The CEER Climate Justice Campaign focuses on movement building, capacity building and leadership development of neighborhood leaders to advance their vision of climate justice.
To achieve our goals, we recruited and trained 14 residents to work as climate ambassadors, who engaged their networks to educate and advocate about climate change.
We are working on our home retrofit policy solution, to help residents weather the climate change storm at home, and address climate and health issues. Our health partners, Legacy Community Health Centers and a physician and Assistant Professor from the University of Texas School of Public Health will mobilize health stakeholders to add their voices to the advocacy campaign.
We continue to learn that the most impactful way to create lasting change and achieve meaningful policy wins is to build power at the community level and work in coalition. We do that by convening the Northeast Collaborative Platform (NECP), which is made up of CEER member organizations, impacted residents and grassroots place-based groups active in Northeast Houston. This coalition meets monthly and creates space for dialogue, organizing and visioning.
Carmen Cavezza, CEER 2021
“Having been involved in areas of advocacy for nearly 30 years, I felt it was time to taper down due to ongoing health issues for myself, my husband, mother and other immediate family members. Lo and behold, here comes an opportunity to work in the environmental arena, something that I had some previous experience on and understood the potential threat not only to my community, but to the entire world. I couldn't resist lending some input to this venture. Particularly because the work was being aimed at marginal citizens in marginal communities”.
“Yo decidí estar en estos grupos por la razón que hemos pasado por muchos problemas del cambio climático. Fui afectada terriblemente por el huracán Harvey, después el COVID 19 y 7 meses después la tormenta invernal Uri. Yo creo que todos unidos protestando por estos problemas podemos hacer un cambio. ¡Y todos juntos lo lograremos! Justicia es la razón por la que yo estoy aquí”.
“I have seen people come and go right in front of my eyes and this has to spot at some point. We are losing too many people in my community to cancer and we have no answers why. So I got involved and I am doing my part to stop the death in my community. The reason I do this kind of work is because no one else is doing it”.
"I was born and raised in 5th Ward as a village child because I became homeless at eight years old. I’ve stayed in 5th Ward all of my life; I am 72 years now. I became a self-made advocate because of the injustices I witness, and what has been done to my neighbors and me in our community. I do all I can to help each other with any problem that he or she might have. Now I am a climate ambassador."
Our work is as complex as the communities who drive it. There is a lot to learn, contemplate, and take action on. CEER is committed to creating a safe, welcoming space for you to participate in our 8 Point Plan. Take your time, look around, and learn all there is to know about us and our strategy.