Beloved Community Equity at Work Program Expands
A new regional technical center plans to expand on Beloved Community’s Equity at Work program. Beloved will lead the integration and bring together leadership teams from 20 to 30 organizations throughout the region. Participants will develop both interpersonal and institutional capacities to disrupt systemic racism and discrimination that manifests within their organization and its operations.
As one of 17 awardees selected, New Mexico State University will lead a team to establish an Environmental Justice Thriving Communities Technical Assistance Center in the region to help underserved and overburdened communities with environmental justice concerns remove barriers and improve accessibility to federal grant application systems.
NMSU’s project, the South Central Environmental Justice Resource Center (SCEJRC) will cover EPA Region 6, which includes Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas and 66 tribal nations.
SCEJRC plans to develop an equitable leadership model designed to uplift disinvested communities through leadership, peer learning and outreach training to ensure relevant and active engagement in future environmental and energy policy development; and to empower business leaders for equitable engagement through awareness of current assets and options, and emerging economic opportunities.
The project will expand on Beloved Community’s Equity at Work program. Beloved will lead the integration and bring together leadership teams from 20 to 30 organizations throughout the region. Participants will develop both interpersonal and institutional capacities to disrupt systemic racism and discrimination that manifests within their organization and its operations.
A focus of the SCEJRC will be to provide relevant outreach programming and resources to enhance environmental and energy justice, with an emphasis on disinvested populations in underserved communities and those in rural and remote areas.
“The ability to live and work in environments in which all community members can thrive is a basic human right that too often eludes our most vulnerable and marginalized communities. Beloved Community is excited to be a part of this initiative and come alongside partners committed to ensuring that BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and people of color) communities have voice and power in the conditions and decisions that impact their well-being.”
SCEJRC partners include academic institutions; NMSU’s College of Engineering, NMSU’s Cooperative Extension Service and the University of Texas at Arlington’s Manufacturing Extension Program; nonprofit organizations: Beloved Community, Santa Fe Green Chamber of Commerce, Inter-Tribal Council of Louisiana, Gulf States Renewable Energy Industry Association, Together Louisiana and G.A.A.P. Grant Writing Training; and industry organizations, LifeCity and Arkansas Capital Corporation.