what motivated her to be an environmental activist fighting these very issues.

Tyrese, a teacher and mother from Mount Rainier, has a 9-year-old daughter that suffers from severe asthma. Her child has been hospitalized because of her respiratory problems.

Graciela, a high school student in Hyattsville, has to worry every single school day about whether riding her diesel-run school bus will trigger her asthma attacks.

And the list goes on and on.

The Clean Power Plan represents a much-needed link to protect the health of low income communities and communities of color in Maryland. With 68% of African Americans and nearly 40% Latinos living within 30 miles of a coal-fired power plant in in our state, the Clean Power Plan and its environmental justice provisions is crucial for the health and safety of families like Clenia, Tyrese, Candida or Graciela.

For them and many more families like them in our state and across the nation, the Clean Power Plan provides the tools to not only protect their communities from the disproportionate and detrimental health effects from fossil fuel burning power plants, but also to reap some of the economic benefits of clean energy.

We must leave a better environment for generations to come. And, this plan represents an opportunity to move forward and protect our mother earth and its inhabitants.

Other groups in attendance included GreenLatinos, Moms Clean Air Force and LULAC, with representatives from each sharing the need to keep the Clean Power Plan protected from rollbacks.

Clockwise from left: Juan Carlos Perez, from League of United Latin American Citizens, Amanda Arias, with Solidarity Strategies, and Amanda Aguirre of GreenLatinos. Photo credit by Matt Roth for LCV

Among those was Hispanic Access Foundation, led by President Maite Arce.

“The Clean Power Plan is a public health policy that is critical to safeguarding clean air in our communities. We have a moral obligation to protect the health of the environment for future generations and maintaining the Clean Power Plan is a step towards a future of healthy, vibrant and sustainable communities. We applaud the leadership of Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh and the Maryland General Assembly who are committed to providing opportunities for communities to voice their health and environmental concerns in relation to the EPA’s proposed repeal of the Clean Power Plan,” she said in a Latino coalition statement, before the hearing.

Jennifer Brandt, with Hispanic Access Foundation, Amanda Aguirre of GreenLatinos , Juan Carlos Perez, with League of United Latin American Citizens, Jessica Loya, with Hispanic Access Foundation, and Amanda Arias from Solidarity Strategies. Photo by Matt Roth for LCV

Chispa Arizona Reflects on 2017, Prepares for 2018 Environmental Fights

Masavi Perea of LCV’s Chispa Arizona spoke at a rally before the start of the 2018 legislative session. Here are his words.

Buenos días! I’m Masavi Perea, director of Chispa AZ, a community organizing program of the League of Conservation Voters:

As I reflect on 2017, I recognize it was an intense year — one that prepared us for the biggest fights ahead to protect our environment, our communities and our vote in 2018.

Together we united to call for clean air, to protect our public lands, and to safeguard youth and future generations from the effects of dangerous diesel pollution. We stood with Dreamers, fought the racist views of Arpaio and those who defend him, and called for energy justice.

Without the support of our allies, efforts of our volunteers, friends, and community groups banding together to resist and fight back, we wouldn’t be in the strong place we are to hold our public officials accountable, to fight corporate polluters — or to put Arizona on the map as one of more than a dozen states calling for Clean Buses for Healthy Niños with the support of 34 members of the Arizona state legislature who called on Governor Ducey to make electric school buses a reality! On behalf of Chispa AZ and LCV, we thank you for this important work.

The work we started in April 2017 to demand that our state’s VW settlement funding be invested in zero-emissions school buses for children across the state, especially those in low income and communities of color where students and families are most at risk for suffering the effects of diesel pollution MUST  continue, it WILL continue, and we need to win in 2018 for our kids and communities.

Governor Ducey already stated that it is a good idea to invest this money into school buses. But listen Governor, we need zero emissions electric buses, and we have the state’s $57 million dollar VW settlement available for just that.

Our chance is now, our future is now, and our youth deserve to live in neighborhoods where they can thrive, not toxic ones where diesel pollution and dirty air limit their potential and ours! Reducing air pollution in an already contaminated Maricopa county and across the state is critical to our survival.

In 2018, si se puede! Yes, we can!

Leaders in Their Community: The Story of Four Chispa CT Interns

This past summer, we interned with Chispa CT, working on the Clean Buses for Healthy Niños campaign.

None of us had ever spent any time together before, but by the time we finished the internship, we realized that we shared so many things in common. Like how the three of us had only moved to Hartford in recent years, our families coming from all kinds of different places—from Jamaica, Miami, Atlanta, and New Jersey. Like how many of us suffer from asthma or have a close family member who does. How these types of breathing problems can be worsened by dirty traffic pollution.

And, like how we all want to help people, especially children, gain access to clean air.

Together, Chispa CT interns and a lead promotor go door-to-door, talking with their Connecticut community about the Clean Buses for Healthy Niños campaign. (Photo credit: Matt Roth for LCV)

Working alongside volunteers, organizers and community members, the Clean Buses for Healthy Niños internship asked us to walk through our vecindarios and talk to our neighbors about the air quality and the environment where we live. We shared with them Chispa’s goal to replace diesel-fueled school buses with clean, zero-emission buses, because our dirty buses are worsening the breathing problems of kids who ride the bus to school every day and increasing pollution in every neighborhood the buses drive through.

