The White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council’s key members say that despite the Biden Administration’s promise that 40% of climate investment benefits would go to disenfranchised communities one year ago, not enough has been done.
Tuesday’s press conference was held ahead of the HBCU Climate Conference in New Orleans. They announced that they have secured $14 million from Bezos Earth Fund to fund a program called Engage, Enlighten, Empower. This will allow them to hold the Biden administration responsible for its Justice40 initiative.
On his first day in office, President Biden made this commitment in a broad executive order. This unprecedented initiative is being praised as a push to bring environmental justice and justice to communities that have been suffering from climate change and pollution for a long time.
Beverly Wright, Peggy Shepard, Robert Bullard are three federal environmental justice council members who led the $14 million-dollar effort. They have been closely working together with the administration on Justice40.
Wright said to the press that it took more to make a new idea into a successful project.
Shepard stated that the trio will combine philanthropic grants of the Bezos Earth Fund, $6 Million from Shepard’s WE ACT for Environmental Justice and $4 Million from Wright’s Deep South Center for Environmental Justice to ensure federal funding from Justice40 gets where it’s supposed to.
A press release stated that the effort would ensure equitable implementation at the state-level of the Justice40 initiative and empower local communities for policy-making.
The funds will be used to educate grassroots organizations about the resources available through Justice40, inform the state and local governments about how to use the money, and create a screening tool that includes racial demographic information to determine where Justice40 funds most are needed. The administration’s federal screening tool does not consider the racial makeup in communities. This is controversial.
Because the federal government is not yet implementing the Justice40 pledge, there has been very little change on ground. Still trying to figure this outWhich communities are most in dire need of the investment? Many respected environmental justice advocates advocated for a systematic, deliberate process to identify and disburse funds to disadvantaged communities.
Wright and Bullard spoke at the briefing and said that they’ve seen past federal infrastructure and social projects fail to deliver on promises to disadvantaged areas and that they don’t want this to happen again.
Wright stated that there are many novel ways to improve the lives of Americans.
Bullard pointed out Flood relief distribution was not uniform.Texas, where is the Bullard Center for Environmental and Climate Justice?
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Follow Drew Costley via Twitter: @drewcostley.
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