HEFN

Our Mission:
The mission of Literacy for Environmental Justice is to foster an understanding of the principles of environmental justice and urban sustainability in our young people in order to promote the long-term health of our communities. 

What We Do:
We provide paid internships to Bayview Hunters Point youth in environmental health, natural ecology, and food security, and we offer free hands-on environmental educational programs to schools, colleges and youth programs.

How We Define "Environmental Justice": 
There are many working definitions of environmental justice, and all of them are accurate. For the sake of simplicity, we say that environmental justice is the right of all people to have equal access to their basic needs. This includes safe energy, healthy food, clean air and water, open space, non-toxic communities, and equitable educational and employment opportunities. At LEJ, we see these things as basic human rights.

Our Programs

LEJ trains youth from Bayview Hunters Point to become authorities and activists in environmental health research, education, and advocacy; sustainable foods production, marketing, and nutrition education; and environmental conservation, restoration, and horticulture. Our programs combine education sessions with action-based projects, drawing concrete linkages between human health, the environment, and urban quality of life:

• The Bay Youth for the Environment operate a native plants nursery that is the primary supplier of plantstock to two major restoration projects on San Francisco Bay;
• Interns in the Youth With A Plan environmental health and justice program contribute a strong youth voice to the redevelopment of southeast San Francisco;
• The Good Neighbor youth recruit corner stores to participate in an incentives program increasing their store stock of fresh produce and cutting back on convenience foods and tobacco products.

LEJ also spearheads the restoration and stewardship at Heron’s Head Park(formerly Pier 98). Through the efforts of thousands of community volunteers, we've transformed a brownfield into one of the most vibrant wetlands on the southern bayfront shoreline. Each year we host some 1,200 school-age youth at the park for free site-based environmental education programs that link science curricula to real-life environmental health and justice issues.

Finally, this year we're building the EcoCenter at Heron's Head Park, a 1,500-square-foot environmental education facility that will model alternative energy and wastewater technologies and be San Francisco’s first 100% “off-grid” building. Situated at the foot of the former PG&E Hunters Point Power Plant –– closed in 2006 after years of community advocacy –– the EcoCenter is a success story that will empower youth to act for environmental health and justice. See the press coverage from our Earth Day Groundbreaking Celebration!