Educational, green spaces like The Strawberry Mansion-Blaine Elementary Environmental Center provide food, gathering, education, and social advocacy support community healing and encourage youth engagement. The environmental provides vital science, math, technology, art, and engineering education through an agricultural lens. Blaine students deserve access to environmental spaces that enhance their everyday learning and provide new avenues for study.

For decades, the petrochemical industry has been an environmental and public health concern for communities in Texas, Louisiana and the Ohio River Valley, where many of these facilities are located. But the industry's expansion brings those concerns to the backyards of millions of Americans. After the most recent freight train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, officials are still releasing lists of carcinogenic chemicals that have tainted the community's air, making it difficult to breathe. Chemicals from the derailment have spilled into the Ohio River, affecting the water supply for 25 million people in the region. From the discovery of toxic chemicals in St. James Parish, Louisiana, to the cancer cluster discovered in Houston’s Fifth Ward, we’ve seen what happens when the government allows private corporations in the petrochemical industry to operate unchecked for the sake of profit. Time and time again, the EPA’s refusal to regulate this industry — or to place sanctions on the corporations that operate negligently — has led to countless ecological disasters, which often take their greatest toll on the health of Black and low-income communities. These communities then are left with few resources or recourse once their homes suddenly are made dangerous and unlivable, and even fewer options once the news cameras leave. That’s why we know that the lack of regulation that allowed a corporation to endanger the health of East Palestine’s residents is the same lack of regulation that will continue to lead to the loss of countless lives in vulnerable communities across the nation if we do not take action. We must make a commitment to halt the unnecessary expansion of the petrochemical industry now. The communities affected by the Norfolk Southern derailment deserve answers and accountability. No one from the petrochemical industry showed up at a recent town hall to address these community concerns in East Palestine, Ohio. And it remains unclear which corporation is responsible for the chemicals being transported by Norfolk Southern, the rail company responsible for the derailment. Residents hope to get some answers when environmental activist Erin Brockovich and civil litigator Mikal C. Watts address a town hall on Friday, Feb. 24, at East Palestine High School. We must stop the expansion of this industry and move beyond petrochemicals. Sign this petition and join our movement today.

At Red Balloon, we strive to serve any and every family that wants to join our community. We do not turn children away based on factors such as disability status or neurotypical development. We serve an economically and ethnically diverse community; we serve the families of immigrants and those new to New York or the United States. Among our community, Polish, Spanish, Mandarin, French, Italian, Hebrew and Hindi are some of the languages spoken at home. We serve the families of graduate students, adjunct professors, essential workers, rank-and-file Columbia staff and members of the Harlem and Morningside Heights communities. We are urging Columbia to extend our lease and let Red Balloon continue its mission to educate children and support working families.

These are the types of situations that make black women feel like our lives are less valuable in this country. The agencies that are supposed to be specifically dedicated to these issues, and keeping us safe, have either failed us, or perhaps that was never their purpose or intention. The fact that they all fall short in even properly, acknowledging or investigating these instances that are putting our lives in danger, is something we need to speak on, and bring into the forefront of the conversation. We need to put pressure on those in charge with the ability to make change. The best way to do that these days is to expose the truth, and shame them into action. There is so much concern and outrage in this country about mistreatment of specific groups. It doesn't seem like much of this is ever concerned with black women specifically. There are a number of struggles and challenges that we are statistically more likely to encounter. Though racial bias in medicine affects both men and women, studies have shown that black women are disproportionately affected by it. We are always assumed to be strong and unbreakable and capable of fixing or surviving everything on our own, and never in need of help. It is time we start helping black women and talk about all the groups affected, and not just the most camera worthy. We need to take action before our loved ones are filing a wrongful death suit. We are still dying here, in our own country, with insurance, with education; just being denied to death, and no one is even talking about it. More of us are killed by doctors than police, and we need to do something.

