January Climate Leader: Charlottesville's IMPACT
A panorama shot of IMPACT’s spring 2019 Nehemiah Action, the last time we were able to have our Nehemiah Action in person
IMPACT is a diverse coalition of 28 faith congregations in Charlottesville and Albemarle County that have come together to create significant social change through unified direct action. While our membership is from faith-based institutions, our mission is not to push religious doctrine, rather IMPACT is a vehicle for people of faith to act on their call to justice. Our faith is our motivation, not our mission. Together, we work to empower local leaders within our congregations to identify community problems, develop solutions, and negotiate publicly with decision-makers who can implement these solutions. IMPACT was founded in 2006, and since then has won victories on an array of community issues including housing, dental and mental health care, education, and drug treatment.
How/why did you get involved and/or passionate about the environment?
IMPACT launched our Care for Creation Initiative in August 2021. Every year IMPACT holds house meetings in our congregations to talk about and identify community problems. For several years, we had heard many people voice concerns about climate change but weren’t sure how to translate that into action on local problems. So, in 2020, our leaders began discussing a new issue campaign that would focus on environmental justice. We fully began our Care for Creation campaign when we had house meetings this past fall and focused the conversations on specific and local climate and environmental issues.
What exciting work have you been doing to advance climate solutions?
Through our Care for Creation initiative, we heard hundreds of stories from IMPACT members of how people struggled to have reliable transportation alternatives to owning a personal car. We know that transportation is the largest cause of carbon emissions in our area, and that ensuring that people have safe and reliable access to public transit, bike lanes, and pedestrian infrastructure is critical to reducing our carbon output. IMPACT has been spending the past few months meeting with experts and officials to identify solutions to this problem., At our Nehemiah Action on March 29, 2022 all 28 IMPACT congregations will gather together to seek public commitments from local decision makers to make these solutions a reality.
What is a climate action that IMPACT is proud of?
We’re proud to have begun the work this year with our Care for Creation initiative. For the 16 years that IMPACT has existed, we’ve been able to tackle many local issues, but our Care for Creation initiative is an exciting new opportunity for us to work on community problems that have both a local and global impact.
What is IMPACT hopeful about when it comes to climate?
We are thankful that both Charlottesville and Albemarle County have put forward climate plans and action steps. We are hopeful that our public officials would continue to take seriously the problem that climate change presents, and that as we work to see solutions to this problem, our officials would take meaningful action so that Charlottesville & Albemarle County can be communities that are leading the way on climate action.
What are IMPACT leaders’ favorite ways to recharge and rejuvenate?
As a coalition of religious congregations, many of us find deep value in gathering with our faith communities to center and rejuvenate ourselves. At the same time, the relationships that we have formed across religious boundaries have been very meaningful to many of us and are often a source of inspiration as we push forward in the difficult work of doing justice.