Environmental & Housing Justice Platform (EHJP)

People’s Glossary of Environmental Justice and Planning Terms

To celebrate the release of our recent Environmental and Housing Justice Platform (EHJP), CEJA has produced a community-friendly glossary of environmental justice and planning terms to provide additional context and explanation for the values, policies, and principles presented in the platform. [More….]

CalEnviroScreen

Digging Deep on CalEnviroScreen

Caroline Farrell interviewed by Reimagine podcast producer Jess Clarke Jess Clarke:  What  does CalEnviroScreen (CES) mean? What is it currently used for? What does it do? Caroline Farrell: CalEnviroScreen is an environmental mapping tool that was developed by the state of California, specifically the Office [More….]

POLICY

Table 1. Case Studies: The Power of Community-Led Decision-Making

CEJA’s Rethinking Local Control Report highlights eight case studies to illustrate how community-led decision-making can lead to more effective policies, programs, and planning decisions that can create healthy and thriving neighborhoods. CASE STUDY ISSUES AND COMMUNITY IMPACT Local Community Campaigns A Community Fights against a [More….]

Los Angeles

CASE STUDY: Southeast LA Community Leaders Shut Down a Metal Recycling Facility

In Southeast Los Angeles, where industrial facilities are located next to homes and schools in a predominantly low-income and people of color neighborhood, local residents succeeded in shutting down a scrap metal recycling facility that had been polluting the neighborhood for years. Working alongside other [More….]

oil-well-in-field-shutterstock
POLICY

CASE STUDY:  Committee  for a Better Arvin — Oil and Gas Ordinance

In 2018, community leaders in Arvin pressured  city officials to pass an unprecedented, health- protective oil and gas ordinance, and used the  California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) in  litigation to protect residents from four new oil and  gas wells. Twenty miles southeast of Bakersfield,  Arvin [More….]

California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA)

CEQA and Housing Development in California

The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) is an important tool for advancing environmental justice (EJ) and protecting the rights of communities disproportionately impacted by pollution and poverty in our state. While CEQA “streamlining” policies have been viewed as the best way to address our state’s housing shortage, such ideas are based upon misleading narratives and misinformation. [More….]

Los Angeles

AB 1628: Redefining Environmental Justice for California

The people that are most equipped to transform toxic hotspots into healthy neighborhoods are the those who live in these areas that face these problems on a daily basis. Despite this, many frontline environmental justice (EJ) communities are often excluded and are denied from having a say in key environmental and land use decisions that impact their health. [More….]