The Latest News and Updates
Dec 7, 2021
Expanding the Communities' Capacity to Heal Itself Training
December 7th and 14th from 6:00 - 8:00 pm CST This training is both a declarative and procedural learning experience, designed to provide vulnerable communities with the tools necessary to create culturally, responsive trauma-informed systems. The training module seeks to provide participants with the following Increased understanding of a public health pandemic (Coronavirus) and a racial pandemic as a mental health disaster Increased understanding of the impact of COVID19 on emotional well being Increased understanding of trauma-informed systems Increased understanding of ways to integrate trauma-informed practices across the systems with which community members interface Increased understanding of activism and advocacy as a source of healing for vulnerable communities Trauma-Informed Approaches in Youth-Serving Organizations is a web-based, trauma-informed practice workshop that is part of our larger Professional Development Series. The Series prepares youth development professionals and educators to be equity-focused, trauma-informed, healing justice practitioners. The session on trauma-informed practice covers Adverse Childhood Experiences and its impact on brain development in early childhood. We also address vicarious trauma and the importance of self- care for helping professionals. The session also covers the basic principles of trauma informed systems and the key assumptions of trauma informed practice, as well as strategies for implementing trauma-informed practices in our work. Some of the strategies we cover in the training include social emotional learning activities along with identifying the ways in which writing, the arts, meditation and other practices can be implemented as healing modalities to support the well-being of young people and those who work with them. Register here Presenters: Dr. Rashida Govan Executive Director, New Orleans Youth Alliance Dr. Danielle Wright Division Director, Navigate NOLA ...
Nov 29, 2021
Cancer has decimated our community.’ EPA’s Regan vows to help hard-hit areas, but residents have doubts
By Darryl Fears - Washington Post Beverly Wright, the executive director of the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice in east New Orleans, who also sits on the panel and toured with Regan, said she would give the administration an “I,” for incomplete. “It could go anywhere from there, an A, a C, D or F,” Wright said. Regan made a strong impression, she said, but “we’ll have to see.” Wright’s center was the administrator’s first stop in Louisiana. He met with about a dozen community representatives who spoke with him privately before they boarded a small tour bus for the 65-mile ride to St. John the Baptist Parish. There, in Cancer Alley — which winds for 85 miles along the Mississippi River between New Orleans and Baton Rouge — he stopped at Fifth Ward Elementary School, where hundreds of mostly Black students aged 10 and under attend classes and romp on a playground near the Denka Performance Elastomer plant once owned by DuPont. The plant emits a hazardous pollutant called chloroprene, which the EPA identifies “a likely human carcinogen” that can cause rapid heartbeats, gastrointestinal disorders, dermatitis, temporary hair loss and corneal damage. The census tract containing the school has an overall cancer rate that is 25 percent higher than the state average, according to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, which filed a class-action lawsuit against the St. John the Baptist Parish School Board on behalf of its Black students. After the EPA determined in 2016 that anything above 0.2 micrograms of chloroprene per cubic meter was dangerous, Denka agreed to reduce emissions by 85 percent despite disagreeing with the finding. The company succeeded, according to a statement released in March. Denka said it also “developed a voluntary emission reduction program,” coordinated with the state, which was completed in 2017 “at a final cost of over $35 million.” Concerned Citizens of St. John head Robert Taylor, who sat beside Regan during the tour there, said the exposure of schoolchildren “infuriated and frightened” him. Read more ...
Nov 23, 2021
Dr. Beverly Wright talks to Black News Channel About Climate Change at COP26
Dr. Beverly Wright talks to the Black News Channel (BNC) about Climate Change Impacts in Cancer Alley at COP26
Oct 29, 2021
COVID-19 Vaccines and Variants Training
You Must Register to Attend! All COVID-19 vaccines and variants trainings are conducted by experts in public health and workplace safety. COVID-19 Vaccines and Variants Training Tuesday, November 9th @ 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm CT on Zoom To register, click here Repeated Tuesday, November 16th @ 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm CT on Zoom To register, click here Funded by:
Oct 13, 2021
COVID-19 Community Awareness Trainings
You Must Register to Attend! All Community Awareness Trainings are conducted by experts in community health and workplace safety. COVID-19 Community Awareness Trainings Tuesday, October 19th @ 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm CT on Zoom To register, click here Repeated Tuesday, October 26th @ 6:00 pm - 7"00 pm CT on Zoom To register, click here Funded by:
Oct 11, 2021
What No One is Talking About in the Wake of Hurricanes and Oil Spills
Washington (CNN) Often, the damage that extreme weather or an environmental disaster inflicts on communities works as a one-two punch. The first punch: the actual event -- an oil spill, a hurricane, a winter storm, the lethal heat that scorched parts of the US as recently as a couple weeks ago. The second punch: the trauma that can persist long after the event is no more. It's this second punch that people tend to overlook or ignore. "I don't think that there's a misunderstanding that all communities are hit the same," Robert Bullard, a distinguished professor of urban planning and environmental policy at Texas Southern University, told CNN, referring to the fact that communities of color are disproportionately hurt by extreme weather. "But I do think that when the dust clears, not enough attention is given to the post-disaster trauma that exists after the headlines are gone." Read more ...
Oct 11, 2021
Climate Change's Uneven Impact on Communities of Color Compounded by Uneven Flow of Aid
PBS News Hour - Hurricane Ida survivors are still facing a difficult road ahead, nearly six weeks after it battered Louisiana as a Category 4 storm. And in Lake Charles, Louisiana, thousands are still waiting for relief from a string of natural disasters that began more than a year ago. Some say it shows the climate change's disproportionate toll on low-income communities. Read more
Sep 14, 2021
Energy & Justice in New Orleans: Power to People!
