Greenlining Institute
2020 – $20,000 Environmental Equity Program
The Greenlining Institute works toward a future when communities of color can build wealth, live in healthy places filled with economic opportunity, and are ready to meet the challenges posed by climate change. To achieve this vision, Greenlining is committed to building a just economy that is inclusive, cooperative, sustainable, participatory, fair, and healthy. Greenlining holds firm to the belief that diverse communities are a source of unrealized assets and strength, and that this diversity leads to greater effectiveness. Acting from this principle, Greenlining ensures that community voices are participating in major policy debates by building diverse coalitions of cross-sector leaders that work together to advance solutions to our nation’s most pressing problems.
Over the next three years (2021-23) Greenlining will work to increase the well-being of communities and households of color through the following strategies:
- Shape a just and healthy economy and eliminate the root causes of the inequities faced by communities of color.
- Increase household wealth in communities of color.
- Build healthy and climate resilient communities of color.
- Build intersectional leadership and power across issues, sectors and places to advance an equity agenda.
- Cultivate an expanding generation of racial equity leaders.
- Strengthen Greenlining’s internal operations to align with our ambitions
Greenlining was founded in the mid-1970s by a group of grassroots leaders from the African American, Asian American, Latino, and disabled communities who came together around a new and visionary set of ideas: Instead of simply fighting institutionalized discrimination and redlining, Greenlining should work to proactively bring investments and opportunity into our communities. Instead of redlining, it would work to greenline — bringing new investments and opportunities into low-income communities and communities of color.
Since The Greenlining Institute’s nonprofit incorporation in 1993, it has successfully negotiated with corporations and passed policies to direct over $600 billion in investments into communities of color. It has also pioneered cross-sector solutions and advanced a racial equity lens in leading industries that have traditionally been overlooked by civil rights leaders. Greenlining has worked closely with the California Legislature and local jurisdictions to make equity real through the passage and implementation of policies and practices that maximize benefits to disadvantaged communities as a foundation for systemic change. As an example, its team advanced California climate policies that led to $1 billion in investments directed to communities most impacted by pollution, climate change and lack of economic opportunity. Families now have solar power, affordable housing, and economic opportunities because of our advocacy.
The Greenlining Institute’s climate equity initiative works to fight poverty and pollution, ensuring that communities hit first and worst by climate change receive environmental and clean energy investments that will reduce pollution, create good jobs for local residents, improve the resiliency of disadvantaged communities, and strengthen local economies without displacing communities of color.
A major component of this effort is to create robust, effective, enduring statewide transportation electrification policies and projects that lead to accelerated and timely large-scale emissions reductions while simultaneously maximizing long-term public health and economic benefits for priority communities of color. Greenlining aims to eliminate the structural inequities in California’s transportation system by addressing the mobility needs of low-income communities of color through increased access to high-quality clean mobility options that reduce air pollution and enhance economic opportunity. To that end, Greenlining focuses on advancing the following key objectives:
- Advance strategies to ensure Mobility Equity becomes a mainstream concept in transportation and climate policy.
- Implement and shape electric vehicle and mobility equity programs by expanding funding for these programs, collaborating with implementing agencies and service providers, highlighting equity best practices and shortcomings, informing Bay Area stakeholders of available opportunities, and promoting success stories.