Frontline Communities, Equity
Centered

We seek a Just Transition away from an extraction-based economy to one centered on ecological restoration, community resilience, and social equity, fueled by regenerative resources and cooperative work, governed by deep democracy, and a culture of caring and sacredness.

Act Now: House Bill 2070

That’s right, the CURB Act has a Senate hearing!

Your hard work is paying off. Thanks to all of you who took action in the last couple of weeks, House Bill 2070 (the CURB Pollution Act) is scheduled for a committee vote on Monday. On top of that, we’ve just heard that the Senate version of the bill is going to get a hearing!

Senate Bill 5990 will be heard this Tuesday, Jan. 30, by the Senate Environment, Energy, and Technology Committee.

Our bill will not get the chance to be voted on by the full Senate unless this committee moves it forward. That means we need you help us to move our bill forward by signing in PRO for the CURB Pollution Act!

(What does it mean to sign in PRO? It means you enter your name and contact information into a form, where you will also mark your position as PRO to show you support our bill!)

Take action in less than a minute by signing in PRO for CURB:

Our 2024 Legislative Agenda

Communities of color, Indigenous peoples, and people with lower incomes are on the frontlines of the climate and environmental crisis. For the 2024 “short” legislative session, our coalition of frontline communities focused on reducing pollution in our most at-risk and overburdened communities and ensuring that state budget allocations meet mandated obligations to overburdened communities and vulnerable populations.

Support H.B. 2070

the

CURB Pollution Act

The Just Transition Leadership Program

Frontline communities don’t just need to survive—we need to thrive. Our communities will only be stronger and more effective the more connected we are to each other, and the more we are able to support each other in our efforts to create the change we need and the future we want. That’s why we’re excited to announce the Just Transition Leadership Program.

Join us in creating a collective movement toward a more just and equitable future!

Announcing

Community Assemblies

If we're not prepared to govern, we're not prepared to win.

Conversations. Stories. Film.

Earth Deserves More Than a Day

April 17–21

Read Our Blog

Announcements

Why We’ve Launched the
Just Transition Leadership Program

Perspectives

Frontline Communities Practice Earth Day Every Day

Perspectives

Mel Baggs and the Intersections of Neurodivergency, Disability Justice, and a Just Transition

Announcements

Join Us for Community Education in Action!

Apply now:
HEAL Community! Fund

Thanks to the mobilization and determination of our coalition members and frontline communities, Front and Centered secured funds to shape implementation of the Healthy Environment for All (HEAL) Act and create the HEAL Community! Fund.

Watch the video to learn who is eligible for grants through the fund, and then use the links below to find detailed information and start your application!

Our HEAL Progress Report is now live!

The HEAL Act is groundbreaking legislation, but its promise will only be realized if frontline communities make sure our shared vision is realized throughout implementation. We know it’s not environmental justice if the communities most impacted aren’t resourced and participating.

In our HEAL Progress Report: Seeding the Culture and Building the Structures for a Just Transition through Washington’s Landmark Law on Environmental Justice, Front and Centered assesses HEAL implementation so far, identifies key challenges in that process, and provides clear recommendations for moving forward and realizing the vision of the HEAL Act.

Our Latest Report: Exposing False Solutions

In a new report, Exposing False Solutions: How Washington’s Cap and Trade Program Gives Industrial Polluters a Free Pass, Front and Centered explores our state’s cap-and-trade scheme which provides allowances to many of Washington’s biggest polluters and its impacts on our communities.

On the Frontlines

with Jill and Edgar

Season 3

The Washington Transit Access Map is live!

In a new report, A Transportation Justice Agenda for Washington State, Front and Centered is proposing a sweeping agenda for justice to reorient the way we invest our transportation dollars and prioritize safety with clear standards for improving transit and safe sidewalks and crosswalks.

The report also features some information from the Washington Transit Access Map, which just launched today!

FrontLINE
IDEAS

COMMUNITY REPORT ON ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE

In Washington and across the country, a person’s race, even more than their income, is the most important factor that determines how their health is impacted by climate change and pollution. As highlighted by the frontline voices in our report, Community Report on Environmental Justice, environmental justice (EJ) can be achieved by directing the focus of state agencies to the communities most impacted. The findings of our community report, which helped inform the landmark Healthy Environment for All (HEAL) Act, offer a firsthand account of how human health is impacted by pollution and climate impacts, and how it can be improved by government focus.

