APENblogger

Chevron Campaign Update

2010-03-05T14:26:00.000-08:00

On Tuesday February 23, APEN, CBE, and West Toxics Coalition went to the California Court of Appeals to ensure that Chevron does not expand their facility without real safeguards for the community's health and the creation of cleaner jobs. The court room was packed, among those standing to witness were 35 coalition members. Check out the video on CBS 5. We do not expect to hear anything until sometime between March 23 and the end of April. Please support us by signing up to be a volunteer or a monthly donor!

Background and Updates:

In June 2009 Contra Costa County Superior Court ruled that the Environmental Impact Report for a planned expansion of Chevron's refinery in Richmond, CA should have addressed whether the project would allow Chevron to process dirtier oil, disclose the harm that pollution will have on Richmond residents, and methods for mitigation of increased greenhouse gas emissions. On July 1, Judge Zuniga ordered that the expansion project be put on hold until a new, valid EIR is prepared and approved.

Mediation talks February 2009 convened by Assembly Speaker Karen Bass and Senate Pro Tem Darryl Steinberg fell through - Chevron declined to participate.

Attorney General Jerry Brown's alternative proposal, crafted with the support of community residents, community groups and other stakeholders, would permit a refinery expansion if there are strong health and greenhouse gas mitigations. Our coalition and this alternative proposal have received the endorsement of key groups including SEIU 1021, Richmond Chapter and the American Lung Association - California. However, Chevron declined to use this proposal as a vehicle to restart negotiations.

We can't wait any longer for clean air, good jobs, and a healthier Richmond! Richmond residents have long suffered increased rates of ailments such as asthma, other respiratory diseases and cancer, that have been linked to exposure to chemicals commonly emitted by refineries. In 2009 the State of California released figures that showed Chevron's Richmond refinery was the single largest industrial emitter of greenhouse gases in the State. We need good jobs for Richmond residents to transition us to solar energy and a healthier future.

Community Announces Support for Proposal for Clean Air, Good Jobs, and a Healthier Richmond!

2010-03-03T11:32:00.000-08:00

On Tuesday February 2nd over 90 Richmond community members and allies came out to make their voices heard at the City Council meeting. APEN and allies gathered to let City Council members know that we support Attorney General Jerry Brown's proposal for a cleaner and healthier Richmond! You can see the clip on Channel 5 CBS News here. The proposal has 4 key components that we fully support, it will curb air pollution, provide good jobs, reduce greenhouse gases, and promote climate solutions!

What's at Stake

We need to protect the community from health and environmental hazards by not locking in another generation of toxic pollution. We need to invest in green infrastructure for the communities most overburdened by toxic public health hazards – low-income communities of color. The Chevron Refinery Expansion project has state and national ramifications far beyond Richmond. That is why we support this alternative proposal, to ensure that Chevron is accountable for reducing local pollution and investing in a healthier tomorrow. The Attorney General’s proposal is an important start in finding a resolution to this landmark case.

Listen up Chevron this Proposal is good for Richmond!

It will:

Curb Air Pollution: Chevron would have to replace their outdated boilers built in the 1930's and 1940's, and install the sort of flaring prevention equipment that is already in place at the Shell refinery in nearby Martinez.

Good Jobs: Chevron would increase onsite renewable energy and energy efficiency and the proposal would create more and greener jobs by requiring installation of solar energy.

Reduce Greenhouse Gases and Promote Climate Solutions: The proposal would improve energy efficiency 20% by 2020 which would reduce pollutant emissions at the refinery by burning less fuel per gallon of gasoline and other products made. It would also expand renewable energy sources as on- & off-site solar, which would help jumpstart the sustainable energy solution to global warming.

Out of Carbon, Some Diamonds

2010-01-19T16:32:00.000-08:00

Upon leaving Copenhagen, the city that had its heart set on a UN climate treaty, white snow & gray footprints of the world dust the streets. With our enormous carbon+ history already well in motion, I think what's next is that we apply the force necessary to make diamonds. So here are 3 diamonds in the rough...

1. hope = social movements
As government negotiations fail (duh!)-- as they always fail us in our country, our Congress, our City Council meetings-- hope always comes from the outside, the social movements. I have faith in our social movements emerging & exploding when there's a need. The ingredients are already there. We're just waiting for the occasion & the cook. Well, let's have that party-- the parallel party to the Conference of the Parties (COP) of these climate negotiations. I've seen its beginnings at the 12/13/09 Peoples Assembly inside the KlimaForum. That room of a thousand Global South & North allies, that opened with darkness & soon lit with walking candles, followed by word after word of our common struggles in different places. We too see our "common but differentiated responsibilities". We know that the climate crisis is a systemic issue that needs a systems change. We are already building that new world and we don't need to wait for our elected governments to lead the way.

2. US leadership = what we practice on the ground, replicated upward
What we know best is what we've done ourselves. If the US can experience how our grassroots solutions work, then I think we have a better chance of getting them to lay that out on the negotiations table. I felt that the breakthrough in our US CJ grassroots delegation strategy session came when we said that we've already begun to transform our communities: turning just transitions of polluting facilities into green jobs, directing energy stimulus funds to rehabilitate public housing & schools, practicing indigenous farming that feed & cure our folks, & more. We are already in motion! Imagine these local transformations replicated across cities, our country & around the globe. Now that sounds like the other world that's possible!

3. yes we can be fast!
Given skilled organizers focused on a single effort, from seed to fruit only took 3 days! Monday's idea of a US grassroots climate justice letter to Obama that we could rally around, materialized with a kick-ass letter (refined by many) & a powerful press rally infront of the US Embassy by Thursday. Now that's fast! Yes, having 10+ organizers staying in the same house for a week, open to coordination & willing to throw down, is the kind of movement house that makes things happen fast. We need to keep practicing it. I'm now a believer (tho a skeptic at first). Yes we can toss the notion that it takes a long time to get stuff done. Yes we can be fast. The times are urgent & I now see we can rise to the occasion!

Check out this video of our US Embassy action:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUlfAWYgiOw

4 days + 4 mics in Copenhagen

2010-01-19T16:17:00.000-08:00

Today was busy work inside our Flintholm House-- a buzz of 20 organizers of color planning a hot event for this Thursday (look for it!). Phones ringing, 5 laptops editing a google doc, fast notes in red marker, communal cooking, mad texting. It was the opposite of light white snow flittering outside the window. Now that I have a moment to reflect, I recall being on 4 mics in the last 4 days.

#1 mic: Amplified the US grassroots & justice factor to funders, that our new engagement in these climate talks are critical for the movement that we need to grow beyond Copenhagen. (I was the 6th speaker of 7, right before the "Shock Doctrine" author Naomi Klein.)

#2 mic: At the "outside" KlimaForum, in front of a thousand international climate campaigners' "People's Assembly", I opened saying I represented a US grassroots delegation of immigrants & communities of color, the "South within the North." And closed by sharing our win over the Richmond Chevron oil refinery, getting them to chant, "dirty in, dirty out". I shared the mic w/my companero, Jose Bravo from the Just Transition Alliance. He opened by invoking our shared family history as farmworkers, connecting eyes with our allies from the powerful La Via Campesina.

