Climate Resilience Convening
Monday, June 10 - Tuesday, June 11
Phoenix, Arizona | Akimel O'odham | Hohokam Lands
Presented by LISC Phoenix
Arizona is on the frontlines of the climate crisis. With increasing heatwaves, wildfires, and extended drought across the region, we are at a breaking point. Indigenous communities and climate activists from the Global South have long-identified colonial intervention as the historical and ongoing driver of the climate crisis. In order to face the grave challenges that lie before us we must clearly identify the production and making of climate change as bi-products of extraction and land theft. To ensure "different political, environmental, and social outcomes, we must prioritize the perspectives, knowledges, research and practices of Indigenous people" (Curley, 2023).
In 2023, LISC Phoenix joined the the Resilient Southwest Building Code Collaborative project to transform building construction practices across the southwest to achieve climate-resilient buildings and communities while preserving affordability and regional characteristics. LISC Phoenix's role is to ensure equitable engagement throughout the process, which centers Indigenous communities and leadership, ensuring low-income and highly-impacted people are not priced-out of their homes, and combatting "resilience gentrification". To remain accountable to First Nations and Indigenous communities, LISC Phoenix is convening an intimate 2-day gathering focused on leadership and perspectives of Indigenous, Black and people of color across Arizona. The convening will take place on Monday, June 10 - Tuesday, June 11 in conjunction with the Federal Reserve's book launch of "What's Possible: Investing NOW for Prosperous, Sustainable Neighborhood" in which LISC Phoenix is a contributor. The book, a collection of essays exploring the intersection of community development and climate resilience, is the result of a collaboration between Enterprise Community Partners, Local Initiatives Support Corporation, and the New York Fed. |
On Tuesday, June 11, invited guests will gather in the morning at Liberty Wildlife to exchange ideas, strengthen partnerships, and foster community around important topics, including:
[1] Dennison, Jean. Colonial Entanglement: Constituting a Twenty-First-Century Osage Nation. 2014. University of North Carolina Press
- What narratives from Indigenous and Black communities do we need to uplift to ensure culturally specific needs during the making of climate change?
- What past and present colonial practices and structures must be addressed to reconsider a future of Indigenous and Black people?
- What approaches to the built environment mitigate colonial entanglements[1] and expand the spiritual and embodied lives of Indigenous, Black, Latinx, migrant, queer, mothers, refugees to survive/thrive in this moment of climate chaos?
- What strategies already exist that must be amplified, resourced, funded, and supported (including: Land rematriation, housing, placekeeping, food justice, water rights for Native people, Indigenous architectures, and more)?
[1] Dennison, Jean. Colonial Entanglement: Constituting a Twenty-First-Century Osage Nation. 2014. University of North Carolina Press