West Oakland’s Experience in Building Community Power to Confront Environmental Injustice Through California’s Assembly Bill 617

Bibliographic Data

ID11035343
AuthorsLily MacIver (At the time of this writing, Lily MacIver was with the Department of City and Regional Planning, University of California, Berkeley. Jonathan London is with the Department of Human Ecology, University of California, Davis. Natalie Sampson is with the Department of Health and Human Services, University of Michigan-Dearborn. Margaret Gordon is with the West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project, Oakland, CA. Richard Grow is retired from US Environmental Protection Agency Region 9, San Francisco, CA....), Jonathan K London (0000-0001-5478-0880, California Environmental Protection Agency), Jonathan London (At the time of this writing, Lily MacIver was with the Department of City and Regional Planning, University of California, Berkeley. Jonathan London is with the Department of Human Ecology, University of California, Davis. Natalie Sampson is with the Department of Health and Human Services, University of Michigan-Dearborn. Margaret Gordon is with the West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project, Oakland, CA. Richard Grow is retired from US Environmental Protection Agency Region 9, San Francisco, CA....), Natalie Sampson (0000-0001-7946-2168, At the time of this writing, Lily MacIver was with the Department of City and Regional Planning, University of California, Berkeley. Jonathan London is with the Department of Human Ecology, University of California, Davis. Natalie Sampson is with the Department of Health and Human Services, University of Michigan-Dearborn. Margaret Gordon is with the West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project, Oakland, CA. Richard Grow is retired from US Environmental Protection Agency Region 9, San Francisco, CA....), Margaret Gordon (At the time of this writing, Lily MacIver was with the Department of City and Regional Planning, University of California, Berkeley. Jonathan London is with the Department of Human Ecology, University of California, Davis. Natalie Sampson is with the Department of Health and Human Services, University of Michigan-Dearborn. Margaret Gordon is with the West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project, Oakland, CA. Richard Grow is retired from US Environmental Protection Agency Region 9, San Francisco, CA....), Richard Grow (At the time of this writing, Lily MacIver was with the Department of City and Regional Planning, University of California, Berkeley. Jonathan London is with the Department of Human Ecology, University of California, Davis. Natalie Sampson is with the Department of Health and Human Services, University of Michigan-Dearborn. Margaret Gordon is with the West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project, Oakland, CA. Richard Grow is retired from US Environmental Protection Agency Region 9, San Francisco, CA....), Veronica Eady (At the time of this writing, Lily MacIver was with the Department of City and Regional Planning, University of California, Berkeley. Jonathan London is with the Department of Human Ecology, University of California, Davis. Natalie Sampson is with the Department of Health and Human Services, University of Michigan-Dearborn. Margaret Gordon is with the West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project, Oakland, CA. Richard Grow is retired from US Environmental Protection Agency Region 9, San Francisco, CA....)
Year2022
Volume112
Issue2
Pages262-270
Publication date2022-02-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueAmerican Journal of Public Health (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0090-0036 • E-ISSN: 1541-0048
PublisherAmerican Public Health Association (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.2105/ajph.2021.306592
PMID35080948
OpenAlexW4210706223
LanguageEN
Citations received5
References cited16

We explored how air quality management processes associated with Assembly Bill 617 (AB 617) in West Oakland, California, represent a shift in power relationships between government agencies and communities toward the goal of addressing legacies of environmental injustice. We drew from a statewide assessment of community engagement in AB 617’s first year, and an analysis of the West Oakland AB 617 process. The first comprised 2 statewide surveys (n = 102 and n = 106), 70 key informant interviews, observation of all AB 617 first-year sites, and analysis of related planning documents. The second comprised 2 rounds of interviews (n = 22 and n = 23, with a total of 19 individuals) and extensive participant observation. Several factors are necessary for pursuing environmental justice: (1) invest in community partnerships and collaborations, (2) honor community knowledge and data, (3) ensure that community constituents share power in environmental governance, and (4) adopt explicit racial justice frameworks. Although still a work in progress, AB 617 offers important lessons for community and policy organizations nationwide engaged in environmental justice. (Am J Public Health. 2022;112(2):262–270. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2021.306592 )

Community health · Community organization · Community organizing · Economic Justice · Environmental justice · Government (linguistics) · Health care · Injustice · Political science · Power (physics) · Public health · Public relations · Sociology · Work (physics) · Climate Change and Health Impacts · Engineering · Environmental Justice and Health Disparities · Law · Medicine · Public Administration · Urban Green Space and Health

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