#3 bullhorn: Probably the best action (of the many) I've attended so far, I brought a message of solidarity to our sisters & brothers from indigenous communities in occupied Canada, fighting Tar Sands mining. What do poor Asian communities have to do with this opposition campaign on tar sands? We see in the lifeline of fossil fuels, from mining to refining to emissions, that environmental racism hits poor communities of color at each of these points. Our struggles are connected. APEN & allies are doing our part to
hold the line at the Chevron refinery who's trying to retool their facility to process heavier crude & tar sands. So when we're successful, we help their campaigns. And when they stop tar sands extraction, that prevents Chevron from refining it in Richmond. I gifted 5 APEN shirts to our native allies, wishing them good luck & the powerful dragon energy we hope help win their campaigns.

#4 sheer voice: Inside the highly-guarded UNFCCC Bella Center, we pulled in close a circle of 30+ US grassroots climate justice organizers of color to strategize on how we were going to pose an alternative American voice in these climate talks. Expressing frustration over how our US negotiators are misrepresenting our EJ+ realities, I facilitated the session where all around, we said we were so much more aligned w/the sentiments of African sisters & brothers, Pacific small island nations, Latin American vision, and indigenous struggles. The momentum generated from this discussion is now driving a unifying effort between us. Stay tuned...

Initial Reflections on the Global Climate Summit

2009-12-14T11:12:00.000-08:00

Mari Rose Taruc, reflections on my 1st full day at the Global Climate Summit, 12/12/09s

The early winter cold of Copenhagen turns my face into a popsicle, but all I had to do was join the “Flood for Climate Justice” march of a hundred thousand energetic people from around the world to feel warm. A 4 mile, 4+ hour mobilization is enough to keep anyone from freezing. Signs of hope/despair: “There is no planet B,” “Nature doesn’t compromise,” to “systems change, not climate change.”

While on the march, a UK Guardian TV reporter asked me if I was optimistic or skeptical of these climate negotiations. Both. Skeptical because there’s no denying that many of our elected officials are in bed with corporations [while I held up my transported Bay area protest sign “Chevron, Corporations OUT of Copenhagen Climate Talks”]. And optimistic because I can’t just let my babies, family & community die from climate disruption.

We have work to do. I’m already learning a lot just by allies briefing me from the first week of these climate negotiations. Something we don’t hear often in the US is “ecological debt” or what some refer to as “carbon colonization”. It’s that rich countries have colonized the atmosphere with their industrial carbon pollution for so long that it’s time they pay for the mess they’ve caused. And rightly so, as small island nations like Tuvalu are headed to go under water this century, or African nations whose severe droughts have caused massive displacement & wars, they have every right to demand the strictest emissions reductions possible to stabilize the planet. Another big debate is with REDD, which our allies oppose because it would not only displace indigenous forest-dependent peoples, but also start a huge fake forest program around the world. Some say it’s like a rich person could say they’re carbon neutral if they pay to plant a tree but still drive their gas guzzling car.

It makes me think about how deeply we here in Copenhagen really understand the weight & depth of our actions & even solutions. Right now, most of us agree that we need climate justice… but what does that really mean? In this next & last week of the climate talks, our grassroots delegations of frontline, impacted communities & countries need to be heard: from the seriousness of the problems in our communities now, to the solutions we really need to turn the ecological crisis around.

There are many exciting & important events ahead: US grassroots/EJ discussion about how we will apply pressure on Obama as he represents the US later this week, a strategy discussion between North-South base-building allies on how our movements need to step up, to the midweek convergence of “inside” & “outside” delegates into a people’s assembly for climate justice. More stories to come & flood out of our delegation.

APEN hiring Campaign and Organizing Director

2009-11-02T16:47:00.000-08:00

The Campaign & Organizing Director is responsible for providing overall leadership in campaign and political strategy, alliance building, the development of a vibrant grassroots organizing and leadership development program, and staff development of the organizing team. The Campaign & Organizing Director reports to the Program Director and supervises lead organizers and potential project hires. Currently there are two lead organizers: one for our Chinese organizing project in Oakland, CA and one for our Laotian organizing project in Richmond, CA. The Campaign & Organizing Director will work with the Program Director to align our local organizing projects and campaigns to have statewide impact and direction.

The ideal candidate will have proven experience in grassroots organizing, campaign and political strategy, staff management; a passion for environmental justice; and experience aligning statewide and local community organizing strategies for statewide impact. The ideal candidate is someone who is an experienced lead organizer or organizing director who wants to grow and manage multiple organizing projects, is excited to forge statewide impact, and wants to grow into broader organizational leadership.

APEN Campaign and Organizing Director

Application deadline: December 1, 2009.
Start Date: January 2010

APEN is an equal opportunity employer.
Women, people of color, queer, and gender non-conforming people strongly encouraged to apply.

Salary depends on experience. Benefits package includes health, dental, generous vacations, sick leave, sabbatical policy. APEN is a very family-friendly employer.

Please submit resume with cover letter and references, by mail, fax, or email:
Campaign and Organizing Director Position
Attn: Timmy Lu, Operations Coordinator
310 8th Street Suite 309, Oakland, CA 94607
Phone: (510) 834-8920 x301 / Fax: (510) 834-8926
Email: timmy@apen4ej.org

APEN 15th Anniversary Celebration: November 19, 2009

2009-09-25T15:45:00.000-07:00

APEN’s staff and member leaders invite you to:

Enter the GREEN Dragon

APIs Winning Environmental Justice In California
APEN 15th year anniversary
Oakland Rotunda, 300 Frank Ogawa Plaza

Thursday, November 19th 6pm -9pm

“Enter the GREEN Dragon – APIs Winning Environmental Justice in California” is going to be a milestone celebration for APEN and the low-income communities we organize, and a fun filled evening with our many supporters.

We will be addressing the emerging importance of the Asian and Pacific Islander community to issues critical in our state and country, such as climate change, as well as updating everyone about our current work.

Your support has helped APEN to proceed on the path to realizing our vision. Please join us and celebrate these achievements as we look forward to many more years of progress!

Click here to buy tickets to this event. Tickets start at $75, and you can pay in two installments of $37.50.
You can also find us on our Facebook page and event.

APEN members speak out for better health and jobs

2009-07-17T15:01:00.000-07:00

Richmond, CA, July 14, 2009 - Standing in front of the North Richmond Center for Health, a range of Richmond residents spoke up about the Chevron refinery expansion’s threat to community health, challenged Chevron to follow through on its promise and cap crude oil production, and asserted a vision for healthy, green, just communities where health and jobs are not pitted against each other.

On June 4, Contra Costa Superior Court Judge Barbara Zuniga ruled that the Environmental Impact Report supported by Chevron and approved by the City of Richmond was illegal because it did not disclose to what extent the project will allow Chevron to process dirtier oil and the harm that pollution could impose on the residents of Richmond. On July 1, she ordered that the expansion project be put on hold until a new, valid EIR is done. The management of Chevron, though they knew for more than a year that this EIR would be challenged in court, rushed ahead with the project. After the court decision, Chevron launched a PR campaign in conjunction with layoffs to drive a wedge between the community interests of jobs and health.

Chevron made over $23 BILLON in profits last year, yet Chevron has not taken simple steps like replacing their 1930’s boilers. “There are plenty of jobs in true upgrades to the refinery to create cleaner jobs.,” says Jessica Tovar of Communities for a Better Environment. “But instead, Chevron is just trying to retool the refinery to process this dirtier grade of crude oil. We say ‘stop the layoffs’ - the workers and community members should not pay for Chevron’s high-risk gambling.”

“Chevron and the oil industry are dinosaur industries facing extinction,” states Kay Wallis, a resident of Richmond and a healthcare worker with UCSF. “But in its last gasp in this project, Chevron wants to extract dirtier and dirtier crude and put Richmond’s health even MORE in jeopardy. I’ve seen first hand all the respiratory challenges community members face.”

