As temperatures increase and natural disasters like fires and mudslides occur more and more frequently, low-income communities, communities of color and those who live in pollution burdened areas are hit hardest. Prop 70, a misleading initiative on the June ballot that is backed by just a handful of Republicans, would make it harder for our…
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Towards King’s Vision: Jobs and Justice in South LA
Fifty years ago, 1,300 black sanitation workers went on strike in Memphis, Tennessee after Echol Cole and Robert Walker were tragically crushed to death while on the job. Having reached a breaking point, the sanitation workers went on strike to demand a safe work environment, decent wages, better benefits, the right to form a union,…
Continue ReadingPushing for Equitable Development in South LA
At a community meeting last fall, we asked our members if they feared being pushed out of South Los Angeles. All hands were raised. This spurred a conversation on rising rents and growing homelessness in South LA as well as the new sports stadium in Inglewood, the Metro Los Angeles Crenshaw line, and the expansion…
Continue ReadingContinuing the Fight for Equitable Investment in South LA
For over a decade, the link between economic and environmental injustice has been a part of the fabric of SCOPE’s work– from the Green Jobs campaign in 2006 to the development of accessible pre-apprenticeship programs at the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power in 2011 to our current work on climate justice and transitioning…
Continue ReadingBetween the 110 and the 405: Environmental Injustice in South Los Angeles
When Olivia Barbour steps out of her home in South Los Angeles, she inhales a flurry of fumes from the heavy trucks passing along Imperial Highway on their daily routes, commuter traffic off the I-110 and I-105, and low flying airplanes on their way to LAX. She knows the air quality in her neighborhood isn’t…
Continue ReadingPutting Community Voices Front & Center in California Climate Programs
This summer, our nation felt the pain of climate change more than it ever has before. From the terrifying stories of families torn apart by fatal flooding in Texas to the devastation brought by Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico, it’s clear that the poorest, the brownest, the most marginalized in our society are hit hardest…
Continue ReadingPushing Past the Status Quo: Why We Need Community Centered Climate Policy Even More
Pushing Past the Status Quo: Why We Need Community Centered Climate Policy Even More Last month, our state legislature voted to approve a set of climate policies that disregard the needs of residents living on the front-lines of climate change. Our governor and legislators struck a deal to extend the cap-and-trade system, one of the…
Continue ReadingSCOPE Joins the STAND LA Coalition in the Fight to End Oil Drilling in Los Angeles
Throughout its history, the fossil fuel industry has played a major role in the development of the City of Los Angeles. The massive oil fields and high production rates have branded L.A. as the largest urban oil field in the country. While the development of these fields didn’t pose a problem to the city’s 50,000…
Continue ReadingFrom The LA Uprising To The People’s Climate March: Building Power When You Are Under Threat
As a native of Mississippi, I often think of the famous words of Ms. Fannie Lou Hamer: “I am sick and tired of being sick and tired.” Twenty-five years ago, a predominantly white jury acquitted the California Highway Patrol officers involved in the brutal beating of Rodney King─an act of police violence that was caught…
Continue ReadingA Grassroots-Led Vision for Equitable Climate Investments in South Los Angeles
In September 2016, SCOPE celebrated the passage of three key climate policy wins that extended California’s climate change goals, increased transparency at the agency overseeing air quality, and increased targeted climate investments for low-income communities, including the creation of the new Transformative Climate Communities Program (TCC). These wins demonstrate the power of environmental justice communities…
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