Louisiana Bucket Brigade

Supporting fenceline communities: early warning network - we know that our resistance is stronger when we begin early. In st. James parish, for example, work targeting the st. James planning commission included an open meetings lawsuit and town hall meetings that caused the cancellation of the billion dollar wanhua chemical plant. The early warning network will focus on the areas of the state targeted for industrial expansion. In cancer alley these include st. James, st. John, as well as st. Charles, ascension, iberville and jefferson. The early warning network is a plan to do three things: 1/ build out a broader resistance to more facilities with the depth on each facility necessary to win; 2/ connect people who are challenging local projects with resources to support their work; 3 / find out about projects at the earliest stages of planning. There is often internal information in government agencies - the louisiana economic development office, the governors office, the assessors files where property transfers are recorded - years before a public announcement is made. Our plan proposes to find that information and act on it. Current strategy includes the creation and distribution of a physical/digital toolkit for concerned residents with actionable steps.

Standing with st. James: our six year long collaboration with fenceline communities in the majority black 4th and 5th districts of st. James parish is work that we call standing with st. James. This work is anchored by our relationships with the leadership of rise st. James and inclusive louisiana, two local environmental justice groups led by black women and long-time residents whose neighborhoods have been targeted by the local government as prime locations for industrial expansion. Without a dedicated campaign to protect these historic black communities and point out the very clear injustice, their communities will be destroyed by the ever expanding petrochemical industry. Standing with st. James strategies include community organizing, media campaigns, legal action, pollution monitoring, economic diversification and organizational development support.

Movement building:down by the river bike ride - the goal for our bike ride is to build inspiration and power by bringing the power of history to todays environmental justice movement along cancer alley. Our strategy is to get people out into the communities and landscapes where petrochemical facilities are located so they can see the scale of the plants, their proximity and their impact on neighboring residents firsthand. By exploring the confluence of black history in the river parishes, the environmental justice movement, and ecology on bikes rather than cars or a bus, we are creating a deeper experiential learning opportunity. Organizational development - we are in the deep south where resources for funding black-led groups have traditionally been scarce, especially in the fields of environment and climate change. A core part of our organizational development philosophy is creating an environmental justice movement where, rather than a scramble for resources, groups of all sizes have their funding needs met. As more money comes into the climate and environmental justice space than ever before, with national foundations keen to fund black-led groups, we are collaborating with groups to ensure that this money is spent well, while also making a plan for how these groups can retain funding when this moment has passed. In addition to co-facilitating a biweekly cohort of grassroots groups, labb also provides staff time to support groups to develop budgets, hiring processes, and build out their governance structures. The long term goal for this work is to support the establishment of six black-led stand-alone organizations in communities impacted by the petrochemical industry in louisiana.

Economic diversification: the goal of this project has been to create a shift in economic development in regions where plastic production and gas export are heavily concentrated. Currently that includes the river parishes as well as cameron and calcasieu parishes. Creating and publicizing non- petrochemical industries and the resulting jobs will free residents and leaders from the erroneous assumption that louisiana needs this industry in order to thrive. Refashioning the economic identity of areas dominated by industry is a crucial step in the work to protect louisiana from accepting all bad ideas - including mammoth plastics plants and gas export terminals - that come our way. Strategies to date have included: job fairs advertising film and environmental job opportunities in the river parishes; grant writing workshops to increase the number of proficient freelance grant writers; connecting partners to solar and other renewable energy projects; and convening a group of researchers, preservation institutions and nonprofits interested in developing black cultural economic districts along the river road.