Upcoming events
- Youth Way Volunteer Night(event)(10 hours)
- Youth Way Volunteer Night(event)(6 days)
- TRU Campaign Committee Meeting(event)(6 days)
- Solar Road Trip(event)(6 days)
- TRU General Meeting(event)(20 days)
- Green Justice Coalition Community Forum(event)(21 days)
In the News
Read the latest news from ACE and our programs
Energy Efficiency And Job Creation: City’s “Renew Boston” Program To Receive Federal Stimulus Funding
August 27, 2010
by Dave Goodman, Open Media Boston
BOSTON/Dorchester - Standing before a home on Potosi Street in Dorchester, flanked by State officials and representatives of the electrical and gas utility companies that serve Boston, Mayor Thomas Menino yesterday announced that a city sponsored effort to increase commercial and residential energy efficiency would start accepting applications from homeowners and landlords.
[...]
All of which is seen as great news to community organizers working to blend economic development and environmental justice. In an interview following the Mayor’s announcement, Khalida Smalls, Organizing Director for the Roxbury-based organization Alternatives for Community and Environment (ACE), said “we’re really happy that Renew Boston is going to be up and running, and putting out these monies, and…talking about how they can help people pay those costs [of home energy improvements] and really doing on the ground outreach…
So what we’re hearing about Renew Boston and what [the program] is going to be doing is really positive.”
OMB Audio: ACE Organizing Director Khalida Smalls
. . . read more – 14 reads
by Dave Goodman, Open Media Boston
BOSTON/Dorchester - Standing before a home on Potosi Street in Dorchester, flanked by State officials and representatives of the electrical and gas utility companies that serve Boston, Mayor Thomas Menino yesterday announced that a city sponsored effort to increase commercial and residential energy efficiency would start accepting applications from homeowners and landlords.
[...]
All of which is seen as great news to community organizers working to blend economic development and environmental justice. In an interview following the Mayor’s announcement, Khalida Smalls, Organizing Director for the Roxbury-based organization Alternatives for Community and Environment (ACE), said “we’re really happy that Renew Boston is going to be up and running, and putting out these monies, and…talking about how they can help people pay those costs [of home energy improvements] and really doing on the ground outreach…
So what we’re hearing about Renew Boston and what [the program] is going to be doing is really positive.”
OMB Audio: ACE Organizing Director Khalida Smalls
. . . read more – 14 reads
Doing Green Jobs Right
August 26, 2010
By Amy B. Dean, The Nation
[...]
In October 2009, the Green Justice Coalition scored an important victory by getting environmental justice language inserted into Massachusetts's new, $1.4 billion energy efficiency plan, one of the first comprehensive plans in the nation. The plan takes steps to significantly reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. But compared to similar initiatives in other states, the provisions pushed by activists in Massachusetts will ensure that the plan has a far more direct impact on residents' lives. There will be a financing plan to make energy-saving home improvements more affordable. Many of the 23,300 jobs to be generated by the plan will go to contractors who pay decent wages and meet "high road" employment standards. Finally, four pilot programs across the state will test a radically new outreach model by going door to door and mobilizing low- and moderate-income families in building greener neighborhoods.
[...]
In Boston, activists are committed to using the state program to score a triple win: delivering a blow to global warming, creating jobs needed to fuel economic recovery and addressing the exclusion of racially and economically marginalized communities from green development. The Green Justice Coalition has built momentum around each of these goals.
[...]
The activists set out to demand that the state's new energy efficiency plan include a financing mechanism that would allow for broader access. Coalition members became a vocal presence at EEAC sessions. "The meetings had been dense, long, difficult to follow and already in progress," says Khalida Smalls, organizing director of Alternatives for Community and Environment in Roxbury, Massachusetts. "So they really got a jolt when we organized over 100 members of our organizations to come and sit in and testify. They'd never seen anything like that happen."
[...]
Today, even as the Boston activists seek to build on their successes and ensure that the state energy efficiency plan is implemented with environmental justice goals at the fore, they are envisioning future campaigns, from waste management to water quality. The labor movement's involvement in far-reaching community partnerships won't eliminate the need to organize specific workplaces and negotiate good contracts. But building regional power and reaching out to a wide range of allies will allow unions to re-envision the interests of their members. As Clauson says, "You see that the constructs separating people—you're either a worker, or you're a community member, or you're an environmentalist—these are artificial."
Khalida Smalls adds, "Our members are all of these. If we can reach the level of integration that these people are experiencing every day in their own lives, we've found a very powerful organizing model." . . . read more – 2 reads
By Amy B. Dean, The Nation
[...]
In October 2009, the Green Justice Coalition scored an important victory by getting environmental justice language inserted into Massachusetts's new, $1.4 billion energy efficiency plan, one of the first comprehensive plans in the nation. The plan takes steps to significantly reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. But compared to similar initiatives in other states, the provisions pushed by activists in Massachusetts will ensure that the plan has a far more direct impact on residents' lives. There will be a financing plan to make energy-saving home improvements more affordable. Many of the 23,300 jobs to be generated by the plan will go to contractors who pay decent wages and meet "high road" employment standards. Finally, four pilot programs across the state will test a radically new outreach model by going door to door and mobilizing low- and moderate-income families in building greener neighborhoods.