The Chevron refinery in Richmond is the largest industrial polluter in the region. The EPA reported nearly 100,000 pounds of toxic waste from the site in 2007, including at least 38 different toxic substances, including more than 4,000 pounds of benzene (a known human carcinogen) and 455,000 pounds of ammonia, repeated exposure to which can cause an asthma-like allergy and lead to lung damage. The refinery is now and has been listed as in “high priority violation” of air compliance standards, among other violations, by the EPA every year since 2006.

Asthma rates in Richmond are twice as high as the national average. Children living in Richmond are already hospitalized for asthma at almost twice the rate of children in the rest of the county due to the impacts of toxic refinery flares emissions from Chevron. The local community, composed primarily of low-income people of color, suffers from disproportionately high rates of asthma, cancers, and health problems related to the refinery.

Long Samphalan, a Laotian immigrant and member of the Asian Pacific Environmental Network, had no prior asthma conditions, but after 10 years in Richmond he contracted asthma and now rarely leaves his house because of his dependence on a respirator. “I came from to the U.S. in hope of health, but instead, myself, my son, and my 5-year-old granddaughter can’t breathe because of what Chevron’s done to the air.”

“Chevron stole my health,” said Marleen Quint, member of Communities for a Better Environment. In 1990, Marleen was diagnosed with thyroid disease followed by breast cancer less than two years later. She lost both breasts and her thyroid with no family history that would predispose her to either disease.

Chevron has promised the community that they will not refine heavier crude as part of this project, but refuses to agree to a cap on heavier crude oil production at the site.

“Look, all we’re saying is, ‘Chevron, simply DO as you SAY,’” asserted Sandy Saeteurn, of the Asian Pacific Environmental Network. “Everyone else knows that we can and must have good jobs and community health. The City Council needs to take responsibility and make the neighborhood bully, Chevron, keep its word and cap the crude.”

For more information, take a look at this
fact sheet.

Come and Celebrate with CBE, APEN, and WCTC!

2009-06-18T15:50:00.000-07:00

WE WON THE LAWSUIT! On June 4th 2009, Contra Costa County Superior Court Judge Barbara Zuniga tossed out the Environmental Impact Report for a major expansion at the Chevron Refinery, in Richmond, California. This is a significant victory over U.S. oil refinery expansions happening across the country!

Since the Spring of 2007, Communities for a Better Environment, Asian Pacific Environmental Network, and West County Toxics Coalition have worked to stop the expansion of the Chevron oil refinery in Richmond. We have accomplished the first step towards achieving this goal. Come and celebrate with us!

MONDAY JUNE 22nd
5pm—8pm
FOOD, MUSIC, AND COMMUNITY CELEBRATION!

Laotian Organizing Project
3727 Barrett Avenue and 38th Street
Richmond, CA 94805

To RSVP and for more information, contact:
Ana Orozco (CBE)……………(510) 302-0430 x12
Sandy Saeteurn (APEN) …………(510) 691-6236

APEN WINS CHEVRON COURT CASE!

2009-06-09T11:33:00.000-07:00

Dear APEN Friends and Supporters,

Great news! On Friday last week, Contra Costa County Superior Court Judge Barbara Zuniga tossed out the flawed Environmental Impact Report for the planned Richmond Chevron Refinery expansion. APEN community leaders are celebrating the judge’s ruling as another win towards environmental justice for Richmond communities.

"The decision is a victory for the community," said Koy Seng Saechao, leader with APEN’s Laotian Organizing Project. "We need green and healthy solutions from Chevron and our City, not more pollution. The decision protects my family and neighbors from even more pollution and allows us to plan for a healthier future.”

APEN, Earthjustice, Communities for a Better Environment and West County Toxics Coaltion joined forces to sue the City of Richmond for accepting the faulty environmental review that failed to disclose that the proposed expansion would allow Chevron to process a heavier crude oil, exposing the community to increased health and environmental impacts.

In her decision, Judge Zuniga said: "The [Final Environmental Impact Report] project description is unclear and inconsistent as to whether [the] project will or will not enable Chevron to process a heavier crude slate than it is currently processing."

The court also agrees that the City of Richmond improperly allowed Chevron to wait a year after the EIR process was completed before developing a plan to mitigate its greenhouse gases, a move that would have shut our communities out of a public process to stop additional greenhouse gas pollution. This is one of the first decisions addressing the deferral of greenhouse gas mitigations under the California Environmental Quality Act.

"We are fighting to shift Richmond from a hub for pollution to a hub for solutions. Climate change will already impact our communities first and worst," said Torm Nompraseurt, APEN community organizer and 33-year Richmond resident. This is a chance to turn the fossil fuel tide around, to put our community’s health before oil profits, and create a new vision for Richmond."

We need your support now more than ever!

Donate now and help APEN continue to organize low income Asian and Pacific Islander immigrants and refugees to stand up for healthy, green and just communities and a new green economy that can benefit ALL California residents.

Thank you for your support!

Follow the links below to see APEN and this great story covered in the news:

Click here to see the full press release from APEN, CBE, EarthJustice, and West County Toxics Coaltion.

EBASE is looking for a Development & Administrative Director

2009-04-13T10:51:00.000-07:00

Close APEN ally EBASE (East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy) is looking for a Developement & Administrative Director. APEN is still accepting applications for a Development Associate. Please click here for more information.

The East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy (EBASE) is celebrating 10 years of building power and raising standards for working families. We forge alliances of labor, community, and faith organizations to advance economic and social justice. Over the past decade, we have passed numerous policies and supported important organizing drives which have raised wages and access to healthcare for thousands of East Bay workers.

Position Summary
EBASE seeks a Development & Administrative Director to lead grant and donor fundraising for a $1 million budget, and oversee financial management and office operations. S/he will lead a team of 2 staff, and work closely with the Executive Director. This is a senior staff position and reports directly to EBASE s Executive Director. EBASE is willing to consider Development Coordinator applicants who do not meet the full requirements listed below

Click here for the job announcement

APEN is hiring a Development Associate

2009-03-27T10:30:00.000-07:00

APEN seeks a personable, motivated, and self-organized team player who is committed to building the power of low-income Asian Pacific Island communities through grassroots fundraising.

The Asian Pacific Environmental Network was founded in 1993 to create a world where all people have a right to a clean and healthy environment in which their communities can live, work, learn, play and thrive. APEN brings together a collective voice for environmental, social and economic justice to bring fundamental changes to economic and social institutions that will prioritize public good over profits, promote the right of every person to a healthy, safe, affordable quality of life, and the right to participate in decisions affecting our lives. In pursuit of this vision, APEN pursues four strategies: building grassroots power, strengthening organizing capacity in API communities, forging strategic alliances, and advancing proactive agendas and policies towards systemic change.

POSITION SUMMARY
This position provides coordination and support to APEN’s overall development work, with a focus on supporting the ongoing growth and stewardship of APEN’s individual donor base. This is achieved through working with APEN’s Development team to: 1) coordinate, integrate and support grassroots fundraising goals, strategies and activities, 2) provide support for foundation fundraising and 3) provide administrative and logistical support for organizational events, meetings, etc.

