In light of the deeply disturbing events transpiring across our nation, Cool Davis is looking inward and evaluating our work in our community and the influence we bring across the organizations and institutions with which we work.

We share in the grief and anger of the black community at the ongoing institutional racism, implicit bias, and explicit racism that continues to perpetrate violence and injustice in our communities across America. We are here to listen, engage, and act. We stand in solidarity with the black community and recognize that we must all face the reality that our region, our county, and our city are not immune to acts of violence and racial injustice.

The impacts of climate change and pollution have disproportionately affected communities of color, and much of the visible work on climate action has been primarily white and privileged. We must recognize that we face a convergence of crises that puts us at a crossroads. We can and must do better. Without racial, social, and environmental justice we cannot continue to make the progress we need to make on climate change and our work to support the Davis we want to see for our children and grandchildren.

This year is the tenth anniversary of Cool Davis, which is a natural time for reflection and reassessment of our values and priorities. Along with the City of Davis and the coalition of organizations working together to support climate action in our community, we must re-evaluate how we engage our community, how we support our black community, and how we support institutional reforms across our community to root out racism and injustice.

Cool Davis pledges to listen, engage, and act as follows:

  • Listen to voices in our community impacted by injustice, to learn more meaningfully about different experiences, to become a better ally, and to use our platform to elevate those individuals and groups to become part of building strong networks for change;
  • Reform our recruiting practices (board, staff, volunteers), outreach programs, and services and approaches to community transformation to ensure that they are inclusive and truly address the needs of all the households in our community;
  • Work to protect and restore the environment and commit to building more just systems and programs that restore and enhance the right of all people to a clean, safe, and thriving planet; and, toward that end,
  • Specifically invite and empower voices from the black community and other communities of color to lead webinars and convenings, and post, edit, and curate content on our media channels.

Please join us to move these commitments forward, influence our direction, and continue to work with us to make Davis the best community possible. Please send an email to board@cooldavis.org and let’s talk about our work together as a community moving forward.

In solidarity with our black community,

Cool Davis board

Michael McCormick, Board President

Kerry Daane Loux, City of Davis Liaison

Jason Bone

Carol Bourne

Dick Bourne

Larry Greene

Kristin Heinemeier

Chris Soderquist

Johannes Troost

Cool Davis staff

Chrissy Backman, Energy Field Coordinator

Leslie Crenna, Communications Manager

Chris Granger, Executive Director

Erin Reddy, Campaign Manager

Statement by the Davis City Council and City Leadership on George Floyd