in the past, BLACKS could NOT own Property. Then, when the laws appeared to change, the BANKS RED-LINED Ownership. Now - the City Governments are Creating FALSE CASES to take BLACK PROPERTY OWNERS and ILLEGALLY TAKING their Properties. In the case of Ms. Kihagi, the smear campaign that represented her as Black Slumlord is so far from the truth. Yet - knowing most people would NOT get past that PR Machine - the City derailed the Truth. The San Francisco City Attorney made more than 20 misrepresentations to the Court with full knowledge of the actual facts. This is total abuse of power - and should be stopped! In fact, the TRUE MOTIVE for such conduct was to RACIAL DERAIL a successful, black landlord. More than $25million is at stake. It is clear that the 2 major cases in San Francisco have been against successful, BLACK Landlords - is this a Coincidence? They spent over 70% of their resources fighting one lone, black landlord and lied to the public that she was a slumlord. Yet the BUILDINGS are in better condition than 90% of S.F. Condo. EYES DON'T LIE. STOP DIRTY CITY ATTORNEYS - see more articles at annekihagisf.com

It’s happening again. Fiat-Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) is expanding in Detroit and has only agreed to commit $8.8 million in “community benefits” for a plant they are receiving a whopping $420 million in public tax abatements to expand. The worst part? This multi-billion-dollar company has failed to follow through on even the smallest commitments it has made thus far to the majority-Black community it claims to want to support. As part of the community benefits agreement it signed in April 2019 in order to receive the tax abatements, Chrysler agreed to renovate nearly 60 homes on Beniteau, the street closest to the project. Most of these homes are owned by Black, elderly, long-time residents. To date, they have renovated fewer than 5 of those houses. We must be clear about what this means. Not only does Chrysler think it’s acceptable to set aside less than 3% of the public funding it is receiving from the government for the benefit of the community, but it is refusing to be accountable to even the paltry promises its leadership has made to our people. Now, it is time for Chrysler to step up and work in cooperation with the people of Detroit to negotiate community protections that reflect the real health and environmental risks to Black Detroiters that Chrysler’s expansion has brought with it. We’ve long known that pollution takes its greatest toll on the health of Black communities, who are often left with few resources or recourse. That has never felt clearer than in the middle of a global pandemic, as politicians, corporations, and the healthcare system alike continue to make decisions that mean that Black people are contracting and dying of COVID-19 at higher rates than almost every other group in the country. Chrysler’s leadership, which has managed to find a way to offset increased emissions in its suburban plant, but has failed to provide a clear plan for how it will handle the increase in emissions in a neighborhood that is majority Black, is no exception. A national study links long-term exposure to air pollution and COVID-19 mortality. In the U.S., Black children suffer disproportionately from asthma, and are seven to eight times more likely to die of asthma than white children. Communities of color face nearly 40% more exposure to toxic air pollution than white communities. From Louisiana’s ‘Cancer Alley’ to the recently discovered cancer cluster in Houston’s Fifth Ward, we know why mega-companies like Chrysler feel comfortable making decisions that place Black people in close proximity to pollution and other environmental hazards. Chrysler is counting on environmental racism to avoid taking responsibility for their actions. We can’t let them. After George Floyd was murdered, Chrysler CEO, Michael Manley, sent an email to employees claiming that he “emphatically rejects the prejudice and hatred” Black Americans still face in this country. But the fact is, Chrysler bears a huge responsibility for the environmental violence, harm, and discrimination against Black people in Detroit, and is still actively profiting from that violence to this day. We deserve more than lip service from a company that has relied on us as both workers and funders for generations. We, the people, say NO to corporations and CEOs that claim Black lives matter in one breath while supporting our destruction in the next. Residents closest to the plant on Beniteau Street and others across the Eastside of the city, along with Detroit People's Platform have worked hard to bring these critical issues to the attention of local officials and Chrysler leadership with no success. Now, we need your voices to make sure Chrysler knows they must deal with the community in order to benefit from our public tax dollars. Sign our petition today and make sure Chrysler knows they must deal with the real Detroit if they want to keep building in our community.

