This was received by email from GreenLatinos.
This promises to be a wonderful conference, and includes a presentation by Juan Parras, leader of t.e.j.a.s., one of the most effective EJ organizations in the US and a member of the Moving Forward Network.
GreenLatinos is excited to announce that Juan Parras, a key leader in environmental justice advocacy will be a presenting speaker at the 2016 National GreenLatinos Summit!
Juan Parras is the Director and founder of Texas Environmental Justice Advocacy Services (t.e.j.a.s), he has been organizing environmental justice communities since the signing of executive order 12898 in 1994. Before then, Juan served as a community outreach coordinator, an international union representative for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Union (AFSCME), and as a Community organizer and Project Coordinator at the Environmental Law and Justice Center at Texas Southern University. One of his most dramatic successes was his campaign to prevent a Japanese company from building the largest polyvinyl chloride plant in Louisiana in an already overburdened and impoverished minority community.
Juan was a member of the National Environmental Justice Advisory Council, and has served on many other boards such as the Gulf Restoration Network, National Childhood Lead Prevention Program, and the Center for Health and Environmental Justice (CHEJ). He has served as an environmental justice Ambassador for the Gulf of Mexico Alliance. In 2008, Juan received the CEC Synergy Award and the Sealy Center for Environmental Health & Medicine HERO Award in 2009. Mr. Parras is one of the first recipients of the Sierra Club’s Robert Bullard Award in 2015. Juan know works on addressing environmental injustice in the East End of Houston, as a mentor to the youth working along with him to build an inter-generational movement to build a wider network of Environmental Justice leaders in Houston.
Scheduled for May 24-27, the 2016 National GreenLatinos Summit is right around the corner!
Please make your reservations as soon as possible, you can register for the conference at www.greenlatinos.org/summit_registration
By participating in the 2016 National GreenLatinos Summit, you will serve as an integral voice in shaping a collective agenda for action over the next several years. From networking opportunities with leaders and professionals in environmental and Latino policy and advocacy, nationally renowned speakers and key administration and agency officials, substantive and engaging discussion on the latest information on federal public policy initiatives affecting communities, to tools and resources that can be taken back to the local level that will propel your existing work on environmental issues. We have no doubt that your participation will be invaluable, both to the GreenLatinos Network and to your organizations and communities.
We hope to see you there!
Chris Espinosa