The Verde Paper:
Latino Perspectives on Conservation Leadership highlighting six success stories nationwide, practitioner interviews, and key takeaways to build a more inclusive environmental movement. Read this ground breaking report showcasing ALEF as one of the stories.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 14, 2016
CONTACT:
Marce Gutierrez-Graudins - (650) 260-4290, mar@azulproject.org
Nicole Lampe - (415) 341-4521, nicole@resource-media.org
LATINO LEADERS WELCOME RELEASE OF THE VERDE PAPER
New Report Highlights Latino Conservation Leadership & Path to Authentic Engagement
SAN FRANCISCO, CA - Following 18 months of interviews throughout the Western United States, today La Madre Tierra - a project of Resource Media in collaboration with Azul - released “The Verde Paper” a celebration of Latino conservation leadership that explores opportunities for greater collaboration with the traditional environmental movement.
Featuring insights gleaned from more than thirty interviews, as well as hundreds of conversations with Latino environmental leaders from myriad backgrounds, The Verde Paper highlights success stories, elevates insights and commentary from practitioners in the field, and distills a few key takeaways for those who are trying to make a more intentional and sustained effort to embrace Latino conservation leaders.
Marce Gutierrez-Graudins, founder of Azul and the report’s lead author said, “I hope that those leading established foundations and nonprofit organizations will work to evolve their institutions to be more equitable and inclusive. In the end, cultural competency and welcoming spaces will only make our conservation campaigns more effective.”
Maite Arce, President/CEO at the Hispanic Access Foundation said, "The Verde Paper cracks open a window into the Latino experience. There are obstacles, but also opportunities for Latino advocates, grantmakers and green groups alike. The obstacle is that trust is needed on all sides and we know it takes work to obtain it; the opportunity is in winning that trust, at any level, and build on it, learn and go. Imagine what we can achieve together."
"We are here, Aqui Estamos, and this is not a new community. What may be new is that the recognition of how we do this and why we do this, is ever more crucial and integral to continuing success in this work. Read this to get the context, then take an honest look at your work and resources and see how that can be invested in this community and movement. Because that is what we are, a community of Latino leadership that wants this to succeed, but by working together in authentic ways from the start at the roots and planting the seeds, not by being invited at the end for the photo op and helping you pick the fruit," said José González, Founder and Director of Latino Outdoors.
"Latinos are cultural conservationists, the respect we have for the water we drink, the air we breathe and the land on which we live, doesn't come from our membership in an organization or a book we read, it comes from the way we live,” added Mark Magana, President of GreenLatinos. “It is important now more than ever that we honor and maintain this culture of conservation as a way of living that will serve to preserve and protect our planet for future generations."
In addition to the report, the authors have created a (growing) list of grassroots Latino environmental organizations to facilitate connections.
For more information on the Verde Paper and La Madre Tierra, go to www.lamadretierra.org.