Environmental Justice Leaders’ Projects Shine a Light on Building Sustainable Practices for Underserved Communities
By Neelanjana Gautam
At the closing ceremony of Feminist Research Institute’s 2024 Environmental Justice Leaders cohort held on January 23, 2025, the leaders working on the front lines of environmental justice discussed their project outcomes which lie at the intersection of climate, health, transportation, energy and race.
The 2024 cohort comprised six leaders across California who engaged in a 10-month shared learning project with UC Davis researchers. The goal was to conduct research that benefits the community the leaders serve while utilizing the resources available at the university. The cohort emphasized the importance of the fellowship that helps shape and create better research questions and implement programs while sharing key takeaways with lawmakers to create better policies for environmental justice.
“We really hope that the EJ leaders program can change the way that we do research and the types of questions that we ask so they can directly address the issues on the ground,” said Sarah McCullough, executive director of the Environmental Justice Leaders Program, and associate director of the Feminist Research Institute, an interdisciplinary research unit within the Office of Research.
The program is a collaboration that includes the Institute of Transportation Studies and the Feminist Research Institute, with support from the National Research Center for Sustainable Transportation and the Heising-Simons Foundation.
Creating community-centered transportation solutions in Southern California
With a data-rich and insightful presentation that drew on her knowledge and experiences from the impacts of pollution in South Los Angeles, CEO and Founder of the Niles Foundation, Shante Walker, stressed the need to uncover answers that lie at the root of inadequate access to clean infrastructure, transportation (electric vehicles) and technology in the community. Walker has seen firsthand how environmental risks have been connected to public health in the community with diseases ranging from respiratory illnesses, and cardiovascular diseases to diabetes, child obesity and cancer. She cited the lack of information and investment that continue to work as a barrier to equitable environmental solutions.
“The reason I focus on electric vehicles is because when we talk about clean community transportation, or we talk about transportation, the only way for us to go right now is EVs. So our focus is to make sure that the underserved communities, the ones that need it the most, are not left out,” said Walker.
This EJ leaders program provided Walker an opportunity to leverage UC Davis research and resources to identify the barriers that exist today. Research results showed that 50% of those surveyed in South LA wanted to adopt EVs but didn’t have more information on cost, charging and infrastructure. As a starting point, her team created two projects – EV Clean 15 (serving potentially a million people to enable commutes to crucial places like doctors, grocery stores, and health clinics) and EV Mobile Grocery Stores that will connect food access using EV vehicles.
These projects, Walker hopes, will allow community members, partners and stakeholders to make better choices and investments in building innovative sustainable practices for underserved communities.
Making EV vouchers more accessible to Central Valley residents
Maria Ruiz, associate director of outreach and policy with the California Asthma Collaborative
is working on how to get electric vehicles (EVs) in the hands of people who most need them and have been systematically denied access.
“We noticed that we were engaging people out in the public about EVs and education but despite the incentives that the state of California and the San Joaquin Valley Air District had, there weren’t a lot of people submitting applications,” said Ruiz. The team found out that the community they were working with either did not have access to the technology (email accounts) to apply for these incentives or faced a language barrier, among a plethora of other factors. And so, Ruiz and team created a free, direct access EV equity program to enable people to apply for EVs. With support from local and state agencies, Ruiz and her team prepare bilingual educational workshops and materials for residents of the San Joaquin Valley to make them aware of electric vehicle technology and EV incentives.
“Our main goal is to make sure that the Central Valley residents are empowered consumers, and we help them one-on-one through the application process,” said Ruiz.
As an EJ leader, Ruiz has been working with the UC Davis EV Research Center and Jonathan London, a professor of human ecology on how to create better community programs. Ruiz thanked the Feminist Research Institute expressing that this marks the beginning of a lot of interesting projects with them.
Oakland Youth Leading Climate Justice: Frontline Catalysts & CRC Partnership
As part of the EJ Leaders program, Xochitl Cortez, co-founder and executive director of Frontline Catalysts, partnered with the Center for Regional Change (CRC) to strengthen Frontline Catalysts’ core program, the Catalysts Action Leadership Institute (CALI). CALI engages Oakland youth in climate action through research, advocacy, and community-driven solutions.
Frontline Catalysts works at the intersection of climate justice and youth leadership, equipping young people—especially those from frontline communities—with the tools and knowledge to fight environmental injustices in their neighborhoods. Many Oakland youth live near toxic waste sites and deal with contaminated water, soil, and air. These conditions directly impact their health, education, and future opportunities.
“What does it mean when Oakland youth are currently fighting for healthy water and lead in the pipes––issues that affect their learning and behaviors? Those are root causes that we’re really trying to address,” said Cortez.
