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Our Roots
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The Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice's struggle for clean air and healthy communities began in the Jurupa Valley community of Glen Avon in 1978 when residents began their efforts to shutdown the Stringfellow Acid Pit toxic waste site. The organization's founder Penny Newman led community members in a decades long fight that resulted in the state awarding over $114 million in reparations for residents and the establishment of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA), better known as the Superfund.
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Today, our work in the Inland Valley continues to serve as a model for others across California and even the nation. As California’s population continues to grow, our efforts to protect the environmental health of its communities becomes ever more relevant. CCAEJ’s continued leadership is essential to ensuring a safe, habitable and sustainable California for all.
Following the inroads accomplished through Stringfellow, environmental leaders acknowledged the need to create a community resource that working class, communities of color could turn to in the midst of pollution crises. In 1993, CCAEJ became an official nonprofit organization founded on this principle, and on the belief that residents not only have a right to participate in decisions that directly affect them, but also a responsibility to provide solutions to clean up their environment and health.
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We believe in a zero-emission future and in regenerative and sustainable communities