Who We Are
Front and Centered is a diverse and powerful coalition of communities of color-led groups across Washington State who come together to advance equity, climate justice, and environmental justice. Through our capacity building, leadership support, research and development, policy analysis, and advocacy, we are the largest and most powerful coalition of “frontline communities”—a.k.a. communities of color, Indigenous peoples, migrants and refugees, and people with lower incomes—who are advancing climate and environmental justice in Washington State, and by doing so, ensuring a Just Transition to a better future for all.
Vision and Mission
We envision a Just Transition to a future where our communities and the earth are healed and thriving, our people have dignified work, and our government values, respects, and represents us. We are working for sovereignty and self-sufficiency for our communities so that future generations can thrive.
At Front and Centered we work to advance a Just Transition away from the extractive economy causing climate and environmental crises, toward the healthy, thriving communities we need. We do this by prioritizing the redirection of power and resources toward communities on the frontlines of the crises and building the necessary foundations for livelihoods rooted in care, culture, and cooperation. Using this approach, we increase well-being for all by passing groundbreaking environmental laws, redirecting millions of dollars and other key resources to environmental justice, and advancing community-directed strategies to limit pollution and correct environmental health disparities.
Values
Solidarity and mutuality, bottom-up orientation, clarity and transparency, intersectionality, anti-racism, anti-patriarchy, redistribution of power and resources, respect for Native Nations and Indigenous sovereignty, collective processes, collective impact, and collaborative leadership.
Principles
- Racial and economic analysis should drive decisions.
- Follow the leadership, knowledge, and expertise of communities disproportionately impacted.
- Use targeted strategies for Black communities, Indigenous peoples, and other communities of color to achieve equitable outcomes for all.
What We Do
Through our work, Front and Centered supports a powerful and growing coalition of frontline communities and advances a Just Transition for the benefit of all in Washington State. The tools we employ to activate change for a Just Transition amplify our coalition’s voices and correlate with our four impact strategies:
- Equitable Governance
- Community and Place-based Solutions
- Regenerative Economies
- Renewable Energy
Our work, which falls within these impact strategies, includes but is not limited to:
- Policy analysis and research to develop concepts and innovations such as the Environmental Health Disparities Map
- Advocacy through legislative efforts in the State Capitol
- Community engagement, either through collaborative governance models like community assemblies or other regional and statewide convenings on a variety of climate and environmental justice issues
- Capacity building work through grants and regenerative assistance, community education, and leadership development.
How We Work
Community Leadership, Committees,
Work Groups, and Policy Tables
Membership in the Front and Centered coalition means that member organizations believe in the principles and values upon which Front and Centered was founded. Together and with key partners, our coalition actively works towards the vision for a Just Transition.
Front and Centered practices equitable governance principles, guided by a Community Council which oversees Front and Centered portfolio of policy, programs, and capacity building efforts. The Coordination Team provides a continuum of expertise, serving as staff to the coalition, coordinating
statewide strategies, research, policy and advocacy, technical assistance, grantmaking, and other capacity efforts to support the leadership and resiliency of our members.
As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, our Board of Directors works in tandem with the Community Council to ensure our legal, fiscal, and organizational integrity. Our Advisory Council of thought partners and influencers also provides additional strategic perspectives to enhance our efforts for a Just Transition.
Community Leadership
Our Community Council is our equitable governing council of leaders who serve on behalf of the coalition. With diverse program missions, they possess expertise in racial justice and power building, and they collectively work at the intersections of equity, climate justice, and environmental justice.
Our community leadership holds the vision and guides both our statewide coalition and Coordination Team on:
- Policy positions
- Program priorities
- Coalition advocacy
- Civic engagement
- Resourcing the coalition and movement
Standing Committees
Policy Committee
Composed of members in our statewide coalition, this community committee recommends priorities for advocacy/policy positions, programs, government forums and positions of local leaders in the forefront.
Capacity Committee
Also composed of members in our statewide coalition, the Power and Capacity Building Committee recommends priorities for resource development, investments, outreach, technical assistance, communications, and projects aimed to strengthen internal capacity of member groups.
Triple Threat
Communities of color, people with lower incomes, and Indigenous peoples are on the frontlines of climate and environmental change. We are hit FIRST by extraction, pollution, and climate change, which makes existing health and economic disparities WORSE. Yet frontline communities are often LEFT OUT of or are the last to be included in the transition to healthy, resilient and sustainable future.
Vision
We envision a Just Transition to a future where our communities and the earth are healed and thriving, our people have dignified work, and our government values, respects, and represents us. We are working for sovereignty and self-sufficiency for our communities so that future generations can thrive. We strive to make racial inequities on all issues a thing of the past, and to ensure that communities of color and Indigenous peoples are at the forefront of building equitable, democratic systems and policies that work for their communities. We are working for a future where all communities are healthy, safe, and resilient, and where everyone has equitable access to the building blocks of opportunity and prosperity, like a healthy environment free from ecological destruction, affordable housing, and good careers based on safe work and livable wages.
Principles
Communities of color, people with lower incomes, and indigenous people are on the frontlines of climate and environmental change. We are hit first by extraction, pollution, and damage to the climate, which makes existing health and economic disparities worse. Yet frontline communities are often left out or are the last to be included in the transition to a healthy, resilient and sustainable future. These principles are our collective approach to equity — reducing uneven barriers to participation and wellbeing — so that all communities thrive.
Acknowledge that past policies and decisions maintain a system of injustice
- Account for past policies and decisions that contribute to and maintain a system that fosters disproportionately and racial injustice.
Follow the leadership, knowledge and expertise of communities disproportionately impacted
- Who writes the rules matters. Communities of color and people with lower incomes must have the capacity and opportunity to fully engage, at the outset, in policy design and implementation.
- Monitor policy impacts on an ongoing basis, make this information publicly available, and create oversight for communities most impacted.
Use racial and economic analysis to drive decisions
- Racially neutral policies are rarely race neutral. Policy choices and implementation have racial consequences.
- Therefore, equity, leveling opportunity, must be at the center of every policy decision.
Use targeted strategies that create benefits for all
- Identify environmental justice areas with high environmental burdens and social and economic disparities.
- Adopt a strategy of targeted universalism—one that benefits all but is crafted to lift up communities facing the greatest barriers, and therefore provides community-specific results.
Create net environmental and economic benefits for communities of color and people with lower incomes
- ‘Revenue-neutral’ and ‘trickle-down’ policies disproportionately hurt and do not benefit people of color and those with lower incomes.
- Polluter pays revenue raised should first offset any additional economic burden placed on people with lower incomes and fewer resources, and then should support strategies that reduce pollution.
