HBCU Green Fund, a nonprofit aimed at advancing “cultural, financial, and environmental sustainability” at HBCUs and their extended communities, hosted its first-ever GreenFest at Truly Living Well, an urban farm located adjacent to the Atlanta University Center, on Saturday, Sept. 7.
The free event was a celebration of “sustainability, culture, and the power of unity within the Black community,” according to a flier. GreenFest featured vendors, cooking exhibitions, live music, along with a presentation of the 2024 Environmental Champion Awards, which honored leaders in the green and sustainability scene in the city including the City of Atlanta’s Chief Sustainability Officer Chandra Farley.
N’Dya Jeffries, a volunteer former HBCU Green Fund fellow and participant at the event, was excited to see the Black environmentalist community come together at the event, too.
“Not only were their vendors showcasing their products, but [vendors] were sharing healthier and sustainable practices with the community, which is important for any thriving community,” Jeffries said. “I believe this event was the right step towards a more positive, continuous change.”
Shadé Yvonne Jones, chair of NPU-L, where Truly Living Well is located and one of the coordinators for the event, said that it’s important to celebrate the progress being made towards sustainability and environmental justice while also recognizing the work left to do — including simply making people aware of environmental injustices.
“You have to recognize and encourage those who are on the battlefield and are continuing the struggle to make people aware, affect public policy, and so forth,” Jones said. “We must celebrate those who have been consistently working at it, but we must also bring awareness to it for those who don’t know about it at all.”
As an English Avenue resident herself, she said that environmental justice and injustice are local to Jones, citing memorable events like Proctor Creek pollution and lawsuits in the early 2000s or lead concentrations found in some homes.
That said, Jones said she also recognizes the patterns of environmental injustices on a global scale.
“I don’t advocate for just my neighborhood; this is global advocacy — I’m advocating globally,” Jones said. “It’s not just English Avenue, not just Vine City, not just Black people, not just people of color — it’s more than that. They think it’s a Black and White issue? It’s not, it’s a people issue, it’s a global issue.”
Still, Jones said she recognizes environmental justice as advocating for the people injustices to affect more — emphasizing the need for a space like the GreenFest which celebrates environmentalism and sustainability within the Black communities around Atlanta.
“It affects Black people and people of low wealth more,” Jones added. “And it’s classism too … that’s why they feel free to relocate and push [us] out. It’s about money.”
Coming together as a community and collaborating can lead to positive change, Jones said, like Cook Park in Vine City, which doubles as a park and water retention infrastructure to mitigate flooding that plagued the neighborhood and is a result of working with Park Pride.
HBCU Green Fund plans to host more events in the future, advancing sustainability and environmental awareness in the Black community.