PRIMARY ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES

Grassroots Fundraising and Special Events

* Individual Donors – Create and implement plan to prospect, acquire and cultivate individual donors
* Appeals – Design and implement direct mail appeals
* Database – Track donors and maintain donor database
* Monthly Donors – Maintain and grow APEN monthly donor program
* Events Coordination – Plan and coordinate special events and activities
* Communications – Assist in the development of e-news, brochure, newsletter, and website content

Assist Foundation Fundraising
* Administrative Support – Maintain foundation calendar and files
* Grant Writing – Assist with writing and assembling attachments for proposals and reports
* Foundation Research – Conduct research, writing, and other foundation related duties as they come up

SECONDARY ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES

Administrative and Program Support
* Logistical Support – Provide support for organizational events and meetings
* Administrative Support – Provide support for organizational mailings, meetings and archive materials
* Organizing Support – Provide support for turning out members and leaders

APPLICATION PROCESS
Applications are due electronically to Timmy Lu, Operations Coordinator at apen@apen4ej.org and must include:
* Resume including chronological employment history
* Cover letter describing interest in the position, qualifications and salary history and expectations
* Short writing sample (2-5 pages maximum)
* Four references
Incomplete applications will not be accepted.

Application Deadline: April 14, 2009

APEN is an equal opportunity employer. Women, people of color, gay, lesbian, and trans-gendered persons encouraged to apply.
updated: 3/25/2009

Download the posting in PDF format

Welcome APEN's new executive director, Roger Kim!

2009-02-26T11:52:00.000-08:00

Message from Aditi Vaidya, APEN Board Chair:

On behalf of the board of directors of the Asian Pacific Environmental Network, I am thrilled to announce that, after an extensive national search, our very own Roger Kim has accepted the position of Executive Director of APEN! The APEN board, staff, and community members welcome Roger into this new role, starting on March 16, 2009, with enormous confidence and total support for his inspired leadership.

Roger brings more than a decade of experience as an environmental justice leader, nonprofit manager, grantmaker, and community leader. His work at APEN over the past four years as Associate Director and Policy Director has helped consolidate and build on our existing strengths, and to strike out on new paths of growth and opportunity.

In this moment of monumental shifts in the political landscape and crises in the economy and environment, APEN has a renewed commitment to environmental justice. We are growing a base of powerful and engaged leaders and members, we have a highly skilled staff, a strong financial base, and a successful mix of power building, organizing and advocacy strategies – all of which Roger has played a key role in building. Under Roger’s new leadership APEN is committed “to meet these challenges with a mix of creativity, urgency, and optimism.”

Roger said recently to the board, “I am deeply inspired by APEN’s work, its direction, and potential moving forward…and equally inspired and humbled by the people that make up the core of APEN’s work – its leaders, members, staff and board…”

The feeling is mutual. As board member, Michael Leon Guerrero of the Grassroots Global Justice Alliance, says, “Roger is forward thinking in his vision for APEN and dedicated to our mission with integrity and thoughtfulness. In this time of incredible change and transition, Roger maintains stability and adds fresh eyes for the future.”

As APEN approaches our 15 year anniversary, we are entering a new and exciting stage of growth, making it a wonderful opportunity for new leadership. Our focus over the next stage of our work is to create new models for sustainable communities with green jobs, affordable green housing, and model green transportation and land-use policies. We will implement creative solutions that equitably address climate change and build environmentally just cities where we can live, work and play.

As one of our important friends and supporters in the movement, please join me in congratulating Roger, and welcoming him as APEN’s new Executive Director. In the days ahead, both APEN and Roger will need your support and welcome your insights as we make this transition together. Please call us, to say congratulations, or to ask questions, or just to catch up on all of the amazing work that APEN is engaged in at the moment.

Thank you for your ongoing support for APEN!

Message from Vivian and ED job announcement

2008-12-03T14:56:00.000-08:00

Message from Vivian Chang, Executive Director of APEN:

Dear Friends,

With a full heart of gratitude, I am writing to let you know that I will be leaving APEN as its Executive Director at the end of January 2009. There were many factors that led to my choice: the wonderful experience of becoming a mother, the length of my tenure here at APEN (9 years) and longstanding commitment to new leadership, the many changes that are happening in the world and the realization that now is the right time for a new direction.

I am so proud of what we have been able to accomplish together here at APEN – whether taking on oil company interests right here in Richmond CA, or big development in Oakland CA – and I continue to be humbled by the incredibly supportive and creative board, the dynamic and skilled staff team, the courageous community members and leaders who give life to our work.

I have the utmost confidence in the strength and readiness of the organization to move forward. We have strong leadership from top to bottom. The Board and staff are working closely together on the executive transition with the guidance of an executive transition and search consultant. We have a steady and healthy financial base to support our work. We have a clear and bold strategic direction, with the goals of increasing our membership to 1,000, of putting forward a community-derived environmental justice solution and agenda, and of leveraging statewide impact.

In my opinion, there has never been a time when “an APEN” has been more needed. The planet is facing an unprecedented ecological crisis with climate change. Low income communities of color who already bear the heaviest burden of environmental and economic damage will be the first and worst hit by this change. With the economic reorganization and transformation that is required to address this ecological crisis, come opportunities that will have significant impact on our local communities – from how our cities are built, how public funding gets prioritized, to what kinds of economic opportunities are created. APEN’s focus in the next 5 years will be to push forward solutions that address climate change, and to build environmentally just cities for all communities.

You have been a friend and supporter of APEN for many years, and I’d like to ask for your help in several ways. First, can you take part in our search for the next Executive Director? Attached is a job announcement for your review and distribution. Second, if you are in a financial place to consider making a contribution, please do so.

And finally, please extend the warm support you so generously offered to me when I first started here at APEN, to Miya Yoshitani. Miya currently serves as APEN’s Associate Director, but has agreed to step up as the Acting Executive Director while we complete our search. She has had a long history of working in the environmental field; at the young age of 23, she served as the executive director of The Student Environmental Action Coalition (SEAC), a national network representing almost 30,000 student and youth environmentalists. Miya first joined the APEN staff in the mid-90’s as a youth organizer, and now brings to APEN over 15 years of experience in social justice organizing, fundraising and organizational development.

Thank you for your trust in APEN and my leadership. I look forward to continuing our work together.

Sincerely,
Vivian Chang

APPLICATION PROCESS

APEN Executive Director Full Job Announcement (PDF)

APEN has retained Viveka Chen and Associates to conduct the candidate search. Applications are due electronically to APENexecsearch@earthlink.net and should include:

Resume including chronological employment history
Cover letter describing interest in the position, qualifications and salary history and expectations (2 pages maximum)
Short writing sample (2-5 pages maximum)
Four references

Please direct all inquiries to the above email address only (please do not contact the APEN office directly).

Application Deadline: January 12, 2009, 5:00pm (applications received after the deadline may be considered if APEN decides to expand the pool of applicants)
Start Date: Mid to late February

APEN is an equal opportunity employer. Women, people of color, gay, lesbian, and trans-gendered persons encouraged to apply.

APEN Voter Guide for Nov 4, 2008

2008-11-01T15:57:00.000-07:00

Download the APEN Voter Guide in PDF format

November 4th is a national General Election to help elect candidates, like the next US President and city council members. The other part of your ballot includes 12 state propositions and several local measures (county and city). It’s a very full ballot and we acknowledge how it can be difficult—almost discouraging—for the democratic process.

APEN is a community-based environmental justice organization, with a primary mission of organizing for the rights of Asian immigrants and refugees to have healthy environments. We have membership bases in Oakland (Power in Asians Organizing) and Richmond (Laotian Organizing Project).

