Based on our understanding that impacted communities build power through organizing and that visionary policy solutions develop and evolve in response to the demands from organized communities, frontline CJA member groups sponsored local climate policy events across the country. These included a community conversation with Rep. Rashida Tlaib in the Highland Park area of Detroit, a Grist-hosted online conversation on What the Green New Deal means for communities of color, a plenary titled “Centering Indigenous Peoples & Frontline Communities in Local to Federal Climate Policy” in Albuquerque, New Mexico, a townhall meeting with frontline leaders and Rep. Ayanna Pressley focused on black women leading in the Jamaica Plain area of Boston, a community dialogue on Energy Democracy and the Green New Deal in Los Angeles, a discussion in New York City on how local leadership results in national impact, the event “Gulf South for a Green New Deal” in New Orleans, a mass meeting and community dinner on what a Green New Deal could mean for Kentucky, and other events that pushed for policy development and organizing that is inclusive and advances long-existing work towards climate, racial and economic justice from the local level up.
