First off: Be the Change wishes you and everyone in our wonderful community Happy Holidays and a great New Year! May you find ease and peace during these challenging times.
A Thank You Note to All Our Donors!
Thank you to all our new and ongoing donors for donating to Be the Change’s fundraising campaign. We raised $12,995 and had almost 40 donors contribute! This support will enable is to continue empowering youth to become environmental and social justice changemakers, including our Climate Ambassador Workshops, the spotlight of our #GivingTuesday campaign.
Be the Change Earth Alliance & Anti-Racism
Environmentalism and climate advocacy have a long history and legacy of discrimination and racism towards Black, Indigenous and People of Colour (BIPOC) communities. In fact, some of the most historically recognized environmental advocates perpetuated systemic racism that is still experienced today. The homogeneity in environmentalism and lack of diversity in environmental and climate narratives is a serious problem. There are still strong discouragements and deterrents to BIPOC youth pursuing an education and working professionally in environmental fields, when it is overwhelmingly made up of individuals not from BIPOC communities.
To help dismantle systemic racism and create long-lasting change in the environmental and social fields, Be the Change is further integrating anti-racism into our internal organizational processes and in the work we do in our community. This includes empowering youth of all racial and cultural backgrounds to pursue a future in the environmental and social fields.
Over the past 6 months, as part of our long-term commitment to anti-racism, we have established an internal team focused on developing formal diversity, equity and inclusion policies and practices. We’ve also created a new racial justice programming goal: “to provide accessible, participant-informed, and empowering educational programming that helps youth learn about racism through an intersectional lens, understand their role in racial injustice, and participate in solutions.”
As we continue our anti-racism journey, we hope to continue developing environmental and social educational resources that include more diverse racial and cultural considerations and perspectives. If you’d like to hear more, don’t hesitate to reach out to me at [email protected].
Once again, happy holidays!
Best wishes,
