Overview

• On February 6, 2025, the Trump administration rescinded the Justice40 Initiative, cutting federal funds meant for climate change mitigation, pollution reduction, and clean energy in disadvantaged communities. This has a direct impact on areas like Ypsilanti’s South Side and parts of Ann Arbor, where lower-income residents already face disproportionate exposure to pollution from major roadways like I-94 and industrial sites. Without federal support, efforts to address these environmental disparities will be significantly delayed.

• In addition, the EPA froze $48 million in environmental justice grants for Michigan, pausing pollution monitoring and clean energy initiatives. In Ann Arbor, this affects local air quality monitoring programs that track pollution levels from major traffic corridors and industrial sources.  Ypsilanti’s lower-income neighborhoods, already impacted by lead contamination and poor air quality, will now see delays in crucial environmental health interventions that were designed to reduce these risks. Cuts also affect monitoring programs for water quality and environmental contaminants like PFAS.

• Cuts to federal housing programs, including those supporting Avalon Housing in Ann Arbor, threaten projects that improve energy efficiency and remove lead-based hazards in older homes. Many lower-income households, particularly in Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor’s Bryant neighborhood, live in aging buildings with poor insulation and outdated heating systems, and these residents will likely face higher energy bills and worsening living conditions, exacerbating health risks.

• Programs like the Michigan Climate Smart Farms Project and the Transition to Organic Partnership Program (TOPP) have lost funding, delaying critical support for sustainable agriculture. In Washtenaw County, small family farms—such as those in rural areas outside of Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti—often lack the financial resources to implement climate-friendly farming practices, meaning fewer opportunities for technical assistance, conservation programs, and organic certification, making it harder for these farmers to compete with large agribusinesses.

• Federal funding cuts have also forced the University of Michigan to halt multimillion-dollar environmental justice research projects, impacting studies focused on air and water pollution in low-income communities. This includes ongoing research tracking PFAS contamination in Washtenaw County waterways, which affects drinking water quality in areas like Scio Township and parts of Ypsilanti Township. 

• Low-income and historically marginalized communities in Washtenaw County already face heightened risks from pollution, climate change, and extreme weather events. Without federal investment in clean energy and pollution control, areas like West Willow in Ypsilanti Township and Ann Arbor’s Bryant neighborhood, which are home to many lower-income residents and communities of color, will continue to bear the brunt of worsening air and water quality, rising energy costs, and greater vulnerability to extreme heat and flooding.

About Dr. Jalonne White-Newsome

Dr. Jalonne White-Newsomeis the CEO and Founder of Empowering a Green Environment and Economy, LLC. Dr. White-Newsome was previously the Federal Chief Environmental Justice Officer at the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ). In this capacity, Dr. White-Newsome led the White House’s efforts to advance environmental justice during the Biden-Harris Administration.

Transcription

David Fair: This is 89 one WEMU, and I’d like to welcome you to this week’s edition of Issues of the Environment. I’m David Fair, and what we can say with some certainty is that environmental justice projects are going to take a hit. On February 6th, the Trump administration rescinded the Justice40 initiative. That cuts federal funding meant for climate change mitigation, pollution reduction and clean energy in disadvantaged communities. That’s going to have a direct impact on portions of Washtenaw County. And it’s not the only area in which changing federal priorities may touch our community. Our guest today works in these arenas. Doctor Jalonne White-Newsome is the founder and CEO of Empowering a Green Environment and Economy, LLC. In the Biden administration, she was the federal Chief Environmental Justice Officer at the White House Council on Environmental Quality. And thank you so much for carving out time today, Doctor! I appreciate it!

Dr. Jalonne White-Newsome: Thank you, David!

David Fair: Well, President Trump was very open about how busy his first 100 days would be, and he’s always been critical of climate change initiatives and environmental regulation programs. So, on one hand, none of what is happening should be a surprise. On the other, I do think the depth of change he is enacting has caught a number of people by surprise. How are you processing these changes?

Dr. Jalonne White-Newsome: Well, I mean, I think there are so many folks that are still in this cycle of shock and grief every day, because there’s always something happening every day. And when I think about what we try to build with the Biden-Harris administration and the fact that the current administration has literally torn down everything, I don’t know. I don’t have words. It’s hard to take because it’s not just about the infrastructure that was built. It’s about the people that this current administration’s actions are impacting. When you think about the Justice40 initiative, the whole purpose was to make sure that we get a certain amount of funds to communities that have been disinvested, that have been really invisible and are already dealing with pollution at extreme levels. And that’s pollution that impacts the health of real people, that asthma, that not having access to water, that having to depend on dirty forms of energy. And so, when you think about the actions of this current administration, it’s not just the money. It is the people that will be impacted now and into the future.

David Fair: Well, before we start talking about the future, I want to step back into the past for just a moment. What role did you have in development and initial implementation of the Justice40 initiative?

Dr. Jalonne White-Newsome: Yeah. So, I mean, President Biden and Vice President Harris had an awesome vision, and that vision was really grounded in what they heard from communities–Black and Brown, indigenous and poor folks across this community–that said, “Hey! You know, we have places and spaces that have been ignored, that have not been invested in, that continue to deal with multiple forms of pollution, and we need to do something about it!” And so, the Justice40 initiative had a goal that 40% of the overall resources would be directed at what we termed “disadvantaged communities.” Again, those communities that have been polluted and that have not been invested in. And so, we basically re-envisioned how our federal agency partners worked, and they created programs that were directed at these communities, which was amazing. That had never happened in the federal government before.

