Alternatives for Community and Environment (ACE) records

Alternatives for Community and Environment (ACE) is a non-profit environmental justice organization based in Roxbury, Massachusetts. It was co-founded in 1993 by Charlie Lord and Bill Shutkin, who met as law students at the University of Virginia, and who were interested in the intersection between social justice and environmentalism. Wanting to address the fact that low-income communities and communities of color are disproportionately impacted by environmental hazards, they established a two-fold mission for ACE: to provide legal and educational assistance to disadvantaged communities on environmental issues, and to promote environmental leadership within these communities.

Lord and Shutkin first operated ACE out of an office at Boston College Law School (BCLS), who had offered them a home base. In exchange, Lord and Shutkin taught courses on environmental law and held a law clinic for interested students. ACE moved its headquarters to 126 Warren Street in Roxbury in 1994, and began establishing an advisory board to help with strategic planning and local fundraising in 1995. By 1996, ACE had expanded to a staff of five, with Jo-Anne Henry as an additional staff attorney and program director for the Roxbury Environmental Empowerment Project (REEP), Penn Loh as development director, and Klare Allen as community organizer.

One of ACE’s early core programs was the Community Representation Project (CRP). Staff attorneys (initially Lord and Shutkin, and eventually others) advised and represented community organizations on environmental law cases on a pro bono basis. ACE’s early cases involved an asphalt plant sited in Roxbury, a solid waste incinerator in Lawrence, and the Abenaki Nation Missisquoi River Keepers Project in Vermont. Over time this work appears to have been referred to as Services to Allies (S2A), Legal and Technical Services, and Environmental Justice Legal Services.

Another core program was REEP. A community-based environmental education initiative, REEP focused on building environmental leadership among youth and adults in Roxbury through public school curriculum, community service projects, and local town meetings. Over time REEP became more youth-centered, which led to a youth internship program.

ACE also created and coordinated the Massachusetts Environmental Justice Network (MEJN, then MEJAN), a pro-bono network of environmental professionals matched to underserved communities facing environmental harms. Collaborative initiatives like Neighborhoods Against Urban Pollution (NAUP) (originally known as the Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative (DSNI) Environmental Hazards Working Group), with goals of establishing a model for urban environmental campaigns and developing a network of Boston area community environment organizations, were launched. Boston College and Northeastern University law students participated in the Commonwealth Environmental Justice Legislative Initiative, which reviewed state and federal legislation related to environmental justice. The Egleston Square Neighborhood Association gathered information on traffic and air quality.

In 1997-1998, Lord and Shutkin transitioned out of their leadership roles to make way for new leadership from within the communities served by ACE. Veronica Eady became Executive Director in 1998. Penn Loh became Associate Director in 1998, and upon Eady’s departure in 1999, replaced her as Executive Director, remaining in that role until 2009. Under his leadership, ACE carried out significant strategic planning and visioning, expanded programs, and grew to a staff of 12. By this time, ACE offices had moved to 2343 Washington Street in Roxbury.

By 2000, in addition to CRP and REEP, programs included the Alternatives Resource Center (offering technical assistance, a resource library, a computer workstation, publications and workshops), Clean Buses for Boston (advocacy for cleaner buses and better public transit to underserved neighborhoods), T Riders Union (TRU) (which grew out of Clean Buses for Boston, and advocated for better public transit in communities of color and low income communities), and the Greater Boston Environmental Justice Network (a coalition of environmental justice activists which organized a yearly Environmental Justice in the Hood conference). In 2004, ACE moved their office to 2181 Washington Street in Roxbury.

By 2007, ACE had become a dues-paying membership organization. Penn Loh began transitioning out of the Executive Director role, and was eventually replaced by former ACE Board member Kalila Barnett in 2009, who served in that role until 2017. By 2012, Dudley Square Organizing Project had been added as a core ACE program, to build ACE’s membership base in Roxbury.

Chronology

1993

ACE co-founded by Charlie Lord and Bill Shutkin, with two-year seed grant from Echoing Green Foundation

First legal community representation project is taken on, for the community group Coalition Against the Asphalt Plant

1994

ACE is incorporated

ACE moves into the Roxbury Defenders’ Building at 126 Warren Street in Roxbury

Massachusetts Environmental Justice Network (MEJN) is launched

ACE receives a two-year grant from the Ittleson Foundation to start the Roxbury Environmental Empowerment Project (REEP)

1995

Advisory board to help with strategic planning and local fundraising is established

Neighborhoods Against Urban Pollution (NAUP) is launched

1997

First Jammin' for Justice, ACE’s annual fundraising event

First REEP Youth Summit

1997-1998

Shutkin and Lord transition out of ACE leadership roles; Veronica Eady becomes Executive Director; Penn Loh becomes Associate Director, then Executive Director

1997-2000

Staff size grows from five to ten due to program growth

1999

Greater Boston Environmental Justice Network (GBEJN) launched

2000

ACE and its Clean Buses Coalition partners launch T Riders Union (TRU)

2004

ACE becomes a membership organization

2009

Kalila Barnett replaces Penn Loh as Executive Director, staying in that role until 2017