(Full Post)
AD18 election is coming up real soon. Are you ready to vote? Check your voter status online: registertovote.ca.gov After you’ve checked your status and you’re ready to vote, head over to ballottrax and sign up to track your ballot! https://acvote.ballottrax.net/voter/

La Elección General Especial del Distrito 18 de la Asamblea se acerca muy pronto. ¿Estás listo para votar? Verifica tu estatus de votante en línea: registertovote.ca.gov Despues de verificar tu estatus y estas listo para votar, diríjase a ballottrax y regístrese para asegurar que llego su boleta. https://acvote.ballottrax.net/voter/

(Full Post) Cat Cracker Rule 6-5 has been approved by the Bay Area Air Quality Management District! Read our press release on today’s (7/21/21) historic vote! “This is a huge win for environmental justice communities who have been fighting for this rule for years as a matter of racial, environmental, and climate justice. Despite a widespread misinformation campaign by the refineries and their allies of exaggerated costs that threatened our communities with doomsday scenarios, the Board of Directors made an historic vote today on behalf of disproportionately impacted communities,” Andres Soto, Richmond Community Organizer for Communities For A Better Environment

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Previous text prior to vote:

The BAAQMD vote has been rescheduled for July 21st, 2021. Send and email to the board before then! The Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD) is planning to finalize a rule that would reduce pollution from Chevron and PBF (formerly Shell) oil refineries in Richmond and Martinez, California — some of the largest refineries in the world. Regulation 6 Rule 5: Particulate Emissions from Refinery Fluidized Catalytic Cracking Units a.k.a. Cat Cracker Rule 6-5’s original vote was set to take place on June 2nd but was delayed due to the amazing turnout by community during public comment. (Read more)

(Full post) Juneteenth (June 19th), Communities for a Better Environment is closed to celebrate the liberation, dreams, and joy in the Black American/ African American/ Black community. ✊🏿 ✊🏿 ✊🏿  

Juneteenth is the day that honors Black American/ African American/ Black freedom, resistance, and Black people’s contribution to the ongoing struggle for justice for all. However, you honor Juneteenth, we hope that this day inspires you to take action for the abolition of oppressive power structures and in celebration of Black power. 

To read our full statement click here.

Join us at the Black led actions and celebrations in communities near where CBE organizes. 

NORCAL:  

East Oakland: Black Cultural Zone’s Akoma Market:  https://blacklovethrives.com/     

Bay Area: List of Events

SOCAL:  

Leimert Park Rising   

Los Angeles: List of events  

In solidarity,  

Communities for A Better Environment

(Full post) Rule 6-5 will improve public health and save lives, particularly in environmental justice communities, while creating thousands of jobs. However, the refineries have been spreading misinformation about this rule in a last-ditch effort to confuse politicians, and ultimately pass a weaker, more dangerous rule at a deadly cost to residents’ lives. The refineries and oil industry have a history of deception, manipulating information only to protect their profits at all costs. To straighten out the record, here are some of the most egregious lies, twisted facts, and the truth about them. To read the full fact sheet click here.

(Full post) SB 342 is heading to Senate Floor next week! SB 342 empowers community involvement and promotes equity by adding two environmental justice representatives to the South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) governing board. Check out the floor alert here.

(Full Post)On June 2nd, the Bay Area Air District will be voting on whether to take strong regulatory action against Chevron and force the facility to make dramatic pollution cuts. After seeing the stark health impact data and hearing from community members like you, the Advisory Council of the Bay Area Air Quality Management District (Air District) recommended that the Air District take “maximum feasible action within its authority to reduce emissions from [particulate matter] sources, prioritizing the most impacted areas.” However, Big Oil and its allies are lobbying aggressively against the rule, distorting facts and making false claims about the rule. 

We cannot afford to lose this intergenerational fight for environmental justice. Our lungs cannot afford it. 

The Air District must protect community health and truly bring “A HEALTHY BREATHING ENVIRONMENT FOR EVERY BAY AREA RESIDENT.” Help us we ultimately chart the path towards a future #BeyondChevron for Richmond.

Here are three ways you can support to make sure the Board votes the right way!

1. Attend an action at the Air District Headquarters at 10AM Tuesday June 1st! Join community youth members and organizations to tell the Board members we need them to vote the right way to protect community health. You can RSVP here.
   
2. Sign the petition!
   
3. Send an email to Air District Board members! Tell them your story about why you need them to vote the right way. 

(Click for full post ) This is huge/ confirms what we already knew. Alternative(5c) that was picked did NOTHING to improve air quality for hundreds that live along the corridor. 20+ yrs of organizing on 710 freeway alongside CEHAJ and we will continue to fight for a cleaner project that doesn’t displace people, includes local hire, and commits to a zero-emissions corridor.

(Read Full Statement)

March 19^th, 2021 

Communities for a Better Environment (CBE) condemns all forms of xenophobia, anti-Asian racism, and anti-Blackness.  Whether violence takes the form of environmental injustice, state-sanctioned divestment, or state-sanctioned terror, we reprehend these harms that stem from white supremacy and capitalism.   

