Congestion Pricing Town Hall

What are the environmental and climate justice impacts of congestion pricing? What are the environmental and climate justice impacts of the public transportation improvements it will fund? Join us as we team up with Riders Alliance for a congestion pricing town hall discussion on Thursday, March 27th from 6:00-9:00 PM at the Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge, located at 454 West 155th Street. This will be the first of two such town halls, with the second one tentatively scheduled for June. RSVP

NYC Council District 8 Candidate Forum

Do you live in New York City Council District 8? And do you know all the candidates who will be running for that seat in the June 24th Primary Election?

Join us on Saturday, March 29th from 10:00 AM-12:00 PM via Zoom to meet the candidates running for City Council to serve District 8. We have invited all of the candidates running for this office to come and tell us why they are the best candidate for it and how they will tackle environmental racism in our community. WE ACT members will also have an opportunity to ask them questions. Please submit any questions you may have via this form. RSVP

Climate Works for All Coalition Mayoral Candidates Forum

As a member of the Climate Works for All coalition, we are co-hosting their Mayoral Candidates Forum on Monday, March 31st at 6:30 PM at the CUNY School of Law, which is located at 2 Court Square West in Long Island City. RSVP

NYC Mayoral Candidate Forum

Do you know all the candidates who are running for New York City Mayor in the June 24th Primary Election?

Join us on Saturday, April 5th from 10:00 AM-12:00 PM to meet the candidates running for New York City Mayor. We will host the candidate forum at the Police Athletic League at the Polo Grounds Towers, located at 3005 Frederick Douglass Boulevard. We have invited all of the candidates running for Mayor to come and tell us why they are the best candidate for it and how they will tackle environmental racism in our community. WE ACT members will also have an opportunity to ask them questions. Please submit any questions you may have via this form. RSVP

April Membership Meeting: New York City Comptroller Candidate Forum

Do you know what the New York City Comptroller does? And do you know all the candidates who will be running for that seat in the June 24th Primary Election?

Join us on Saturday, April 12th from 10:00 AM-1:00 PM at the Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge, located at 454 West 155th Street, to meet the candidates running for the New York City Comptroller office. As part of our April Membership Meeting, we are co-hosting this with the NYLCVEF. We have invited all of the candidates running for Comptroller to come tell us why they are the best candidate for the job and to discuss the budget and legislative process as it relates to New York City’s parks. WE ACT members will also have an opportunity to ask them questions. Please submit any questions you may have via this form. RSVP

Peggy Shepard to Discuss Strategies to Address Federal Challenges to the Environmental Justice Movement

As part of the 2025 Centering Justice Symposium next week, Peggy Shepard will join other movement leaders in a panel discussion on the challenges environmental justice organizations are facing under the current administration. The symposium is co-hosted by the Indigenous Resilience Center at the University of Arizona and the Tishman Environment and Design Center at the New School, with the goal of bringing together multi-sectoral partners to explore how higher education can better align to support environmental and climate justice.

WE ACT Helps Get Toxic Products Off Store Shelves
As you may recall, we helped pass New York State’s Mercury Out of Cosmetics law, which bans the sale – both in-store and online – of cosmetics and other personal care products that contain mercury. The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene recently purchased a number of these products in stores throughout the city and found that 22 of them contained mercury, a dangerous neurotoxin. In fact, the amount of mercury in some of these products exceeded 30,000 times the allowable limit.
 
As a result, the City is conducting "enforcement actions" to stop businesses from selling these dangerous products. So far they have removed 1,820 products from store shelves. And earlier this week, they issued a public warning that skin lightening products can contain dangerous levels of mercury. Mae Kennedy was quoted in that announcement,  as WE ACT purchased many of these same skin lightening products online in our own effort to assess compliance with this law. We sent them to a laboratory for testing where we found up to 29,000 parts per million mercury in a single container.
 This announcement generated coverage in Gothamist, WNYC Radio, Newsday, Harlem World News, and a number of Chinese-language news sites serving local immigrant communities - including the Sing Tao USA, Star Island Global, and Career Engine. We will continue to help raise awareness and call attention to retailers who fail to comply with this law. 

In Other News
We wanted to share this National Wildlife Federation interview with WE ACT Co-Founder and Board Member Vernice Miller-Travis, in which she talks about everything from the early days of the movement to the challenges we face with the current administration.

Help Us Get Out The Vote

New York City has its 2025 Primary Election coming up on June 24th. Do you want to help us make sure we have a strong voter turnout? Click here to join WE ACT’s Get Out the Vote campaign!

Cecil Corbin-Mark Fellowship: Applications Are Now Open

Applications for the 2025-26 Cecil Corbin-Mark Fellowship for Environmental Justice Leadership are now open, and will remain so through April 18th. This fellowship, named in honor of Cecil Corbin-Mark, who served as WE ACT’s Deputy Director before passing away in 2020, is a unique opportunity for young people to continue to follow in his footsteps and begin a career path to become the next generation of environmental justice leaders.

This year, we will be hosting one fellow beginning in June and lasting one year. Learn more about the fellowship and how to apply here. And read about the experiences of former Cecil Corbin-Mark Fellows in this blog post and watch this video testimonial from Tali Natter ’23.

Earth Day 5K Fun Run: Support WE ACT!

Come celebrate Earth Day, help raise funds for WE ACT, and run or walk for a healthier, greener community at our annual Earth Day 5K fundraiser. We will be holding the fun run at Randall’s Island on Saturday, April 19th. You can run or walk and enter as an individual or as a team. The event is open to everyone, including all ages and abilities. Early bird tickets are now on sale for $25! To take advantage of this special offer, register today using the promo code “earlybird” when prompted. RSVP

Cameron Clarke on Community and Public Health Partnerships

Cameron Clarke discussed community and public health partnerships on a panel at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai’s Clinical Climate Conference last week. He's pictured above (on the left) with Professor of Environmental Medicine and Pediatrics (and long-time WE ACT Member) Perry Sheffield, MD, MPH (on the right).

Funding Available for Municipal Parks

Have you been trying to get funding for the development or improvement of a park in your community? If so, you now have a reason to reach out to your City Council member and let them know that funding is available through the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation's Municipal Parks and Recreation Grant Program. Counties, cities, towns, and villages within New York State are eligible to apply for funding for construction and other costs. The $20 million available through this program is funded by the Environmental Bond Act, which we helped pass in 2022. Program guidelines, including how to apply, are available here.