David Fair: How far along did Justice40 get before, now, the program comes to an end?

Dr. Jalonne White-Newsome: Oh, my goodness! I mean, Justice40, again, it was about culture change across the federal government. In our Office of Environmental Justice, which I led, our job was to make sure that, again, we advanced environmental justice across the White House, and we supported our federal agency partners to do just the same. And so, Justice40 was just one of the initiatives that every agency made a part of their mission. And they literally changed policy. They changed how they grant distribution, how they figured out where they were going to focus, how they engaged and built relationships with community. So, Justice40, again, is more than the money. It was changing how the government did business. And we were very successful in that.

David Fair: WEMU’s Issues of the Environment conversation on environmental justice issues continues with Doctor Jalonne White-Newsome. She is founder and CEO of Empowering a Green Environment and Economy, and a former White House official in charge of environmental justice during the Biden administration. Well, as a result of Justice40 and the changes in culture, the City of Ann Arbor was awarded grant money to advance environmental justice. That program and its effectiveness are in jeopardy. University of Michigan climate research initiatives could be at risk. The Washtenaw County Conservation District could lose employees because of cuts in federal funding. And EPA Region Five, which serves the Great Lakes region that includes Washtenaw County, it’s laying off workers and looking at program cuts, too. There’s been virtually no time to assess longer-term impacts, but perhaps given your work, you can give us some insight into the possibilities.

Dr. Jalonne White-Newsome: You know, I think, with every crisis, there’s an opportunity. And we are definitely in crisis mode now. And so, when you think about the organizations that are being hit the hardest by these changes, with the current administration, it is small, community-based organizations that were relying on funds to pay their staff and and have the capacity to function. It is research institutions that, again, are supporting that research to inform and change policy and protect the folks that need it the most right now. My call to action for our corporations throughout Michigan, for our philanthropic partners across Michigan, is that you have to step in and step up, because we don’t know, with this current federal government, if funds will ever be unfrozen. We don’t know what they’re going to attack next. And so, we have to make sure that we are creating an infrastructure that is going to sustain, that is not going to be relying on the federal government, to make sure that the shocks and the acute impact that we’re feeling now will not again prevail.

David Fair: There is going to be a great need for even greater collaboration between local government, nonprofits and the business community, among others. There’s a lot of overlap among these entities out there. Is there a path forward to better organizing and working collaboratively without the expense of overlap?

Dr. Jalonne White-Newsome: Definitely! And I think that is where it takes communication, organization and coalition building. I mean, just as this current administration laid out Project 2025, we need a Project 2029, and that Project 2029 cannot be developed in the many silos that we often keep ourselves in. It can’t be philanthropy making a plan. It can’t be community-based organizations making a plan. It can’t be our corporations making a plan. We have this wonderful opportunity to come together to really say, “Okay, this is where our strengths are. This is where we have resources. And this is the path that we’re going to take that’s going to really feed into this larger agenda.” Again, I think we are here at this point now because we did not do that. We knew that one of the scenarios after the last election could be exactly where we are now. And so, this is an opportunity for all of us, again, to come together in coalition and really figure out, like, what is the path that we need to take together and do that in a coordinated way.

David Fair: As you talk about Project 2029, that’s a good opportunity to look a little further forward. Ann Arbor has its A2Zero plan. It calls for reaching carbon neutrality by the year 2030. Washtenaw County wants to hit that mark by 2035. That was going to be a very tall task under the best of circumstances. In your estimation, does it become nearly impossible now?

Dr. Jalonne White-Newsome: You know, I don’t think anything is impossible. I think what this time that we’re in requires us to do is to be creative. And, ultimately, while I so appreciate the federal government and having the honor and privilege to work at the federal government and knowing, in many ways, the federal government, that’s the pace and the tone for work on climate and on environmental justice. What I will also say we cannot solely rely on the federal government and that many of these efforts around climate and environmental justice are really local at heart. So, the fact that we have Ann Arbor, who has always been, again, progressive, and what they’ve tried to accomplish based on achieving different climate goals, because we know that we have very progressive and smart, savvy, community-based organizations and leaders that know how to think creatively in a crisis, I am very hopeful that we can move forward and reach our goals. We’re just going to have to be creative. We’re going to have to, again, think outside the box, think about different partners that we have and connected with and really figure out how do we move without the reliance on the federal government. Now, again, on an international stage, definitely, we would rely on the federal government to try and reach our larger carbon goals. But, again, as we think about the impacts locally, that is really shifted and guided by community-based organizations, by municipalities, by our state governments. And it is our opportunity to make sure that we push our municipal, local, county and state governments to not step back and fold in the face of fear but continue to hold their moral compass in the right direction and continue to take risk and be fierce in making sure that we build a very strong, resilient economy and climate for everyone.

David Fair: Well, there was a lot of optimism and energy in that statement, and I think that’s probably a good time for us to bring our conversation to an end. Thank you so much for the time and the information today, Doctor! I appreciate it!

Dr. Jalonne White-Newsome: Appreciate you, David! Take good care!

David Fair: That is Doctor Jalonne White-Newsome, founder and CEO of Empowering a Green Environment and Economy, LLC. In the Biden administration, she was the federal chief environmental justice officer at the White House Council on Environmental Quality. Issues of the Environment is presented with support from the office of the Washtenaw County Water Resources Commissioner. And you hear it every Wednesday. I’m David Fair, and this is your community NPR station, 89 one WEMU FM, Ypsilanti.

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