Updates

Some glimpses...

In 2026 we are actively working to realize transition, in Elkhart and Everywhere

• leading the coordination of the reparative storytelling aspects of the reinvestment in Ullery Park; ensuring sustainable and communal benefits throughout the redevelopment process

• participating in Earth Charter Indiana's Youth Environmental Press Team Summit

• building out the fundraising infrastructure, and the EFERT board for the next 3 years

• supporting the Miami Nation Honor Fund

• writing an essay and doing a podcast on anticolonial arrivancy in connection with the Black Midwest Summer Institute on Environmental Justice

• teaching courses from the Environmental Justice Collaboratory
  
  

In 2025 we strengthened powerful mycelial connections between groups, and facilitated the process of realization of a just climate transition through trainings, workshops, and convenings

• supported the Elkhart climate resolution process: 

  • met with youth leaders and key stakeholders

  • EFERT Board President spoke at the Elkhart City Council in support of the resolution on April 21, 2025

  • board members translated the Climate Resolution and press release into Spanish (accessible here in both English and Spanish)

  • organized meetings with Elkhart Mayor and Elkhart's Chief-of-Staff, 6 months after the climate resolution passed to hold the city accountable to the sustainability goals it set.

• participated in the National Parks and Recreation Association's Sustainability in Place cohort.

• represented Elkhart alongside the Parks & Recreation Department in a nationwide collection of other community-based organizations and parks departments

• helped to heal historic divisions between community and the city, through climate justice efforts

• contributed to the nationwide conversation on the importance, and use, of park lands/waters

• expanded the Eco-Friendly EVERYWHERE aspect of EFERT's mission

• • offered a variety of tailor-made 'direct action for climate justice' and workshops at Kollapscamp in Germany, to spiritual activists at Kirkridge Retreat and Study Center and in Alaska (Inuit land), a coalition of civic groups in Syracuse, New York (Onondaga land).

  • contributed to the water retention and permaculture course at Tamera Peace Education & Research Centre in Portugal

  • facilitated environmental despair and empowerment workshops in Belgium

  • resourced the construction of composting toilets at an off-grid eco-queer sanctuary in France

  • attended various events at Soul Fire Farm in upstate New York (Mohican land)

  • spoke at the 6th annual Rethinking Thanksgiving fundraiser for Indigenous environmental efforts, and attended the National Day of Mourning in Wampanoag land (Plymouth, Mass.)

  • researched eco-toilets at the Salt City Harvest Farm (Haudenosaunee land, Central New York)

• nominated a young adult leader from Elkhart to attend Riverwise Magazine's environmental communication retreat in Detroit (Anishinaabe land).

• coordinated visits for the climate-informed community organizer of We Make Indiana to meet key constituents in Elkhart County

• EFERT Board president presented keynote addresses at the University of Hamburg, the International Society for the Study of Nature, Religion, and Culture, and the Black Midwest Summer Institute for Environmental Justice

In 2024 we built organizational infrastructure

• met likeminded groups in Elkhart, across the Great Lakes watershed, and via the monthly webinars of the Anthropocene Alliance, across Turtle Island (North America)

• led a workshop for Anticolonial Arrivants at the Environmental Changemakers conference for People of the Global Majority

• began deep internal work so that when we fully launch we can do so with strength, clear purpose, and direction

• spoke at the 5th annual Rethinking Thanksgiving fundraiser for Indigenous environmental efforts
  
  

In 2023 we put some feelers out

• participated in the Elkhart city design charrette to address the devastating ongoing impacts of urban renewal

• led a Justice Outside delegation to 9 cities across the Midwest, involving over 130 people in discussing climate resilience, power-building, and triple bottom line sustainability

• inspired the start of a backyard garden nearby to the EFERT building and have provided resources to it alongside Church Community Service

• wrote a climate memo to Elkhart, Indiana Mayor Rod Roberson

• participated in the Technical Assistance for Brownfield's committee for the City of Elkhart 

• joined and contributed to the Anthropocene Alliance's Higher Ground listserv, the largest listserv of frontline organizations facing the impacts of climate change in their home areas
  
  

In late 2022 we incorporated

• built a representative board (Black, Indigenous, Latinx, and white folks working together for realizing a just transition)

• sought and obtained seed funding

• achieved 501c3 status

• launched the Anticolonial Arrivants program at the 3rd annual Rethinking Thanksgiving webinar