Environmental & Social Justice

Fellow Story

Disadvantaged Communities Visioning Workshop

Across the prosperous state of California communities struggle to achieve clean, safe and affordable water in their taps and streams. Fellows Mike Antos and Carolina Balazs report on the outcome of a Switzer Network Innovation Grant aimed at providing the state's Department of Water Resources with policy and practice recommendations to ensure environmental justice is integrated into future funding and planning decisions.
April 6, 2015
Fellow Story

Groups urge Congress to fund social well-being, not fossil fuel industry; Hays quoted

A coalition of environmental and social justice groups has come together to declare collective disgust with the spending of billions of taxpayer dollars on unnecessary subsidies for the oil and gas industries when that same money could be used to improve the lives of millions if spent on social services, renewable energy investments, healthcare, and education. ...
January 30, 2015
Fellow Story

Morello-Frosch on how the EPA clean power rule could help communities of color

The EPA's proposed Clean Power Plan drew praise from environmental advocates who have long hoped that Washington would finally take action to limit greenhouse gas emissions and address the threat of climate change. Criticism, perhaps predictably, came from a combination of climate change deniers, coal-reliant communities worried about potential job loss, and business interests bemoaning possible higher energy costs.
January 14, 2015
Leadership Grant Grant

Shifting the Course of California Agricultural Policy

The California Institute for Rural Studies (CIRS) has hired Ildi Carlisle-Cummins for the newly created position of Director of the Cal Ag Roots Project. The concept for the Project was developed by Ildi, and will be launched by her and...
December 19, 2014
Foundation News

Webinar: Water Quality and Environmental Justice in the Central Valley

The Switzer Foundation seeks to protect, improve, and sustain our natural environment for the well-being of people and the planet. We have provided funding to 2009 Fellow Carolina Balazs for her ongoing work on historical inequalities in distribution of clean water to disadvantaged communities in California's agricultural Central Valley. Watch our recent webinar with Carolina, and read more about how her work has expanded recently to strengthen engagement between California’s Integrated Regional Water Management (IRWM) and communities facing environmental injustices.
November 19, 2014
Network Innovation Grant Grant

Environmental Justice and Water Management in California

Dr. Carolina Balazs, Post-doctoral researcher at UC Davis, and Mike Antos, Program Director for the Council for Watershed Health in Los Angeles, are involved in California's Integrated Regional Water Management (IRWM) program. This program...
October 23, 2014
Fellow Story

Osha named one of "West Virginia's Wonder Women"

Appalachian women have always been strong figures. These women bring that mountain spirit to everything from technology and manufacturing to activism and law, in every part of the state. West Virginia Focus celebrates them—and expresses Great Expectations for their up-and-coming sisters. ...
October 6, 2014
Fellow Story

Balazs on origins and persistence of drinking water disparities

From the American Journal of Public Health: The Drinking Water Disparities Framework: On the Origins and Persistence of Inequities in Exposure Carolina L. Balazs, PhD, and Isha Ray, PhDAt the time of research, both authors were with Energy and Resources Group, University of California, Berkeley. Contributors
September 24, 2014
Fellow Story

Living in a Toxic Environment

Why is Isella Ramirez’s environmental justice work so personal? She grew up in Commerce and, while she expresses her love for her community, she also knows first-hand what it is like living in a toxic environment. Situated in the midst of a major transportation hub, Isella, her 6-year old niece Citlalih, and neighbors are surrounded by the busy l-710 freeway that accommodates up to 260,000 cars and over 40,000 diesel trucks on a daily basis, rail yards, and blocks and blocks of industries reliant on the freeways and rail yards.
July 30, 2014
Fellow

Shrayas Jatkar

2014 Fellow
Shrayas joined the Equity, Climate, and Jobs team at the California Workforce Development Board in November 2017. His work includes overseeing a major study to the state legislature about economic and workforce development issues linked to...