As part of the environmental justice needs assessment, the available nonprofit and governmental resources were reviewed. Overall, the review showed both great lack and great potential. The findings are summarized in Part IV of the report.
The review revealed that there is currently no staffed organization that focuses on the environmental justice problems of the Region. In addition, there are relatively few nonprofit resources dedicated to the Region’s environmental issues at all.
Environmental justice initiatives abound at the multistate and national levels, but the Region has no organization that can give its intertwined and intractable problems its full attention.
Nonetheless, the Region has a vibrant network of community empowerment and faith-based groups, many of which engage with issues of social justice generally. But these grassroots organizations typically lack the specialized expertise needed to tackle the Region’s intricate environmental problems.