ACTIVATE! Programs
Urban Tilth is passionately committed to advocating for human rights, including racial and gender justice, in addition to environmental and climate justice. We believe that all people deserve to thrive and have equitable access to a healthy life. With a diverse and colorful group making up our staff, we are very familiar with the various systemic injustices that stand in the way of that healthy life for many individuals and communities.
For that reason we have cultivated different initiatives and bodies of work under the ACTIVATE! Programs banner to help us hold space for creating solutions to combat these different systems of oppression.
What do we mean when we say “Just Transition”?
In the framework of Just Transition, we have key pillars that will help us transition from the extractive economy we live in today into a more regenerative economy where we will live in healthier, accessible green spaces.
When we think of the word economy, we usually only think of money and finances because of what we are taught. But the word “economy” actually means much more. The Greek root word “eco” means “home”. The second part of that word, “nomy,” means “management,”. So actually, economy is quite literally the management of the home. With that definition, it is our intention to help bring about a better, more sustainable, healthier management of our home. For us this kind of management includes using deep democracy as a guiding value and practice so that as many residents as possible are included in decision-making.
Just Transition Projects
Racial and Gender Justice Projects
Get ACTIVATED!
Get involved with current actions, community meetings, and justice initiatives.
Alfredo “Lelo” Juarez Zeferino, a farmworker and longtime union organizer with Familias Unidas por la Justicia, was violently arrested in Sedro-Woolley in March while dropping off his partner at her job in the tulip fields. When Juarez asked to see a warrant, ICE agents shattered his car window. He is being held at the notorious detention center in Tacoma.
Click here to learn more.
Working in Coalition
Beyond the projects we are leading at Urban Tilth, our Just Transition team is also working together as members of 3 coalitions and alliances to move forward local and national campaigns, initiatives, and policy efforts. In this way we contribute to groups such as:
Current Coalition and Alliance Campaigns
Do you have a Just Transition Project for Richmond?
Check out the grant opportunities offered by Richmond Our Power Coalition’s Just Transition Fund at the East Bay Community Foundation…
Meet our Just Transition Team!
The members of Urban’Tilth’s Just Transition team are both North Richmond residents and have been part of the community for more than a decade with lived experiences of the injustices their community faces, including pollution from major polluters like the refinery, the housing crisis, and living in a food desert. They are working hard to change the rules and build the new by organizing and mobilizing North Richmond residents!
How do we try to raise awareness, engage community members, and improve community health, and the health of our air, water, and soil in Richmond’s fenceline communities?
Rafael Rafael Castro-Chavez
Hello, my name is Rafa, I am a North Richmond resident. I was 13 years old when the explosion at Richmond Chevron refinery happened. This experience made me interested in looking into environmental and climate justice, and I found that the housing crisis, racism, and extractive developments are all a climate issue. As a Just Transition organizer, I focus on educating and empowering my community for a better future in North Richmond.
Kiara Pereira
I believe in the power of compassion, empathy, and kindness, and their ability to transform individual and collective lives. As Just Transition organizers we are not just looking to stop bad actors like polluters, but to also create a future that uplifts all people and to imagine a world where that is possible. Capitalism, patriarchy, racism, ageism, xenophobia, etc. are all societally normalized in the extractive economy. Prioritizing profits over the longevity or sustainability of our natural resources and living beings creates a world of chaos and hate. I am looking to use my background in mixed media art to showcase the possibilities of this new world, and to highlight that beauty exists even in the most difficult of times.