About:

In 2021, President Biden established the Justice40 Initiative to advance environmental justice and spur economic opportunity for disadvantaged communities. Justice40 is a whole-of-government effort to ensure that Federal agencies work with states and local communities to make good on President Biden’s promise to deliver at least 40 percent of the overall benefits from Federal investments in climate and clean energy to disadvantaged communities. 
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Although Justice40 holds the potential to strategically invest in communities that have historically been environmentally and economically left behind by infrastructure redlining in the past, it’s going to take more than money. The Administration must create the conditions for the infrastructure dollars to be spent equitably and actually reach historically marginalized communities, including the need for greater accountability and transparency of federal agencies charged with distributing and investing funds.

History has shown that too often projects intended to benefit our communities never reach us. Thus, the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice, along with our partner the Bullard Center for Environmental and Climate Justice at Texas Southern University, will launch a Justice 40 Community Engagement Project that will build the capacity of communities through education and training to participate in the “just” implementation of Justice40.

We have designed this project using the collaborative insight of hard-learned lessons from our decades-long history of research, education and community engagement work to document, address and bring change through our struggle for Environmental Justice.

Strategic Leadership Team: 

These environmental justice pioneers currently serve on the The White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council (WHEJAC). 

• Dr. Beverly Wright, Founder & Executive Director, Deep South Center for Environmental Justice
• Dr. Robert Bullard, Founder & Executive Director, Bullard Center for Environmental and Climate Justice, Texas Southern University

Resources:

DSCEJ Justice40 Events Timeline:

⇒ March 2023

March 20 - 22, 2023
Location TBD
Convening of Justice40 Hub Leaders and Community Based Organization Representatives
Houston, TX
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⇒ February 2023

February 22 - 25, 2023
NOPSI HOTEL, New Orleans, Louisiana
Convening of Justice40 Hub Leaders and Community Based Organization Representatives
New Orleans, LA

⇒ August 2022

August 22 - 23, 2022
NOPSI HOTEL, New Orleans, Louisiana

FIRST Convening to discuss Justice40 Project in ACTION - New Orleans, LA
The project is designed to build a grassroots infrastructure that will support community-based organizations (CBOs) and Environmental Justice groups to advocate for:

• thoughtful, transparent and sustained stakeholder engagement, 
• the identification and dismantling of bias and systemic racism embedded in programs; and 
• the use of federal investment to reduce pollution in environmental justice communities.

Together with our partner organizations WE ACT for Environmental Justice and The Bullard Center for Environemental Justice at Texas Southern University, we welcomed over 100 participants from 21 states, throughout the U.S., representing over 30 community-based organizations and supporting organizations.

⇒ April 2022

Justice40 Implementation Announcement and Eighth Annual HBCU Climate Change Conference

Contact Us:

If you have additonal questions, please contact us at justice40 at dscej dot org.