Lecture abstract
One of the core tenets of our work is that those who are most considered "the problem" in urban settings have leadership and knowledge to innovate and provide solutions. Through 12 urban and regional case studies from throughout the United States, we will share the knowledge of working with Frontline Communities who have been successful in their efforts of transforming their neighborhoods and regions. These case studies describe a variety of environmental justice and sustainability strategies, through 10 years of community development work funded in part by the Ford Foundation. Combined, these 12 strategies launched and shaped the Regional Equity movement in the United States, a new urban civil rights movement. The 12 strategies, most all led by communities of color, include Community Benefit Agreements in a large public infrastructure investment, Farms to Schools food agroecology production, vacant properties landbanking initiative, creative re-use of hospital for mixed use housing, use of arts and culture as an urban regenerative strategy, and all 12 using Asset Based Community Development strategies.
About the speaker
Dr. Paloma Pavel is president of Earth House Center. She is co-founder of the Breakthrough Communities Project, and served as director of strategic communications for the Sustainable Metropolitan Communities Initiative at the Ford Foundation. Her academic background includes graduate study at the London School of Economics and Harvard University. She has taught at many Bay Area institutions, including the California Institute for Integral Studies, where she co-chaired the graduate degree program in Organizational Development. She is a frequent lecturer and keynote presenter nationally and internationally on the theory of living systems and urban sustainability. Dr. Pavel is visiting faculty at the University of California, Davis, where she also serves on the Regional Advisory Council for the Center for Regional Change. At MIT Press, she co-edits the Sustainable Metropolitan Communities Books series, and is editor of the nationally recognized book Breakthrough Communities: Sustainability and Justice in the Next American Metropolis (MIT Press, 2009).