At DoSomething.org, the largest tech nonprofit for young people and social change, 24 current staffers walked out of work on September 8, pledging not to return to work until CEO, Aria Finger, resigns. In addition to halting work, staff members shared two letters outlining the failures of Finger’s leadership. Finger returned to DoSomething, after a leave of absence, despite stories of negligence, racial abuse, and discrimination perpetuated by her and her leadership. You can read the stories of trauma that staffers have shared and more updates on the walkout on Twitter or Instagram @DoSomethingEQ Aria and the Board of Directors have not recognized this group of staffers and the walkout. The staffers participating in the walkout comprise 100% of the fundraising and marketing teams and all but 1 member of the campaigns team -- the entire external facing staff that serves DoSomething’s mission. Staffers didn’t walk out on the mission, staffers walked out for the mission. Young people deserve a DoSomething that treats its employees with the same values and beliefs that they preach.

The renaming of Campbell Hall (which now houses the Academic Advancement Program which has, over the years, served thousands of students of color) would offer at least a small gesture of respect towards Carter and Huggins, two promising young Black activists cut down in their prime. They died while working toward a future for Black students on campus. Since their deaths and the university's continued deafening silence on the issue, UCLA has not widened the "circle of we" to include Black students. Today only 3.0% of UCLA students are Black. Of those, 65% of Black male students are athletes. Had Bunchy Carter and John Huggins lived and had the upheavals of the 60s and 70s yielded the kind of radical correction which they were fighting for, the University would be a very different place today. It is time to finally acknowledge these students and Say Their Names!

The Cultural New Deal for Cultural and Racial Justice is a call for us to transform our personal, institutional, and global thinking. We believe that culture moves before policy. We believe that culture endures beyond politics. We wrote this Call because our work in culture and arts is inextricably linked to larger social movements for change. We invite you to adopt and adapt this Call to your specific contexts to hold leaders, policy-makers, and institutions — and ourselves — responsible, accountable, and transparent in achieving equity and justice. In these unprecedented times, as justice movements converge, many of us have asked ourselves what the stakes are for the culture we want to advance. We concluded that we needed to change the conditions under which we artists and culture bearers labor and live. The Cultural New Deal for Cultural and Racial Justice points us toward new understandings of how we together can build a culture that is inclusive, sustainable, and leads us toward justice and freedom for all. We urge timetables that are immediate and demonstrate change that is not aspirational, but concrete, measurable and visible within 1-3 budget cycles. We offer this Call in the spirit of advancing accountability and collective responsibility, and urge you to activate these ideas within your work and our shared future. // El Nuevo Trato Cultural para la Justicia Cultural y Racial es una convocatoria para que transformemos nuestro modo de pensar personal, institucional y global. Creemos que la cultura cambia antes que la política. Creemos que la cultura perdura más allá de la política. Escribimos este llamado porque nuestro trabajo dentro de la cultura y las artes está inextricablemente entrelazado con los movimientos sociales para el cambio. Les invitamos a adoptar y adaptar este Llamado para sus contextos particulares para responsabilizar a líderes, creadores de políticas e instituciones, al igual que nosotres mismes, por lograr la equidad y la justicia de forma responsable y transparente. En estos tiempos sin precedentes, conforme convergen los movimientos por la justicia, muches de nosotres nos hemos preguntado qué está en juego para la cultura que queremos avanzar. Hemos concluido que tenemos que cambiar las condiciones bajo las cuales nosotres les artistas y portadores de cultura trabajamos y vivimos. El Nuevo Trato Cultural para la Justicia Cultural y Racial nos dirige hacia nuevos entendimientos sobre cómo, juntos, podemos crear una cultura que es inclusiva, sustentable y que nos lleva hacía la justicia y la liberación para todes. Exigimos cronogramas que son inmediatos y que demuestran un cambio que no es aspiracional y que, más bien, es concreto, medible y visible dentro de 1 a 3 ciclos presupuestarios. Ofrecemos este Llamado en aras de avanzar la transparencia y la responsabilidad colectiva y urgimos que activen estas ideas dentro de su trabajo y dentro de nuestro futuro compartido.