Through this partnership, Frontline Catalysts is ensuring youth are not only informed but also equipped to lead. With a focus on youth participatory action research (YPAR), the collaboration with CRC introduced innovative storytelling methods like PhotoVoice and VideoVoice—centering the lived experiences of young people impacted by environmental racism. These methods help youth leaders document injustices, raise awareness, and advocate for policy change at the city and state levels.
Beyond research, CRC provided essential resources and facilitated workshops that strengthened young activists’ ability to drive local solutions. By integrating political education, climate resilience, and cultural storytelling, Frontline Catalysts is ensuring that the next generation is prepared to lead movements for transformative climate justice.
“Frontline Catalysts was born to empower frontline youth to lead the movement for transformative climate justice. We wanted to make sure that the pillars were around raising a conscious, politically informed and dedicated black and brown community,” said Cortez.
This partnership between Frontline Catalysts and CRC demonstrates the power of youth leadership in shaping a just, sustainable Oakland—one where young people are not only advocating for change but actively building it.
Providing energy-saving technologies in Southern California
During her EJ leaders fellowship at UC Davis, Natalie Espinoza, from The Energy Coalition (TEC) worked with the Market Transformation Research Program at the Energy Efficiency Institute, to help serve the disadvantaged communities by implementing important energy efficient programs.
Through the Los Angeles County-administered Healthy Stores Refrigeration Program, Espinoza and team were able to give 84 stores across Los Angeles County free energy-efficient refrigerators with minimally processed, California-grown foods to help mitigate the issues faced by individuals living in food deserts. This initiative helps small business owners save energy while empowering them to offer healthy food options.
In another project, Espinoza partnered with the Bassett Avocado Heights Advanced Energy Community to give 50 low-income homeowners free solar panels, battery storage and other decarbonization appliances. The team envisions creating an entire advanced energy community including air quality, clean commuting, energy resiliency hub and community solar.
Espinoza also launched the community-based design collaborative with the Southern California Regional Energy Network, tasked with energy efficiency programming across 13 counties in Southern California.
“My work here at the EJ leadership program has really influenced the design that has gone into creating this collaborative. We have been asked to bring together community-based organizations so that the communities that these energy efficiency programs are meant for are actually the communities designing those programs, instead of looking to the program administrators to be the ones designing those,” said Espinoza.
Connecting to the land, and ancestors to heal the earth and communities
Rio Oxas of Rahok brought roots, ancestors, self, outdoors and knowledge into the discussion and illuminated how these tools can create ecological neighborhoods. “We are not separating ourselves from nature because we are of nature,” Said Oxas. As an EJ leader, Oxas worked with the Center for Emissions Reduction, Resiliency, and Climate Equity in Transportation (CERRCET) to understand the three big pillars — greenhouse gas emission reduction, equity, and climate resilience and adaptation.
Oxas talked about using traditional ecological knowledge, such as cultural burns, to revitalize the land with the intent of returning to make use of it again. Oxas reinforced the benefits of zero waste and renewable resources while expressing concerns about EV battery lifecycle and lithium extraction from places where it can affect the environment and health of the disadvantaged.
“The cool thing about EJ leaders is that we get to be on the ground often and work with these communities. I hope to continue to work with the researchers at UC Davis and with CERRCET,” said Oxas.
Keeping frontline communities protected and involved in new technology rollout
As an EJ leader, Andres Ramirez, executive director of People for Mobility Justice, worked with UC Davis researcher Terra-Arnal Luna on developing a policy brief around hydrogen. As California is shifting away from fossil fuels, Ramirez is concerned about the impact it could have on communities still new to this form of power. His goal is to find answers to questions such as — How is hydrogen produced? Are there emissions? What jobs are going to be created by the mass production of hydrogen? Is that something communities can tap into?
“One of the best strategies to address displacement and gentrification is not only building affordable housing but creating living wage jobs in our community,” said Ramirez. “If people can afford to pay the rent, then they’re not going to be displaced.”
Ramirez works on mobility justice — the ability and freedom of people to move through space in a just and safe way, regardless of race, gender identity and class. But mobility justice is not only about transportation, noted Ramirez, adding “People are impacted by the air they breathe, their ability to work, the ability to find housing, often facing hate forms and state violence. Mobility justice is right at the intersection of all these issues including transportation, environment, economy, housing, racial and social justice that need to be engaged in research practices.”
The 2025 cohort includes returning EJ leaders Shante Walker, Shane Paul of Shared Mobility and Ruth Rosas of Walk America who are bringing viable, strong and clean transit system programs to low-income communities.
