For 35 years, our communities have cultivated environmental justice and social change. After an incredible 35 years of striving for #healthyhoods, our neighborhoods are safer and healthier places to live, work and play.

This year we celebrate 35 years of victories, including our most recent wins in Tijuana, National City and City Heights.

We feel gratitude for every community member who took action and took a stand to make our neighborhoods healthier. For our 35th anniversary, we celebrate you.

To us, 35 years of environmental justice and your work means:

“I feel proud to be a part of such an incredible environmental justice organization. 35 years of EHC means a time to celebrate our healthier communities and our protected natural environment. It’s time to celebrate the amazing support of our community members who look out for neighborhoods in need and work to make change happen.” 

- Giuliana Schroeder, development director

“35 years of residents fighting back to reduce the toxic pollution that affects their health and lives every day. That’s powerful. That’s profound.” 

- Franco Garcia, organizing director

"EHC is nothing without the brave, responsible community members who stand up for what is right. We're celebrating 35 years of community members working day after day to build healthier places to work and play." 

- Jamie Hampton, communications consultant

While we celebrate 35 years of environmental justice and social change, we're also excited about our communities' visions for an even better future. Make sure you're a part of our next environmental justice win by becoming a member and staying involved. 

Recently, the governor took a step forward in reducing pollution from California's freight system. This important step will reduce the emissions from the ships, cranes, trucks and trains that harm our communities with dirty air and toxic pollution. With this action, the governor ordered seven state agencies to work on projects and plans that transition toward zero-emission technologies. The governor’s order brings hope to communities such as Barrio Logan and west National City that stand most directly in harm’s way from freight diesel impacts.

In our region, and many others around the state, the most impacted communities are those that benefit the least from the global economy and the relentless flow of “goods” through them. Year after year, the Barrio Logan area leads the region in rates of children’s visits to emergency rooms for asthma – a condition known to be aggravated and possibly caused by proximity to traffic pollution.

We applaud the governor for his support for aggressive action to advance the development of zero-emission technologies. Only by eliminating our dependence on fossil fuels can we sustain economic vitality and also meet California’s climate goals and protect our communities from the many health-damaging effects of exposure to diesel.

Joy Williams
Research Director
Environmental Health Coalition

Environmental Health Coalition is joining the California Environmental Justice Alliance’s 2015 Sacramento Congreso: People, Power, Policy, to unite with over 250 other community leaders. We will tell our representatives that environmental justice in our communities needs to be a statewide priority. We’re working hard to advance statewide policies with members and allies throughout the state and the Congreso is our annual gathering to connect, reflect, and celebrate. We’ve already made big moves on our priority bills this spring, and as the summer heats up, so will our people power!

EHC will also join the Congreso to celebrate visionary grassroots policy-making fueled by people power in San Diego and across the state. We will share our community-rooted solutions with the rest of California’s environmental justice community and also learn about the strategies of other successful, resilient communities throughout the state. EHC will even lead roundtable discussions on how state agencies, elected officials and community members can all work together to advance environmental justice.

The Congreso has reached capacity and registration is now closed, but we encourage you to join our conversation by following #PeoplePowerPolicy.

Over a decade ago, EHC began collaborating with Hesperian Health Guides on a health handbook for factory workers. At the time, the general consensus was that job safety and health pertained only to physical problems caused by machines or chemicals at work, like getting shocked by frayed electric cords or breathing fumes.

But EHC and Hesperian Health incorporated a comprehensive understanding of health that included workplace violence, discrimination and gender issues, basic healthcare access, pollution from factories and the link between healthy workplaces and healthy neighborhoods. EHC even gathered direct and specific feedback on the materials from workers. Pictured below is a border event organized by EHC to review early drafts of Workers’ Guide to Health and Safety.

