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V ,fr WHAT WE'RE DOING • Created community-facilitated strategies to educate
<br /> j ,.;, } p s residents, the general public, media, and politicians about
<br /> k" RENA-CEER objectives: ongoing problems in the community.
<br /> n l n.�o.,the a'ailability Of adequate public funding so that • Published Rogers Road, a Community History
<br /> tl 1,`, all Rogers-Eubanks community residents can have the basic serv- (compiled by Emily Eidenier Pearce)
<br /> Cl p , i ices including clean drinking water and public sewer services. •Established the Rogers-Eubanks Community Garden
<br /> t L 1= •Established the Rogers-Eubanks Community Center
<br /> Provide outreach advocacy,onsite training and technical •Participated in and hosted the NC Environmental
<br /> assistance for low-income communities,particularly communi- Justice Network's statewide Environmental Justice Summits
<br /> -, The Rogers-Eubanks Coalition _ ties of color focusing on water, solid waste, sanitary waste and •Advised other struggling communities in the state
<br /> storm water issues affecting them, about strategies for mobilizing community members and
<br /> Restoring Environmental Justice organizations to affect public health policy.
<br /> to Disadvantaged Communities Educate.Chapel i1iIl!Caarrboro/Orange County residents
<br /> and organizations about environmental justice and its relationship Community Partnership
<br /> to water,sanitary waste,and solid waste,fire,police,and emer-
<br /> gency services. In its March 2000 report,the National Environmental
<br /> RENA-CEER: ARE In
<br /> Advisory Council concluded that "Waste Transfer
<br /> Promote,monitor, and influence environmental protce Stations are sited disproportionately in areas adjacent to
<br /> For nearly one hundred and fifty years,African-American bon policies and practices affecting drinking water quality, poor communities and communities of color."
<br /> families have lived in what is now known as the Rogers-Eubanks sewage, solid waste, fire, police, and emergency services in The New York Times reported on September 2,2007
<br /> Community, in the northern part of Chapel Hill and Carrboro, Orange County,North Carolina.
<br /> North Carolina. In the late 1800s, Rogers Road was a wagon that "low-income communities . . . shelter most of
<br /> track through black-owned,family farmland that stretched from Our Projects Include: America's polluting facilities" and that African Americans
<br /> Homestead Road to Eubanks and Millhouse Roads. Following •The Rogers-Eubanks Community Center are"79%more likely than whites to live in areas where air
<br /> emancipation,community leader Morris Hogan founded a school •The Rogers-Eubanks Community Garden pollution levels pose health risks."
<br /> for black children;it served the neighborhood for generations. (a teaching garden) Professor Robert Bullard of Clark Atlanta University,a
<br /> pioneer and expert in environmental justice issues since
<br /> As decades passed,the land was handed down to children - a , 0iv, 1978,says that"the people who live closest"to"a lot of dif-
<br /> and grandchildren. Some land was lost to debt or simply sold. _MP-
<br /> . T " 7� :'t ferent waste facilities"are the people"who have the fewest
<br /> However,African Americans continued migrating to the commu- r r i 4 1w
<br /> resources,"those who are"most vulnerable."This"doesn't
<br /> nity;they continued to purchase land and establish homes.Today, ` , ` 'b
<br /> �a y mean that[they] should be dumped on."
<br /> a predominantly low-income neighborhood, the Rogers and Q h � _�._ RENA-CEER wants to reverse this pattern of vulnera-
<br /> Eubanks Community nevertheless remains socially cohesive and "� Iti t:1:' t bIli by helping disadvantaged to c reverse this ties mobilize the■
<br /> culturally rich. , : ,. p it_r ' . f . 1} f owe that comes from within. Through education,advoca-
<br /> 9 s t r _:J .�� i power ,
<br /> The Rogers-Eubanks Neighborhood Association (RENA)
<br /> cy, and community-based partnerships, these communities
<br /> was begun in 1972,when residents were faced with the local gov- •Outreach with local schools: tutoring and mentoring can affect public health policy and improve the health and
<br /> ernents' decision to site a regional landfill in the community. •Community workshops for youth and adults safety of their residents.
<br /> m
<br /> RENA was registered as a 501(c)3 organization in 2007. •The Back-to-school Bash(an annual celebration to
<br /> Invitation to the White House
<br /> provide school supplies and help families prepare
<br /> Its goals were to reverse government decisions to expand for the new school year)
<br /> solid waste operations and facilities in the community(including •Community-based research: Air and water quality In recognition of RENA's and CEER's continuing
<br /> a solid waste transfer station),to redress the injustices that affect testing efforts to promote socially and environmentally responsible
<br /> the health and safety of residents in the neighborhoods that abut •Networking,advocacy,and training:teaching other policy-making, co-chair Minister Robert Campbell was
<br /> the Orange County Landfill,and to ensure that Rogers-Eubanks communities how to affect public health policy invited in 2009 to participate in a White House forum on
<br /> Community residents and all North Carolinians have affordable public health,clean energy,and environmental justice.
<br /> access to safe drinking water, sanitary waste disposal,and safe
<br /> communities. To expand its base of support and further its goal Success Stories
<br /> of advocating for environmental justice across North Carolina,
<br /> RENA created the Coalition to End Environmental Racism
<br /> (CEER). • Convinced local government to permanently remove the
<br /> entire Rogers-Eubanks community from consideration as the site ry" ,
<br /> Today,RENA-LEER includes neighborhood residents,resi-
<br /> for waste transfer station and other undesirable public facilities. rte
<br /> dents of greater Orange County, staff and students from UNC, • Partnered with UNC Chapel Hill researchers and thela�r
<br /> C t , t , a °�a tcommunity faith-based organizations,and other groups and indi- Daniel A.Okun Chapter of Engineers Without Borders to admin- 0 [t° i ,:viduals who want to work toward building healthy communities. ister a household water and sewer infrastructure survey and test �i i' ll surface and drinking water quality and air quality (Community- _ / . 1� 11, � j:_to
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