For decades community leaders and environmental justice advocates have worked to bring attention to the water problems impacting low-income communities and communities of color across California. Together they have secured significant water equity wins. In 2012, California became the first state to establish the human right to water.  Substantial new investments have been made to expand access to safe and affordable drinking water. And new requirements have been established to ensure that local planning processes identify water infrastructure deficits in disadvantaged communities and develop strategies to address these deficits.

Despite these important wins, our work is far from done. Over one million Californians live in communities that do not have reliable access to safe drinking water. Many live in places where the cost of water is so high that residents are forced to forgo spending on other critical household needs in order to pay their water bill.  Children attend schools where their drinking water is contaminated with lead.  The availability and quality of our drinking water resources are increasingly impacted by the changing climate.

And drinking water is not the only water challenge low-income communities and communities of color are facing. Dams, water management practices, changing water temperatures due to climate change, and a host of other factors are decimating California’s fisheries—impacting the livelihoods, food sources, and cultural traditions of Native American communities who have managed these natural resources for thousands of years. Climate change induced flooding and sea level rise threaten people’s homes and their lives. Failing or completely absent wastewater treatment systems are causing public health and economic impacts for households and communities.

We have a lot to take care of and investing in our water infrastructure now is critical to begin tackling these problems. While California has a history of leading the nation on protecting its’ natural resources, applying this leadership is more important than ever. The Trump administration has demonstrated over and over their desire to unravel the national Clean Water Act, promote privatization of our water resources and management systems, reopen our coastline to offshore oil drilling, and defund key programs that fund water infrastructure.

To protect what we have already accomplished and secure water equity for all Californian’s it is critical that Californians, and our elected leaders, step up. Fortunately, there are some important things California can do now to secure our water future.  

• State legislators are considering a variety of important proposals that would address critical water infrastructure challenges for low-income communities and communities of color.
  • SB 623 (Monning) would establish the Safe and Affordable Drinking Water Fund, a permanent source of funding for safe and affordable drinking water. Water justice advocates and state water agencies have been calling for this for years. The fund would provide grants to address critical operations and maintenance needs, fund repair and replacement of failing drinking water infrastructure, provide technical assistance, conduct lead pipe replacement, consolidate water systems, and other projects designed to secure long-term safe drinking water for all.
  • AB 1215 (Hertzberg) would bring much needed sewer service to communities that do not have adequate service by facilitating service extension and consolidation of service providers where it makes sense.
  • Advocates are asking for a $23.5 million budget allocation to address emergency drinking water needs.
     
• Voters can support proposition 68, a bond proposal that is on the June ballot. If passed, $4 billion dollars in bond revenues would be invested in water, parks, and natural resources. Unlike many bonds of the past, proposition 68 includes a significant focus on investing in our most disadvantaged communities.
   
• California voters and California leaders can also support Rep Keith Ellison’s federal Clean Water Act of 2018, H.R. 5609. The bill would invest $35 billion each year in water infrastructure and clean water programs, and target important resources to communities with clean water violations.

Six years ago, California set a national precedent by recognizing the Human Right to Water.  It’s time to deliver on that promise by addressing the water infrastructure needs of low-income people and people of color across our state.

Additional Resources:

• “The Struggle for Water Justice in California’s San Joaquin Valley: A Focus on Disadvantaged Unincorporated Communities,” UC Davis Center for Regional Change, February 2018
• “The Fight for water health and equity in California’s Central Valley and beyond,” Toxic Taps
• Learn more about the Water Equity and Climate Resilience Caucus by signing up for email updates

Dear Equity Atlas Users,

From Detroit to Raleigh, we are thrilled to be working with so many incredible community leaders and advocates who are innovating new, data-driven approaches to equitable growth. We are also excited about the analyses we are working on to support the upcoming #RentersWeekofAction, and that registration is now open for Equity Summit 2018.

Detroit Equity Profile Powers FoodLab Detroit’s Good Food, Good Jobs Strategy
FoodLab Detroit recently released a photo essay series about its “Good Food, Good Jobs” strategy, which highlights how Detroit food entrepreneurs are using the data in the recent National Equity Atlas Detroit equity profile to inform their definition of success: “We’ve been focused on working with disconnected youth, and we have grown in part specifically because of that,” said Shannon Byrne from Slow Jams at a recent FoodLab Network Gathering. The PolicyLink team is working with FoodLab to support and amplify their triple-bottom-line business model in communities of color. Learn more and see the photo essays here.

Register Now for Equity Summit 2018: Our Power. Our Future. Our Nation
Join PolicyLink and the National Equity Atlas team in Chicago April 11-13, 2018 to envision with 2,000+ other equity advocates, policymakers, and community leaders how to advance transformative change this moment of backlash and regression at the national level. Using data to bolster the case for equity as a moral and economic imperative and advance equitable growth strategies at scale will be a theme throughout the conference. The Equity Atlas team is developing a hands-on Equity Institute training for the Summit and other relevant content which we will share in the coming months. Read the Summit Vision today and register here.

Data for Action: Designing Employment Equity Strategies in the South
The Atlas team has been continuing our research to inform employment equity strategies in five Southern states. This month, we launched our partnership with Rural Forward and the North Carolina Justice Center to develop an agenda for North Carolina. And with our partners the Alabama Asset-Building Coalition and the Mississippi Low-Income Child Care Coalition, we held focus groups in Birmingham and Mobile, Alabama, and Atlanta and Douglas County, Georgia to hear directly from residents facing barriers to employment. This qualitative research will complement rigorous data analysis PERE is completing on the potential economic and social benefits of full employment.

