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Justice40

Website:

www.thejustice40.com/
Location:

Washington, DC
Type:

Left-of-center Environmentalist Activist Collective
Stauts:

Project of the Center for Economic and Policy Research
Formation:

2021
Movement Leaders:

Cassia Herron, Miya Yoshitani, Jacqueline Patterson, Mark Magana, Helen Chin

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Justice40 is a left-of-center and environmentalist collective that supports the development and implementation of new systems in the federal government institutionalizing critical race theory-influenced concepts of racial, economic, and environmental justice. 1

The collective supports the institutionalizing these concepts into specific federal funding approaches. 2 Justice40 also advocates for government implementation of a minimum requirement for 40 percent of federal investment in “disadvantaged communities” that consider a critical race theory-influenced “justice-oriented” approach to funding. 3

History and Leadership

Justice40 was launched in 2021. 4 Justice40 is led by Cassia Herron of Kentuckians For the Commonwealth, Miya Yoshitani of Asian Pacific Environmental Network, Jaqueline Patterson of critical race theory-influenced Chisholm Legacy Project, Mark Magana of environmentalist GreenLatinos, and Helen Chin of Communities First. 5 Herron supports defunding the police. 6 7

Activities and Funding

Justice40 is left-of-center and environmentalist collective that supports the development and implementation of new systems in the federal government that address the critical race theory-influenced concepts of racial, economic, and environmental justice. This includes institutionalizing the critical race theory-influenced concepts of environmental, climate, racial, and economic justice into specific funding approaches and federal practices, policies, and systems more broadly. 8

Justice40 suggests the federal government establish an investment minimum requirement for 40 percent investment in disadvantaged communities as well as strong guardrails that include critical race theory-influenced “justice-oriented” funding criteria. 9 The collective is committed to working with the Biden administration to fulfill its Justice40 goals through the Justice40 Initiative, in which the Biden administration plans to prioritize 40 percent of its climate-related spending in minority communities. 10

In 2021, Justice40 published a report with the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Luskin Center for Innovation to help the Biden administration and other federal authorities implement their priorities. Justice40 seeks to “institutionalize justice” and establish a critical race theory-influenced “equity-centered” Justice40 guiding framework and tools. 11

South Carolina and Delaware have used Justice40 federal investments. Washington, Virginia, New York, Maryland, Illinois, and California are considering or have state-level equivalents. 12

The three main recommendations for federal agencies designing the Justice40 framework include institutionalizing critical race theory-influenced concepts of environmental, climate, racial, and economic justice into the federal government; establishing a critical race theory-influenced equitable investment framework; and ensuring local participation in shaping the Justice40 framework. 13

Biden Administration Justice40 Initiative

On February January 27,2021, President Joe Biden signed Executive Order 14008, the Executive Order on Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad. 14 The text of the executive order outlines the establishment of a Justice40 Initiative in which the federal government will publish recommendations on how certain Federal spending programs might be made toward a goal that 40 percent of the overall benefits flow to “disadvantaged communities.” The Biden administration restated its goal of delivering and implementing the Justice40 Initiative in a separate February 2023 Executive Order on Further Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government. 15

The Justice40 Initiative is a whole-of-government initiative of the Biden administration to ensure that 40 percent of overall benefits of certain federal investments flow to disadvantaged communities that are marginalized, underserved, and overburdened by pollution. 16

The Biden administration calls Justice40 a commitment to the critical race theory-influenced concept of environmental justice. The Biden administration’s policy guidance defines “disadvantaged” groups eligible for funds as low income, high unemployment, racial and ethnic segregation, linguistic isolation, high housing cost, distressed neighborhoods, high transportation cost burden, limited water access, areas facing impact from climate, and others. 17

Offices within the Biden administration tasked to implement Justice40 are the Office of Management and Budget, Council on Environmental Quality, and the White House Office of Domestic Climate Policy. 18 They are focused on government spending on environmentalist policies, climate, energy, transit, housing, workforce development, and other topics. 19

The Biden administration also operates a critical race theory-influenced climate and economic justice screening tool (CEJST) to identify what it identifies as disadvantaged communities and potentially eligible for Justice40 Initiative support. 20

Biden administration Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm adopted Justice40 implementation guidelines for the Department of Energy (DOE) and said that the critical race theory-influenced concept of justice will be the “North Star” for the DOE to fight a changing climate. 21 DOE will implement the critical race theory-influenced concepts of procedural justice, distributive justice, recognition justice, and restorative justice through its implementation of the Justice40 initiative. 22

As of February 2023, the Department of Transportation has also released an implementation fact sheet for its Justice40 approach. 23 According to sources from the DOT that spoke to the Washington Free Beacon, the Justice40 standards are affecting the process of grant applications. An anonymous senior DOT official spoke to the Free Beacon, stating, “…we’re going through all these grant applications, a lot of them are really good, and the senior political appointees are saying there aren’t enough disadvantaged communities.” 24

As of February 2023, the following U.S. government agencies have released Justice40-covered programs: Army Corps of Engineers, AmeriCorps, Department of Agriculture, Department of Energy, Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Department of Housing and Urban Development, Department of the Interior, Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Labor, Department of Transportation, Department of Veterans Affairs, Environmental Protection Agency, Appalachian Regional Commission, Delta Regional Authority, and the Denali Commission. 25