APEN values democratic participation, where community members can fully engage in decisions that affect their lives and hold governments accountable to community interests. We believe in community rights and services, a green economy that meets community needs, government and corporate responsibility, and having healthy and safe environments where residents can thrive. It is with this lens that APEN compiled recommendations for the ballot initiatives. APEN’s staff, members and board review ballot initiatives and make recommendations on those we feel strongly, as seen in this voter guide.

ENVIRONMENTAL INITIATIVES
As an environmental justice (EJ) organization, we look at solutions to the ecological crisis with how it will particularly improve the most impacted communities—low income communities of color over-burdened by toxics, poverty and unequal protection from hazards. We agree with immediately switching to cleaner energy sources, but Prop 7 and 10 raise EJ concerns about allowing deceptive polluting projects (trash burners, natural gas) to be called clean, with the probability of putting them in low income communities of color. Measure WW will help the East Bay Regional Parks District acquire land for parks to prevent urban sprawl. The East Bay will be served well by Measure V V which will increase mass transit funds for youth, seniors and disabled bus riders. Richmond’s initiative to tax manufacturing industries like the massive Chevron refinery will boost funds to ailing City services like healthcare and education.
Vote No on Prop 7, No on Prop 10, Yes on VV (Alameda-Contra Costa County), Yes on WW (Alameda County), Yes on Measure T and D (Richmond).

PRISON AND PUNISHMENT INITIATIVES
We understand that crime is a big problem in our community but we should not solve it by targeting low-income families, immigrants and communities of color. Prop 6 will try 14 year olds as adults and redirect billions more dollars from the state general fund to build more prisons. For those in prison, Prop 9 will worsen inhumane conditions by creating additional hurdles for release, while Prop 5 will help address underlying problems of addiction and invest in rehabilitation and treatment.
Vote Yes on Prop 5, No on Prop 6, No on Prop 9.

WEDGE ISSUES
Some well-funded initiatives appear on the ballot to divide our communities by preventing us from focusing on the real problems we need to solve. They include two propositions that attack the civil rights of women, lesbian and gay communities. Prop 4 tries again, for the third time, to limit women’s right to make choices regarding reproductive health, by attacking young women who are pregnant. We cannot accept discrimination against anyone, including Prop 8 which denies basic rights to gay (LGBT) people.

EJ Groups Sue City of Richmond Over Chevron Refinery Expansion

2008-09-04T13:15:00.000-07:00

Flawed Environmental Review Endangers Public Health and Environment

(Richmond, CA) Environmental justice groups filed a lawsuit challenging the Richmond City Council’s approval of Chevron’s refinery expansion project today.

At issue is an environmental review that concealed that the project would result in much higher pollution. Communities in Richmond, particularly low-income and communities of color, are severely overburdened with industrial pollution-related health problems, including high rates of asthma and cancer. Chevron’s refinery is the largest industrial polluter in the region.

The expansion would allow heavier and dirtier crude oil to be processed at the Richmond refinery, which would increase releases of mercury, selenium, toxic sulfur compounds, and greenhouse gases. The City Council approved the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) and Conditional Use Permit for Chevron’s expansion project despite the fact that the impacts of refining dirtier and more polluting oil were not disclosed, analyzed, or mitigated by the EIR.

“Chevron’s project would lock in a fundamental switch to dirtier oil refining that increases toxic and climate-poisoning pollution drastically when avoiding these impacts is feasible,” said Greg Karras, a senior scientist with Communities for a Better Environment (CBE). “The City violated the community’s right to know about and act on this information,” he said.

“The City Council failed its legal and moral obligation to protect our health,” said Richmond resident, Torm Nompraseurt, of the Asian Pacific Environmental Network. “Those dangerous chemicals are going to affect me, my family, and my neighbors but the City didn’t even look at what Chevron is really going to be doing.”

Hundreds of residents jammed the City Council hearings in July demanding the City Council limit the refinery from processing dirtier crude oils and re-do the Environmental Impact Report that failed to analyze the project Chevron actually plans to build. Community groups also advocated for Chevron to pay into a “Fund for Richmond’s Future” – a community-controlled fund to support the development of a cleaner and greener economy in Richmond.

Instead, Chevron made a multi-million dollar offer in exchange for project approval with weakened environmental protections and less public review of future refinery projects. Chevron valued its offer at about $61 million. City and Chevron officials negotiated a proposed contract to execute the deal without public input, and presented it at the City Council’s hearing on the project without public notice. The Council accepted the deal and approved the project without completing the environmental review needed to identify, analyze, and lessen or avoid its significant environmental impacts.

“Chevron must stop its toxic assault on poor people of color in Richmond. The City Council is selling out our community, but our health is not for sale,” said Henry Clark, executive director of the West County Toxics Coalition. “We will fight this until we achieve environmental justice.”

“The California Environmental Quality Act requires government agencies to look before they leap by analyzing and mitigating all significant environmental impacts” said Will Rostov, an attorney for Earthjustice, who represents the environmental justice groups in court. “The City’s environmental review fails in its most basic purpose.”

A poll conducted by David Binder Research indicated that an overwhelming majority (73 percent) of Richmond voters supported the City Council delaying a decision on the Chevron expansion until the environmental and health impacts of refining heavier crude oil were fully reviewed. In addition, 75 percent of Richmond voters said it was very or extremely important that any projects or funding between Chevron and the City Council be determined in an open public process.

The lawsuit was filed today in Contra Costa County Superior Court on behalf of the Asian Pacific Environmental Network (APEN), Communities for a Better Environment (CBE), and the West County Toxics Coalition by attorneys from Earthjustice and CBE.

Read the poll results on the Chevron refinery expansion by David Binder Research (PDF)

Link to Petition (PDF)

APEN is hiring!

2008-08-25T10:36:00.000-07:00

APEN is growing! This is an exciting time for APEN as we develop more capacity to fight for environmental and social justice. We are looking for enthusiastic and committed individuals to join our organization. The following positions are open:

Contract Grant Writer - submit applications by September 15, 2008

Please contact Timmy Lu at (510) 834-8920 x301 or timmy[at]apen4ej.org for more information.

Chevron among top 3 polluters in Bay Area

2008-02-22T11:48:00.000-08:00

Refineries are top polluters in Bay Area
By Mike Taugher
02/21/2008

Tesoro's Golden Eagle refinery near Martinez was again the Bay Area's top polluter in 2006, according to data on toxic releases made available Thursday by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The refinery, which is the second largest in the region, reported releases of 1.8 million pounds of toxic chemicals to air, water or land. That figure was down from 2.5 million pounds in 2005.

Overall, the EPA said toxic releases in 2006 from 1,357 facilities in California were down 2.8 percent to 45.2 million pounds from the previous year.

Tesoro's refinery has historically lagged behind the other refineries in installing upgrades. It was the region's biggest polluter every year since at least 2003, according to an EPA toxics database.

Mike Marcy, a Tesoro spokesman, said most of the toxic material reported by the refinery was ammonia that air quality regulators require to control smog.

A $575 million upgrade that is scheduled to be done this year will slash toxic pollution from the Tesoro refinery to about 500,000 pounds a year, according to Marcy.

"This is replacing 1950s technology that was here when Tesoro bought the refinery in 2002," he said.

The second largest polluter in the Bay Area was Valero's refinery in Benicia, which released 1.7 million pounds of toxic chemicals last year. That refinery, with a 144,000 barrel-per-day capacity, is the fourth largest of the Bay Area's five refineries.