[...]
In Boston, activists are committed to using the state program to score a triple win: delivering a blow to global warming, creating jobs needed to fuel economic recovery and addressing the exclusion of racially and economically marginalized communities from green development. The Green Justice Coalition has built momentum around each of these goals.
[...]
The activists set out to demand that the state's new energy efficiency plan include a financing mechanism that would allow for broader access. Coalition members became a vocal presence at EEAC sessions. "The meetings had been dense, long, difficult to follow and already in progress," says Khalida Smalls, organizing director of Alternatives for Community and Environment in Roxbury, Massachusetts. "So they really got a jolt when we organized over 100 members of our organizations to come and sit in and testify. They'd never seen anything like that happen."
[...]
Today, even as the Boston activists seek to build on their successes and ensure that the state energy efficiency plan is implemented with environmental justice goals at the fore, they are envisioning future campaigns, from waste management to water quality. The labor movement's involvement in far-reaching community partnerships won't eliminate the need to organize specific workplaces and negotiate good contracts. But building regional power and reaching out to a wide range of allies will allow unions to re-envision the interests of their members. As Clauson says, "You see that the constructs separating people—you're either a worker, or you're a community member, or you're an environmentalist—these are artificial."
Khalida Smalls adds, "Our members are all of these. If we can reach the level of integration that these people are experiencing every day in their own lives, we've found a very powerful organizing model." . . . read more – 2 reads
Penn Loh: EJ and TJ
Now 2010 | June 14, 2010
By B. Jesse Clarke, Race, Poverty & the Environment
Clarke: Is that why you got a job with ACE when you got back to Boston?
Loh: Yes, I jumped at the opportunity to join an organization that was just getting off the ground. It was founded by two lawyers who had been inspired by people like Luke Cole. We were trying to figure out how we could bring legal and technical assistance to grassroots communities and support bottom-up movement building for social change. Our early issues dealt with asthma and air pollution—specifically diesel pollution.
We looked at the work WE ACT was doing in New York City and at what the Bus Riders’ Union was doing in Los Angeles to get a clean bus fleet and we recognized that we were facing exactly the same issues in Boston. So initially, we got into transportation issues from an environmental health standpoint. As we started to deepen our organizing in this area, we realized that we had tapped into a much bigger issue. The riders and folks in the community who relied on these buses every day didn’t see the diesel pollution issue as separate from all the other issues with transit. There was extreme pent up anger and frustration at the transit system. The bus riders felt like they were part of a second class system, as compared to the subways, which Boston touts as being world class. . . . read more – 80 reads
By B. Jesse Clarke, Race, Poverty & the Environment
Clarke: Is that why you got a job with ACE when you got back to Boston?
Loh: Yes, I jumped at the opportunity to join an organization that was just getting off the ground. It was founded by two lawyers who had been inspired by people like Luke Cole. We were trying to figure out how we could bring legal and technical assistance to grassroots communities and support bottom-up movement building for social change. Our early issues dealt with asthma and air pollution—specifically diesel pollution.
We looked at the work WE ACT was doing in New York City and at what the Bus Riders’ Union was doing in Los Angeles to get a clean bus fleet and we recognized that we were facing exactly the same issues in Boston. So initially, we got into transportation issues from an environmental health standpoint. As we started to deepen our organizing in this area, we realized that we had tapped into a much bigger issue. The riders and folks in the community who relied on these buses every day didn’t see the diesel pollution issue as separate from all the other issues with transit. There was extreme pent up anger and frustration at the transit system. The bus riders felt like they were part of a second class system, as compared to the subways, which Boston touts as being world class. . . . read more – 80 reads
TRU stands with workers at Keep America Moving rally
Basic Black: Bullying, Environmental Justice
April 22, 2010
By Basic Black
Check out ACE Executive Director Kalila Barnett on Basic Black, talking about solutions to youth problems like bullying, the impacts of environmental racism and benefits to communities of color in the green economy!
By Basic Black
Check out ACE Executive Director Kalila Barnett on Basic Black, talking about solutions to youth problems like bullying, the impacts of environmental racism and benefits to communities of color in the green economy!
Towards “Justainability”: A Colored Perspective on the Green Economy
April 22, 2010
By Penn Loh, Professor, Tuffs University and
Kalila Barnett, ACE Executive Director
Green is “in” and here to stay. Not even the most powerful political and economic players can ignore the risks of climate change. In fact, the largest companies in the world have positioned themselves as our saviors in ushering in the green economy. But the question is, how much change does green really demand? Can sustainability efforts truly succeed without addressing racial and economic injustice? . . . read more – 122 reads
By Penn Loh, Professor, Tuffs University and
Kalila Barnett, ACE Executive Director
Green is “in” and here to stay. Not even the most powerful political and economic players can ignore the risks of climate change. In fact, the largest companies in the world have positioned themselves as our saviors in ushering in the green economy. But the question is, how much change does green really demand? Can sustainability efforts truly succeed without addressing racial and economic injustice? . . . read more – 122 reads
Green Justice Coalition Report Calls for Mass. Green Jobs to Be Good Jobs
March 22, 2010
By Jason Pramas, Open Media Boston
BOSTON/State House - Over 75 people gathered in State House Room 437 on Tuesday for a press conference called by the Green Justice Coalition - the Massachusetts affiliate of the Apollo Alliance - to announce the release of a new report, "An Industry at the Crossroads: Energy Efficiency Employment in Massachusetts."
