Black Millennials 4 Flint is a national environmental justice and civil rights organization with the purpose of bringing like-minded organizations together to collectively take action and advocate against the crisis of lead exposure specifically in African American & Latino communities.
"Where you see majority Black and brown people, and also people in economic distress, you see some of the same pervasive environmental injustices — just a lack of regard for certain types of people, where you think that their lives don't matter and you can just dump in their community," says fLaTricea Adams. "It is not a fluke that Black and brown people live closer to incinerators and refineries, and all these toxic things. In places like Memphis, and in Baltimore, even in our nation's capital, Washington, D.C., you have this completely antiquated, ridiculously old, dilapidated infrastructure, and there has to be investment, and it hasn't been a priority because of who is disproportionately impacted. But it's really important that when we talk about environmental justice, that we're listening to everybody." 1
"Memphian LaTricea Adams has been aware of lead poisoning risks since she was a kid, but she made its prevention in Black and brown communities the center of her work since she learned about the water crisis facing communities in Flint, Michigan.
In 2015 she founded Black Millennials 4 Flint, a Memphis-based environmental justice organization that advocates for the reduction of lead exposure as well as other pollutants in communities’ water, air, food, and consumer products. Since then, Adams, 36, and her organization have continued to educate about lead poisoning prevention around the country, including in Memphis, and push lawmakers to embrace environmental justice policies...Adams, director of organizational quality for the Office of Charter Schools for Shelby County Schools, also serves as Tennessee’s representative to the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council. With her audience at the White House, she hopes to steer environmental conversations and resources to those most vulnerable. “There are many moving parts that exist within our environment. We focus on the impact that it has on humans,” Adams said." 2
Black Millennials 4 Flint’s mission is to empower communities to take action and advocate against the crisis of lead exposure specifically in African American & Latino communities.
Their roots began as a programming initiative within Thursday Network—Greater Washington Urban League Professionals led by Adams, and their first project was to support the Buffalo Urban League Young Professionals Chapter by bringing in donations in preparation for a Flint Service Trip where we helped bring in over 170 water donations.
Their four-point plan includes:
- Raise funds and cultivate resources to improve the quality of life of communities impacted by lead exposure.
- Advocate for the eradication of lead in air, consumer products, housing, soil, and water.
- Educate & equip the general public with digestible information regarding lead and lead exposure.
- Build coalitions with like-minded organizations.
Sources:
1 LaTricea Adams, Black Millennials 4 Flint Co-Founder on Human Cost of Environmental Injustice, Now This News, April 4, 2022
2 Carrington J. Tatum, Environmental justice activist leads fight against lead exposure in Black and brown communities, MLK50, October 28, 2021