- Who's in the Group?
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The workgroup current membership consists of community members representing counties across the state, each bringing a unique perspective on Environmental Justice.
- Current projects
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The workgroup is working on getting to know each other, and developing our scope of projects for 2025.
- Common terms and phrases
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Community of Practice: A group of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly.
Community Resilience: The ability of communities to withstand, recover, and learn from past disasters to strengthen future response and recovery efforts.
Environmental Health Disparities Map: The Environmental Health Disparities Map was created as a part of the HEAL Act. The Department of Health was tasked with updating and maintaining the map. The map uses 19 different environmental, socio-economic, and health factors to “rank” census tracts based on the level of environmental health disparities
Environmental Justice Assessments: The HEAL Act requires DOH and other covered agencies to do environmental justice assessments when considering significant agency actions. Significant agency actions can cause environmental harms or benefits to overburdened communities and vulnerable populations. The environmental justice assessments should determine the potential impacts of an action on these groups.
Diversity: Describes the presence of differences within a given setting, collective, or group. An individual is not diverse – a person is unique. Diversity is about a collective or a group and exists in relationship to others. A team, an organization, a family, a neighborhood, and a community can be diverse. A person can bring diversity of thought, experience, and trait, (seen and unseen) to a team — and the person is still an individual.
Environmental Effect: Adverse environmental quality generally, even when population contact with an environmental hazard is unknown or uncertain.
Environmental Equity: Environmental equity will be achieved when no single group or community faces disadvantages in dealing with the effects of the climate crisis, pollution, environmental hazards, or environmental disasters.
Environmental Health Disparities: Inequities in illnesses that are mediated by disproportionate exposures associated with the physical, chemical, biological, social, natural, and built environments.
Environmental Health Indicator: Refers to either a specific environmental risk factor or a specific measure of population susceptibility or vulnerability.
Environmental Justice: The fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin or income with respect to development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations and policies. This includes using an intersectional lens to address disproportionate environmental and health impacts by prioritizing highly impacted populations, equitably distributing resources and benefits, and eliminating harm.
Environmental Racism: Any policy, practice, or directive that differentially affects or disadvantages individuals, groups, or communities based on race or ethnicity (whether intended or unintended). Equality Treating everyone the same, regardless of their circumstances.
Equity: The act of developing, strengthening, and supporting procedural and outcome fairness in systems, procedures, and resource distribution mechanisms to create equitable (not equal) opportunity for all people. Equity is distinct from equality, which refers to everyone having the same treatment without accounting for differing needs or circumstances. Equity has a focus on eliminating barriers that have prevented the full participation of historically and currently oppressed groups.
Social Justice: A practice within a society based on principles of equality and solidarity that understands and values human rights and recognizes the dignity of every human being. Such a practice would strive to provide basic human needs and comforts to all members of the society regardless of class, race, religion or any other characteristic.