Climate Justice Leaders Program

Climate Justice Leaders Program

The Just Transition Collaborative (JTC) established the Climate Justice Leaders (CJL) program, which aimed to develop leadership capability from impacted community members to contribute to more inclusive climate policy and projects. The CJL program was created in order to address the lack of a diverse representation in Boulder city and county sustainability efforts. Our pilot cohort consisted of 10 community leaders that represented communities of color, immigrants, youth, elders and low-income communities in the city and county of Boulder. Through the program CJLeaders were able to build capacity, share knowledge and develop strategies around ways to insure inclusive participation, policies and projects that pertain to sustainability and equity efforts.

CJA Board Two

Climate Justice Assembly

JTC coordinated the ‘Climate Justice Assembly’ (CJA). This included four workshops that brought together 35 diverse community leaders, including the Climate Justice Leaders, policy-makers (including the Mayor, City Council members and County Commissioners), NGO and university representatives to envision new forms of collaboration, policy and project action and assessment.

The work of the CJA explored three parts 1) inclusive policy practices and goals around sustainability in Boulder city and county that are important and relevant to underrepresented communities 2) identification of equity needs and barriers in policies and programs around the city and county of Boulder broadly and specific to green workforce development and transportation and 3) to engage in conversations about how power, identity and bias influence efforts that the city and county work on in regards to equity and sustainability. An orientation was facilitated for stakeholders to bring them up to speed with the work that the Leaders had engaged with and to get a better understanding of the work we would be doing as an Assembly.

CJA Board One

Peterson Jean

Peterson was borned and raised in Haiti and moved to Colorado in 2017. He joined the Climate Justice Leaders Program because he values community, the environment and justice. In Haiti, Peterson worked with organizations that built community through street cleaning, recycling and reforestation projects, he primarily worked on tree planting and educational efforts. He currently works as a construction worker and is very interested in exploring how to make the...

Adrien Seybert

Adrien is active in Boulder's Climate and Climate Justice initiatives. Her interest in eco-social justice issues started as a small child while watching her mom help gather local support for the Clean Air Act, Equal Rights Amendment and other national environmental initiatives. Later, as a high school freshman, she took a mandatory environmental studies class, which provided a deeper understanding of the issues. As a college student, she perused a...

Elizabeth Achulo

Elizabeth currently works for the University of Colorado at Boulder at the Campus Controller’s Office. She volunteers for a team called Foundations for Leaders Organizing for Water and Sustability (FLOWS) at the CU Environmental Center which pushed her to think more deeply about the issues that negatively impact our climate and it propelled her to join the Climate Justice Leaders Program. Through the program she learned that in order to...

Foster Goodwill

Foster is a 67 year old handyman who provides services in the manfactured homes community where he lives. He joined the Climate Justice Leaders Program to get involved and contribute to a more equitable future. Foster enjoys talking and thinking about climate issues and understands the importance of eco-social justice especially when it is clear that low-income families are often underrepresented in conversations that pertain to generating solutions. He is...

Andrea Nawage

Andrea Nawage is Native and despite being low-income, having a lack of institutional eduation and limited time - her desire is to make a change in this world pushed her to get involved with the Climate Justice Leaders program because of the huge opportunity it offered to empower the community to create change. She firmly believes that changes need to happen by working directly with people, especially marginalized communities, that...

Theresa Halsey

Theresa Halsey, a member of the Hunkpapa Lakota tribe decided to join the Cliamte Justice Leaders Program because of her passion for advocacy and justice. She has been involved in enviromental justice work since the 1970s when she participated in work and activism surrounding the closure of Rocky Flats. Throughout the years she has worked as an Indian educator and intervention coordinator for the Boulder Valley School District. She also...

Angela Maria Ortiz Roa

Angela is a Colombian native that migrated north in 2001. She is passionate about social justice, cultural diversity, and intersectional oppression and transformation which is why she decided to join the Climate Justice Leaders Program. Angela has formed herself as skilled language service provider (Spanish/English/American Sign Language) and in her short experience in this field she has gained a unique understanding around the community’s cultural and linguistic needs, and has...

Teagan Walker

Teagan graduated from Boulder High School in the spring of 2018 and is currently studying visual arts at the Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle. From a young age she was passionate about social justice and protecting our environment. As she began to learn more and more about social justice issues in the world, she realized how important it is to pay attention to the issues that impact individuals...

Andy Better

Andy is an aspiring entomolgist born in Miami Florida and raised in Boulder Colorado. He graduated from Boulder High School in the spring of 2018. During the fall of last year he took a gap year to travel and reaserch insects at the Mashpi Eco Lodge in the cloud forest of Ecuador. Andy is passionate about nature, conserving the environment and developing his knowledge of insects which motivated him to...

RECOMMENDATIONS: A JUST TRANSITION FOR BOULDER

The following are recommendations for Boulder City Council based on our initial research, initiatives and input from the Climate Justice Leaders:

INCLUSIVE PARTICIPATION

EQUITABLE AND INCLUSIVE POLICY TEMPLATE AND PROTOCOLS
- Generate a template for minimum standards and best practices by which equity considerations are integrated into planning, policies, and assessment.
- Increase communication between different City of Boulder organizational units in an effort to connect work relate to equity and sustainability.
- Increase willingness and practice of slowing down and listening to the needs of underrepresented communities.
LEADERSHIP CAPACITY BUILDING
- The City should support projects that build the capacity and leadership skills of underrepresented people to participate effectively in shaping the City’s approach to sustainability and equity. This could build upon the successes of the JTC’s Climate Justice Leaders program.
INCLUSIVE ENGAGEMENT FUND
- Build the capacity of community members directly impacted by environmental, economic and social problems and underrepresented in policy-making processes.
- Support underrepresented constituents to join all City governance boards and committees.
- Partner with the County to support efforts such as the People Engaged in Raising Leaders (PERL) program.
- Increase partnerships with organizations and communities that center equity.
- Provide relevant expertise on inclusive engagement, offer inclusivity and equity trainings, and review new plans and initiatives in relation to equity concerns.
- Make funding accessible without major time investment in the application process by relevant organizations that often have limited capacity and resources.
- Reach decisions with representation from directly impacted constituents.
INCLUSIVE EQUITY TRAINING FOR CITY STAFF AND REPRESENTATIVES
- Predictable long-term funding and a commitment to extending this work to all agencies, boards and commissions.
- Trainings that respond to the specific concerns of underrepresented agency members and constituents.
- Trainings that ensure that communications efforts appropriately center equity and sustainability from the beginning.
- Highly professional translation and interpretation staff.

INCLUSIVE PROJECTS AND POLICIES

JOB TRAINING FOR AN INCLUSIVE GREEN WORKFORCE
SUSTAINABLE AND RESILIENT LANDSCAPING
STRUCTURES FOR INCLUSIVE GREEN ENTREPRENEURSHIP
ROBUST WORKER PROTECTIONS AND A LIVING WAGE
HOUSING, TRANSPORTATION AND CHILDCARE REFORMS
A JUST TRANSITION INDEX

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Climate Justice Leaders Program

RECOMMENDATIONS: A JUST TRANSITION FOR BOULDER

INCLUSIVE PARTICIPATION

INCLUSIVE PROJECTS AND POLICIES

Follow the link to the the full executive summary of the recommendations.