Bridging Communities with Hope: An Environmental Justice Conference for All
September 17 – 18, 2025
CEJM Valdosta Project Collaborator Kelley Saxon discusses impact of extreme weather events on her community.CEJM Storytellers Melissa Williams (Shiloh, Ala) and Makayla Ross(Valdosta, GA)The Rev. Mariama White-Hammond with fellow panelists Crystal Johnson, MA EEA Asst Secretary of Environmental Justice,Dr. Meghan Kallman, Rhode Island State Senator and UMB Professor and former EPA Regional Administrator Daniel BlackmanThe Rev. Ben Chavis has been at the forefront of the fight for civil rights and environmental justice for more than half a century. Former EPA Regional Administrator David Cash talks to conference attendees. CEJM Fellow and LOE Producer Nana Mohammed meets Dr. Ben Chavis.Attorney Monique Harden shares her views on the EJ & the Law Panel Discussion while Britteny Jenkins and David Cash listenAttorney Monique Harden, former assistant director of Law and Policy and the Community Engagement Program Manager at the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice, meets Kelley Saxon, of CEJM’s Valdosta project. The Rev. Timothy Williams discussing the battle to remedy flooding caused by the widening of Highway 84 near his home in Shiloh, Alabama. His community has fought to get the Alabama Department of Transportation to make his community whole. Dr. Robert Bullard, father of the environmental justice movement, discusses challenges facing environmental justice communities during a fireside chat with LOE’s Steve Curwood.eU Mass SFE Dean Carol Thornber greets attendees at the start of the two-day conferenceShiloh’s Rev. Timothy Williams, Dr. Robert Bullard, CEJM Storyteller Melissa Williams, and Rev. Ben Chavis
Hosted at UMass Boston by the Center for Climate and Environmental Justice Media, a collaboration between Living on Earth and UMass Boston School for the Environment
