McGowan MG102
McGowan Building
411 Pacific St
Monterey, CA 93940
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Free and Open to the Public
Open to the Public

Margaret Gordon Hayward Speaker SP18

Ms. Margaret Gordon and environmental justice advocates from the Oakland/San Francisco Bay Area will discuss how they build community empowerment and help local residents achieve their own vision for healthy neighborhoods. Using the tools of Community-Based Participatory Research projects and Collaborative Problem-Solving, Ms. Gordon and her colleagues will provide a roadmap for environmental justice activism that can be modeled in any community.  This talk is part of the Hayward Social and Environmental Speaker Series, co-hosted by the Center for the Blue Economy. 

About the Panelists

Ms. Margaret Gordon of WOEIP

The West Oakland Environmental Indicators (WOEIP) Project is a resident led, community-based environmental justice organization dedicated to achieving healthy homes, healthy jobs and healthy neighborhoods for all who live, work, learn and play in West Oakland, California. The goal of the West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project is more than a seat at the table. It is to see all residents as informed participants in positive change; to see soil and air cleaned up; to see local land serve local needs and to help bring about a comprehensive vision for West Oakland redevelopment and economic revitalization. Margaret Gordon is a lifetime community activist. As a young single mother she worked her way off of welfare by attending commercial cooking school, after which she cooked for various institutions including Children’s Hospital and a UC Berkeley fraternity house. Ms. Gordon is a founding member of the WOEIP, having volunteered for the first three years of operation. She has work experience in mental health services, parent training in the public schools and community organizing. In 2007, Margaret Gordon was appointed by new Oakland Mayor, Ron Dellums, to the Oakland Port Commission where she stridently promotes the interests of community health, workers health and fiscal responsibility in Port operations. Ms. Gordon was the Community representative on the California Goods Movement Action Plan task force and is a 2010 National Purpose Prize winner.

Phoenix Arementa of RCI

The Resilient Communities Initiative (RCI) that is a coalition of social equity organizations bringing community leadership to climate adaptation and resilience planning since 2013.

Janice Hunter and Sheridan Enomoto of Green Action

Green Action for Health and Environmental Justice is a multiracial grassroots organization that works with low-income and working class urban, rural, and indigenous communities to fight environmental racism and injustice and build a clean, healthy and just future for all. We mobilize community power to win victories that change government and corporate policies and practices to protect health and to promote environmental, social and economic justice.

Michelle Pierce and Karen Pierce of Bayview Advocates

Bayview Hunters Point Community Advocates work to improve the quality of life of residents of the Bayview Hunters Point neighborhood of San Francisco through advocacy, information, community organizing, education and economic development. News article: Neighbors outraged after toxic soil confirmed in SF’s Bayview.

About the Event

  • Directions: Visit our interactive campus map for directions. 
  • Parking: Parking is available in any Middlebury Institute campus lot after 5 p.m., or on the street (time limits on surrounding streets end at 6 p.m.)
  • Questions: Contact Rachel Christopherson at the Center for the Blue Economy at cbe@miis.edu or (831) 647-6615 ext. 1.