Mecklenburg County Government: ​Environmental Justice Study In Mecklenburg County

Davidson NC

25 April, 2022

8:14 PM

Description

Press release from the Mecklenburg County Government: 4/25/2022 Description1 Your voice matters. Mecklenburg County is committed to environmental justice and needs residents to play a vital part in this work. Starting this Spring, look for ways to participate in the Environmental Justice Study. The County defines environmental justice as "The County commits to embrace justice through meaningful involvement, equal protection as well as enforcement of environmental laws and regulations to align to the County's Equity Action Plan to address unfair exposure of Black and Brown and other marginalized communities to environmental harms, which have negative impacts on health outcomes." "The Board of County Commissioners started us on this Environmental Justice path when they passed the Environmental Leadership Policy and Action Plan in March 2021," said Erin Stanforth, Sustainability & Resiliency Manager for Mecklenburg County. "The County is required to embrace justice through equal protection and enforcement of environmental laws and regulations." The County is committed to working towards racial equity and environmental justice and recently hired a team of contractors to lead the development of an Environmental Justice Study. For our efforts to have a strong foundation, we must have, as a starting point, intentional community partnerships, particularly with community-based organizations doing work in similar spaces. This will provide us with robust demographic, health, and environmental data. The County is launching an engagement strategy to conduct our Environmental Justice Study.  This Study will be rooted in community engagement and will be populated by quantitative and qualitative data collected. We are asking Mecklenburg County residents to attend engagement sessions, held in their respective districts, to give input on this Study that will be impactful for generations to come.  Throughout Spring and Summer 2022, there will be multiple opportunities to give input.  Please visit our social media sites as well as MeckNC.gov/ej to learn when opportunities in your district are happening.  Your voice matters. Mecklenburg County is committed to environmental justice and needs residents to play a vital part in this work. Starting this Spring, look for ways to participate in the Environmental Justice Study. The County defines environmental justice as "The County commits to embrace justice through meaningful involvement, equal protection as well as enforcement of environmental laws and regulations to align to the County's Equity Action Plan to address unfair exposure of Black and Brown and other marginalized communities to environmental harms, which have negative impacts on health outcomes." "The Board of County Commissioners started us on this Environmental Justice path when they passed the Environmental Leadership Policy and Action Plan in March 2021," said Erin Stanforth, Sustainability & Resiliency Manager for Mecklenburg County. "The County is required to embrace justice through equal protection and enforcement of environmental laws and regulations." The County is committed to working towards racial equity and environmental justice and recently hired a team of contractors to lead the development of an Environmental Justice Study. For our efforts to have a strong foundation, we must have, as a starting point, intentional community partnerships, particularly with community-based organizations doing work in similar spaces. This will provide us with robust demographic, health, and environmental data. The County is launching an engagement strategy to conduct our Environmental Justice Study.  This Study will be rooted in community engagement and will be populated by quantitative and qualitative data collected. We are asking Mecklenburg County residents to attend engagement sessions, held in their respective districts, to give input on this Study that will be impactful for generations to come.  Throughout Spring and Summer 2022, there will be multiple opportunities to give input.  Please visit our social media sites as well as MeckNC.gov/ej to learn when opportunities in your district are happening.  MeckNC.gov/ej This press release was produced by the Mecklenburg County Government. The views expressed here are the author's own.