FRONTLINES
AT THE FRONT
WHO IS CLEAN AIR
FOR THE LONG HAUL?
From the Northwest to the Deep South, from rural towns to our cities, communities across the United States are fighting for their right to breathe clean air and live healthy lives.
Clean Air for the Long Haul is a united front of frontline activists, organizers, and advocates who have spent years demanding – and winning – federal action to curb toxic air pollution from power plants, cars, and trucks.
This cohort launched the ‘Dare to Breathe’ campaign, which uses the power of facts and our stories to push for what’s right by holding our leaders and industry accountable. We are demanding that the EPA stay true to their mission and responsibilities to protect public health and the environment. We are here to stand up for the protections our families, friends, neighbors, and towns deserve. It’s time to demand that our government serve the needs of the people and stop rolling back life-saving regulations, and slashing environmental justice programs. The stakes couldn’t be higher – millions are at risk: We won’t stand for gutting clean air protections or putting corporate profits over people’s lives.
This cohort is a part of the Environmental Justice Leadership Forum, hosted by WE ACT for Environmental Justice.
This is about justice.
This is about fairness.
This is about thriving,
not just surviving.
We’re here for our communities.
We’re here for the long haul, and we’re here to win.
OUR PRINCIPLES
CLEAN AIR TO THRIVE, NOT JUST TO SURVIVE
Clean air isn’t a privilege, it’s a human right. Our friends, families, and neighbors live with illnesses or die prematurely caused by or made worse by dirty air. Generations are sacrificed for the profits of polluters: and to that we say, no more. Real justice demands that communities overburdened by pollution have the freedom and chance to live full lives in health and safety.
FRONTLINES TO THE FRONT
Our communities are centers of knowledge, stories, and solutions. But, far too many of our frontline and fenceline communities have their bodies damaged or their lives cut short from pollution. Those on the frontlines must be first in line to benefit from policies and resources that cut pollution. Protecting our health will unlock more well-being and opportunity for our country, and the world.
FIGHTING FOR JUSTICE
The silent killer of toxic air is worse than most people think. Black, Brown, Indigenous, people of color, and low-income communities breathe the most polluted air in the U.S. Our work highlights the ways that air quality is experienced unequally, educating to spark awareness and action. Together, we demand fair, swift, comprehensive protections at the Environmental Protection Agency to achieve clean air and justice for everyone.
CLEAN AIR TO THRIVE, NOT JUST TO SURVIVE
OUR 2026 COHORT
Duwamish river community coalition
Beyond monitoring the cleanup of Seattle’s Duwamish River, we are guided by the voice of our community which is negatively affected by the environmental, social, and economic impacts of pollution and climate change.
Green Door Initiative
Our mission is to ensure that everyone is environmentally literate, capable of promoting and living out a sustainable lifestyle regardless of race, income and zip code. The Green Door Initiative is facilitating the revitalization, rebuilding, and restoring of neighborhoods, particularly in low-income, people of color and underserved areas.
Greenlatinos
GreenLatinos is an active comunidad of Latino/a/e leaders,emboldened by the power and wisdom of our culture, united to demand equity and dismantle racism. We are resourced to win our environmental, conservation, and climate justice battles, and driven to secure our political, economic, cultural, and environmental liberation.
PODER aUSTIN
PODER (People Organized in Defense of Earth and Her Resources) is a women led, people of color grassroots social justice organization. Our mission is to redefine environmental issues as social and economic justice issues, and collectively set our agenda to address these concerns as basic human rights through education, advocacy and action.
RISE4EJ
Our mission is to bring attention to the community-led solutions that are growing in resistance to chemical exposures, environmental toxins, environmental racism, and ecological destruction – all of which negatively impact the health and well-being of fenceline communities.
We act
WE ACT for Environmental Justice’s mission is to build healthy communities by ensuring that people of color and/or low income residents participate meaningfully in the creation of sound and fair environmental health and protection policies and practices.
WERA
WERA is a non-profit organization based out of Mebane, North Carolina that is dedicated to getting local People of Color Communities the basic amenities which they deserve. This website serves as a digital archive of WERA’s nearly thirty years of history.
MICHIGAN GREEN MUSLIMS
A volunteer statewide grassroots environmental justice group connecting faith, environmental justice, sustainability, and healing through education and service.
eNVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE LEADERSHIP FORUM
The Clean Air for the Long Haul cohort is a part of the Environmental Justice Leadership Forum (EJLF), a national coalition of nearly 42 organizations in 25 states and D.C., who work to ensure that a diverse grassroots perspective is reflected in federal, state, and local programming and policy decisions.
Organizations are based in red, blue, and swing states, including those in Appalachia, the Deep South, Northwest, Midwest, Northeast and Southwest regions. EJLF members represent Black, Latinx, Indigenous and low-income communities in large cities to rural areas. These groups are actively working together to advance key climate justice and environmental policy to ensure the protection and advancement of communities of color and low-income communities throughout the U.S. The EJLF is hosted by WE ACT for Environmental Justice.