Frequently Asked Questions

What is LOCAL?
At LOCAL we want to develop a training of what it means to organize around environmental justice for BIPOC communities. The training offered by LOCAL organizers was made to be open to BIPOC community members, students, organizers and youth who are interested in it. A Rise as Leaders training was developed. It is a leadership training that empowers participants to learn about environmental justice, organize around issues that matter to them, and encourage civic engagement. It would also be a space where folks can build relationships with one another.

How did LOCAL come about?
Three organizations – Beyond Toxics, NAACP Eugene-Springfield and NOWIA Unete Farm Worker Advocacy Center – proposed a 2-year project to build infrastructure in our communities to stand up to policies of injustice, discrimination and economic disparities.

Beyond Toxics, NAACP-Eugene-Springfield and NOWIA Unete proposed to form a partnership and co-lead work throughout southern Oregon to support low-income communities and communities of color most impacted by racial bias. The project would center itself at the nexus of environmental pollution and illness, labor injustice, and immigrant rights. These three organizations wanted to build a strategic, long-term relationship that would benefit their vulnerable communities. We believe we can effectively accomplish these goals using a strategy of grassroots organizing that cuts across issues, geography and cultures.

Our three organizations sought to explore and expand this intersectionality of one's own experiences in racial, immigrant and environmental justices. They recognized that, in these extraordinary times, we are called upon to be intentional about the way we connect these issues and emphasize the commonality and interconnectedness of these struggles through the specialized skills and expertise that all three organizations bring to the table.

What is the LOCAL’s Mission?
The Liberation of Communities and Land's mission is to educate, empower, and facilitate environmental action within communities of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color in Eugene at the nexus of climate, environmental, and racial justice.

What is LOCAL’s Vision?
LOCAL envisions radical change through the liberation of communities and land by achieving equal access and representation, decentralized power and environmental improvement. We hope to deepen community engagement with environmental justice by furthering our outreach to other BlPOC and frontline communities in Oregon.

 

Some of the reasons why participants signed up to join Rise as Leaders Cohort

● I’m interested in bringing an EJ perspective to the disability community

● I work for Legal Aid Immigration Services and I want to learn about the issues affecting my clients

● I want to learn to advocate for minorities and for myself

● Most EJ learning spaces are for white people, and I am looking for a space for BIPOC.

● I’m BIPOC and want to do more for Black community.

● I’m a high school student - this is the first opportunity I’ve ever seen to get together with other BIPOCs like me.

● Participating in spaces like this is where I want to learn