On January 19th our Love Without Reason (LaRayia’s Bodega) Community was heart broken to discover 3 year old Talia Cook, (known to our community as Bodega Baby T) was brutally murdered while in the care of Loraine Washington who is free walking the streets of Downtown Los Angeles. We are demanding that the department of mental health bring resources to this case, by placing Loriane Washington in a facility for treatment. Since the event, the police had questioned her, received multiple stories from what happened to Talia, shortly afterward they released her. She is a mother of three, not only does this put her children at risk, it’s also putting people experiencing homelessness and the rest of society in jeopardy.

Sodexo is a billion-dollar company operating internationally, despite being infamous for taking advantage of marginalized and isolated populations in countries around the world. Sodexo hires impoverished people and offers no benefits, wages as low as 33 cents, harmful work conditions, among many other human rights violations. Most shockingly, Sodexo profits off private prisons and immigration detention centers. Large corporations in America often profit from prisons by using prisoners for FREE LABOR. This means, our form of punishment is making criminals drive our capitalistic society. “For every person who is in prison, companies get money,” said Dr. Marilou Marcillo, business ethics professor, “If a prison’s profit derives from the number of people who are incarcerated, they’re going to look for ways to incarcerate more people, not rehabilitate them.” The Prison Industrial Complex (PIC) sums up the narrative that companies view mass incarceration as opportunity. The PIC means people with racial, social, and economic privileges will remain at the top while lower classes will remain in endless cycles of poverty and incarceration. Students at Scripps College thoroughly researched Sodexo and held their college accountable, resulting in Scripps terminating its contract. The following is a website created by the students detailing the issue and their initiative: https://dropsodexo.wordpress.com/ge/ Using local vendors can provide higher quality food that can actually save the college money, as outlined in this study detailing the steps Pomona College took to shift from Sodexo to “self-operated dining services”: https://tsl.news/news1733/ Sodexo Justice Services, a subsidiary of Sodexo, controls the total operation of five prisons in England and Scotland. (source: https://uk.sodexo.com/home/your-industry/justice/services-in-prisons.html) This source details the repeated cases of abuse, neglect, and torture in prisons operated by Sodexo: https://investigate.afsc.org/company/sodexo The investigation also reveals that as of 2017 Sodexo’s website revealed that it had operations in 22 prisons across eight countries. These operations often included “community corrections”, a vague title for operations that should have been conducted by the prison, instead of an outside company. These issues are not solely prevalent abroad, as Sodexo workers in the US typically live below the poverty line. For instance, after working in the cafeteria at Tulane University in New Orleans for forty years, one Sodexo worker still makes less than $10.00 per hour. ‘I’m a proud woman, so I’m going to do my job no matter what they tell me to do,’ she says, ‘but this isn’t fair.’” More examples of Sodexo's corrupt prisons: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3910000/Living-bars-Inmates-binge-alcohol-drugs-cell-party-shocking-video.html#ixzz4XkGV2866 http://www.thepauwwow.org/news/inside-sodexo-s-relationship-with-the-private-prison-system/article_9517c1b4-fb55-11e9-b226-1797ad91a09a.html Examples of its human rights violations: • Awful and unsafe factory conditions • Failure to accommodate worker's medical conditions • Separate and unequal treatment • Severely underpaid workers ($0.33/hour) • Not paying workers for all hours worked • Inaccurately labeling workers as seasonal to avoid providing benefits • Prohibits worker’s Right to Association (ability to form unions) Around the world, Sodexo’s workers argue that its employment practices violate their human rights. Sodexo routinely hires poor and undereducated workers who are often geographically isolated, pays them low wages, and at times, reportedly fails to pay in full for hours worked including overtime pay. Sodexo employees reported being denied breaks during the day as well as being docked pay for meals they cannot eat due to an immense workload. The business model Sodexo employs keeps workers poor and locks their communities into seemingly endless cycles of poverty. This study details all the issues outlined above through employee interviews conducted nationally: http://news.emory.edu/special/workforce_and_labor/documents/transafrica_report.pdf Feel free to ask me any questions or contact me if you want to get more involved: [email protected]

