Black Lives Matter

EcoDistricts stands in solidarity with Black activists that demand swift and substantial changes to policing, criminal justice, and community investment. But, standing in solidarity isn’t enough. We vow to educate ourselves on how to go beyond allyship, to work as abolitionists/accomplices in the field.

Our commitment to BLM led EcoDistricts to seeking in a new home for our work, one dedicated and focused on centering racial equity in every aspect of urban and community development. With the acquisition by Partnership for Southern Equity, we have begun this journey with a back led organizaton anchored in the American South, home to the American civil rights movement. By partnering with PSE, we are acknowledging that our mostly white-dominant profession has long been complacent and too powerful in representing the interests of Black and Communities of Color when advocating and implementing investments that disproportionately impact their lives. We need to do more than lift up the Black voices in our industry. we must work to dismantle the structures of white supremacy that have been the bedrock of our industry for generations.

To help the EcoDistricts community navigate and strengthen our collective resolve to fight for racial justice and equity, we have identified petitions, articles, and resources for you to explore and act on. This is only a small number of incredible contributions being made to our field:

Read Tamika Butler’s blog post “Stop Killing Us: A Real Life Nightmare”.

Read “A Letter to White Urbanists,” a call to those who are white to act by Alicia John Baptiste, CEO, and President of SPUR.

Watch “Why Cities Are Still So Segregated” from NPR’s Code Switch.

Read Somini Sengupta’s New York Times article “Black Environmentalists Talk About Climate and Anti-Racism”

Read Tufts University's Julian Agyeman’s op-ed, “Poor And Black ‘Invisible Cyclists’ Need To Be Part Of Post-Pandemic Transport Planning Too.”

Read Ibram X. Kendi’s “Who Gets to Be Afraid in America?” in response to Ahmaud Arbery’s murder while out for a run.

Read Dr. Robert Bullard’s piece, “The Quest for Environmental Justice and The Politics of Place and Race”.

Listen to Code Switch’s podcast “A Decade of Watching Black People Die”.

See Crack Magazine’s “How to support the Black Lives Matter movement – Funds and Organisations Who Need Your Help”.

Explore the resource guide “Your Kids Aren’t Too Young to Talk About Race” to ensure we are raising kids to be anti-racist.

See “The Cities We Need,” an in-depth op-ed series by the New York Times calling for a new and ambitious era of inclusive urban reinvestment.

Explore the Smithsonian's "158 Resources to Understand Racism in America".

Learn how to go from actor, through ally to accomplice when doing anti-racist work on yourself and within your community.

Watch documentaries, like Ava DuVernay's Netflix Documentary 13th, about the 13th amendment and how it enables modern-day slavery.

Read Julie Devaney Hogan's article "3 White Privilege Blind Spots in Boston That Are Keeping Us Racist", which helps provide applicable insight for major cities across the U.S.

Explore the National Museum of African American History & Culture's interactive guide to help to talk about race.