Today, the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice (DSCEJ) and partner organizations in the Energy Future New Orleans coalition filed a motion for the City Council to hold Entergy accountable by ordering 1. a full investigation of Entergy's massive power outage that contributed to the deaths of 12 New Orleans residents; 2. an independent management audit of Entergy companies; 3. a thorough examination of the costs Entergy bills New Orleans customers for the new gas plant sited near Black and Vietnamese American residents in New Orleans East that did not work on its own, as Entergy claimed to win Council approval for it. DSCEJ’s commitment to environmental justice led us to oppose the gas plant based on our research and analysis of the data and facts showing Entergy did none of the following: implement best practices on site selection criteria to protect communities from the gas plant pollution, evaluate alternative energy options ordered by the City Council, and provide a credible reason for the gas plant. We have since worked on the alternative energy options by supporting a local policy for community solar projects, coordinating the Climate Action Equity Project, and advocating for a renewable portfolio standard. In the aftermath of Hurricane Ida, what worked was rooftop solar with battery storage. What did not work was dirty energy. Join DSCEJ in calling on the City Council to hold Entergy accountable and build an energy system that works for everyone. Let’s expand solar energy with battery storage at places that serve the public and in neighborhoods that are most vulnerable to climate change, where Entergy bills hit residents the hardest with the one of the highest energy cost burdens in the nation. Power to the people without delay! Download Motion for City Council to hold Entergy accountable ...
Sep 8, 2021
Deep South Center for Environmental Justice Receives $4 Million From Bezos Earth Fund to Support Justice40 Initiative
CONTACT: Dana Johnson, 1-773-495-1677, media@dscej.org NEW ORLEANS, LA (September 8, 2021) - Today the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice (DSCEJ) announced it has received $4 million from the Bezos Earth Fund to support its Activating Justice40: The Justice40 Community Engagement Project. This project will leverage the Communiversity Model developed by DSCEJ Founder and Executive Director, Dr. Beverly Wright, to support community-based organizations (CBOs) and environmental justice (EJ) groups in the local implementation of Justice40. The Justice40 Initiative was announced by President Joe Biden as part of his whole-of-government approach to embedding environmental justice in the operations of the federal government. It requires that historically disadvantaged communities receive 40 percent of the overall benefits of federal investments in the areas of clean energy and energy efficiency; clean transit; affordable and sustainable housing; training and workforce development; the remediation and reduction of legacy pollution; and the development of critical clean water infrastructure. “We are excited to receive funding from the Bezos Earth Fund to support our Justice40 Community Engagement Project,” said Dr. Wright. “For more than 30 years, we have been dedicated to building the capacity of community-based environmental justice organizations to engage in the decision-making process on issues that directly affect their quality of life. This is the first time that our funding acknowledges systemic racism and sufficiently invests, with monetary resources, in a way that will break through barriers that have historically denied equal access and protections for African Americans and other People of Color. We are grateful for this support and look forward to an ongoing partnership.” The Communiversity Model expands the knowledge and develops the capacities of CBOs and EJ-focused organizations to effectively engage in local decisions on the Justice40 Initiative. The Justice40 Engagement Project will support these groups in a way that elevates their voices in the development of state and local processes for directing the federal funding made available by the Justice40 Initiative, so that their communities are not overlooked or otherwise excluded from these benefits. Launched in 2020, the Bezos Earth Fund is a $10 billion commitment to fund scientists, activists, NGOs, and private-sector entities that are taking critical action to combat the climate crisis, preserve and protect the natural world, and support climate justice. The Deep South Center for Environmental Justice is dedicated to improving the lives of children and families harmed by pollution and vulnerable to climate change in the Gulf Coast Region through research, education, community, and student engagement for policy change, as well as health and safety training for environmental careers....
Sep 8, 2021
New Grants from the Bezos Earth Fund Emphasize Climate Justice
The Bezos Earth Fund announced pledges of $203.7 million in grants providing critical support to nonprofits working to advance climate justice, advocate for climate-smart economic recovery, and spur innovation in decarbonization pathways. This includes $73.7 million in immediate donations across 12 organizations, as well as a pledge of an additional $130 million by the end of 2021 to organizations supporting the Justice40 Initiative. "This funding is just the next step in the Bezos Earth Fund's commitment to creating catalytic change during this decisive decade," said Andrew Steer, president of the Bezos Earth Fund. "With each grant, we are helping organizations unblock progress and create pathways to a more sustainable future." Advancing Climate Justice The Bezos Earth Fund disbursed $20 million of the new grants across four climate justice groups, alongside a pledge of an additional $130 million by the end of 2021. Recipient organizations are creating the building blocks for Justice40 — a whole-of-government effort in the U.S. to deliver at least 40% of the overall benefits from federal investments in climate and clean energy to disadvantaged communities. Grantees include the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice ($4 million), the Partnership for Southern Equity ($6 million), the Robert D. Bullard Center for Environmental and Climate Justice at Texas Southern University ($4 million), and WE ACT for Environmental Justice ($6 million). These groups are increasing community access to the Justice40 decision-making process, encouraging front-line organizations to apply for Justice40 funding, assisting in the monitoring of implementation of Justice40 to local levels, and expanding a partnership with historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) into 12 southern states. Read more ...