ABOUT US
Community Members for Environmental Justice (CMEJ) is a coalition of caring community members, mothers, and youth who are committed to addressing the environmental injustices occurring disproportionately in pollution-burdened neighborhoods in the City of Minneapolis.
CMEJ is based in North Minneapolis, an environmental justice (EJ) community - a low-income community of color with multiple sources of industrial pollution generating a legacy of environmental health issues. Many of our concerned residents and families live or work in areas of the Twin Cities heavily impacted by the legacy of fossil fuel pollution in the state. CMEJ is focused on organizing to push for government policies and decisions that reduce the levels of toxics and other issues identified by the community affecting community health.
While environmental justice work by members has been occurring since 2012, the work got organized under the name of Community Members for Environmental Justice by founder Roxxanne O’Brien in 2018, with guidance from co-founder Shalini Gupta. There are over a hundred informally active members, working across community residents, government, and the private sector, that organically participate as they can - with a joined passion and commitment to achieving environmental justice.
WHO WE ARE
Due to the multiple affiliations or the feeling of
being targeted, not all of those involved in CMEJ
feel comfortable being named on a website.
Most are volunteers.
Some of the core participants include
Roxxanne O’Brien
Shalini Gupta - policy advisor
Rose Youngmark - communications
Diamond Reynolds - Police accountability lead
Evan Mulholland - legal advisor
Louis Alemayehu - EJ elder in community
Lea Foushee - former MPCA EJ Advisory Board
Member, EJ elder in community
Taisia, Preston, Justice - youth organizers
PARTNERS & SUPPORTERS
JXTA - Juxtaposition Arts, fiscal sponsor
MCEA - Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy
People’s Action Institute -
Center for Health, Environment, and Justice
Midwest Environmental Justice Network
City of Minneapolis Staff - Health Department,
Promise Zone, and Sustainability Offices
Council Member Jeremiah Ellison's Office
PYC Arts & Technology High School
...and the many members, individual donors,
and supporters across the Twin Cities
- many who are part of powerful organizations
but come as themselves so as not to
create issues with their larger institutions
