Employee Spotlight

Fair Shake's Earth Day Highlights

We hope everyone found a meaningful way to celebrate Earth Day, whether by planting trees, participating in a community actions, or simply spending time appreciating the beauty of nature. Our team marked the occasion by planting pollinator gardens, launching a little seed library in their neighborhood, and talking to their children about power and decision-making in our local governance.

Get to know a little bit about our team below & let's continue to prioritize environmental stewardship every day, ensuring a healthier planet for future generations.


KYLA WALKER, COMMUNITY DEMOCRACY PROGRAM INTERN  

On Earth Day, considering that it was the Monday of my finals week, I started my day by studying for my first final at noon, and then tried my very best to spend my day outside after that! With it being the start of my finals, I spent the bulk of the day studying as I have two more finals within the week and a paper to write. I find that I work best when I’m alone getting work done outside; there’s just something about being outside that calms me and allows me to work efficiently. My favorite spot is outside the Frick Fine Arts building where there is a big fountain that gets hit so perfectly by the sun. One fun thing I did though, was visit my roommate while she is working at the University of Pittsburgh’s thrift store called, Thriftsburgh! I plan to donate some clothes that I have been meaning to get rid of too! Happy Earth Day! 

 

JUSTIN TUMINELLO, COMMUNITY DEMOCRACY PROGRAM INTERN 

To celebrate Earth Day, I planted a pollinator garden with the new Conservation Club at Pitt! Working with Facilities Management, we designed and planted this plot including native and pollinator-friendly plants including false sunflower, wild indigo, butterfly weed, wild bergamot, autumn sedum, and red twig dogwood. These plants will support pollinators like mason bees and improve the ecological health of Pitt’s campus. We are also attending a Playground Build and Earth Day Celebration at the Mulford Community Teaching Garden to help prepare for the upcoming growing season. Throughout the week, I walked my dog around Schenley Park, went biking with friends, and made sure to water my houseplants too! 

 

CHRISTY CHOO, COMMUNITY DEMOCRACY PROGRAM INTERN  

To celebrate Earth Day, I took a long walk after my meetings and classes are over. I live in Philadelphia and one of my favorite places to walk is along the Schuylkill River Trail, which features lovely views of the city and surrounding neighborhoods. I love to take some time to walk around and explore the city and find it a great way to wind down and breathe. I also participated in a university-wide Earth Week tabling event where I helped provide plants and pots for students to paint!  

 

BROOKE CHRISTY, EQUAL JUSTICE WORKS FELLOW 

For me, Earth Day is a time for reflecting on how I am impacting my environment and consciously taking action to make it a better place to live. My friend, DeSawn, hosted a community clean-up from Hazelwood Cafe—so of course, I joined with my partner and puppy! I also bought a pound of native wildflower seeds to start a “Little Seed Library” in my neighborhood. I hope that it can bring local gardeners together and encourage new gardeners to find ways to incorporate native pollinators into spaces. I successfully packaged and labeled all the seeds but building the library without blueprints has not been as easy—although it should be done next weekend!  

 

MEAGAN NIEBLER, COMMUNITY DEMOCRACY PROGRAM MANAGER 

I’m excited to spend Earth Day with my family.  My community does a Community Earth Day Festival each year with a combination of environmental nonprofits, kids activities, local farmers, and some other events and activities.  We went to this event, as I love it as a time to build community and keep meeting others in my neighborhood who care about environmental justice.   

We’ve also been playing Earth Day Bingo!  It’s sparked some great conversations between myself and my 5 and 8 year olds.   

Lastly, we are talking with our kids about elections and voting. They will vote in the upcoming primary with us, and we talk a lot about power and decision-making, and the importance of finding candidates and others who share your values.  Three of our favorite books to read with our kids about these topics are:  Sophia Valdez, Future Prez by Andrea Beaty, The President of the Jungle by Andre Rodrigues, and Grace for President by Kelly DiPucchio.


