Through funding awarded by the United States Environmental Protection Agency Jan. 19, Colorado State University’s Center for Environmental Justice and Montana State University will work to establish a regional environmental justice center.
The Mountains and Plains Thriving Communities Collaborative will service previously underrepresented communities within EPA’s Region 8, which is composed of Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, South Dakota, Utah and North Dakota, along with 28 federally recognized tribal nations.
“This Technical Assistance Center is really to get communities the support they need in order to access funding, (to) find that expertise to make those really technical decisions they need to and to build something we call civic capacity to engage with decision-makers,” Center for Environmental Justice Program Manager Mindy Hill said.
Environmental justice can be divided into two threads: distributive justice and procedural justice. The former is focused on where negative environmental influences have been placed in the past and the latter on how administrative justice and resources are delicate to communities in need.
“We take a very social and ecological approach to what we think about environmental justice,” said Dimitris Stevis, Center for Environmental Justice co-founder and co-director. “It’s not just about the nature, but it’s about humanity in nature.”
Communities most affected by environmental injustice are typically Black, Latinx, Native American or low-income, Center for Environmental Justice co-founder Stephanie Malin said. One of the collaborative’s goals, which is coordination, hopes to close that gap.
“A lot of times, the groups that are most impacted (are) the ones that don’t have a seat at the table,” Malin said.
Montana State University will also assist in the coordination of these relationships, said Julia Haggerty, collaborative project leader and Montana State University associate professor of geography.
“We have a lot of experience at Montana State as a land-grant with a big extension program with a lot of history working productively in both rural and tribal communities,” Haggerty said. “From that we have experience on kind of, like, how to build trusting, meaningful, reciprocal relationships.”
The ultimate goal of these relationships will be to give communities facing injustice a place to turn to in times of need when the next step may be unclear.
“If something were happening in your hometown, would you know how to talk to your leaders?” Hill said. “Would you know how to get a group of community members together to find out information and advocate for what you need?”
After connecting communities with experts, they will also work to connect individuals with funding opportunities.
“Our job in general is to help communities access funding, and some of that is going to be training to help them match up with funds they’re a really good match for,” Hill said.
Funding opportunities and connections will hopefully also be found at the national level, as Center of Environmental Justice Committee Member Madeline Schomburg explained.
“We have ties to what’s going on at the federal level that I think some of the other centers may not have in the same way that we do,” Schomburg said.
The center is also strategizing on how to assist communities once funding ultimately runs out.
“We really want to build stronger networks so that once this funding is gone, once these programs are over, we are going to have a really strong environmental justice network in this region,” Hill said.
The center is set to soft launch in April 2024 and pilot in-person trainings beginning in August. However, during this development process, the center plans to stick to its roots and utilize the resources found on CSU’s campus.
“(Our goal) as a state land-grant university is that we really bring our expertise in environmental justice (and) clean energy policy to communities so it doesn’t just sit here in the university walls and in books on shelves,” Hill said.
Reach Katie Fisher at news@collegian.com or on Twitter @CSUCollegian.
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