Valero spokesman Chris Howe said most of the increase in reported emissions in 2006 -- double the figure reported the previous year -- were due to revisions that were made after tests of ammonia releases from some stacks showed higher emissions. He also said the refinery reported higher releases of nitrates to the water. The refinery also disposed of lead and other metals as part of routine maintenance done in 2006, which inflated the number.

Asked why the region's fourth largest refinery would have the second highest emissions, Howe said it was difficult to say but suggested the possibility that the other refineries might have more recent upgrades.

The Benicia refinery, at nearly 30 years old, is the newest of the five. The older refineries have had to perform upgrades, and when those upgrades are done newer pollution control equipment is installed. He said the Benicia plant "is just now coming up to be able to do," those upgrades.

Chevron's Richmond refinery, meanwhile, is by far the largest in the Bay Area with a capacity of nearly 243,000 barrels a day. It is also the oldest. It reported 1.2 million pounds of toxic releases in 2006, making it the third largest polluter in the region.

"We're one of the most energy efficient refineries in the U.S.," said Chevron spokeswoman Camille Priselac.

The Toxics Release Inventory is a database of emissions from large industrial sources. The EPA has collected the data since 1987 as part of a law that was passed after a Union Carbide chemical chemical plant in 1984 leaked poisonous gas and killed thousands of people in Bhopal, India.

Mike Taugher covers natural resources. Reach him at 925-943-8257 or mtaugher@bayareanewsgroup.com.

Bay Area top 10 toxic polluters in 2006:
Tesoro refinery, Martinez, 1.8 million pounds
Valero refinery, Benicia, 1.7 million pounds
Chevron refinery, Richmond, 1.2 million pounds
Shell refinery, Martinez, 772,000 pounds
ConocoPhillips refinery, Rodeo, 595,000 pounds
Clean Harbors, San Jose, 371,000 pounds
New United Motor Manufacturing, Fremont, 370,000 pounds
United State Pipe & Foundry, Union City, 337,000 pounds
Criterion Catalysts & Technologies, Pittsburg, 240,000 pounds
Tyco Electronics, Menlo Park, 217,000 pounds

http://www.contracostatimes.com/ci_8327467?source=email

A SF Chronicle column on Chevron profits and Richmond

2008-02-13T14:34:00.000-08:00

Time for Richmond to stand up to Chevron

Chip Johnson

Friday, February 8, 2008

Roll on, Big Oil.

In the 30 years since California voters limited property tax increases by passing Proposition 13, the Chevron oil refinery in Richmond has negotiated a lower tax rate at least a half-dozen times - rolling over any opposition from local government.

To this day, the oil company has always gotten its way, said Gus Kramer, the tax assessor in Contra Costa County.

"They do a $150 million addition and we run the numbers, calculate the added value and send them a bill - and in November they file an appeal," he said of the company's practices. "Heavy industry has the best lobbyists money can buy, and over the years they have changed the tax codes and made it harder to assess the value of a modernized plant."

The company has used the tax appeals - and legal system - to argue that replacing obsolete systems is more akin to replacing a crumbling garage with a new, upgraded structure, Kramer said.

Consequently, the tax windfalls that some county officials had hoped to reap from the upgrade were not to be.

"There will be a slight increase in their tax base, but it's not going to be anything to write home about," Kramer said.

After negotiating its tax rates with county officials in the past, Chevron for the first time has gone to a county tax appeals board, which is scheduled to hear the case next month.

At the same time, the company is seeking Richmond's approval of its latest upgrade, which would allow the refinery to produce about 5 percent more gasoline. The company cleared its first hurdle last week, with the city's approval of the project's design.

The next step is the approval of a permit from the city's planning commission, which is expected to list the item on its agenda next month. If the commission approves the project, only an appeal to the City Council - a near certainty - can derail it.

Historically, council members have been a bunch of pushovers for the oil company, which has done everything from entering sweetheart deals with them to buying them off individually to win their support.

In one county tax appeal case, Chevron officials cut a side deal with Richmond city officials to keep paying the portion of property taxes that went directly to the city - if city officials would stay out of the county tax fight. They did.

In 1994, the city's planning commission approved another retrofit at the plant, with a requirement that the company put $50 million into a fund to pay claims from a refinery disaster. Chevron appealed the decision and picked off individual council members with $6 million to pay for pet projects.

Nearly 14 years later, the council has new leadership and a messy recent history with the company that has left some council members fed up with Chevron dictating the rules to the city.

A little more than a year ago, Chevron officials told the city that the company had recalculated its utility-user tax rate - and began paying the city about $4 million a year less.

"Things have changed - they have angered everyone on the council," said longtime Councilman Tom Butt. "If we can just hold the council together, we have an opportunity to get the absolute maximum in mitigations to the community."

Meanwhile, state Attorney General Jerry Brown has notified the city that any Chevron project it approves will also require a reduction in greenhouse gases emitted by the plant, Butt said.

Dean O'Hair, a Chevron spokesman, says the company is only acting within the law to protect its rights just as any citizen would. But that doesn't place the issue in proper context. The difference between most citizens and Chevron is that most citizens don't have an unlimited legal war chest belonging to one of the most profitable companies in the history of the world.

It's just tough to watch Chevron, which posted a record profit of $18.7 billion last year, pulling the purse strings tight at a time when it's doing so well and its host city is in such dire straits.

Richmond's homicide rate is already so high this year that officials have called in officers from the California Highway Patrol to help patrol the city at night.

Chevron isn't responsible - or accountable - for the social ills in Richmond or any other city where it operates facilities, but finding tax loopholes while making more profit than ever just looks bad.

From every viewpoint other than that of the corporation, such tactics can't help but promote the notion that giant companies make the rules and anyone without the spirit, resources or organization to fight back is an easy target for manipulation.

Over the century that the plant has operated on the city's waterfront, it has spewed emissions, spilled toxic substances that require people to evacuate their homes and presented an environmental challenge to everyone living around it.

In order for Richmond citizens to finally receive their fair share of funding from Chevron - something like a community mitigation fund would be a good start - the council needs to stand up to the pressure like it's never done before.

"The question is whether the council will hang together, hang tough," Butt said, "or just sell out individually like the council has in the past."

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/02/08/BAQ9UUIGQ.DTL

Oakland Rising Electoral Training

2007-12-19T10:49:00.000-08:00

Hi, my name is Elaine and I'm a new volunteer with APEN! I am volunteering for APEN because I am interested in the intersection between the "environment" and human values, and passionate about solving environmental problems that disproportionately affect poor, disenfranchised urban communities. When I came across APEN on the Internet, I was excited about working with them and joining their cause. This entry is about Oakland Rising's electoral training and APEN leaders' participation in it.

On December 1, APEN and PAO members met in a relatively cold and danky townhall for an elections training meeting as part of a broad-based coalition of social justice groups called Oakland Rising. This was my first exposure to the coalition and the meeting was rousing, informative, and, at the end, occasionally hysterically funny (as I will describe later on). The meeting began with informal introductions to the work of Oakland Rising's member organizations: APEN, EBASE, the Ella Baker Center, Just Cause Oakland, ACORN, and Urban Habitat. Oakland Rising's collective goal is to bolster our political influence, particularly in the upcoming 2008 elections, to advance our progressive vision and values. We are all striving for a healthier, safer, and more prosperous Oakland in which old and young can prosper, and in which we can support our communities of color.

