*The purpose of the Healthy Legacy project is to encourage young people from low income communities and communities of color to learn about the impacts of exposure to toxins in our environment and provide them with the tools and opportunities needed to take action to create a healthier home and community.

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Sanford Middle School Students Offer Lessons for Improving the Health of People and the Land: Spring, 2009.

This past spring, 110 eighth grade students from Sanford Middle School helped open the eyes of peers, parents and community to the harm we are doing to our environment and our health through industrial chemicals. They brought attention to the unjust share of health problems that low-income and communities of color experience because of this harm. Students didn’t just talk about these problems, they offered practical things we can do each day to improve the environment and reduce risk of environmental-related health problems.

Students did this through EJAM’s Youth Healthy Legacy Project, a collaborative effort EJAM and Sanford Middle School in South Minneapolis.  Eighth grade students participated in weekly, year-long activities (as part of their science class) designed to increase their awareness of environmental health problems globally and locally and to provide them with the chance to do something about those problems.

The project was broken into three phases. In phase 1, students learned that what we do our own community impacts communities in other parts of the globe, the country and next door.  They also discovered that the people most often harmed by these activities are low-income people, people of color, and Indigenous peoples.  For example, students learned how the use of chemicals to grow food in Minnesota contributes to the death of wetlands, reefs, and other marine life off the Gulf coast of Louisiana and that this “dead sea” is one of the main reasons that Hurricane Katrina caused so much flooding and damage.  The project then took a more local perspective, focusing on chemicals that harm our water and air and on household products, such as cosmetics and baby bottles, which have chemicals in them that are known to cause cancer.

In phase 2, Sanford eighth graders learned that these problems don’t have to exist; there are ways to improve the environment, economy, and health for everyone.  Students were exposed to the values and traditions that Indigenous peoples have about our natural world and social justice.  They learned about the work of Jayzee and other pop stars and the work they are doing to help communities that have been hurt the most by environmental injustice.  They researched actions that young people in other parts of the country are taking to improve environmental health for all.

In phase 3, students took steps to increase local awareness of environmental health and justice issues.  Students planned, promoted, and hosted “Youth Environmental Justice Advocacy Day” at Sanford Middle School.  Over 400 students, parents and community members participated in the event.  Students presented information on a wide variety of topics and urged the audience to get involved.  Some of the projects presented included a Green Fashion Show exhibiting recycled clothing; booths with information about a range of environmental topics; a proposal to get rid of Styrofoam lunch trays; a rap song about environmental justice; to name a few.

On May 24th a group of Sanford students who participated in the project presented on KFAI’s “The Wave” radio show.  Later that week students also presented information about chemicals in our environment at an event hosted by Chaltchtlique, an event that attended by more than 200 people.

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The enthusiasm, level of participation, and increased knowledge that the Sanford students demonstrated is a testament to the desire our young people have to create a better world and to the ability of Youth Healthy Legacy Project Coordinator, Deb Torraine and Sanford Middle School Science Teacher Bruce Black’s ability to get students to think critically about environmental health issues and to understand that they have the power they have to make change.  Said a Sanford parent liaison: “We saw young people engaged in this project who are never engaged.”

EJAM is presently seeking funding to expand this project to a middle or high school in North Minneapolis