Funding

Justice40 is funded by the left-of-center Heising-Simons Foundation, Climate and Clean Energy Equity Fund, and the William and Flora Hewitt Foundation. 26

References

  1. “A Framework Rooted in Justice.” Justice40. Accessed February 23, 2023. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/6142a05674d68a2072918ee1/t/616f53a1d9aae4244dbc22e4/1634685860092/J40_FactSheet-2-Framework.pdf.
  2. “A Framework Rooted in Justice.” Justice40. Accessed February 23, 2023. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/6142a05674d68a2072918ee1/t/616f53a1d9aae4244dbc22e4/1634685860092/J40_FactSheet-2-Framework.pdf.
  3. “Home.” Justice40. https://www.thejustice40.com/. Accessed February 23, 2023. https://www.thejustice40.com/
  4. “thejustice40.com.” Who.is Domain Name Registry. Accessed February 28, 2023. https://who.is/whois/thejustice40.com.
  5. “Our Movement Leaders.” Justice40. Accessed February 23, 2023. https://www.thejustice40.com/#who-we-are.
  6. “Tweet.” Cassia Herron Twitter. Posted July 7, 2020. Accessed February 23, 2023. https://twitter.com/cassiaspeaks/status/1280520479816724480.
  7. “Tweet.” Cassia Herron Twitter. Posted January 28, 2021. Accessed February 23, 2023. https://twitter.com/cassiaspeaks/status/1354767336797036544.
  8. “A Framework Rooted in Justice.” Justice40. Accessed February 23, 2023. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/6142a05674d68a2072918ee1/t/616f53a1d9aae4244dbc22e4/1634685860092/J40_FactSheet-2-Framework.pdf.
  9. “Home.” Justice40. https://www.thejustice40.com/. Accessed February 23, 2023. https://www.thejustice40.com/.
  10. “Guiding Principles.” Justice40. Accessed February 23, 2023. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/6142a05674d68a2072918ee1/t/616f5384bd2081067f86c179/1634685830513/J40_FactSheet-1-Overview.pdf.
  11. “Making Justice 40 A Reality for Frontline Communities.” UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation. October 20211. Accessed March 13, 2023. https://innovation.luskin.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/luskin-justice40-final-web-1.pdf.
  12. “Making Justice40 A Reality for Frontline Communities.” UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation. October 2021. Accessed February 27, 2023.  https://innovation.luskin.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/luskin-justice40-final-web-1.pdf.
  13. “Making Justice40 A Reality for Frontline Communities.” UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation. October 2021. Accessed February 27, 2023. https://innovation.luskin.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/luskin-justice40-final-web-1.pdf.
  14. “Executive order on Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad.” The White House. January 27, 2021. Accessed February 28, 2023. https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/01/27/executive-order-on-tackling-the-climate-crisis-at-home-and-abroad/.
  15. [1] “Executive Order on Further Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through The Federal Government.” The White House. February 16, 2023. https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2023/02/16/executive-order-on-further-advancing-racial-equity-and-support-for-underserved-communities-through-the-federal-government/.
  16. “Justice40.” The White House. Accessed February 23, 2023. https://www.whitehouse.gov/environmentaljustice/justice40/.
  17. “Memorandum for the Heads of Departments and Agencies.” Executive Office of the President. July 20, 2021. Accessed February 23, 2023. https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/M-21-28.pdf.
  18. “The Path to Achieving Justice40.” The White House. July 20, 2021. Accessed February 23, 2023. https://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/briefing-room/2021/07/20/the-path-to-achieving-justice40/.
  19. “Justice40.” The White House. Accessed February 23, 2023. https://www.whitehouse.gov/environmentaljustice/justice40/.
  20. “Explore the Map.” Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool. GeoPlatform. Accessed February 23, 2023. https://screeningtool.geoplatform.gov/en/#3/33.47/-97.5.
  21. “Letter from Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm to Department of Energy Stakeholders.” U.S. Department of Energy. July 25, 2022. Accessed February 23, 2023. https://www.energy.gov/sites/default/files/2022-07/EXEC-2022-004682%20-%20FINAL%20S1%20J40%20Letter%207-25-2022.pdf.
  22. “Justice40 Initiative Environmental Justice Fact Sheet.” U.S. Department of Energy Office of Economic Impact and Diversity. July 2022. Accessed February 23, 2023. https://www.energy.gov/sites/default/files/2022-07/Environmental%20Justice%20Explainer%207_25_22.pdf.
  23. “Justice40 Fact Sheet.” U.S. Department of Transportation. Accessed February 28, 2023. https://www.transportation.gov/sites/dot.gov/files/2022-11/Justice40_Fact_Sheet_v1.2pptx.pdf
  25. “Justice40 Initiative Covered Programs List.” The White House. August 18, 2022. Accessed February 23, 2023. https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Justice40-Covered-Programs-List_v1.1_07-15-2022.pdf.
  26.  “About.” Justice40. Accessed February 28, 2023. https://www.thejustice40.com/.
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Justice40

1611 Connecticut Avenue NW
Washington, DC