EJ Changemakers must partner with their community, listen to its values, and support its priorities.

EJ Changemakers intentionally include multiple perspectives from members of communities who are historically oppressed or disadvantaged to include them in the work of restoring justice. 

EJ Changemakers must be strong leaders who set priorities, inspire change, support their team, and manage work, but they must do so without hierarchy or competition.  They must lead in the service of their communities and ecosystems. 

For our Action Project we had to conduct an interview with someone affected by the issue we were addressing and or someone who works in the field. For our interview, we chose David Taylor who works in the Air Quality sector at the Cleveland Department of Public Health. From this interview we were able to understand air codes and his experience with people affected by poor air quality.

Joel Ratner from NOACA came to the EJ house to get our input on the Regional Climate Action Plan they are working on. Although we are not able to vote on this action plan, we were able to contribute our opinions on what should this plan should consist of. NOACA wanted the input of the people and I appreciate that they listened to the voices of the next generation!

As an EJ cohort we presented about the EJ semester to our High School. We wanted to inform them of the work we had been doing while hoping to peak student interest for next year. In this process I took initiative to work behind the scenes to coordinate presentation logistics with our school leadership and stage crew while also helping organize our slides and my classmates. 

We visited Environmental Health Watch where we learned more about lead poisoning in Cleveland and Lead Safe's resources for people living in lead-infested homes. The most impactful part of this visit was hearing the stories of environmental injustices in Cleveland because it highlights the issues we have to solve.