People got it right away. This is a problem they’d known about for a long time, but weren’t sure what could be done.

Chispa CT interns talk with a member of their community in Hartford, CT. (Photo Credit: Matt Roth for LCV)

When they learned that the Volkswagen settlement money that our state is receiving could be used to reduce air pollution, they immediately asked how they could help make it happen. We helped them sign a petition and send letters to their elected officials. We encouraged them to use their voices to ask for change. As teenagers, it felt amazing to be influencers in our communities, guiding meaningful action for change.   As teenagers, it felt amazing to join with our communities and harness our collective power.

We feel lucky to have been a part of this campaign and to have learned how to organize our communities. We learned how to talk to and, more importantly, how to listen to our communities about what they need. This helped us see that we all want similar things: safe, pollution-free neighborhoods, healthy futures.

Chispa CT interns at work in their community (Photo Credit: Matt Roth for LCV)

We learned so much about our own neighborhoods and the people who live here. But perhaps more importantly, we learned a ton about ourselves and our connection to our communities.  People were so supportive, so welcoming. Through these interactions, we bonded with the people around us, and now we feel even more a part of our communities!

Through the CTLCV and LCV Chispa program, we developed skills we know we’ll use for the rest of our lives. As we see more Connecticut lawmakers and districts joining families and parents to support the campaign for clean school buses, #CleanRide4Kids, we know that we—our communities—can make a difference.

Alexander Rodriguez’s Story: A Fight with Asthma, A Fight for His Community

At LCV’s annual dinner in New York City, Lead Promotor Alexander Rodriguez addressed the crowd, sharing his story of becoming involved with Chispa Connecticut, a community organizing program of the Connecticut LCV and is affiliated with the LCV’s Chispa.  As Alexander shares in his remarks, he became involved in Chispa’s Clean Buses for Healthy Niños campaign to help protect his community from the perils of toxic air pollution—perils he himself is all too familiar with as someone who has long suffered from asthma.

Watch Alexander share his story here and read his remarks below:

Good evening. My name is Alexander Rodriguez. I am 23 years old and I am the lead Promotor with Chispa CT, a program of the CTLCV in coordination with LCV’s Chispa.   

As a kid, I loved to run – and I was fast. Track and field was my greatest passion. Until, I started experiencing difficulty breathing.

I became prone to bronchitis. I developed shortness of breath. Soon, I was diagnosed with asthma – something my mother, doctors, and I believe was the result of the toxic diesel pollution I was exposed to during years of riding the bus to and from school.

I required medication and an inhaler to regulate my breathing and to avoid bouts of suffocation. In what felt like the blink of an eye, track and field slipped away from me.

As a young adult, I wanted nothing more than to join the armed forces and become a pilot – but, my history of asthma and respiratory illness put a roadblock between me and serving my country. Asthma had disqualified me, and I wasn’t afforded a medical waiver.

Fast forward to earlier this year, when I found Chispa. Abi, another organizer with Chispa, told me about the program’s work and its Clean Buses for Healthy Niños campaign – I was instantly sold on working to protect others from the toxic air pollution that affected me.

Chispa provides an opportunity to work with people like myself – who have felt the effects of climate change and pollution firsthand. And by making these personal connections to climate and one another, we are raising a new generation of environmentalists. Our promotores program works with youth and young adults to hold polluters and our elected officials accountable for decisions that impact our air and water, and our community.

In a time when our president and EPA administrator are doing all they can to advantage the polluter interests that have long-profited in this country, we are standing up for our communities.  We refuse to be forgotten or saddled with environmental injustices.

I’m proud to be a part of this work. Following Hurricane Maria, my mother was stranded in Puerto Rico. It took weeks to reach her by phone.  It took a whole month to get her back to Connecticut.  I felt helpless.  I felt scared.  I felt angry.  What happened in Puerto Rico—the devastation that our president so heartlessly overlooked—is not okay.  But these are they type of environmental injustices we have to tackle.   

In Connecticut, my friends and I are standing up.  I have organized community clean-ups, voter registration drives, and gathered countless signatures toward our campaign – we want to do everything possible to protect this earth from destruction, we want to leave it a better place than the one we inherited.

As I look around this room and have listened to the speakers that came before me, I feel hope.  We’re electing environmental leaders across the country.  We’re building a community of people care and voice those cares. It seems to me that together, we can make this a better place. 

 

 

Environmental Coalition Stands with Dreamers at Greens for a Clean Dream Act Visual Demonstration

ICYMI – Here is news out of Washington, DC, where the environmental community and dreamers came together for a powerful evening of support for a Clean Dream Act. More than 50 people attended and a dozen worked to share information with the area’s foot traffic about the fight to protect Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients. 

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A broad coalition of environmental, conservation and progressive groups including GreenLatinos, LCV’s Chispa, Sierra Club, LULAC, Moms Clean Air Force, Earthjustice, Natural Resources Defense Council, EDF Action and others in coordination with United We Dream, launched a large-scale visual display onto the Frank D. Reeves Center of Municipal Affairs building in support for Dreamers and the passage of a Clean Dream Act.

