Environmental justice program created at UMass Chan

The Office of Sustainability, the Diversity and Inclusion Office and the Lamar Soutter Library at UMass Chan Medical School are collaborating to create an environmental justice program to raise awareness about environmental justice as a social justice issue and to highlight the disproportionate impact of climate change on marginalized communities.

The environmental justice movement advocates for the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people in the development of environmental laws, policy and regulatory practice.

“It’s usually marginalized communities taking the brunt of all environmental concerns. We hope the program and the forum we’ve created helps alert people about the impacts of environmental injustices on marginalized communities,” said Lynn Hernandez, PhD, assistant vice chancellor for diversity and inclusion.

Funded by a $7,500 Catalyst Grant from Second Nature, a climate action in higher education advocacy organization, the environmental justice program aims to establish climate action initiatives on campus and create a sustainable resource guide. Future goals include developing a replicable framework for environmental justice advisory councils and a strategic curriculum pathway to expand the program across the five campuses of the UMass system.

The grant will provide funding for a part-time position for one year in the Office of Sustainability. The position will be responsible for organizing listening tours, promoting the program and the resource guide, and facilitating communication between campus and community stakeholders.

“We’re asking the person we hire to look for ways to engage the external community, and to try to solicit information and resources and ways to collaborate with local organizations. There’s an aspect of it that goes beyond the UMass Chan campus. We want it to really be a collaborative and informed by the communities that we’re part of,” said Kortni Wroten, sustainability and energy manager.

In April 2024, the Office of Sustainability, the Diversity and Inclusion Office and the Lamar Soutter Library, first partnered in hosting an environmental justice webinar and the launch of the digital environmental justice library resource guide. The overwhelming response and engagement from the UMass Chan community led to a better understanding of the demand for more consistent environmental justice content and programming on campus.

“Our initial goal is really to make sure people know what environmental justice is, what the prevalent terms in discourse are. The resources we are creating are available to everyone and are really meant to be an introduction to environmental justice and how it impacts the surrounding community,” said Sarah Hutton, PhD, MLIS, education and clinical services librarian.