We were briefed on the importance of electoral politics. One particularly fun, but startling, presentation involved all staff members and leaders, each representing "percentages" of Oaklanders, sitting and clustering into voting and non-voting blocs. I learned that though approximately half of all Oaklanders are registered to vote, very few in fact make it to the polls, and even fewer vote in the direction that we would like (which may sound obvious, but is an important point to make, I think). Thus, the goal of this campaign season is to register eligible voters and talk to them about our progressive values.

The last hour of the event allowed individual organizations to discuss in small groups. Our PAO members were introduced to major California propositions on the table for 2008 and had, what I should emphasize, a loud, boisterous debate. We discussed each proposition at length, describing the major pros and cons of each and taking positions for each. Individual members brought up salient objections and questions, often raising their hands in unison, if not their voices, or nodding in silent agreement. More often than not though, they booed in disagreement. All of the discussion was held in Cantonese, which at times, I barely understood. The translator did the most incredible job of keeping up with the hare-like pace of the discussion, and often "softened" the hilarity of language used. I believe that, in the end, despite the overall Chinese banquet-like quality of the discussion, PAO voters walked away a little more confident and knowledgeable about the voting process.

Photos courtesy of EBASE

Growing Our Roots Extending Our Reach

2007-08-31T15:21:00.001-07:00

OUR VENUE HAS CHANGED TO JACK LONDON AQUATIC CENTER!
Asian Pacific Environmental Network

Growing Our Roots
Extending Our Reach
Building Community Power for Environmental Justice

Thursday, October 18, 2007
6:00pm Reception
7:00pm Program
Hors d'oeuvres will be served

New Venue: Jack London Aquatic Center
115 Embarcadero, Oakland (see directions below)

Join APEN’s members, board, and staff as we celebrate the legacy of the environmental justice movement and move forward with a bold plan to strengthen our local work and make statewide impact.

MC: Martha Matsuoka, APEN founding board member, Assistant Professor at Occidental College

Keynote speaker:
Richard Moore has been a national leader of the environmental justice movement for more than 30 years. He is currently the Chairperson of the US-EPA's National Environmental Justice Advisory Council. He is a founding member of the Southwest Organizing Project (SWOP) and the Southwest Network for Environmental and Economic Justice (SNEEJ). He currently serves as Executive Director of SNEEJ, an organization made up over 60 community based grassroots organizations working in communities of color in six southwestern states and Northern Mexico.

Musical Guests:
O’Nami Taiko

Silent auction of visual art about and by Asian-American and Pacific Islanders, featuring art by:

York Chang
Binh Danh
Daniel Fleckles
Lora Jo Foo
Matthew Kurtesz
Mari Rose Taruc
Tran Khanh Tuyet

Special artworks by APEN members

Please RSVP by calling 510.834.8920 x307 or e-mail haibinh*AT*apen4ej.org

Directions to Jack London Aquatic Center, 115 Embarcadero, Oakland
(use these directions as google maps and other online services are incorrect)
From San Francisco/West:
I-80 EAST to the Bay Bridge. I-580 EAST/DOWNTOWN OAKLAND. EXIT toward Hayward/Stockton. I-980 WEST EXIT towards downtown Oakland. JACKSON STREET EXIT, staying RIGHT at the fork in the ramp. The exit will drop you on 5TH STREET. Stay on 5TH STREET until you reach OAK ST. Right on OAK ST., OAK ST. becomes EMBARCADERO after crossing the railroad tracks. Go approximately 3/10 mile on the EMBARCADERO, turn RIGHT into the entrance to Estuary Park and JLAC. Immediately after the JLAC entrance there is a small bridge on the EMBARCADERO; if you go over the bridge, you’ve gone too far.
From Berkeley/Richmond:
I-80 WEST toward Oakland. I-580 East/Downtown Oakland (CA-24) toward Hayward/Stockton. I-980 WEST EXIT towards DOWNTOWN OAKLAND. JACKSON STREET EXIT, staying RIGHT at the fork in the ramp. The exit will drop you on 5TH STREET. Stay on 5TH STREET until you reach OAK ST. Right on OAK ST., OAK ST. becomes EMBARCADERO after crossing the railroad tracks. Go approximately 3/10 mile on the EMBARCADERO, turn RIGHT into the entrance to Estuary Park and JLAC. Immediately after the JLAC entrance there is a small bridge on the EMBARCADERO; if you go over the bridge, you’ve gone too far.
From South of Oakland:
I880 North, 5TH AVE EXIT. Right onto the EMBARCADERO. Go approximately 2/3 mile on the Embarcadero, over a small bridge, and immediately after the bridge turn LEFT into the entrance to Estuary Park and the JLAC parking lot.

LOP Supports Equitable Development in Richmond

2007-08-02T12:45:00.000-07:00

Below is an excerpt from the Richmond Equitable Development Initiative (REDI) press release. Over 25 LOP members came to support REDI's push to get support from the Mayor and City Council for policies which would improve land use, housing, economic development and transportation for Richmond's low-income people, people of color, and immigrants. LOP leaders presented a short skit demonstrating the housing problems facing Richmond, and the need for healthy and affordable homes the community.

"On Thursday evening [July 26th], community supporters of the Richmond Equitable Development Initiative (REDI) called on the Mayor and City Council to enact policies that ensure future development leads to a more healthy and just Richmond.

"REDI is a diverse coalition of residents, faith leaders, organizations, and policy experts committed to growth that benefits rather than burdens existing residents. REDI actively promotes planning processes that involve low-income residents in the decisions that impact their lives and neighborhoods. The community forum was attended by over 250 local residents, Mayor Gayle McLaughlin, City Council Members Tony Thurmond and Tom Butt.

"Every California city and county must have a written General Plan that describes a 10 to 15-year plan for growth. As Richmond embarks on updating its General Plan, local residents are demanding it include fair, healthy and equitable land use, housing, economic development, and transportation policy statements. Motivated by historic Richmond development that has yielded disparities and unequal distribution of resources, REDI members are promoting development that works for all Richmond residents.

"Equitable development policies can reduce poverty and social inequities, revitalize core neighborhoods, provide basic needs and services for all people regardless of socioeconomic status, and encourage the engagement of those most directly impacted by growth, such as low-income people, people of color and immigrants. Based on these principles, on Thursday night, REDI partners presented a set of specific policy recommendations that they hope will be included in Richmond’s updated General Plan. REDI seeks to have all Richmond City Council Members adopt the principles and policies."

View the full July 27 REDI press release (pdf)

USSF Team on the Radio

2007-07-09T13:05:00.000-07:00

APEN USSF team member Keri Manyvanh spoke about her experiences at the US Social Forum on the KPFA show APEX Express on Thursday, July 5th. You can listen to the show here. Keri and other USSF delegates come on at about 17 minutes in.

Also, The Nation magazine has a recap of the US Social Forum titled "An Even Newer Left." The article also mentions APEN-friends National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (NNIRR).

USSF day6 - closing

2007-07-05T02:38:00.000-07:00

Sunday, July 1

The People’s Assembly gathered for the last day of the USSF to hear closing comments that tied this overwhelming experience together, as well dozens of resolutions to inspire next steps. Among panelists were awesome Tammy/LCSC who shared that at this closing, our win doesn’t end here, but rather we start here & implement all these great ideas back home in our communities. Tom/IEN added that we are not looking for a reform of these broken systems in the US—we are looking for a transformation. Wild applause.

