The COVID-19 pandemic is an environmental justice crisis—it has exposed inequalities that have persisted in places across the country with decades of pollution.
“The potential for executive action to jumpstart the transition that we need — to reorient our democracy for democratic engagement and redress historic inequities — is huge.”
Rather than cutting funds for public needs while allowing police budgets to swell, cities, states, and the federal government must shift funding to the real priorities of communities.
The policy platform outlines actions that address environmental justice, just recovery from disasters, equity accounting in climate policy, and energy democracy.
Gulf Coast communities face the same environmental and racial injustices they faced during Hurricane Katrina—except now with the overlapping crises of COVID-19, economic collapse, and uprisings for Black Lives. Policy change must undo this injustice.
The winter storm disaster in Texas was a crisis fueled by a failure to address climate change and the influence of oil and gas companies in state and local politics.
Learn why the 6 policies of our Inclusive Democracy Agenda are critical to building power in Black and brown communities and how organizers are fighting to protect and strengthen our democracy.
"Although credit scores never formally take race into account, they draw on data about personal borrowing and payment history that is shaped by generations of discriminatory public policies and corporate practices that limit access to wealth for Black and Latinx families."
Congress must act swiftly to advance this pro-democracy legislation. The Freedom To Vote Act is a significant structural voting rights reform package that advances racial equity and moves us toward an inclusive democracy.
"The Freedom to Vote Act — the most significant voting rights bill in generations — would be a giant step toward our goal of creating a just, inclusive, multiracial democracy."
The Build Back Better Act would dramatically help working people and families. Now, the passage of this once-in-a-lifetime framework is in the hands of a few legislators who are beholden to corporations and the ultrarich.
"For the sake of millions — people watching their rents go up while their wages don’t, parents who need support in tackling the ever-rising cost of child care, and seniors who regularly must decide whether they can afford their bills or their pills — the Senate must pass this legislation.”
Organizers from the Texas Organizing Project (TOP) have been working to change the balance of power in the county to ensure a more equitable distribution of disaster funding, so that the people most impacted by climate change have the most say in how that funding is spent.