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Thanks to your support, we graduated 16 high school students through our 11th annual Summer Climate Justice Youth Leadership Academy this August. Watch the video above and get a glimpse of their educational journey.
I’m choking on toxic air… / the fumes are so hazardous – it just ain’t fair… / I’m calling out every generation before mine… / Our mothers, fathers, grandparents and so on who be telling us ‘it’s fine’…” Last week, New Voices Are Rising student Michelle read her poetry about inheriting toxic pollution to an audience of friends, family, program partners, and other community members at New Voices’ annual Climate Justice Youth Summit.
Thanks to you, our New Voices crowdfund campaign “Fired Up for the Change We Need!” raised more than $25,000 to support the 2018 Summer Climate Justice Youth Leadership Academy! You have ensured that our cohort of 16 New Voices students will have an impactful summer of environmental justice training and leadership development.
The Summer Climate Justice Leadership Academy (Summer Academy) is an intensive 6-week program for youth and young adults 15-19 in Oakland. Join a community of people who want to make sure that all Oakland residents can survive and thrive in a changing climate.
“Ploop ploop ploop” is the unique sound made by pouring out a bottle filled with lake mud and water. During New Voices Are Rising students’ and Rose Foundation staff’s recent cleanup of Oakland’s Lake Merritt, we pulled out several bottles and a number of odd bits of trash from the lake’s brackish water.
Yesterday, New Voices Are Rising Intern Coordinator Mykela Patton led a march and rally to protest ongoing maneuvers to bring dirty coal into Oakland. In January, US District Judge Vince Chhabria ruled that developer Phil Tagami’s lawsuit challenging Oakland’s ban on shipping coal within the city will receive a trial. Tagami is attempting to overturn the Oakland City Council’s 2014 unanimous adoption of a measure to ban coal shipments within the city.
Earlier this month, U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria ruled that Phil Tagami’s lawsuit challenging the City of Oakland’s ban on coal will head to trial. A youth led and youth organized rally will show Tagami and the City of Oakland that the youth will not stand for coal in their city. The rally will begin at Street Academy 417 29th St, Oakland, CA 94609 to Oakland City Hall down Broadway.
Earlier in the year, our New Voices Are Rising students wrote letters to Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf asking for action on the issue of gentrification. Our students want to live in a clean and green Oakland, and also a city where residents aren’t displaced by development and rising rent prices.
Our students’ learning journey this summer has taken them to the American River, the Richmond refinery communities, and the EBMUD West Oakland wastewater treatment plant. Students also planted trees to provide shade for a local nursery school, met with legislators in Sacramento, and completed externships to gain work experiences with local environmental organizations.
Our students are currently learning about energy and water policy. Last Friday, our students visited Lake Pardee, the reservoir that houses Oakland’s drinking water. There they went inside the reservoir’s dam, toured a hydroelectric powerhouse and watched the dam operators open a sluice gate.