Workers’ Guide to Health and Safety was published on May 1st of this year, “a long process but with a great result,” as Martha Ojeda, EHC partner and director of the Fe y Justicia Center said, and “a powerful tool for all workers worldwide.” Martha was one of Hesperian’s earliest partners, helping lead an extensive community validation and field-testing process with women workers on the border.

The field-test led to the creation of a section called “Beyond the factory walls.” The chapter on pollution discusses how work hazards may be experienced in the surrounding community, not just during work. This was most clearly visible with chemical hazards. But of course, workers shared much more about their lives and struggles. Their stories of organizing are told throughout the book.

Workers’ Guide offers workers and their supporters the practical tools they need to take action for their health at work. It expands the notion of “workplace health” to include the social and political determinants of health, from problems like low wages and harassment, to mental health and safe water. Workers go home to their families after work, so Workers’ Guide includes the problems of pollution, substandard housing and services, and other “social hazards” that affect so many workers.

Pictured left is Magdalena Cerda, EHC’s Campaign Director – Border Environmental Justice, holding the Spanish draft of Workers’ Guide. Magdalena led field-testing with women maquiladora workers. EHC is proud to have helped build this book and we are excited to continue to collaborate with Hesperian to get this material in the languages of the people we serve and in the hands of those that will use it to improve their lives.

How to read and use this book:

• Download free chapters  
• Buy a book 
• Send a book to a workers center 
• Help us raise funds to develop the Spanish edition of Workers’ Guide
• Esta dirección de correo electrónico está siendo protegida contra los robots de spam. Necesita tener JavaScript habilitado para poder verlo. with comments or suggestions. 

“Urban transit systems in most American cities, for example, have become a genuine civil rights issue. If transportation systems in American cities could be laid out so as to provide an opportunity for poor people to get meaningful employmentt, then they could begin to move into the mainstream of American life.”
- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Communities along the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Freeway (SR-94) need more transportation options, such as public transit stops, bike lanes and walking paths –our elected officials agree! And EHC is proudly paving the way!

“We need to build on the investments we have made in our Bus Rapid Transit lines. I am advocating for a BRT stop to serve the communities of Golden Hill and Sherman Heights.”
- Councilmember Todd Gloria, Third District

“My constituents have shared their concerns with the impact an expanded freeway would have on air quality, and have requested improved access to regional travel. We kindly ask [to] include these community-based alternatives in the DEIR.”
- Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, 80th District

“[By including these alternatives] the community will have a comprehensive understanding of the transit situation in this corridor and the decision makers can make a more informed decision on how to best spend our limited transit dollars”
- Councilmember David Alvarez, Eighth District

“I fully support the communities request for alternatives [that] may help us achieve the goals of our Climate Action Plan and will improve transit mobility not only for our impacted, overburdened, and underserved communities along the freeway, but for the entire region.”
- Councilmember Myrtle Cole, Fourth Council District

“The communities adjacent to the SR-94 have been historically underserved by public transit… please consider alternatives suggested by the community.”
- Council President, Marti Emerald, San Diego City Council

After months of persistent advocacy, in mid-July SANDAG announced its plan to reverse course on freeway expansion. Instead they will include community-supported alternatives in the environmental review for the Martin Luther King Freeway/SR94 and allocate $31 million for an innovative transit demonstration project.  The announcement directly responds to community concerns about the irreversible harm freeway expansion would cause.

With your contribution, we can continue prioritizing people before polluting freeways.

EHC, in partnership with City Heights CDC, MAAC, will continue advocating for a transit stop in the Sherman Heights/Golden Hill communities. This is one step in a larger march for transportation justice. Will you join the march with us?

$25 (or $2/month) – Posters for a public hearing on transportation planning
$120 (or $10/month) – One day of door-to-door campaigning for better transit in low-income communities
$500 (or $40/month) – Mobilizing 50 community members to attend a public hearing
$1,500 (or $125/month) – Four-week SALTA leadership training course on transportation justice for 55 community residents

Monique López
Policy Advocate
Environmental Health Coalition