8th Annual Richard L. James Lecture

In recent decades, the environmental justice movement has arisen to address profound inequalities surrounding the concentration of toxic waste sites, sewage treatment plants, incinerators, and other types of pollution in impoverished communities and communities of color. Allison Acevedo, the new director of the Office of Environmental Justice at the state’s Department of Environmental Protection, is tasked with ensuring that the Pennsylvanians most at risk from pollution and other environmental impacts not only have a voice in the decision-making process but that the pollution is remediated. Acevedo will present a primer on environmental justice, the surprising sweep of communities across the state wrestling with this issue, and her vision for environmental justice in Pennsylvania.

Before joining  DEP, attorney Acevedo consulted with nonprofits on program development, policy, and strategic planning. She also served as Director of Education of the United Way, co-founded the Philadelphia Black Giving Circle, and was staff advisor to PA Representative W. Curtis Thomas and Senator Allyson Y. Schwartz.

This event is FREE and open to the public.