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APEN has leveraged the trust it has built serving members of the Asian American community to adapt quickly to their needs during the pandemic. (Photo courtesy of Asian Pacific Environmental Network)
A few years ago, the Asian Pacific Environmental Network (APEN), a Bay Area environmental justice organization focusing on Asian immigrant and refugee communities, set aside 20 percent of staff time to address emergency situations.
That paid off when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Network staff launched an information campaign, calling members to disseminate accurate information and ascertain community needs.
APEN’s rich history in Richmond and Oakland enabled its fast and trusted response to the pandemic, demonstrating the importance of community organizations during crises. The network works primarily with low-income and working class Asian American immigrants and refugees, where trust and solidarity is not a given.
How The Asian Pacific Environmental Network Built Trust Through Decades Of Organizing
Bay City News Service
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Bay City News Foundation
A few years ago, the Asian Pacific Environmental Network (APEN), a Bay Area environmental justice organization focusing on Asian immigrant and refugee communities, set aside 20 percent of staff time to address emergency situations.
That paid off when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Network staff launched an information campaign, calling members to disseminate accurate information and ascertain community needs.
APEN s rich history in Richmond and Oakland enabled its fast and trusted response to the pandemic, demonstrating the importance of community organizations during crises. The network works primarily with low-income and working class Asian American immigrants and refugees, where trust and solidarity is not a given.
22 Dec 2020
The same people who backed and took part in protests in cities across the United States in the name of racial justice are now pressuring President-elect Joe Biden to reward them for their votes with positions in his administration.
“There was a mandate,” Gladys Limón, executive director of California Environmental Justice Alliance, told the
San Francisco Chronicle. “This is a litmus test.”
Biden’s first pick, for example, to head the Environmental Protection Agency, Mary Nichols, who is the head of the California Air Resources Board, drew opposition from this sector of Biden supporters.
“It’s encouraging that President-elect Biden appears to have listened to the concerns of the environmental justice advocates who reminded him of his campaign promises,” Limón said.
Racial justice advocates flex power, ask Biden to do more than check the box
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California Air Resources Board Chair Mary Nichols, shown with Gov. Gavin Newsom last year, was President-elect Joe Biden’s favorite to lead the Environmental Protection Agency. After protests over her record on environmental justice, Biden nominated Michael Regan, a Black man.Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press 2019Show MoreShow Less
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Michael Regan, who has focused on justice as North Carolina’s top environmental official, would be the first Black man to head the EPA
The racial justice movement that packed the streets of scores of U.S. cities last summer is flexing its muscle now to influence President-elect Joe Biden’s Cabinet picks and potentially a high-profile appointment that Gov. Gavin Newsom will soon make.
Can California’s cap and trade address environmental justice? Julia Rosen Wed, 12/16/2020 – 01:30 Growing up in North Richmond, California, Denny Khamphanthong didn’t think much of the siren that wailed once a month at 11 a.m. every first Wednesday. The alarm is a test of the community’s emergency warning system, which has alerted residents to numerous incidents over the years at the nearby Chevron oil refinery. One accident there a 2012 fire sent a cloud of black smoke billowing over San Francisco Bay and left thousands of local residents struggling to breathe. Now, when Khamphanthong explains the sound to his young nieces, he sees the fear in their eyes. “I forget that this isn’t normal,” he says. Nor is the fact that Khamphanthong and most of his childhood friends carried inhalers. Richmond, a diverse, industrial city where housing prices and incomes have lagged behind its Bay Area neighbors, has poor air quality and some of the highest rates of respiratory