Special Session - (NBCC CE Credit: #1 hr and Conference Attendance Credit: #1 hr)

Organized and Made Possible by NCFR Inclusion and Diversity Committee

123-01: Brief History and Overview of Environmental Justice and its Connection to Family Science
Timothy Bartley, Ph.D., Washington University, St. Louis

123-02: Panel - Local Community Organizers Tell About Their Work in St Louis and the Region
Karisa Gilman-Hernandez, Dutchtown South Community Corporation; Bruce Morrison, J.D., Great Rivers Environmental Law Center

Session Facilitator: Shawn Mendez, Ph.D., IDC SNP Representative

Summary:
IDC's 2020 special session is a response to the conference theme, Family Expansions, Expanding Families: Contouring Family Science's Negative Spaces. Using our host city of St. Louis as a grounding site, this session will examine issues of environmental justice. The overarching question posed is: How can we, as family scholars, support environmental justice in our research, teaching, and practice? The environmental justice movement is focused on the disproportionate burden of environmental hazards (e.g., toxic waste) borne by communities of color. Environmental justice work has always been informed by the civil rights movement (Skelton & Miller, 2016). Thus, this special session will also address racial injustice, which will be highlighted in the opening plenary, specifically via discussion of recent concerns about environmental racism in St. Louis. Environmental justice involves identifying and acknowledging community suffering, and works to eradicate or, at the very least, reduce that suffering through inquiry and action. The IDC recognizes the indispensable work of grassroots organizers in environmental justice (Bullard & Johnson, 2000). The individuals and families most affected know what is happening and what they need. It is our job as scholars to help them make safety plans and create system level change. Thus, IDC is partnering with 4 local organizers as informants and co-presenters for this special panel session.

Objectives
-- Identify and reflect on issues of environmental justice in St. Louis
-- Equip participants with new insights that make environmental injustice more visible in their home communities
-- Introduce attendees to mechanisms for utilizing environmental justice principles in their research, teaching, and applied work with individuals and families