Community Voices for Action: Harnessing the Power of Environmental Justice Storytelling

Using Stories for Change

The stories we tell matter, and they shape what we believe is possible. Dominant narratives about environmental injustice make it appear as if individuals and communities don’t have the power to challenge systemic inequities and injustice. But people across the nation are collectively taking action to protect our air, water, and the land that sustains us. Communities are creating positive, lasting changes, using personal stories and lived experiences to understand and respond to environmental injustices. Based on these stories, people nationwide can work together to generate new narratives that support health and well-being for all.

While everyone is affected by environmental issues, certain communities are disproportionately impacted (such as Black, Hispanic, Indigenous, and tribal communities). The wisdom of these communities is essential to the environmental justice movement, and to learning what actions to take to create collective, enduring change.

Let's Work Together: Environmental Justice & Health Justice from AAMC on Vimeo.

Collaborate With Us: Let’s Work Together to Share Your Story

The AAMC Center for Health Justice (the Center) is committed to amplifying the voices of all communities and sharing their insights for environmental justice action. Do you or your organization have a story about an environmental injustice where you live and how you have worked with your community to create a healthier, more just environment? By sharing your story, others can learn from your experience.

The Center is seeking up to five collaborators (nonprofit organizations and/or individuals) from across the United States. Each collaborator will work with the Center for up to three months and produce their story over the next year.

Why should you apply?

Selected collaborators will:

• Receive storytelling coaching and partnership from the Center. Your story is yours, and you decide how to tell it.
  
• Produce your story in one of four storytelling mediums: short video, online photography exhibit, story map, or virtual story slam.
  
• Maintain the right to use the final product for your own purposes.
  
• Receive a stipend of $5,000 for each organization or individual applicant participating in this initiative.
  
  

Eligibility Criteria

The Center encourages applications from diverse organizations, including Indigenous and tribal organizations, organizations representing under-resourced communities, and other communities who are underserved or marginalized by environmental injustices (such as communities with a disproportionate number of toxic waste sites, or pollution). The Center also encourages applications focused on local, community-based environmental justice work.

To be eligible for selection, applicants must meet the following criteria:

• Must be a community-based nonprofit organization or individual located in the United States and/or its territories.
  
• Must be able to commit up to five hours per week, for three months, toward the project.
  
• Must demonstrate prior or current work that advances environmental and/or climate justice.
  
• Must have documented relationships with the communities it serves. Applicants can share those relationships via web links or uploaded examples. These relationships must have been established at least one year prior to the date of application.
  
• Application must comply with all requirements set forth above and, if selected, applicant must agree to the participation agreement.
  
  

Selection Criteria

• Applications will be evaluated by a review committee comprised of Center staff and Center partners. The review committee will consider whether:
  
  • The applicant meets the Center’s eligibility criteria
  • The applicant has a compelling story to tell and demonstrates all the following:
    
    • How the story will serve local environmental justice efforts (by influencing state legislation, government efforts, or community initiatives)
    • How the applicant will use the story to promote change or inspire continued community action
    • How the applicant will disseminate the story in their community
      
      

The selection of collaborators will consider: geographic location, size of organization or initiative, size and members of the partnership, the length of the applicant’s environmental justice efforts, when the organization or group was established and began environmental justice work, knowledge about the subject, and the type of community served.

Storytelling Mediums

Applicants can choose one of the following storytelling mediums. Learn more about what the Center will provide for each storytelling medium option here.

• Short video (documentary-style)
  
• Online photography exhibit
  
• Story map
  
• Virtual story slam
  
  

Examples of the types of proposals that will not be considered:

• Political ads that include elected officials and/or officials running (or who have run) for public office
• Projects that advertise products or services
• Projects that perpetuate environmental injustice
  
  

Key Dates and Deadlines

April 1, 2024	Application opens
April 17, 2024, 4:00 p.m. ET	Informational webinar
May 6, 2024, 11:59 p.m. ET	Application closes
May 27, 2024	Awardees notified