The University of Washington prides itself on diversity which barely exist at the institution. After numerous conversations between President Ana Marie Cauce and the Black Student Union about our experiences and how we can better improve the diversity at this university, President Cauce has overlooked our experiences and refuses to take the actions necessary to making BIPOC students feel safe and welcome on campus. We have had enough. Thus Black Students will work together with faculty, allies and local activist to ensure that our demands are met. Below are brief descriptions of each demand: 1. BREAK ALL TIES WITH SPD. Both formal and informal in the form of contracts, agreements, and MOUs. We suggest taking the following steps: a. Immediately stop handing over people detained by UW Police Department to SPD custody b. Stop using SPD to respond to public safety needs, including referrals for welfare checks under the Safe Campus program. c. Stop using SPD for additional security for any events, including sporting events, concerts, and ceremonies. 2. DISARM AND DIVEST FROM UWPD. Arming UWPD officers is excessive and unnecessary. Black students are already traumatized by the violence perpetrated to Black individuals by the hands of police. Arming the UWPD only puts Black individuals in constant fear, worry and frankly more at risk. The use of police dogs must be banned. Many communities of color in the US associate police dogs with the terror of state violence. We need to divest from UWPD and reallocate those funds into our community 3. ALLOCATE FUNDS TO BLACK RSO’S AND THE AMERICAN ETHNIC STUDIES DEPARTMENT. Instead of spending a ridiculous amount of money on UWPD, the University of Washington should invest in departments/resources that cater to the needs of its black students. It should not be students' jobs to spend out of pocket money to make students more comfortable, and or raise money for scholarships for its students. There also needs to be an increase in funding for the AES departments. This would not only help students have more resources and to help expand their learning, but increase the pay for the faculty who work in those departments. 4. HIRE MORE BLACK FACULTY. According to the Diversity Metrics Data Book by the Board of Regents, as of 2018, 68% of faculty is white, while 1.7% is Black. This statistic is embarrassingly low for an institution that prides itself on diversity and equity. The demand for more Black faculty dates back to 1968, with the first year of the Black Student Union here at the University of Washington. Today, 52 years later, this demand has not only been ignored, but is still necessary with the growing population of the UW. The lack of representation of Black faculty not only prevents students from having role models who they can relate to, but it sends a subtle message that only white people are capable of teaching at a higher level, which is simply, untrue. 5. INCREASE THE DIVERSITY CREDIT REQUIREMENT AND MAKE AFRICAN STUDIES A MAJOR. The current diversity requirement for UW students is 5 credits. Again, for an institution that prides itself on diversity, this is embarrassingly low. One 5 credit class will not provide students with enough historical background to enter the world an anti-racist. Students must be exposed to the atrocities that have been committed upon Black and brown folks, and how these communities are impacted to this day. Finally, African Studies should not only be an option for a minor, but a major. It is unjust that there is a major for Asian Studies, European Studies, and Latin American Studies, but not African Studies. 6. REMOVE STATUES OF RACIST FIGURES. Statues in place at the University of Washington are preservers of our dark past. The George Washington statue, in particular, symbolizes a man who owned over 300 Black slaves and profited from their labor. This is not a history that should be glorified and celebrated as it perpetuates white supremacy and preserves its historical imposition. Thus, the George Washington Statue, along with all others that symbolize racist figures, should be removed from the University of Washington. 7. FUND AND EXPAND MENTAL HEALTH RESOURCES FOR UW STUDENTS. Currently, the waiting time to talk to a mental therapist can be more than 3 consecutive weeks. For Black students, the detriment of such a long waiting time is exacerbated by the severe lack of Black therapists, who tend to understand and empathize with our experiences. It's been shown that Black students feel more comfortable talking with Black therapists as opposed to non-black ones; how can one Black therapist be enough for the population of Black students at UW and why should we have to wait for urgent mental issues? In addition, the students are limited from accessing mental health services as they are often costly and require insurance coverage, which may not be affordable for students. Thus, the University of Washington should expand and fund affordable services, along with hiring more Black therapists. #DownWithWashington #KeepThePressureOn #DisarmUWPD