Second National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit
October 23-27, 2002

In 1991, over one thousand national and international environmental activists gathered in Washington, DC at the First National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit where the environmental justice movement was born. That first summit was convened by the United Church of Christ’s Commission on Racial Justice, and galvanized awareness of environmental justice issues, leading to the establishment of the Principles of Environmental Justice. These principles have strengthened cross-racial and cross-sector alliances. Participants of the first summit later expressed the need for a follow-up event to energize the environmental justice movement, to recognize the significant strides achieved to date, to share information on emerging issues and to galvanize support. It was this recognition that led to the convening of the second summit, the project coordinator of which was Zenaida Mendez, who was at that time a member of the WE ACT Board of Directors.