Our academy has trained youth of color in our Community Science Organizing Model. Through eight modules on topics such as Indigenous Sovereignty, Climate and Environmental Justice, and Policy Advocacy, we prepared them to mobilize in their cities as OCEJEF members to investigate environmental injustices, hold elected officials accountable, and implement Just Transition policy changes.

Our mission is to expand our organizing efforts by engaging our member base and new contacts in our ongoing projects. Through our partnerships with Orange County’s low-income communities of color, academic institutions, and local stakeholders, we will build resident power to influence decisions in a region with low support from public officials on environmental justice issues, and to take on the multiple, decentralized agencies with discrepant degrees of jurisdiction over environmental, climate, and health issues.