Environmental Health Coalition stands in solidarity with the people of Charlottesville and everywhere who stand on the side of justice in the face of hate.

The bigotry, hate and violence by white supremacists in Charlottesville and encouraged by our president, underscores the urgency of our movement for justice and democracy. We know that to combat hate, we have to build long-lasting, sustainable people-powered movements.

That means growing the power of everyday people to build and defend vibrant and free communities.

EHC leaders organize every day in the most challenging and dangerous circumstances – from human rights abuses to environmental and public health assaults.

Living in the most polluted neighborhoods in the San Diego/Tijuana region, our leaders stand up to environmental racism with grace, determination grit and persistence.

Every year, EHC celebrates our members and leaders at a community picnic. This Saturday, August 19, we will do so again. Kids will play, parents will share stories and we will all be grateful for a moment to enjoy each other.

This year we will also observe a moment of silence for those we lost in the struggle for justice – those who died, those who were torn from their families by deportation, those who suffer from illnesses and those who live in fear.

We invite you all to join EHC as we celebrate and mourn and restore ourselves to fight again. Please join us.

Last month, our staff celebrated the introduction of their very own bikeshare program to promote transportation justice and healthy living in the workplace.

Now, you may spot EHC staff pedaling around National City for meals, meetings – or maybe just for fun.

By installing bike racks and working with the San Diego County Bike Coalition to teach safe biking to our team, we hope to slowly but surely reduce the number of cars the streets in our neighborhood and encourage our community to use alternative modes of transportation. Now, we’re talking the talk and biking the bike.

Want to learn what you can do to bring transportation justice to your community? Click here.

On a sunny Saturday morning in July, we took 21 eager passengers on our BarrioLive! Tijuana Tour.

During the course of the day, we made numerous stops to highlight environmental justice in our cross-border communities.

• Alamar River channelization project: The binational Alamar River and the invaluable ecosystem it contains were being paved. Now, we’re working to preserve it. We showed our progress first-hand saving this precious natural resource.
• Metales y Derivados: Many years ago, we helped lead the cleanup of 45,000 tons of toxic waste and establish a structure for cross-border collaboration on toxic-site cleanups. We visited the site that symbolizes environmental justice achieved and a monumental neighborhood victory.
• Maquiladoras viewpoint: Maquiladora assembly plants in Colonia Chilpancingo have contaminated the neighborhood and its resources for many years. Our tour allowed guests to see and understand them from a new point of view.

For several hours, our guests learned about critical community victories that have come from a 20-year-old campaign that has helped relieve numerous communities of pollution and displacement. The tour included personal struggles shared first-hand by the local community members, as well as their motivation to form the Colonia Chilpancingo.

Our youth group (Grupo de Jovenes) joined us to share stories from their experiences. 22-year-old Fernando and his family have been EHC activists for close to eight years. He told the group he, “is motivated to know he has and will continue to make a difference.” His conviction and determination inspired and touched everyone.

To conclude the tour, we enjoyed a mixer with community members and had the opportunity to meet the people who have brought environmental justice to Tijuana for more than 25 years.

Here is some of the feedback we received:

• “I liked the Alamar River because we really got to see an area in use and its effects on the community.”
• “The tour had good detail on the history of the toxicity and remediation; good presentation of existing problems; excellent company; excellent lunch”
• “Can't thank EHC enough. It is an incredible organization that I wish everyone advocated for.”

We look forward to the next BarrioLive! Tour, in San Diego this fall – October 19^, 2017.

Mark your calendars and send an email to Esta dirección de correo electrónico está siendo protegida contra los robots de spam. Necesita tener JavaScript habilitado para poder verlo. to reserve your seat today.

SALTA provides community leaders with skill-building training in community organizing, policy advocacy and effective communication.

From mothers who envision a healthier future for their children, to community advocates that want to gain new tools to be leaders in their own neighborhoods, our SALTA graduates now have the skills necessary to move our region toward environmental justice.

The 2017 class reminds us that every one of us is a leader, and leadership is best cultivated from the ground up. Congratulations to all our community leaders and graduates – we’re very proud of you and look forward to all that we will achieve together. #IamEJ #YoSoyEJ

Want to keep reading about our leaders? Click here to read more incredible stories.

Alicia Sanchez, a National City resident, came to an EHC community meeting nine years ago to learn about a proposed affordable housing project. She left inspired and determined to make the project a reality. This April, Alicia stood proudly at the grand opening of 201 affordable housing units in her neighborhood.

Every one of us is environmental justice. We may not know what challenges lie ahead, but with your help, our community leaders – our heroes – will be ready. Please donate today.