Philadelphia, PA – Today the City of Philadelphia launched the City’s first Environmental Justice Advisory Commission (EJAC), which was created in 2019 with the passage of Bill No. 170712, sponsored by former Councilmember Blondell Reynolds Brown.
“In Philadelphia, your zip code determines your life expectancy, and environmental injustice has often been overlooked as a crucial part of community health and wellbeing,” said Councilmember Katherine Gilmore Richardson (At Large), Chair of City Council’s Committee on the Environment. “With this new Commission and the creation of the Interagency Environmental Justice Working Group, we are taking another step closer to creating a whole government approach to addressing environmental injustice, and most importantly, we are centering the voices of community members who have lived experience with its impacts. Thank you to Mayor Kenney for his leadership on this issue, and to every member of the Commission for their service to the City of Philadelphia. I look forward to our continued work together.”
The residents selected to serve on the EJAC are:
- John A. Armstead
- Nahdir Austin
- Radika Bhaskar
- Paul Devine Bottone
- Carlos Claussell
- Mariel Diana Featherstone
- Ebony Griffin
- Terrill Haigler
- Joyce Lee
- Su Ly
- Carolyn Moseley
- Kermit O
- Gabriella Gabriel Paez
- Tyler Ray
- Kinteshia Scott
- Jerome Shabazz
- Syreeta Thomas
In addition to her support of the Environmental Justice Advisory Commission, Councilmember Katherine Gilmore Richardson has worked closely with the Administration to identify additional opportunities for the City to act on Environmental Justice, including the creation of a new Interagency Working Group on Environmental Justice and the establishment of a Community Resilience and Environmental Justice Grant Fund.
Councilmember Gilmore Richardson also worked closely with Department of Public Health Commissioner Dr. Cheryl Bettigole to make important process changes within the Department, including creating a new Environmental Justice Complaint Policy, developing new communications tools for community members, establishing a new emergency notification process, hiring new staff focused on racial equity and environmental justice, and committing to joint community conversations on environmental justice and air quality.
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