While Earth Day was April 22nd, it is never too late to find ways to celebrate environmental stewardship! Check out Fair Shake’s Earth Day Bingo cards for family fun activities. Message us on social media to let us know you have completed your Bingo Card by May 1st to be entered into a raffle for prizes!


FAIR SHAKE BRINGS ON NEW LAWYER TO EXPAND SERVICES FOR COMMUNITIES WITH LEAD EXPOSURE

Fair Shake Environmental Legal Services has provided assistance to communities experiencing lead exposure for over seven years. While the mission of Fair Shake is to foster equal access to environmental justice in the Appalachian Region, the variation of laws governing lead between state and local jurisdictions have been a barrier to the expansion of services for lead exposure. That is why Fair Shake is excited to announce that Brooke Christy, a recent Pitt Law graduate, has joined Fair Shake’s staff as an Equal Justice Works Fellow dedicated to specializing in lead exposure. Brooke will be responsible for a wide variety of tasks, including direct representation of tenants with lead exposure, collaborating with community organizations to better support their existing efforts, and promoting increased capacity of pro-bono lead litigation.  

This fellowship was intentionally designed to have broad programming opportunities because we understand that the needs of our community partners vary significantly across regions. Brooke will be leaning on her ten years of community organizing experience and legal education to bring attorneys and organizers closer together in the fight to prevent lead poisoning. She also looks forward to building upon relationships that Fair Shake has established in Ohio, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania to identify how we can best serve local communities and build sustainable programming for us to continue this work for years to come.  

We recognize that while the rates of lead poisoning have significantly dropped in recent decades, the eradication of lead poisoning will require creative approaches on how to best serve our most vulnerable communities. Lead exposure continues to have disproportionate impacts on historically marginalized communities, including communities of color and residents with low-income. Tenants and their families are also uniquely vulnerable to lead exposure due to barriers to access preventative and remediation resources. Compounding this, the aging infrastructure of the Appalachian Basin puts local communities at higher risk than the national average. 

Since joining Fair Shake at the end of September, Brooke has started reaching out to community partners to discuss potential collaborations. Such collaboration can include helping draft model municipal ordinances, assisting with community education programing, creating “Know Your Rights” guides tailored to localities, providing technical support for organizations receiving federal funds for lead remediation, and accepting referrals for tenants seeking legal counsel.  

If you or an organization that you work with are interested in similar services, please reach out to Brooke at bchristy@fairshake-els.org or (267) 817-5917. 

We also plan to be in attendance at several Lead Poisoning Prevention Week events, including Cleveland Lead Advocates for Safe Housing (CLASH) resource fair at East Cleveland Public Library on October 28. We hope you will join us in celebrating Lead Poisoning Prevention Week by finding an event near you or clicking here to learn more about lead.  

Finally, we would like to give a special thanks to Fenwick & West LLP for sponsoring this fellowship.  

 

Employee Spotlight: Vanessa Goyes

Our “Employee Spotlight Series” will share with you who the people working behind the scenes to bring justice to our clients and their environments. This series will include interviews from both our Akron and Pittsburgh offices to give you an idea of who are and what we do.

The employee spotlight this week is Vanessa Goyes who is the summer social media intern at Fair Shake. She is from Long Island, New York.  She is currently finishing her undergraduate degree at the University of Pittsburgh where she will receive a B.S and a B.A for dual majoring in environmental science and political science.  

Employee Spotlight: Blanche Helbling

Our “Employee Spotlight Series” will share with you who the people working behind the scenes to bring justice to our clients and their environments. This series will include interviews from both our Akron and Pittsburgh offices to give you an idea of who are and what we do.

The employee spotlight this week is Blanche Helbling, who is one of our summer legal interns in our Pittsburgh office. She has been with us since July and will stay throughout the summer. She is currently pursuing a law degree at University of Pennsylvania Law School and finished her first year this spring.