Southeast CARE Coalition

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Overview

The Southeast Community Action for a Renewed Environment (CARE) Coalition was founded in 2011 within the Southeast Development Corporation, an organization led by Mr. Linwood DeBrew, a civil rights activist and community leader in Southeast Newport News.[1] The Southeast CARE Coalition has been led by Dr. Erica Holloman and Ms. Angela Harris.

Southeast CARE Coalition Five Core Principles:

"For our purposes, 'environment' refers to the natural (air, water, land), cultural (ethnic identity and history of community), social (existing and lacking public services), economic (local business, health care cost), and political (local, state, federal) components of the Southeast Community, Newport News, VA.

There is a relationship between exposure to toxic pollutants and certain chronic diseases (e.g. asthma, and cardiovascular) experienced by residents of the Southeast Community of Newport News, VA.

A scientific understanding of toxic pollutants in the community, local sources of such pollutants, and associated health risk from exposure will lead to strategies that increase awareness and generate action that reduces toxic pollutants, exposures, and risk for residents of the Southeast Community of Newport News, VA.

Youth participation is critical to the success and sustainability of environmental efforts and actions in the Southeast Community of Newport News, VA.

Sustainable action will lead to policy decisions that regulate toxic emissions and enforce local, State, and Federal compliance in the Southeast Community of Newport News, VA."[2]

The Southeast Asthma Network was founded as the public health arm of the Southeast Development Corporation. The Southeast Asthma Network was a partnership with: the American Lung Association; Virginia Asthma Coalition; MOMS, a parent-led group; CINCH, a children's health group at Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk; and the Peninsula Health District. The Southeast CARE Coalition and Southeast Asthma Network often worked in collaboration.

Activities

The Southeast CARE Coalition has made major and transformative contributions to the fight against coal dust pollution in Southeast Newport News and for environmental justice in Virginia. The organization has also worked on issues other than coal dust, including food accessibility[3][4] and water quality.[5]

Research and Events

Photograph of the Southeast CARE Coalition group tour for the EPA collaboration, the Regional Sustainable Environmental Science project in A Collaborative Effort to Assess Environmental Health in Newport News, Virginia, 2002.
Photograph of the Southeast CARE Coalition group tour for the RESES project from A Collaborative Effort to Assess Environmental Health in Newport News, Virginia, 2017.[6]

In 2012, the Southeast CARE Coalition received $100,000 in grant funds from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to Dr. Holloman to study pollution in Southeast Newport News.[7] As part of this grant, the Southeast CARE Coalition collaborated with the EPA on the Regional Sustainable Environmental Science (RESES) project to produce A Collaborative Effort to Assess Environmental Health in Newport News, Virginia, as part of the Region 3 Office Making a Visible Difference in Communities program, published in 2017.

An outcome of this research was the collection of survey data showing that air quality was identified as the major environmental concern among Southeast Newport News residents. The Southeast CARE Coalition specifically identified coal dust as a concern but also highlighted that coal dust was one of many sources of air pollution harming residents of Southeast Newport News.[8]

In 2013, the Southeast CARE Coalition hosts a series of symposia called, Is My Neighborhood Killing Me? Speakers included U.S. Representative Robert "Bobby" Scott and Dr. Marva King of the EPA.[9][10]

Regulatory Air Monitoring Petition

The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (VA DEQ) has never collected measurements of airborne particulate matter in the vicinity of the Dominion Terminal Associates and Kinder Morgan Bulk Terminals using regulatory-grade instrumentation.[11] In 2015, the Southeast CARE Coalition collected 1,000 signatures to petition the VA DEQ to install such air monitoring in Southeast Newport News.[12][13] The organization emphasized that monitoring was a first step toward clean air and environmental justice for residents.

The Southeast CARE Coalition held a thank you celebration at the Moton Community House on Jefferson Avenue in Southeast Newport News for those who signed the petition.[13]

Dr. Anna Jeng Interviewed by Theresa Clift in the Daily Press about the Petition: "Without the data to link, it's hard to put pressure on the corporation or industry to do something about it."[11]

The VA DEQ did not install the air monitor, and there is no public record or their reasoning.

Youth Education and Programs

The Southeast CARE Coalition and Ms. Harris have been committed to youth education and participation as a core part of the organization's activities. In 2015, the Southeast CARE Coalition hosted a week-long camp for children with asthma that included educational sessions on air pollution and its health impacts on air quality and its health impacts.[14]

The petition to the VA DEQ for regulatory air monitoring was delivered to Virginia Secretary of Natural Resources Molly Ward by a group of children ages 6 through 12 affiliated with the Southeast CARE Coalition.

