A two-day gathering, including book launch and curated conversation focusing on Indigenous perspectives on environmental justice and climate resilience.
Arizona is on the frontlines of the climate crisis. With increasing heatwaves, wildfires, and extended drought across the region, we are at a breaking point. Indigenous communities and climate activists from the Global South have long-identified colonial intervention as the historical and ongoing driver of the climate crisis. In order to face the grave challenges that lie before us we must clearly identify the production and making of climate change as bi-products of extraction and land theft. To ensure "different political, environmental, and social outcomes, we must prioritize the perspectives, knowledges, research and practices of Indigenous people" (Curley, 2023).
In 2023, LISC Phoenix joined the the Resilient Southwest Building Code Collaborative project to transform building construction practices across the southwest to achieve climate-resilient buildings and communities while preserving affordability and regional characteristics. LISC Phoenix's role is to ensure equitable engagement throughout the process, which centers Indigenous and Black leadership, and ensuring low-income and highly-impacted people are not priced-out of their homes, and combatting "resilience gentrification".
To remain accountable to First Nations, Indigenous, Black, API and Latinx communities, LISC Phoenix is convening a 2-day gathering. The convening will begin with a public book launch on Monday, June 10 at 1 - 4:00 pm [register here], then a curated conversation with invited guests on Tuesday, June 11 at 9 - 1 pm. The book launch is in conjunction with "What's Possible: Investing NOW for Prosperous, Sustainable Neighborhoods" a collection of essays exploring the intersection of community development and climate resilience, is the result of a collaboration between Enterprise Community Partners, Local Initiatives Support Corporation, and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
To celebrate the launch of What’s Possible, we invite you to join us for a special book tour event co-hosted by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, LISC Phoenix, and Raza Development Fund (RDF). This event will feature dynamic panel discussions and presentations from various partners, offering valuable insights and strategies for confronting the challenges of climate change head-on.
On Tuesday, June 11, invited guests will gather in the morning at Liberty Wildlife to exchange ideas, strengthen partnerships, and foster community around important climate-related topics, including:
[1] Dennison, Jean. Colonial Entanglement: Constituting a Twenty-First-Century Osage Nation. 2014. University of North Carolina Press
Confirmed
See full facilitator bios here.