Get Ready for #RenterWeekofAction
During the week of September 18-24, members of the Homes for All campaign are calling for renters and all people who believe that housing is a human right to stand up for our communities, defend our homes, and fight for a world where all people have dignified and affordable homes. In preparation for the Renter Week of Action and Education, the National Equity Atlas team is crunching the numbers to include in fact sheets on the importance of renters in 38 cities where actions will be taking place. Click here to learn more about how you can participate.

Online Data Tools Twitter Chat
On September 13, the Atlas team and Ecotrust will be releasing Powering Health Equity Action through Online Data Tools. Authored by Ángel Ross, the report offers up a set of 10 design principles for online data tools intended to advance health equity. It was developed for researchers, advocates, community members, planners, funders, and others interested in building, improving, or investing in such data tools. On September 14 at 2pm E.T. / 11am P.T., join @PolicyLink and @Ecotrust for a Twitter chat with national leaders who are using and designing data tools to drive health equity and community action by following #equitydata.

In the News…
National Equity Atlas data was used to make the case for fair housing policy change, close racial economic gaps, and more this month:

• Using Data to Assess Fair Housing and Improve Access to Opportunity
• Putnam: Charlottesville should stir conversation about our own racial divides
• An Equity Profile of the Five-County San Francisco Bay Area Region
• How New Orleans Has Failed Its Workers Since Katrina

Thank you!
The National Equity Atlas team at PolicyLink and the USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity (PERE)

Over the past several days we have watched in disgust as the progeny from our nation’s despicable past terrorized a city, committed murder, and received tacit approval from the highest level of government. White supremacy has found a home in the White House. The President is determined to perpetuate and maintain the social, political, historical, and institutional domination by White people at the expense of people of color. And in so doing, he is creating an environment that is also too toxic for White America. The White supremacy movement will not vanish until people of good will succeed in atoning for our nation’s past, reconciling, and building a bridge to a just and fair society where ALL are prospering and reaching their full potential.

America is seeing in real-time what the fight for equity looks like. When cultures, structures, and institutions are forced to change, the responses by those comfortable with and benefiting from the status quo are too frequently ugly, distressing, and violent. Equity leaders should not expect anything less. We signed up for this. Consequently, when things are at their worst, we must be at our best – body, mind, and soul. PolicyLink remains optimistic and single-minded in our work. We are standing strong in the face of formidable opposition because equity leaders, especially those on the front lines, are making progress.

We also are standing strong because we are getting a sense that increasing numbers of White people are sick of other White people's racist conduct. We applaud the fact that from the streets, to corporate board rooms, to charitable giving, White people are taking up the work of equity. We hope we live in a country where most White people do not sympathize with White supremacists. If our perceptions are real, we have an opportunity to accelerate the advancement of equity, and we must seize it. While people of color are going to see this fight for equity through to victory, there is a powerful role that White people must play, and this role can no longer be eschewed for safer, transactional expressions of solidarity.

Show yourselves to be true patriots by joining with people of color, believing in the potency of inclusion, and building from a common bond to stamp out White supremacy and realize the transformative promise of equity – the imperfect and unrealized aspiration embodied in the Constitution. White America, you can perfect this aspiration! To do so requires that you honestly and forthrightly call out racism and oppression, both overt and systemic. And while this is a good start, it is insufficient. Your work is to lead the way in designing and implementing equity-centered public policies, institutional practices, cultural representations, and other norms that trump White supremacy and create a just and fair society. This must be your call to action. This is what people of color need from you.

The normalization of White supremacy must be stopped now before it irreversibly poisons the nation’s culture. Your leadership is critical in this moment. You are best equipped to defeat White supremacy. Here are actions you can take that are transformative.

• Get Informed – Read the New York Times reading list entitled "A History of Race and Racism in America in 24 Chapters".
   
• Fight Online – Join Color of Change and participate in these campaigns.
  • Demand corporate funders cut off White supremacist hate groups. #NoBloodMoney
  • Call for the removal of ALL Confederate symbols from places of honor in America
  • Stop legislation in North Carolina that protects drivers who hit protesters with cars
  • Tell Congress to refuse to side with White supremacists and force Trump to #FireBannon
     
• Show Up for Justice – Visit the Indivisible website to find and join a solidarity event near you.
   
• Lead for Equity at Work – Use your power and influence to transform your organization into a national model of equitable practice. The Annie E. Casey Foundation’s Race Equity and Inclusion Action Guide provides practical ways to start.
   
• Vote for Justice and Fairness – Vote for elected officials with a demonstrated track record of introducing and voting for equity-centered policies that improve the quality of life for people who are not wealthy.

Show us that our perceptions of a White majority opposed to White supremacy are real. Show us that we have a reason to believe that you will fight with more devotion to create a society that is just and fair for ALL, than White supremacists will in their pursuit to maintain their structural advantage, their racial privilege, their "whiteness." By accepting this invitation, you’re not doing anyone any favors. You’re doing the work necessary to make America all that it can be. History has its eyes on you. Show us. Fight for equity.

With gratitude,

Angela Glover Blackwell
CEO  

Michael McAfee
President

In response to Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch’s (R-Utah) call for input and feedback from tax stakeholders across the country on how to improve the American tax system through tax reform, The Tax Alliance for Economic Mobility submitted the following letter to the Finance Committee that focuses on reform that outs low and moderate income people first, and fuels upward economic mobility instead of exacerbating an already-growing wealth divide.

The letter hones in on four sets of principles for reform of tax-based aid that can lead to more equitable programs that will expand opportunity throughout the country:

1. Increasing Financial Security for Working Families;
2. Making Higher Education Tax Expenditures Work for Everyone;
3. Using the Tax Code to Encourage Savings and Investment for Retirement
4. Reduce Subsidies for Mortagage Debt and Larger Homes Owned by High-Income Households

Read the full letter here and sign up for the Tax Alliance newsletter for updates on our work.