New Voices Are Rising 2018 – 2019 Fellows
Each school year, the Rose Foundation takes on several high school Fellows who want to deepen their involvement in environmental justice. Fellows work with us for 4 – 6 hours each week, acquiring professional skills at our Oakland office and taking on projects to engage the local community and their classmates in environmental issues.
Nariah Garcia
Nariah is currently a student at Emiliano Zapata Street Academy in Oakland. Nariah joined the New Voices Fellows to work on environmental racism and hopes to continue working on improving air quality in Oakland. “I want to do something while I’m young and in my high school years,” said Nariah, who was one of the New Voices students who spoke at the California Air Resources Board public hearing in Sacramento back in September. Nariah hopes to have more opportunities to speak out for environmental justice issues either in board meetings or in her community.
Justice Touré
Justice is a homeschooled student who joined the New Voices Fellows to learn more about environmental justice with emphasis on air quality. Justice hopes to continue the work he started while in the New Voices 2018 Summer Academy working on the “No Coal in Oakland” campaign. Justice also hopes to learn more about opportunities after graduation in the environmental justice field, helping him to pursue a career in community leadership adding that he joined New Voices because he has, “a deep concern about the environmental justice issues in Oakland and I want to be more involved.”
Michelle Arango
Michelle Arango currently attends the Oakland Military Institute and hopes to continue working on improving air quality in Oakland and working more on helping to get more community members involved in activism. Michelle then pointed out that, “even though we live in different communities or neighborhoods, pollution knows no boundaries and bad air quality seeps out to surrounding areas.” Michelle added that it is shocking to her that more people don’t advocate for better air quality in the Bay Area. She is hoping to raise awareness and get more people involved in the fight for improved air quality.
