Changemaker Spotlight: February 2021
Irene Calimlim
Health & Environmental Justice Programs Manager,
Fathers and Families of San Joaquin, est. 2003
In one sentence, what do you do?
I am the health & environmental justice programs manager at Fathers & Families of San Joaquin.
What drew you to the work you are doing with Fathers & Families?
I believe that those who have direct lived experiences of social injustices should be the ones that get to shape policies and benefit from investments for that issue area. Frankly, a lot of our current leadership is very disconnected with issues on the ground and caters to self-interest. I am currently working on doing a lot of environmental justice work right now because I have learned how bad our environment is in Stockton and feel impacted having lived in the Little Manila neighborhood directly within a region with high pollution. My passion is in doing work that helps build up the leadership and potential of young people and systems-impacted folks to use their voice and story to advocate for the change they want to see.
What inspires you about Stockton?
I got drawn back to Stockton seeing the work that young people were doing to make a change. Stockton actually has a really rich culture of organizing from back when Larry Itliong, Dolores Huerta, and Cesar Chavez’s united farm worker labor movement. I have been inspired by seeing some of the senior organizers in our community, have been trying to contribute myself towards organizing efforts, and am proud to now see a generation below me also starting to lead in various campaigns. Also I love seeing how so many people are collaborating across organizations and initiatives to create a more intersectional movement.
What advice do you have for those looking to make change in Stockton?
Do it! Feel free to reach out to me or to anyone you see here whose work you are interested in. So far I think people have been really welcoming in helping get others plugged into community work in Stockton. If you want to get involved with stuff around climate change, environmental justice, community gardening those are things you can reach out to me about but happy to connect you if there are other issues you are interested in.
You're an innovator in your field. With the world rapidly changing around us, how are you adapting and what support can Third City Coalition members offer?
We’re in the process of recruiting more youth for our environmental justice youth leadership development series so if you know of any youth who would be interested we would love to connect. We are also going to be building up a community garden and programming at our Brandon Harrison memorial garden and looking for volunteers to help with that. Also I guess I should announce the news that I got selected as part of the first Partners Advancing Climate Equity cohort with 19 other organizers across the state so in return I will probably be offering some training and resources from that to the Rise Stockton coalition.