Just Movement Community Report –
Transitioning Transportation in Washington State

Transportation makes up 40% of Washington GHG pollution and is a core contributor to the disproportionate impacts of pollution in Washington State, the most overburdened communities being disportionately communities of color. These impacts literally take years off our lives. Through Front and Centered statewide listening sessions and surveys, Washington’s communities of color named air quality and health, and increasing the quantity and quality of public transit as priorities for action.

2020 YEAR IN REVIEW

JUST TRANSITION

COALITION SPOTLIGHT

COMMUNITY LEADERSHIP

BLOG

RESOURCE THE MOVEMENT

SEED AND SUPPORT

OUR MEMBERS

Landmark Environmental Justice Policy in Washington

Where you live, your income, race, or language ability should not determine how healthy and safe you are. But tragically in our communities, health and well-being varies significantly according to who you are and where you live. People across Washington who are suffering worst from pollution—often people with lower incomes, communities of color, Indigenous peoples, and linguistically isolated folks—pay with their well-being and shortened lives.

In 2021, after years of hard work and dedicated community mobilization, we were able to celebrate the passage and signing of Senate Bill 5141: the Healthy Environment for All (HEAL) Act. The HEAL Act represents the collective expertise of our coalition and our direct connections to frontline communities in Washington State. The law is not just a tool our communities can use to create change, but also a unique model for community co-governance that we can look to as we accelerate a Just Transition toward climate and environmental justice.

Current Status and HEAL Progress Report

The HEAL Act affirms that communities have certain fundamental rights, and that we have every right to use them. However, rights need to be properly articulated, resourced, and integrated into state agencies to be protected and exercised. The potential is tremendous, but real hurdles need to be addressed to ensure that the funding and effort on HEAL is focused on impact, and that everyone involved is aligned in purpose and values.

2023 is a critical year for the HEAL Act, with the law’s requirements to assess significant agency actions as well as budgets and spending coming into effect. The legislature will also determine what funding is available to communities and agencies.

In this first community progress report, Front and Centered assesses implementation of the HEAL Act midway through its first cycle of requirements and recommends how to realize the full potential from a non-governmental, community-based perspective, based on our observations, conversations, and participation.

Our HEAL Progress Report is live!

Our Progress Report is now available for download—check it out to read our full analysis on HEAL Act progress!

Report Preview:

Key Findings

A governance and implementation structure finding its feet
Missed opportunities to connect agency actions to EJ outcomes
Insufficient public participation and engagement

Key Recommendations

Co-governance as the most essential ingredient in EJ
Creating EJ impact with every action under the HEAL Act
Assigning clear leadership and stronger structures for HEAL

“We know a Just Transition won’t come easy. White supremacy and the “dig, dump, burn” consumer economy are still a reality for all of us to navigate. Government was not set up to change the systems, but to operate them, and change takes time and can be frustrating. But we believe we can persevere through these obstacles and make change if we work together.”

— Mariel Thuraisingham, Clean Energy Policy Lead

Learn More about the HEAL Act with Just Solutions

We were on the Just Solutions Podcast talking about all things HEAL! Tune in to this thirty-minute discussion to hear Deric, our Co-executive Director, and Guillermo, our Legislative and Government Relations Advocate, go over the policy and community impacts of this landmark legislation, including the ways in which our work can provide lessons and insights for replication across the nation.

Check out the Just Solutions Podcast on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.

Apply now:
HEAL Community! Fund

We are excited to announce that Front and Centered has secured funds to shape implementation of the Healthy Environment for All (HEAL) Act and create the HEAL Community! Fund.

The legislature allocated these funds in 2021 thanks to the mobilization and determination of our coalition members and frontline communities, and they were awarded through the Department of Health. We are granting them to community-based organizations around Washington State.

Watch the video to learn who is eligible for grants through the fund, and then use the links below to find detailed information and start your application!

Key Elements of the HEAL Act

Defines environmental justice (EJ) in state law and requires its application; uses a racial justice lens in agency strategic plans, goals, metric setting, program implementation, enforcement, and reporting that affects the environment.
Directs funding with environmental benefits toward investments in and determined by communities highly impacted by pollution or climate impacts.
Ensure Tribal sovereignty and rights as part of environmental justice.
Advances equitable community participation in planning, resource allocation, programs, and enforcement. This includes agency community engagement planning, screening tools like the Washington Environmental Health Disparities (EHD) Map, reducing barriers to contracting with community-based organizations, and consultation with Tribes.
Creates and funds an EJ Council that will support integrating EJ into state government, report progress to the governor, and establish the Office of the EJ Advocate to ensure agencies comply with the obligations of the HEAL Act.
Requires an EJ assessment of proposed and historic environment bills, rulemakings, and budgets using the EHD Map and other tools.
Funds and applies the EHD Map to identify cumulative impacts and overburdened communities and develop additional tools to measure the link between environmental quality and human health, disaggregated by race.

