environmental justice & diversity

February 2023 Executive Order on Advancing Racial Equity: How the Federal Government Got There and How UWLN has been Engaged in this Work

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The Urban Waters Learning Network (UWLN) and its members are happy to see this work continue. “It’s wonderful to have the recognition of what the country should be doing.” – Gloria McNair, Groundwork Jacksonville. We see that the executive orders relate to the work that the UWLN has been doing for years, particularly with the UWLN Equitable Development and Anti-Displacement Collaborative.

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Member Highlight – Araceli Eikenberry-Mancilla

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Araceli Eikenberry-Mancilla—Program Assistant for PCS—is a connector, educator, and creator in the Plaster Creek Watershed. In her second year as Program Assistant, Araceli continues her work inviting residents and other community stakeholders into a deeper understanding of their place in the larger story of Plaster Creek.

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Member Highlight – Paulina López

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Paulina López is a volunteer, organizer, advocate, and mother of three boys. Originally from Ecuador, she has made Seattle her home for 19 years. Presently, she is the Executive Director for the Duwamish River Community Coalition (DRCC), advocating for communities to have a voice in complex decision-making processes. Paulina has over 20 years of experience working to advance civil rights, social justice, equity, education, and diversity.

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Member Highlight: Daniel Joseph Wiley

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Daniel Joseph Wiley—a lifelong resident of Newark, NJ—works on housing policy with the Ironbound Community Corporation as the Housing Justice Program and Policy Manager, advocating for both housing and environmental justice in the East Ward of the city where rapid riverfront development threatens affordable housing.

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New Edition of Learners to Leaders: Environmental Justice Literacy Curriculum

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Groundwork Denver youth used the curriculum to identify and discuss a range of local environmental justice issues, including housing instability, water quality, food deserts, outdoor inaccessibility for youth, and pedestrian safety. Ultimately, they chose to work together to address the inaccessibility issue, and developed an outdoor recreational program for area youth.

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Groundwork at River Rally: Sharing the Art of a Place-Based Approach

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The various Groundwork Trusts comprise a network of community-based nonprofits. They work at the intersection of the environment, equity, and civic engagement by making tangible improvements to the natural and built environment, mainly in underserved and environmental justice communities.

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“Look for the Helpers”: The Living Cully Partnership

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The impacts of Living Cully’s work reflect the recurring theme that strong partnerships and effective community engagement are key strategies to addressing the impacts of gentrification and anti-displacement – a theme I’ve uncovered again and again during my research.

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Intention and Attention: Urban Waters Revitalization and Anti-Displacement Strategies

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This year, we are digging deeper into a topic that has been a concern of UWLN members for years: the gentrification and displacement of people that we see taking place in our urban communities, typically following efforts to revitalize and reinvest in the places we call home. This reinvestment can come in the form of the projects we pursue as part of our urban waters work.

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Laying the Groundwork for Environmental Justice Literacy: Learners to Leaders Curriculum

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As a network of grassroots organizations, Groundwork USA is deeply involved in environmental justice, both at the community and national levels. As an environmental organization that centers people and the places where they live, work, and play, we are continuing to develop educational tools and resources to aid other organizations in advancing their environmental justice work.

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Mayah's Lot cover photo

The Urban Waters Delegation: Working Together and Reaching Out

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To put it in my own words: One Water describes a holistic, interdisciplinary approach to water. It has to do with understanding the many different ways in which water is a necessary and vital part of our physical and cultural lives—and finding ways to work together to make clean water available to everyone as a basic human right.

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An Overview of River Rally 2018: What to Expect

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Every year, people from around the country and from every sector—academics, inventors and innovators, advocates, public servants, and general enthusiasts—attend River Network’s conference, called River Rally. Aside from being fun—with abundant nosh, beverages, outdoor field trips, and live entertainment—it is a veritable professional development powerhouse, with lots of opportunities to network with peers, learn about new tools and approaches, and connect with mentors.

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We are Nature: a Photographic Journey

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Through the Groundwork program, the students become stewards in their communities, reconnecting with nature and learning new aspects of themselves. To truly understand one’s place in this world and in nature is to experience it firsthand — to go outside and watch the sunset and see the mountain views. But if you can’t do that because you don’t have access or don’t know how, seeing it through a photograph is the next best thing. And viewing someone familiar who you can relate to, being a part of nature, connects you to nature as well.

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Local Knowledge: The Key to Restoring Proctor Creek

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Growing up in Savannah, GA, I always felt a strong tie to water. There was the Savannah River I would see when I would walk down River Street, the many bike rides to the marsh close to my house, and the countless trips to the beach for fun and with my school. These experiences created the foundation for me to pursue a career in water management. With each additional experience, I gained a greater appreciation for what was happening around me – much like a river’s flow increases with each tributary. Such powerful experiences can shape, not only who you are as a person, but who you become. They can shape how water resources are managed and conserved.

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Water as a Human Right: Public Health Research and Advocacy in Detroit

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As a community-based grassroots organization, We The People of Detroit (WPD) aims to inform, educate, and empower Detroit residents on imperative issues surrounding civil rights, land, water, education, and the democratic process. WPD has worked tenaciously with its network of volunteers to provide water to Detroit residents and advocate for a sustainable water future.

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Have You Cracked the Code to Engaging Youth? by Emily Simonson

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“You’re not only the future, you’re also the today,” Catherine Cushway tells her students.

I met Catherine and her ninth grade class from C.A. Frost Environmental Science Middle High School at Teen Rally. River Network hosted its first Teen Rally as part of their annual River Rally conference in Grand Rapids, MI. C.A. Frost students and Upward Bound students networked with professionals, toured the Grand River, and engaged in stewardship projects at Calvin College.

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A Community-Driven Cleanup: Restoring the Duwamish River by Hannah Kett

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DRCC/TAG takes the time and energy to build relationships, listen to the communities’ interests and needs, and collaborate with them to develop action plans that focus on empowering their voices and actions. This, in part, has enabled DRCC/TAG to leverage a $60,000 EPA Urban Waters Small Grant into close to $1.5 million invested in Duwamish Valley community priorities.

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Diversity for Vision and Leadership

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“Diversity and Inclusiveness” represents a growing movement, consisting of people from all walks of life, who recognize that we need representation from a larger variety of people, especially those who grew up experiencing the worst effects of environmental problems. This includes people of color, and people from low income backgrounds: those who come from rural and urban communities that have the least political representation, who deal every day with hazards related to contaminated homes, workplaces, playgrounds, and schools, and who are on the front lines of big issues like climate change.

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The Den in Africatown, AL