Thirty-five years ago, a small group of health, environmental and civil rights advocates created EHC. At that time, community members didn't know about the toxins in our neighborhoods, but we did know that people have the right to be informed and empowered to transform our communities.
Every day since 1980, EHC has fought for environmental justice. Our successes have only been possible because of you. Thank you for believing in us and helping us look forward to our next 35 years.
Amelia Simpson (far right) has worked as the border environmental justice campaign director and grant writer for EHC since 2002. We asked her about her 13-year-and-counting journey with the organization. This is what she had to say.
What was EHC like when you began?
I started as EHC's Border Environmental Justice Campaign director. Magdalena, now the director, was the community organizer at the time, and she did an amazing job. She organized our Tijuana Community Action Team - there were two groups at first that called themselves "los grupos de Nena [Magdalena]."
Soon after I came on, we rented a little house in Colonia Chilpancingo and turned it into a meeting space. They chose the new name Colectivo Chilpancingo Pro Justicia Ambiental. Most of the same women are still active today along with many new women. Many of their daughters and sons are in the Jóvenes Pro Justicia Ambiental Youth Group organized by Aníbal.
They're the next generation of environmental justice activists in Tijuana.
What brought you to work with EHC?
I was working as a Mexico specialist with Amnesty International when I heard about EHC's opening for a director in the border region. I saw EHC as an organization that defended human rights in Mexico, like Amnesty, and I was very happy to be hired.
What do you enjoy most about working with EHC?
The most exciting thing is having the opportunity to be with the community; the opportunity to get to know people, hear their stories and work together to make changes that truly matter.
Do any milestones stand out most to you?
The campaign to clean up the American-owned Metales y Derivados maquiladora assembly plant was a tremendous achievement for the community. Not only was the neighborhood protected at last from the dumping of 42,000 tons of toxic waste, but the effort also brought together supporters from both sides of the border, including community residents and government agencies. This was an unprecedented collaboration to address a serious human rights violation.
To donate to EHC today, please click here.
It’s no secret that climate change has challenged San Diego to rethink large environmental concepts, such as regional pollution and sustainability. As part of this process, the City of San Diego is in final revisions of the draft climate action plan – a plan that outlines how San Diego will address the harmful impacts of climate change in the next 50 years. This plan has strong goals that, if achieved, will create a healthier future for San Diegans by reducing pollution, relying more on clean energy, increasing transit, walking and biking opportunities, increasing our urban tree coverage and reducing waste.
EHC knows that certain communities in San Diego feel the impacts of climate change more imminently than others, particularly the neighborhoods already struggling with unhealthy levels air pollution, high energy bills and lack of access to transit, biking and walking.
As the effects of climate change worsen, neighborhoods in San Diego’s urban core suffer significantly more because these neighborhoods:
• Have the highest rates of asthma hospitalization among children in the city
• Breathe the most polluted air from trucks, freeways and industrial sources
• Live in old, unhealthy homes lacking energy efficiency and solar energy needed to reduce unaffordable energy bills
• Lack access to safe, affordable and convenient transit, bicycling and walking options to access jobs, health care, parks, and cooling centers
• Face the highest rates of unemployment, underemployment and low-wage jobs
Ultimately, a plan with strong goals does not suffice if the plan doesn’t ensure that communities hit first and worst by climate change are helped most immediately.
That is why EHC urges San Diego City Council to recognize that not all neighborhoods in San Diego are impacted by equally and to prioritize resources accordingly to address these inequities.
That is why EHC says, “Start here. Start now.”
In coalition with CERF, Citizens’ Climate Lobby, San Diego Coastkeeper, Sierra Club, IBEW, MAAC, California Nurses Association, San Diego 350, Climate Action Campaign, Center for Policy Initiatives, San Diego Audubon Society, Union Yes- Environmental Caucus, and City Heights Development Corporation we have gathered nearly 1,000 signatures supporting climate change solutions that ensure equity in the climate action plan.
This looks like:
Together, we ask that the City of San Diego take action now, beginning in the neighborhoods impacted first and worst by climate change.
For more information, please click here.
To get involved, please contact Monique López at Esta dirección de correo electrónico está siendo protegida contra los robots de spam. Necesita tener JavaScript habilitado para poder verlo. (619) 474-0220 ext. 130.
Yesterday, National City broke ground on 201 Paradise Creek affordable housing units. This development, nationally recognized for being transit-oriented and sustainable, is a perfect example of what can happen when residents come together and get involved in the planning of their communities.
Thank you to the City of National City and the developers, Related and Community Housing Works, as well as the many other partners and people that came together to make the community's vision a reality.
To learn more about what this development means to the community, please click here. For more information on National City, please click here.
Our annual BarrioLive! tour and mixer brought together community members and local leaders who care about #healthyhoods. The guided bus tour showed participants the problems, solutions and progress in our communities first hand.
We stopped in Old Town National City at Kimball Elementary; the school located near two of the most polluting businesses in the the community. Today, the businesses have relocated safely away from homes and schools and the children of National City breathe cleaner air when they walk to school and play outside at recess.
We made another important stop in Old Town National City at Paradise Creek. After ten years, on November 17, 2015, the Paradise Creek Affordable Housing Units finally broke ground. These units, once completed, will be the first transit-oriented, sustainability award winning affordable housing development in the community.
For our last stop, we visited Chicano Park in the heart of Barrio Logan. Residents in the community have turned space underneath the freeways into an artistic expression of the community's history. Today, the park is home to vibrant murals representative of Barrio Logan's rich culture and has been recorded in the National Register of Historic Places.
The tour ended at Border X Brewing where we enjoyed appetizers, craft beer and friends new and old.
Thank you to everyone who attended BarrioLive! We feel grateful to know and work with people who as enthusiastic about climate justice and #healthyhoods for all as you.