Community Representation: HEAL Work Group

Front and Centered’s HEAL work group is comprised of staff and community members who represent some of our coalition’s member organizations. Work group members give our coalition guidance on HEAL Act implementation and contributed to our latest progress report, including its findings and recommendations:

Maria Batayola
Environmental Justice Coordinator, El Centro De La Raza

Johnny Buck
Wise Action Program Director, Na’ah Illahee Fund

Faduma Fido
Lab Leader, People’s Economy Lab

Edgar Franks
Political Director, Familias Unidas por la Justicia

Rosalinda Guillen
Executive Director, Community to Community

Sedonia Young
Organizational Fund Developer, Tacoma Ministerial Alliance

Community Representation: Environmental Justice Council

Appointed by the governor, Washington’s EJ Council is another venue where frontline communities can have a voice. Seven of the fifteen council members serve as community representatives, including several who are also members of or staff to the Front and Centered coalition:

Maria Batayola — Community Representative
Maria Blancas — Community Representative
Rosalinda Guillen — Community Representative
Aurora Martin — Community Representative
Faaluaina Pritchard — Community Representative
Raeshawna Ware — Community Representative

Four additional council members are appointed by Tribal governments to serve as representatives of Tribal communities. Dr. Esther Min, who is part of Front and Centered’s coordination team, also serves on the EJ Council as an academic practitioner and environmental justice expert.

RESOURCES

Endorsements

Complete this form to endorse the HEAL Act of 2021 and join our campaign listserv for email updates. Your participation is meaningful and strengthens our campaign to allow everyone in Washington to live in a healthy and safe environment no matter who they are, what language they speak, or how much money they have. Thank you!

350 Bellingham
350 Everett, WA
350 Seattle
350 Spokane Climate Change
350 Washington Network
Climate Alliance
Climate Reality Project – Washington State Coalition
Tacoma NAACP
South Seattle Climate Action Network
Sunrise SWWA
Transportation Choices Coalition
Prospect Congregational United Church of Christ
Seattle Foundation
Collaborative Solutions, Inc.
Surge Reproductive Justice
Molecule LLC

RESOURCES

PAST UPDATES

VIDEOS

Briefing: Our HEAL Act Progress Report and Update

As the HEAL Act goes into effect, what’s next for environmental justice implementation?

Community Briefing on 2021 Legislative Session: How Did EJ Fare?

Community and Media Briefing — Environmental Justice Priorities During the 2021 Legislative Session

Frontline Communities, EquityCentered

Act Now: House Bill 2070

That’s right, the CURB Act has a Senate hearing!

Our 2024 Legislative Agenda

Support H.B. 2070

the

CURB Pollution Act

The Just Transition Leadership Program

Announcing

Community Assemblies

If we're not prepared to govern, we're not prepared to win.

Conversations. Stories. Film.

Earth Deserves More Than a Day

April 17–21

Read Our Blog

Apply now:HEAL Community! Fund

Our HEAL Progress Report is now live!

Our Latest Report: Exposing False Solutions

On the Frontlines

with Jill and Edgar

Season 3

The Washington Transit Access Map is live!

FrontLINEIDEAS

COMMUNITY REPORT ON ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE

2020 YEAR IN REVIEW

JUST TRANSITION

COALITION SPOTLIGHT

COMMUNITY LEADERSHIP

BLOG

RESOURCE THE MOVEMENT

SEED AND SUPPORT

OUR MEMBERS

Landmark Environmental Justice Policy in Washington

Current Status and HEAL Progress Report

Our HEAL Progress Report is live!

Report Preview:

Key Findings

Key Recommendations

Learn More about the HEAL Act with Just Solutions

Apply now:HEAL Community! Fund

Key Elements of the HEAL Act

Community Representation: HEAL Work Group

Community Representation: Environmental Justice Council

RESOURCES

Endorsements

RESOURCES

PAST UPDATES

VIDEOS

ABOUT

QUICK LINKS

CONTACT US

Frontline Communities, Equity
Centered

Apply now:
HEAL Community! Fund

FrontLINE
IDEAS

Apply now:
HEAL Community! Fund