When The Federal Safety Net Disappears, California’s Black Climate Leaders Step Up

It’s a strange moment in climate justice across the country. Earlier this year, the Trump administration dismantled several key climate and equity programs. Now, community groups are scrambling as federal environmental justice grants are being rolled back. However, in Sacramento, many Black-led organizations argue that the work hasn’t stopped, and they have not been directly affected by the federal environmental and climate rollbacks.

“We don’t receive any federal funding. If we did, we would have been impacted by the dismantling of the EPA,” said Faye Wilson Kennedy, a founding member of the Red Black and Green Environmental Justice Coalition. “Because we’re in California, we have a fairly good state EPA and we have a fairly good health system protecting people.”

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