Ms. Harris Interviewed in The New Journal & Guide: "The children are very excited to make the journey and to work towards cleaning up the air in their community. We are allowing them to lead the way because they know the impact that air pollution has on respiratory disease which is prominent here."[15]

Virginia Council on Environmental Justice (VCEJ)

In 2015, Southeast CARE Coalition, New Virginia Majority, Appalachian Voices, Virginia Interfaith Power and Light, Chesapeake Climate Action Network, Faith Alliance for Climate Solutions, Mothers Out Front, Moms Clean Air Force, Sierra Club Virginia Chapter, Virginia Conservation Network, Virginia Organizing, and employees at the University of Richmond partnered to form the Virginia Environmental Justice Collaborative (VEJC) with the goals of coordinating and bolstering environmental justice efforts across Virginia. The VEJC amplified the voices of impacted communities and advocated for systemic change.

In 2017, VEJC submitted a formal proposal for a state-level environmental justice advisory body as part of the public comment period for Executive Order (EO) 57. The VEJC was successful, and their proposal led to the creation of the Governor's Environmental Justice Advisory Council, through Executive Order 73 by Governor Terry McAuliffe, now known as the Virginia Council on Environmental Justice (VACEJ). The VEJC's proposal highlighted the work of the Southeast CARE Coalition and the issue of coal dust pollution in Southeast Newport News specifically.[16]

Ms. Harris of the Southeast CARE Coalition was among the original members of the Governor's Environmental Justice Advisory Council.

Documents

Interviews

Media

Thayer's Letter to the Editor, June 5, 2015: "I have lived in the Southeast Community of Newport News for 14 years. My family lived in Harbor Homes for 10 years before is was torn down. It was difficulty dealing with the coal dust coming in my windows constantly, and I wondered how it would affect my then-teenage daughter. We have moved to Ridley Circle (only a block away) and while the coal dust is not as visible, we know it is still there. I have been working with the Southeast CARE Coalition for a few months, doing whatever I can to help our neighborhood. I hope Virginia Secretary of Natural Resources Molly Ward and the Department of Environmental Quality Director David Taylor will become involved in making our neighborhood a better lace to live. Thank you for publishing articles about our dilemmas. Maybe making the problems more well known will encourage more of my neighbors to get involved."[17]

LaTonya Wallace Interviewed by Reema Amin, August 3, 2017: "We have our elders who work their lives... when they retire, they should be able to sit on their front porch... and breathe."[18]

Research

References

  1. ↑ Linwood DeBrew, Hampton Roads Oral History Project, 2014.
  2. ↑ About Us, Southeast CARE Coalition: Environmental Concern Today for a Sustainable Environment Tomorrow, Undated.
  3. ↑ Clift, Workshop to Help Southeast Residents Grow Health Food, Daily Press, April 3, 2015.
  4. ↑ Clift, Garden, Continued from Page 1, Daily Press, May 11, 2015.
  5. ↑ Clift, Bay Health Event Aims to Inspire Youths, Daily Press, August 20, 2016.
  6. ↑ EPA, A Collaborative Effort to Assess Environmental Health in Newport News, Virginia, 2002.
  7. ↑ Lawlor, Studying the Southeast, Daily Press, February 2, 2012.
  8. ↑ Essoka et al., A Collaborative Effort to Assess Environmental Health in Newport News, Virginia, August 2017
  9. ↑ Grimes, Coalition to Hold Programs on Health, Daily Press, July 4, 2013.
  10. ↑ Salasky, Forums and Flue Shots, Daily Press, September 28, 2013.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Clift, What's in Air in the City's Southeast?, Daily Press, June 3, 2015
  12. ↑ Clift, Southeast Petition Get 1000 Signatures, Daily Press, October 30, 2015.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Clift, Air Petition Delivered to State Leaders, Daily Press, December 4, 2015
  14. ↑ Salasky, Asthma Continued from Page 1, Daily Press, August 20, 2015.
  15. ↑ Newport News Children Deliver Petitions Supporting Air Pollution Monitoring, The New Journal & Guide, Undated.
  16. ↑ Carbon Reduction Strategies and Environmental Justice in Virginia, Virginia Environmental Justice Collaborative, EO 57 Working Group Meeting, February 28, 2017.
  17. ↑ Thayer, Letter to the Editor, Daily Press, June 5, 2015.
  18. ↑ Amin, Report: Peninsula Areas Rank Among the Most Toxic in Va., Daily Press, August 3, 2017
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