Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #116564

Charlie Sciammas, PODER (People Organizing to Demand Environmental and Economic Rights), 474 Valencia Street, Suite 125, San Francisco, CA 94103, 415.431.4210, poder@igc.org

This presentation will examine the collaborative efforts of the Southeast San Francisco Environmental Health & Justice Organizing Initiative, PODER and its partners, including the Chinese Progressive Association and the Environmental Law and Justice Clinic of Golden Gate University School of Law. PODER and these partners are organizing to empower the emerging low-income Asian and Latino communities in Southeast San Francisco to address disproportionate environmental health risks and improve their access to and participation in City and State health and environmental programs, policies and administrative decision-making.

Well known for its broad diversity and urban landscape, San Francisco is less known for its environmental injustice, including the structural barriers that have led to the siting and permitting of hundreds of pollution sources in Southeast San Francisco. The Southeast sector includes the working-class, lower-income neighborhoods of Bayview, Hunters Point, Visitacion Valley, Little Hollywood, Excelsior, the Mission, as well as Potrero Hill. While over half of San Francisco's overall population is comprised of people of color, the Southeast sector is predominantly people of color living in low-income, working-class neighborhoods. Over 90% of residents in the Bayview-Hunters Point, for example, are African American, Asian or Latino. This area is home to the City's only sewage treatment plants and Superfund sites. These and other industrial sources in the area - many of which are located adjacent to or near residentially zoned land - emit thousands of tons of pollutants into the air, without regard for the cumulative health impacts to surrounding communities.

Learning Objectives:

• To present a case study of a community-led initiative to identify environmental health issues and subsequent policy efforts to address the community, health and environmental concerns.
• To provide at least two examples of how community-based organizations utilize legal and science-based strategies in furthering environmental health and justice organizing goals.

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.