The display, projected onto the 2000 14th St NW building, was live for two hours Friday night while supporters rallied nearby.

Below are quotes from the organizations who supported this effort

“Millions of young undocumented immigrants like me are being targeted for the detention camps and deportation, but would be protected by the Dream Act. I want everyone to see our faces and know our determination to survive and thrive. We are grateful that environmental, conservation and progressive groups helped amplify our stories and that they are standing with us in this fight. We need the Dream Act this year because 850 young people are losing protections every week,” said Bruna Bouhid, communications manager for United We Dream.

“This coalition fundamentally believes the defense and protection of all communities and ecosystems is crucial to upholding principles of justice and equity in our work,” said Mark Magaña, president of GreenLatinos, a national network of Latino environmental and conservation advocates. “We are committed to fighting for healthy and safe communities where we are all able to thrive, regardless of immigration status and without fear of retaliation or deportation. Dreamers represent the best values of this country and we stand in solidarity with their fight to stay in this country we call home.”  

“We urge Congress to pass a Clean Dream Act immediately and stop forcing young people to live in fear. A generation of young people who are invested in this country’s future and know no other home deserve to have the safety, stability and legal means to fully participate and contribute to their communities and our nation,” said Jennifer Allen, League of Conservation Voters’ senior vice president of Community & Civic Engagement, Chispa.

“We at Earthjustice stand in solidarity with the Dreamers, our partners in the Latino and civil rights communities and all Americans who are united in supporting the passage of a clean DREAM Act. DREAMers were brought to America as children and share the same aspirations and goals as any other American: to live, work, and prosper in the country that they call home. They too fight for their right to protect our health and environment and we fight with them to protect their right to speak up and live without fear,” said Raul E. Garcia, Legislative Counsel for Earthjustice.

“LULAC continues to push for a clean Dream Act; Dreamers are hardworking young Americans who have contributed to the country’s economy and cultural identity. It is time for Congress and the Trump administration to show political courage and pass a clean DREAM Act that would protect 800,000 productive members of our society from deportation,” said Brent Wilkes, CEO of LULAC.

“DREAMERS embody the American Dream. We must commit to protecting them so that they can achieve their full potential as individuals, professionals, and members of our society. We call members of Congress to do what is morally right and provide these young people an opportunity to stay in the only country they know as home and achieve their dreams,” said Adrianna Quintero, executive director of VOCES.

“Congress must pass a clean Dream Act and not include any funding for a wall or destructive infrastructure at the border. Dreamers and young immigrants must not be used as bargaining chips for Trump’s cruel anti-immigrant agenda and racist border wall,” said Michael Brune, CEO of Sierra Club.

“The Dreamers are our children and our family. As such, they are NOT foreigners. Therefore, we demand and expect that we not be separated due to a political technicality,” said Rudy Arredondo, president of the National Latino Farmers & Ranchers Trade Association. 

“Dreamers are students, teachers, first responders, veterans, nurses, and so much more. They are a vital part of our families, communities, and economies. We all have a responsibility to speak out on their behalf. Congress must take decisive action NOW to prevent them from being fired from jobs, ripped out of classrooms, and separated from their families” said Laura M. Esquivel, director of National Advocacy at the Hispanic Federation.

“Stewardship is the foundation for sustainability and stewardship of the least empowered among us is our collective responsibility. We will stand with and support those who may need their voice amplified for the net outcome of promoting a global society that understands the interconnectedness of the planet with a foundation in social justice, environmental justice and economic equity. We are Sustainable Practices and our mission is the promotion of a culture of sustainability,” said Dr. Madhavi Venkatesan, executive director of Sustainable Practices.

“It’s unconscionable that politicians are willing to put the fates of nearly 700,000 fellow Americans in danger by letting DACA expire. DREAMers contribute so much to this country and the environmental movement. We are proud to join with other environmental and conservation groups in demanding a Clean Dream Act that would protect DREAMers and deny funding for the US-Mexico border wall. Our country, and its citizens, deserve better than this,” said Fern Shepard of Rachel’s Network.

“‘Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,’ is still just as true today as it was when the Statute of Liberty was gifted to us. We are a country of mostly immigrants who, by those who chose to come here, did so in search of a better way of life. What have we come to if we close our doors to those seeking the same?” said Mary Gutierrez, executive director of Earth Ethics, Inc.

“Passing a clean DREAM Act is not only an issue that has the support of a majority of Americans, but gives us an opportunity to achieve a common-sense bipartisan bill that will protect more than 800,000 individuals that were brought to this country as children. DREAMers represent the best of our country: hard work, diversity, entrepreneurship, and much more. We urge members of Congress to do what is right and give DREAMers the opportunity to continue to pursue and achieve the American Dream,” said Joe Bonfiglio, president of Environmental Defense Fund Action.

On Thursday, December 14, GreenLatinos and more than 80 progressive organizations also called on members of Congress to pass a Clean Dream Act. See the letter and list of organizations, here.   

Additional photos available upon request.
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