Oregon Green New Deal statewide listening tour
In summer 2020, Frontline Organizers Rising, a cohort of OJTA organizations, conducted an Oregon Green New Deal (OGND) Statewide Listening Tour. We asked frontline communities* to share their concerns, visions for a just future, and ideas for what could be included in an Oregon Green New Deal policy platform.
OJTA’s Oregon Green New Deal policy agenda will set forth a vision for Oregon to address multiple, intersecting crises—our economic crisis, climate change, public health, and racial injustice—through a broad and comprehensive approach.
The statewide agenda follows the vision of the federal Green New Deal, which was introduced to Congress in 2018, thanks to the relentless organizing of young people around the country. The Green New Deal aims to dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions while also addressing giant societal problems like economic inequality and racial injustice.
The first New Deal, passed in the 1930s, responded to a massive economic Depression, and put millions of people to work across the country. At the same time, most of these benefits were centered on white people, while Black Americans, Indigenous communities, and other people of color were largely excluded from these benefits. We must make sure the next Green New Deal centers racial justice in its policies and programs.
In January 2019, OJTA members and supporting organizations came together to develop a draft platform for an Oregon Green New Deal [pdf]. This year, we wanted to take that draft Oregon Green New Deal platform to folks on the ground, to ensure it reflected the real needs of frontline communities, and to learn what other concerns and ideas they might have. And so, we launched a statewide Oregon Green New Deal Listening Tour.
Because of COVID-19, the Listening Tour took place virtually, through interactive online workshops, phone interviews and online surveys. Staff from OJTA’s Frontline Organizers Rising cohort facilitated and invited their community members, leaders and allies to attend. We heard from people in Coos, Clackamas, Hood River, Jackson, Josephine, Klamath, Lane, Malhuer, Marion, Multnomah, and Umatilla counties.
This fall, members and allies of the Oregon Just Transition Alliance will learn from communities involved in the Listening Tour and develop an updated statewide Oregon Green New Deal policy agenda.
Stay tuned for findings from the Listening Tour and an Oregon Green New Deal, coming January 2021!
Sign up to receive email updates.
We know that collectively envisioning our future is the first step towards building a just transition. So, we want to know, what would you like to see in an Oregon Green New Deal?
*OJTA defines frontline communities as those hit first and worst by climate change—Black, Indigenous, people of color and rural, low-income communities. OJTA believes that centering and following the leadership of frontline communities is key to ensuring a just transition away from fossil fuels towards a sustainable economy that values our workers and our natural resources.