We condemn the anti-Asian hate, rhetoric, and violence that has arisen during the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, we denounce those that advocate for increased policing as a solution to this issue. This includes the anti-Black response of Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf; who uses both her privilege and platform to push her pro-police agenda and divide communities of color. Schaaf’s response, to increase policing in our communities, comes during a time when Oakland has committed to reimagining public safety and put forth demands to defund the police. Our communities have first-hand experience that has shown increased policing does not equate to an increase in public safety.  

Our commitment to a Just Transition embeds racial justice and social equity. We work to dismantle false solutions that seek to divide us while building a future rooted in community resilience. CBE is advocating for a Just Recovery: a redefinition of public safety that centers communities of color. We are calling on our elected officials to defund police budgets, and to reinvest in solutions that replenish, restore, and heal: safe housing, clean air and water, access to food and healthcare, healthy jobs and schools. We uplift the mutual aid efforts of those who are supporting community needs by providing solutions that center healing and restorative justice. We support calls to all civic leadership throughout California, particularly from the cities of San Francisco and Oakland, to immediately increase culturally relevant and trauma informed investments that:  

1.) Ensure victims and survivors of all backgrounds and language abilities receive full supportive services so they can recover and heal.  

2.) Expand intervention- and prevention-based programs; as well as invest in basic needs and community-based infrastructure that we know will end the cycle of violence, which will keep all of us safer.  

3.) Resource cross-community education and healing in Asian American and Black communities that humanizes all of us rather than demonizes or scapegoats any community of color. 

CBE stands united with all those who are working to end violence against and within their communities. We will continue building cross-racial solidarity with our allies to reimagine and reinvest in long term community centered solutions. 

We encourage our members, allies, and followers to support and amplify the efforts of: 

• Oakland Little Saigon  
• Oakland Chinatown Coalition 
• Coalition for Community Safety and Justice (CCSJ) 
• Asian Pacific Environmental Network (APEN) 

• Chinatown Community for Equitable Development (CCED) 
• Ktown4BlackLives (@ktown4blacklives) 
• Tuesday Night Project (@tnproject)⁣  
• Nikkei Progressives (@NikkeiProgressives)⁣  
• Sunday Jump (@thesundayjump)  

• API Equality-LA (@apiequalityla)  
• Kabataang maka-Bayan/ProPeople Youth (@kmb_la)  
• Progressive Asian Network for Action (PANA) (@progressiveasians)  
• Palms Up Academy (@palmsupacademy)  
• J-Town Action and Solidarity (@jtown.action.and.solidarity)  

• Khmer Girls in Action (KGA) (@kgalb) 

CBE encourages all to continue learning about the issues of violence facing our Asian American communities, and to continue uplifting community-led solutions around elder needs and public safety. 

In community and solidarity,  

Communities for a Better Environment (CBE) 

(Full Post, Noticia Completa) The WaterTalks survey will support the planning for a sustainable water future for California.
Share your thoughts and experiences about water quality and accessibility in your neighborhood. Complete the survey, claim your organizational affilitation with CBE and enter for a chance to win a $100 gift card!
For extra raffle prizes, take a screen shot of your completed survey and email laura@cbecal.org or text it to (424) 258-4630.
Take the survey now: www.tinyurl.com/WaterLA

La encuesta WaterTalks apoyará la planificación de un futuro hídrico sostenible para California.
Comparta sus pensamientos y experiencias sobre la calidad y accesibilidad del agua en su vecindario. Complete la encuesta, reclame su afiliación organizacional con CBE y participe para tener la oportunidad de ganar una tarjeta de regalo de $ 100.
Para premios adicionales, tome una captura de pantalla de su encuesta completa y envíe un correo electrónico a laura@cbecal.org o envíe un mensaje de texto al (424) 258-4630.
Responde la encuesta ahora: www.tinyurl.com/AguaLA

(Full post, noticia completa) Communities for a Better Environment (CBE) is committed to the wellbeing of low-income environmental justice neighborhoods of color. Now more than ever our communities need extra support—that is why we created the CBE Community Fund. Since the Fund’s inception, we knew this was immediate and temporary relief. We received the last round of applications in October 2020 and have since closed the Fund due to exhausted funds. For the past 8 months we have supported more than 430 individuals and families statewide and distributed approximately $151,050 directly to Black, Indigenous, people of color, undocumented folks, low-income households, elders, youth, those that are differently abled, women, trans* or gender non-conforming folks, formerly incarcerated, single income households, houseless people, and those who are health compromised.

We will continue to:  

• Hold Tenant Legal Clinics to ensure tenants know their rights and can consult with a lawyer 

• Support and share information from local mutual aid networks to increase access to resources and strengthen local mutual aid 
• Provide PPE and emergency kits to frontline communities who are impacted by wildfire, poor air quality, and increased COVID-risk  
• Advocate for Utility-debt forgiveness, clean energy, a 2,500 ft buffer between oil & homes, and a Just Recovery 
• Build relationships, amplify community leadership, organize for community-solutions that prioritize Black, Indigenous, People of Color and workers in a Just Transition! 

We would like to thank all who donated, all who applied, all who shared the application, and all staff who led and supported these efforts.