Black Environmental Leaders Action Fund (BEL-AF)

Advocacy

In September 2023, Black Environmental Leaders Action Fund outreach coordinator Dion Mensah testified to the Ohio House Public Utilities Committee in support of House Bill 197. The bill would order regulators and utility companies to reduce policies that discourage solar energy adoption and create a “community solar program” where individuals who share ownership of solar facilities are eligible for utility and tax credits. ² Mensah testified that the BEL-AF supported the bill as it would increase the ability of low-income households to use solar energy and justifies the subsidies by arguing that ethnic minorities are entitled to solar energy. ³

In 2024, BEL-AF was listed by Citizens not Politicians as an endorser of Ohio Issue 1, a ballot initiative that would have prohibited elected officials, political party officials, and lobbyists from being able to engage in redistricting. ⁴ Instead, it would require that redistricting be completed by members of an independent redistricting committee that included five members of the “First Major Party,” five members of the “Second Major Party,” and five members who identified as independent. ⁵

In November 2023, BEL-AF co-signed a letter written by the Natural Resources Defense Council and Safer States advocating that the Biden administration impose regulations to restrict the production of single use plastics, restrict plastic production methods, restrict plastic waste disposal methods, and reduce overall plastic production. The letter opposed plastic production due to pollution issues. It also claimed that the carbon dioxide produced during plastic production and disposal causes climate change, and it advocated that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) prohibit the production of any fuels that create plastic as a byproduct that is deemed to be toxic. ⁶

BEL-AF campaigned in support of Ohio State Representative Juanita Brent’s (D-Cleveland) and Representative Casey Weinstein’s (D-Hudson) Energy Jobs and Justice Act (House Bill 429). ⁷ The bill would have subsidized the adoption of weather-dependent energy and a transition away from conventional energy use in Ohio. It included a goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent by 2030 by eliminating conventional energy use and reducing regulations that affect solar and wind energy. It also included publicly funded job training programs for weather-dependent energy targeted towards ethnic minorities, former convicts, and foster children. Additionally, the bill included grants to obtain solar or wind energy, tax credits, and subsidized loans. ⁸

Leadership

SeMia Bray is the executive director of Black Environmental Leaders Action Fund. She is a business consultant and also works as co-director of the Black Environmental Leaders Association. Bray is also affiliated with the League of Women Voters, the Ohio branch of the Sierra Club, and the Ohio Climate Justice Fund. ⁹

Financials

In 2022, its first year in operation, the Black Environmental Leaders Action Fund reported $432,770 in total revenue, and it reported $31,000 in revenue in 2023. ¹⁰ BEL-AF also reported $87,242 in total expenses in 2022 and $352,605 in 2023. ¹¹

As of its 2023 tax returns, BEL-AF had not reported receiving government grants that year. ¹²