Our Work
How We Work
IN DEEP DEMOCRACY
REJC works to ensure our members are making the decisions and embody the principles set forward in our Just Providence Framework. To achieve that goal, our ways need to reflect our principles. A sample of our ways include:
Bring Your Whole Self: We don’t expect our members to leave parts of themselves behind when doing this work. All of their identities and needs are to be honored and respected when working towards racial and environmental equity. That includes but is not limited to eating when you need to, speaking in your preferred language, and meeting times that are accessible.
Centering Woman & Children: We require that all our meetings have childcare when needed and that mothers are allowed to breastfeed their children if need be. This also means we prioritize inter-generational space.
No Quick Fix: In dismantling white supremacy and dominant power structures, we recognize that the system in place was not created in a single effort so our work won’t be completed with quick and simple solutions. Instead, we recognize that in order to achieve equity, we must struggle together over the long term.
SPECTRUM OF COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT TO OWNERSHIP
The Spectrum of Community Engagement to Ownership charts a pathway to strengthen and transform our local democracies. Thriving, diverse, equitable communities are possible through deep participation, particularly by communities commonly excluded from democratic voice & power. The stronger our local democracies, the more capacity we can unleash to address our toughest challenges, and the more capable we are of surviving and thriving through economic, ecological, and social crises. It is going to take all of us to adequately address the complex challenges our cities and regions are facing. It is time for a new wave of community-driven civic leadership. This tool was developed by Rosa González of Facilitating Power, drawing on content from partners including REJC. Read more here.
INSIDE/OUTSIDE STRATEGY
REJC utilizes what is called an inside/outside strategy. That means we are working within the system (i.e. collaborating with the city, drafting policies, consulting) that we are trying to change while also working outside of it (i.e. gathering community to vision, developing funding streams for independent community projects, etc.).
JUST PROVIDENCE FRAMEWORK
The Just Providence Framework was drafted over a year long process that involved more than 100 community members giving their input on what is needed in order to achieve racial equity and environmental justice in Providence, Rhode Island.
Climate Justice Plan
The Climate Justice Plan was created in collaboration between Providence’s Office of Sustainability, Acadia Center and REJC.
REJC ensured frontline communities were centered in the plan by having survey questions rooted in lived reality. They were: How do you get around town? How do you stay warm in the winter? Cool in the summer? Is there anything in your neighborhood making you sick?
We developed goals and strategies from these responses to reach those goals, and they are listed in the plan. Key elements of the strategies are collaborative governance and establishing Green Justice Zones in Providence.
You can read more in-depth about the Plan here in English and here in Spanish.
Green Justice Zones
Green Justice Zones are areas that have experienced historic disinvestment and neglect – most often low-income communities and communities of color – where residents have been organizing for decades to reduce industrial pollution and implement solutions that address the unhealthy (and often discriminatory) land use patterns that have shaped how our communities look today. We were inspired by the work in Minneapolis around Green Justice Zones, which you can learn about here.
We aim to adapt this model to be Providence specific and meet the needs of our frontline community members.