[...]
Kalila Barnett, Executive Director of Alternatives for Community and Environment - a member-organization of the Green Justice Coalition - explained, "A person living in a community of color is now 39 times more likely to live in one of the 30 most environmentally burdened communities in this state. High minority communities average 23 times more hazardous waste sites per square mile than low minority communities. . . . read more – 97 reads
By Jason Pramas, Open Media Boston
BOSTON/State House - Over 75 people gathered in State House Room 437 on Tuesday for a press conference called by the Green Justice Coalition - the Massachusetts affiliate of the Apollo Alliance - to announce the release of a new report, "An Industry at the Crossroads: Energy Efficiency Employment in Massachusetts."
[...]
Kalila Barnett, Executive Director of Alternatives for Community and Environment - a member-organization of the Green Justice Coalition - explained, "A person living in a community of color is now 39 times more likely to live in one of the 30 most environmentally burdened communities in this state. High minority communities average 23 times more hazardous waste sites per square mile than low minority communities. . . . read more – 97 reads
T says 8 falsified 200 bus records
April 15, 2010
By Eric Moskowitz, Boston Globe
The MBTA yesterday alleged that eight of its managers doctored mileage records to avoid having to perform regularly scheduled inspections on a bus fleet that ferries hundreds of thousands of people around Greater Boston each day.
[...]
Stuart Spina of Chelsea, a member of the T Rider’s Union, called the news of the inspection problems disheartening, and said it reinforced feelings that the bus system is treated as a “second-class service’’ within the MBTA. Spina said it also makes him reconsider the air-conditioning failures and other breakdowns he observed during last week’s record-setting 90-degree day, which he had previously considered an unpreventable byproduct of the unexpected heat. . . . read more – 115 reads
By Eric Moskowitz, Boston Globe
The MBTA yesterday alleged that eight of its managers doctored mileage records to avoid having to perform regularly scheduled inspections on a bus fleet that ferries hundreds of thousands of people around Greater Boston each day.
[...]
Stuart Spina of Chelsea, a member of the T Rider’s Union, called the news of the inspection problems disheartening, and said it reinforced feelings that the bus system is treated as a “second-class service’’ within the MBTA. Spina said it also makes him reconsider the air-conditioning failures and other breakdowns he observed during last week’s record-setting 90-degree day, which he had previously considered an unpreventable byproduct of the unexpected heat. . . . read more – 115 reads
Eight MBTA employees canned over buses scam
April 15, 2010
By Justin A. Rice, Boston Metro
Eight MBTA employees were fired yesterday for falsifying mileage that delayed maintenance inspections on more than 200 buses.
[...]
Taisha O’Bryant, chairwoman of the T Riders Union, called the news “a disgrace.” “The population that rides these buses are at risk 24 hours a day,” she said. . . . read more – 127 reads
By Justin A. Rice, Boston Metro
Eight MBTA employees were fired yesterday for falsifying mileage that delayed maintenance inspections on more than 200 buses.
[...]
Taisha O’Bryant, chairwoman of the T Riders Union, called the news “a disgrace.” “The population that rides these buses are at risk 24 hours a day,” she said. . . . read more – 127 reads
Fiscal woes at T roll on for another year
February 28, 2010
By Noah Bierman, Boston Globe
It’s looking like the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority will have a substantial deficit, which could mean cuts in service in the short-term, more debt restructuring, or both. The debt restructuring is a concern because growing interest payments on the T’s multibillion-dollar debt is a major reason the T keeps getting into this bind every year.
[...]
“It’s a real high-volume concern of ours,’’ said Taisha O’Bryant, chairwoman of the T Riders Union, which has been frustrated that lawmakers have been unable to create a long-term fix for the T. Read the whole article. . . . read more – 220 reads
By Noah Bierman, Boston Globe
It’s looking like the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority will have a substantial deficit, which could mean cuts in service in the short-term, more debt restructuring, or both. The debt restructuring is a concern because growing interest payments on the T’s multibillion-dollar debt is a major reason the T keeps getting into this bind every year.
[...]
“It’s a real high-volume concern of ours,’’ said Taisha O’Bryant, chairwoman of the T Riders Union, which has been frustrated that lawmakers have been unable to create a long-term fix for the T. Read the whole article. . . . read more – 220 reads
July 13, 2010
Vigil for Hope: Speaking out for Immigration Reform
"For three weeks last month..." Read more...
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