CENTER ON RACE POVERTY & ENVIRONMENT

CRPE is working with communities throughout the Central Valley to reduce exposure to hazardous waste and pesticides in low income communities of color. Our current work is focused on reforming the Department of Toxic Substances Control to improve governance, transparency and accountability of the agency. We are also working to ensure the Department of Pesticide Control establishes a notification program for residents living near fields were pesticides are sprayed in collaboration with Californians for Pesticide Reform.

CRPE’s Forgotten Voices program builds the power of low-income communities and communities of color in California’s San Joaquin Valley to reverse decades of pollution and lack of investment in these communities.
The Forgotten Voices Campaign uses three approaches to create safe, healthy, and thriving communities:
1) Advancing community priorities through local and regional land use planning processes.
We work with low-income communities of color and governments to ensure that local and regional land use planning meets the long-term vision and needs of these communities. See the communities’ recommendations on the general plan updates for the City of Shafter and Kern County.
2) Funding community-identified infrastructure projects.
We work with low-income communities of color, local governments, and state agencies to remove institutional barriers and increase the competitiveness of community-led projects at local and state levels. Coupling community-led pollution reduction solutions with increasing direct investments in these very communities is the key to transitioning the Valley to a healthier, safer place to live.
3) Building community leadership, self-governance, and resilience.
We also actively build the capacity of low-income communities of color to lead and maintain community groups and community-owned assets. CRPE has worked with residents to form and sustain 2 regional networks and 17 community groups (3 of which are incorporated non-profits) in Tulare and Kern counties. CRPE partners with these community groups to collectively advocate for the communities’ priorities. See recent activities of the Greenfield Walking Group, the Committee for a Better Arvin, and Comite Progreso de Lamont.