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. 

When researching Localization, the most significant focus was a solution for food deserts. Localization is the idea that your food will grow within a 15-mile radius of you. In Cleveland, food deserts are very prevalent, resulting in the malnourishment of low-income communities. I created this flyer to sum up the problem of food insecurity and the solution of localization. The entire flyer is linked. 

The Sunrise movement is directed at and led by the youth to stop climate change. I joined one of these calls, full of people from all different backgrounds and ages. We broke out into breakout groups with random people and heard from different perspectives. 

In April 2024, the EJ Cohort led and created the first-ever North East Ohio Youth Climate Summit. I hosted a breakout room with multiple large businesses. I contacted each one, helped them develop a presentation, and moderated a discussion between them and the large group of students who attended my breakout room.  We sold out to 100 students and plan to expand this year to 300. 

To better understand the lead issue within Cleveland, I wanted to listen and learn directly from someone affected by lead. I spoke to a woman whose daughter was lead-poisoned at a younger age. They found this out at her daughter's annual doctor appointment, and the doctors told them to"go home and come back in a few months, and we will recheck it." The mother refused and returned to her home and immediately started researching and trying natural remedies to heal her daughter. She emphasized that she could only do this because she had the money and time. This was so eye-opening to me because I know that the majority of people who are lead poisoned are in low-income communities, meaning they do not have the time or means to cure themselves or their loved ones and additionally cannot remove the lad lead from their household. Hence, there is no way to prevent this. Lead poisoning can be highly detrimental physically and mentally to children and adults . This made me more aware of our healthcare system and the public knowledge of lead.