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Yalonda Sindé: Advocating for Environmental Health Issues
Yalonda Sindé currently serves as the Executive Director of the Association of Environmental Health Academic Programs (AEHAP) and the National Environmental Health Science and Accreditation Council (EHAC), sister organizations that promote environmental health education and careers in the United States.
Before moving to Portland, Yalonda managed the Seattle-based Community Coalition for Environmental Justice (CCEJ), one of the largest and most influential grassroots environmental justice groups in the Pacific Northwest. Through her work, CCEJ built a successful multi-racial, multi-lingual community coalition dedicated to environmental justice.
Under Yalonda’s leadership, CCEJ achieved two major environmental justice victories in Seattle. First in 1998, when the organization led a successful campaign to stop medical waste incineration at the VA Hospital Medical Center in South Seattle and then, in 2001, when South Park neighborhood residents with CCEJ’s support successfully eliminated toxic paint fume emissions from a neighborhood paint coatings operation.
Yalonda considers CCEJ’s work with youth among the most important accomplishments of CCEJ. In Her Own Words, Yalonda discusses her role in promoting environmental health education, and success at organizing communities of color to support environmental issues.
At the Association of Environmental Health Academic Programs (AEHAP), we’re working to increase the number of people who work to protect public health and the environment. We do that by promoting, supporting and diversifying environmental health science degree programs. All over the nation, we have a membership of 32 environmental health degree programs. Our members look to us for support in recruiting students, increasing diversity in the student population, promoting the field of environmental health, and tracking the health of environmental health degree programs.
One of our goals is to increase public awareness about the shortage of environmental health workers. There is a national shortage of trained environmental health professionals. This shortfall puts the public at risk when there are catastrophes such as hurricanes, floods, terrorist threats, food poisoning outbreaks and other environmental health concerns. Our graduates are often the first responders to a catastrophe and are the people who keep the public safe.
Environmental health professionals research an environmental health problem and identify and eliminate the source/s of illness. This field also involves monitoring air and water quality, and testing buildings for toxic and harmful substances among other things. It is exciting work for students who may not see themselves happy holding a desk job, as environmental health professionals are often on the move.
These are very promising careers, with a lot of opportunities for growth. There’s such a demand for these degrees, that most of our graduates get hired as quickly as six months upon graduation.
Our challenge is that there aren’t enough people who know about the opportunities in the environmental health field. We have a lot of work to do in terms of marketing the degree programs and educating the public about these opportunities. Our main office is based here in Portland, and we work with faculty members and environmental health practitioners nationwide to achieve our mission.
Beginnings as an Activist
I was always concerned about issues in my community. I was a single Mom living in a low-income African-American community in Seattle for many years. My son and I lived in the Central District during the time when gentrification was in full swing. One of the ways that I supplemented my income was babysitting for parents who worked odd hours.
One of the issues that concerned me was the air quality in my neighborhood and the large number of kids that had asthma. We lived in a high-traffic area. My apartment was in the middle of two main roadways. I became interested in learning more about why so many black kids have asthma in our neighborhood.
One day, somebody came to my house with a flyer for the Community Coalition for Environmental Justice (CCEJ). I went to a meeting and was amazed at how many people of color were present at the meeting talking about the environment and how it affected our health. I always identified the environmental movement to be white, and I never saw so many people of color talking about the environment. I was intrigued and inspired.
I learned that the neighborhood I lived in had very high asthma hospitalization rates. More kids in my neighborhood would go to the emergency room because of asthma attacks than other areas. I was really motivated by the diversity of voices at the table, so I became more involved in CCEJ. I really found my voice through the work, so I started volunteering on the board.
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| Staff at CCEJ rganized teams of volunteers to help us do outreach in communities throughout Seattle. |
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I was hired to run the organization in 1996, after serving on the board for three years. I helped grow the organization and build its foundation. We went from a budget of $50,000 to over $250,000 and a staff of one full time and one half time person to having 4-5 full time staff. Being resourceful, we organized teams of volunteers to help us do outreach in communities throughout Seattle. This is how we built our base of supporters.
CCEJ was instrumental in rallying communities of color local and regional environmental justice issues. We organized people of color from urban and rural areas and brought together indigenous communities to form a regional network. People were most concerned about rising cancer rates and ill health due to living near polluting industries or traffic.
Environmental justice is based on the fact that people of color experience a disparate burden of environmental health hazards. Connecting with people from different parts of the country and the world at the many environmental justice conferences I organized and attended, I learned that we all had a common experience.
Our quality of life was affected by poverty. That concerned me. We shouldn’t have to make a choice between jobs and a healthy community. That’s why I’m very passionate about the issue of environmental injustice.
Working Toward Change
The basic principle of environmental justice is community empowerment. I’m really proud of the fact that CCEJ’s board, staff and volunteers were committed to dismantling racism and supporting a people of color-led organization.
One of the things I’m most proud is our work with youth. We worked with Franklin High School youth who attended our after school environmental justice trainings. The youth were required to organize a workshop to teach the community about environmental justice issues at the end of the trainings. In the summer, we’d take them on a field trip to visit communities of color impacted by environmental injustice in Washington State. A lot of these kids had never travelled outside Seattle. We took them to visit a reservation, other environmental justice groups, and a farmworker community so they could see what life was like in other communities. We also wanted them to see that access to organic, healthy food was also a form of environmental justice, so we taught youth how to grow food in a garden near our office. The youth distributed produce from the garden to low income people in a subsidized housing community.
Environmental justice means healthier communities for all people. It is directly linked to economic justice. We not only advocated for “breathability”, “walk-ability” and overall “livability” but we also demanded access to livable wage jobs, affordable housing, and access to decision making on the city, county and state levels.
Moving to Portland
I moved to Portland in January 2007 as I needed a change and felt I had done my job at CCEJ. I had neglected my health for fourteen years as I dedicated so much of my time to the community. In the activist community, we have a tendency to revere martyrdom. People are held up and rewarded for community work, yet these same people are often not taking good care of themselves. As I grow older and wiser, I’ve come to realize that the revolution is also within oneself. It is a contradiction to champion for social justice while you suffer from lack of sleep, poor nutrition, lack of rest and exercise. How can we motivate a new generation to follow if all they see is a bunch of burned out activists? Who would want to sign up for that? I was fulfilled in my soul because I was making a difference in the community, but my body was in poor shape. I know now that “balance” is crucial.
The move to Portland from Seattle signified a move toward healing. I came to a point where if I continued the hectic work hours, I would no longer be able to do anything for anybody as I’d be laid up in the hospital seriously ill. I’m really proud of my lifestyle change. I now make time for a daily 30-60 minute workout at the gym. I make time every week for my art and writing. I go to bed at a reasonable time, eat better and take better care of myself period.
I feel blessed to have had the opportunity for much of my adult life to serve community and am continuing my work in promoting environmental justice and environmental health here in Portland.
Colors of Influence Winter 2009
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