community resources
community democracy river: levers you can pull for change
The goal of the Community Democracy River is to help you find legal, technical, and organizing levers you can pull to bring your vision to action.
See below for resources or visit the Choose Your Own Adventure River of Change to navigate through your options.
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Imagine you are standing in front of a river.
You throw in the water in front of you. The rock doesn’t do much to change the water. Now walk upriver and throw the same rock in - that rock is going to change the way the river flows forever.
The same is with community change. When decisions have already been made about the issues you care about - when you are downriver - you are doing a lot of work but it’s really hard to change the situation. But walking upriver - making changes before decisions are made - can lead to long, systemic, and proactive changes that can positively impact your community forever.
Current (Community Organizing) Resources: General organizing resources and tools that can help wherever you are you in your organizing work, such as: creating a shared vision; community engagement; communicating your message; being part of decision-making; and learning about your community’s health and wellbeing.
River (Levers for Change) Resources: Legal and technical levers you can pull on to move your vision into action. Click on the River points below to find resources to help you navigate your situation.
weekly News Scans
It’s hard to be able to pay attention to what is going in on your local municipality.
Each week we check municipal government websites for meetings and agendas, read local news stories, and view city social media pages for any news that is relevant to environmental justice. We do this to help bridge what is happening in municipal government to help more people get involved with the issues they care about.
We try our best to capture everything, but we may miss some news - please reach out if you know of anything we should be highlighting or you’ve got questions about how you can get involved!
We are scanning Youngstown & Warren, Ohio, Parkersburg, WV, and Beaver County, PA because they are environmental justice communities and have many strengths that can contribute to community growth and engagement.
Youngstown & Warren, OH
Parkersburg, WV
Weekly Environmental Justice News Scan
Beaver County, PA
Weekly Environmental Justice News Scan
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