The Bullard Center for Environmental and Climate Justice at Texas Southern University has been awarded $150,000 from America Is All In to expand its proven community-based organizing efforts across the United States. The significant investment will support the growth of the Bullard Center’s coalition of community leaders to over 200 people. Part of the Center’s Justice40: A Time for Righteous Investment initiative, these leaders of color educate and advocate at the local, state, and federal level for much-needed community resources.
“We are excited to partner with WWF and America is All In to further advance our Justice40 and climate work that builds on our HBCU-CBO Consortium which has a proven track record and outsize footprint of delivering results,” says Dr. Robert D. Bullard, who directs the Center and is often called the “father of environmental justice.”
In August, after the Biden administration set a goal that 40 percent of the overall benefits from certain federal investments flow to disadvantaged communities overburdened by pollution, The Bullard Center launched its Justice40 initiative by convening more than 100 leaders of community-based organizations, historically black colleges, small businesses, and faith-based groups. Next, the Bullard Center and Deep South Center for Environmental Justice organized Justice40 Regional Hubs led by people of color and indigenous community-based organizations.
These community-based organization (CBO) hub leaders are responsible for recruiting and training up to ten new CBOs to fight environmental and climate justice issues across ten states. In conjunction, The Bullard Center will conduct trainings and convenings that bring together small businesses, faith groups, community-based organizations, and other relevant stakeholders in key regions throughout the United States. As the selected hubs gear up for the August 2023 Convening in New Orleans, this new investment will allow that critical work to grow.
In addition, through this partnership, America Is All In will organize a series of campaigns to tell the story of the Justice40 movement and elevating the work of the community leaders and the life altering environmental injustices they battle daily. Through this they are committed to prioritizing strategies that acknowledge the need for swift and effective implementation of the Inflation Reduction Act and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
“America Is All In is committed to promoting a whole-of-society approach to climate solutions, meaning we must mobilize state and local governments, businesses, and all of civil society. Climate justice must not only reside at the core of that effort but run all the way through it for it to be real,” said Marcene Mitchell, Senior VP of Climate at WWF, which manages partnerships for the America Is All In coalition. “These Justice 40 Regional Hubs are building the leadership needed to ensure climate justice holds its rightful place as we race to meet the climate crisis, and as this movement grows, we want to make sure it is seen, felt and heard. We’re honored and thrilled to be working with Dr. Bullard and The Bullard Center for Environmental and Climate Justice at Texas Southern University.”
Together with the Bullard Center, America Is All In will ensure that The Justice40: A Time for Righteous Investment Initiative convenings build a strong and authentic social network infrastructure for the fair and just implementation of the Justice40 Initiative to ensure “covered programs” and “covered investments” flow to the needs of disadvantaged communities.
About the Bullard Center for Environmental and Climate Justice
The Robert D. Bullard Center for Environmental and Climate Justice at Texas Southern University was launched to address longstanding issues of systemic inequality and structural racism that causes disproportionate pain, suffering and death in Black and other people of color communities faced with environmental and climate justice concerns. Texas Southern University is a student-centered comprehensive doctoral university committed to ensuring equality, offering innovative programs that are responsive to its urban setting, and transforming diverse students into lifelong learners, engaged citizens, and creative leaders in their local, national, and global communities.
About America Is All In
America Is All In is the most expansive coalition of leaders ever assembled in support of climate action in the United States. Mobilizing thousands of U.S. cities, states, tribal nations, businesses, schools, and faith, health, and cultural institutions, the coalition is focused on pushing and partnering with the federal government to develop an ambitious, all-in national climate strategy that meets the urgency of the climate crisis; scaling climate action around the country to accelerate the transition to a 100 percent clean energy economy; and promoting the leadership of non-federal actors on the world stage.
Led by the U.N. Secretary General’s Special Envoy on Climate Ambition and Solutions Michael R. Bloomberg, Washington Governor Jay Inslee, and Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles, America Is All In is driving a nationwide movement to cut U.S. emissions in half or more by 2030 from 2005 levels and reach net zero emissions by 2050, while guarding against the impacts of climate disruption.
Alongside whole-of-government action on climate, America Is All In champions a whole-of-society mobilization to deliver the transformational change that science demands, with the goal of a healthy, prosperous, equitable, and sustainable future. To learn more or get involved, visit www.americaisallin.com and follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.
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