It’s an Emergency! What are we doing about it? Environmental Justice & Emergency Response in Detroit

Registration required. For in-person, refreshments served at 5:30 pm and the Program is 6:00-8:00 pm. In addition to Ms. Patterson, the event includes a Detroit Community Panel, moderated by Laprisha Berry Daniels (Detroiters Working for Environmental Justice):

• Ricky Ackerman (Eastside Community Network);
• Tammara Howard (What About Us & Belvidere Community Youth Block Club);
• Theresa Landrum (48217 community organizer & activist);
• Vincent Martin (Detroit community activist);
• Lula Odom (retired from International Chemical Workers Union Council for Worker Health & Safety Education, Cincinnati).

The disproportionate impacts of disasters for communities of color have been documented repeatedly for both natural and human-caused disasters. In Michigan:

• More than 500,000 Michigan residents live within one mile of a facility storing large amounts of extremely hazardous chemicals;

• Those residents are disproportionately Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) and confront daily risks of spills, explosions, and other environmental disasters at the facilities, as well as from the transport of chemicals to and from them through their communities;
• Children of color are more than two times as likely as white children in Michigan to live in the shadow of facilities housing hazardous substances.

This event, organized by Detroit community leaders with support from local academic institutions, will:

• Discuss why emergency preparedness and response is an environmental and climate justice issue;
• Describe gaps and challenges in Detroit’s emergency preparedness and response, from and environmental and climate justice perspective;
• Share recommendations for improving emergency preparedness and response for environmental and climate justice communities.

Registration link