At the 10th resolution, after proposals for Black-Brown unity, our Right to the City to reverse gentrification, anti-war programs, immigrants rights campaigns, Gulf Coast tribunal for internally displaced people, that another media is possible and poetry calling to “Give me a movement that moves”, 2 native folks came up to the mic with their 2 minutes to share their resolution. In her native tongue, the first woman spoke about Native sovereignty & broken treaties, then repeated in English. Then the other South American indigenous man began reading his proposal, but their combined 2 minutes was up & the USSF moderators had to pass the mic to the many others waiting their turn to give proposals. A tug of war for the mic ensued. The crowd gasped. The indigenous man was escorted off the stage. Unsettled murmur grows in the audience, then chants of “let him speak, let him speak”. 10 more proposals are given. A crowd formed around the indigenous man & crosses the audience to backstage, and a takeover begins…

The indigenous contingent of 50+ swarm the red stage. “In the spirit of Native Homeland Security, our warrior spirits will step up when we see wrong being done to our people. When you took that mic away from our brother, we were hurt and we had to do something about that…” We were all lectured and reminded of what the US has done to the first nations of Turtle Island. The stage was a surreal re-enactment in a way. But the glorious finale was that they took it back. They took back what was theirs. And in the spirit of healing, they turned to the drum for a healing song—that was the drum beat of Mother Earth. Bineshi & the other native women also spoke & reaffirmed that the USSF organizers were not the enemy, nor us in the audience. What happened with the mic was a simple mistake. And later, the woman who played the mic tug of war apologized & also acknowledged that if we think that the movement wasn’t going to make mistakes along the way, we were fooling ourselves. The stage was set for a movement drama act, with resolution. Whew.

Well, round 2 came when a group of women poverty scholars took stage refusing the 2 minute limit. Mic tug of war ensued. Cindy/MWC pulled it back with force, shouting that we needed to stop this. We are full of struggles and we were not going to solve it all on stage today, but that we will do it in our communities. We were not each others enemy. The real enemy is capitalism & US imperialism. Wild applause & steam dissipates. We take deep breaths &… the next proposal makes its way on stage & so on. Flow continues. (Mad props to the USSF organizers for working this through & pulling us together to feel unified & stronger to go back home to continue building this movement.)

Before hopping on the plane to go back West, we had to pay tribute to Martin Luther King Jr, born & buried in Atlanta. We walked to his Memorial site and swam in his words, images, courage & inspiration. One of the exhibits documented his death with a recorded sermon he gave played overhead:

“…if any of you are around when I have to meet my day, I don’t want a long funeral. And if you get somebody to deliver the eulogy, tell them not to talk too long. And every now and then I wonder what I want them to say. Tell them not to mention that I have a Nobel Peace Prize—that isn’t important. Tell them not to mention that I have three or four hundred other awards—that’s not important. Tell them not to mention where I went to school.

“I'd like somebody to mention that day that Martin Luther King, Jr., tried to give his life serving others. I'd like for somebody to say that day that Martin Luther King, Jr., tried to love somebody. I want you to say that day that I tried to be right on the war question. I want you to be able to say that day that I did try to feed the hungry. And I want you to be able to say that day that I did try in my life to clothe those who were naked. I want you to say on that day that I did try in my life to visit those who were in prison. I want you to say that I tried to love and serve humanity.

“Yes, if you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice. Say that I was a drum major for peace. I was a drum major for righteousness. And all of the other shallow things will not matter. I won't have any money to leave behind. I won't have the fine and luxurious things of life to leave behind. But I just want to leave a committed life behind.”

Tears flowed easily down my face & I could see Hai Binh & others touched similarly. That was extra fuel to take home for movement work. A journey well worth the effort.

USSF day5

2007-07-05T01:54:00.000-07:00

Saturday, June 30

What a day—action packed with back from set up for the EJ (environmental justice) Tent in the morning to the GGJ (Grassroots Global Justice) reception for the international delegates lasting past midnight.

Being the main EJ tent coordinator for EJ day, keeping track of the flow of people & activities turned up my internal thermostat. Have we told you it reaches the higher 90’s with humidity in the middle of a USSF-Atlanta day? The USSF has been a true exercise of cool (head & body) under extreme circumstances of making sense of chaos, taming the overwhelming, and sharing your best thinking with the best US grassroots activists around. Everyone deserves to be commended, especially the USSF planning committee!

9am: EJ Tent Set-up was smooth thanks to Eco-Action folks.

10am: Water Ceremony at Indigenous Tent. I scooped up a bottle of Oakland Estuary water to bring to the ceremony where Native women from the Great Lakes shared their prayers. I learned that women are the bearers of water, and the men are the keepers of fire, and these roles are kept distinct.

10am: The APEN team, led by Mimi & Keri, facilitated a workshop on Organizing Asian Communities. I headed over after the Water Ceremony & caught the presentations by APEN, CPA, DRUM & CAAAV. It was powerful to see such amazing API’s share the various challenges in organizing members under different languages, immigration status, working & living conditions, as well as the analysis that our campaigns may be at one place but our visions go beyond & deeper in fighting for justice. While sitting at the back during these presentations, I also got to play with a little boy from one of CAAAV’s staffers. We made planes & trains from the many flyers we were handed by USSFers. I was missing my own kids at this point & our play reminded me to have fun during this jam-packed Forum.

12pm: EJ Tent preparation for the EJ movement panel. It was great to be teammates with Bianca/SNEEJ as she is a great model for keeping cool. We laughed a lot, even when our opening act disappeared, then reappered past the 1pm panel start time, while apologizing to the full tent of folks waiting for the program to start, & the power going out. Thank goodness APEN brought our fans (collectors item now!) to circulate the nearly 100 degree air.

2pm: To the drumbeat of Danza Azteca beside the tent, we proceeded with a packed panel: Cecil/NEJN, Jenice/JTA, Dalila/YUCA, Tom/IEN, MrsBush/localAtlanta, Nelson/FNEEJ, 2 youth reps, and me/APEN & Bianca/SNEEJ playing many roles including panelists. During my speech, I asked the audience how many of them had attended Summit2—and to my surprise, less than half raised their hands. It was a good surprise because so many new faces were young people & members of EJ organizations. It was reassuring to know our movement continues to grow because the work in our communities is so important.

4pm: After the panel, open mic, closing ceremony & a bit of clean-up, I voted to go to the workshop called: Pool, Where There Is No Thinking or Effort Allowed. And so back we went to the hotel & off I floated in the pool.

7pm: A try at Gladys Knight’s Chicken & Waffles restaurant, but no luck. Lines of 50+ people outside! The taxi driver brought us to a restaurant with southern cooking he said was good. No lines & the menu looked great, however… most of the customers were White & we felt a bit awkward. I asked a Black brother in line whether we should be here & he said: the food is GOOD. We were starved, as APENers’ appetites are huge, so we decided to stay. Our orders included: fried green tomatoes, fried okra, black-eyed peas, greens, mac & cheese, buttery cabbage, creamed corn, sweet potato soufflé, corn bread & various meats (which as a vegetarian I’d rather not describe). Delicious! Stuffed. We later were clued in on the difference between Southern Cooking (by Whites) and Soul Food (by Blacks).

10pm: After a MARTA electric train ride, 3 APENers made our way to a residential Manor for the GGJ reception for the international guests. We liked the front porches built on to the homes, picturing the many cool drinks & neighborly conversations that are facilitated by that architecture. This is pretty different than the gentrified, skyscraper & freeway-lined streets of the USSF meeting sites. We enter the manor & live music fills the air, as well as many appreciations for USSF organizers including by WSF (World Social Forum) organizers who reiterate how absolutely important it is that grassroots Americans build another US so that another world is possible. A job well done.