Helping communities navigate federal grant applications, hosting listening sessions and community resource fairs, funding student internships — that is some of the work that the WEST Environmental Justice Center did before the Trump administration terminated its funding.

In January, President Donald Trump issued a series of executive orders targeting environmental justice, calling for the termination of offices, positions, programs, services as well as any Biden-era efforts towards diversity, equity and inclusion.

The federal funds became frozen in the WEST EJC’s account in February, and it became difficult to communicate with the federal government, says Paloma Beamer, director of the Center and associate dean for community engagement at the Zuckerman College of Public Health at the University of Arizona.

“When we started realizing that the funds were in jeopardy, we realized that what was most important was our commitment to the communities that we have built the trust with,” Beamer said.

At full capacity WEST EJC hosted 7 community resources fairs, 11 listening sessions, awarded $46,000 in internship funding to students, developed 11 trainings and supported 125 communities.

It was a one-stop-shop for assistance, which was the intention behind the Thriving Community Technical Assistance Centers.

The WEST EJC “tic tac” would serve communities across Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada, U.S. affiliated American Pacific islands and 148 federally recognized tribes across EPA’s Region 9.

It was also part of a network divided across EPA’s regions nationwide.

“It was about putting the communities first and then just helping with putting together the application. Many times, they haven’t written their own grants, they haven’t done those sorts of things,” Beamer said.

She emphasized that communities already know what they need and want but the resources aren’t always accessible to make it happen.

The Center would work hand in hand as authentic partners with rural and urban communities across the state, assisting them in achieving their goals towards environmental justice and climate resilience, says Nathan Lothrop, the associate director of the Center and assistant professor in the College of Public Health.

“This is a novel model having money behind something like this which is ultimately a service based sensor, but using research in service of communities and their goals,” he said.

Beamer applied for funding in August 2022 and the College of Public Health was awarded $10 million in June 2023, from the Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Energy that would be allocated over the course of five years.

Just five months later the Center opened its doors, ready to support communities.

$8 million was allocated to the Center by January, but only a little over $2 million was drawn down.

In March, the EPA’s administrator Lee Zeldin had announced that the agency was eliminating environmental justice and DEI arms of the agency or what he called “forced discrimination programs” in a press release.

In May the WEST EJC made an announcement on social media that its funding was terminated as well as announcing a name-change to better reflect the breadth of its work: the Building Resilience, Innovation, Sustainability and Assistance for the Environment Center.

“All the centers have been terminated,” Beamer said.

“People have said to me, ‘Oh it’s so nebulous, like what do you mean environmental justice?’ And I think people need something to grab onto and that’s because a lot of the times…people are doing environmental justice work but they don’t recognize it or they don’t see it or they don’t define it that way and that’s not a bad thing,” Lothrop said.

“Environmental justice is about making sure everybody has access to clean air and clean water and a safe environment to grow up in and the environment is associated with a quarter of deaths worldwide,” Beamer said.

She explained that certain communities deal with environmental exposures more than others and the adverse impacts of environmental contamination.

“Environmental justice was this idea to make sure that we were protecting everybody with the same level of protection,” she said.

“When I talk about environmental justice, I also talk about the opportunity to give input on the rules or the laws or the policies or whatever the process is that might impact your neighborhood’s environment or your community’s environment,” Lothrop said.

A year and a half was spent building trust with communities, building a network and preparing the physical center located on the corner of Mountain Avenue and Mabel Street that its staff would never get to occupy.

Not all hope is lost however, the BRISA Center for the Environment, is continuing its work today and meeting weekly with some of its partners.

“For those who want to join us they can,” Beamer said. “We’re trying to figure out how to best build on that foundation and find other resources to keep the work moving forward.”