On February 25, 300 community members and leaders from People Acting in Community Together (PACT) gathered at the First Unitarian Church of San Jose to challenge Mayor Chuck Reed to include low and moderate income residents in the City's ambitious Green Vision.  Until this time, the Mayor had been focused exclusively on engaging corporations, businesses and more affluent community members in his environmental initiatives.

PACT leaders urged the Mayor to expand his Green Vision to all city residents, arguing that without the active participation of hundreds of thousands of lower income residents his ambitious goals will be impossible to achieve. PACT even provided the Mayor with the first translations of the Green Vision and pledge in Spanish and Vietnamese, because the City had not yet taken this key step to including a large percentage of San Jose's diverse community.

PACT leaders and community members gave powerful testimony from diverse perspectives about why being included in the Green Vision was important to them and their families.  Elementary school students shared their commitments to do their part such as recycling, turning off the television, walking and riding their bikes, and taking shorter showers.

PACT's biggest victory of the evening was Mayor Reed's commitment to ensure that 1/3 of the 25,000 new clean technology jobs that the city is working to develop be "green collar" jobs accessible for working people without college degrees. He also committed to including non-English speaking and moderate and low-income communities in the planning and implementation of the Green Vision.  

The meeting was an exciting start to engaging all residents in making San Jose a model "green city." Rev. Nancy Palmer Jones, senior pastor of First Unitarian Church of San Jose, remarked that, "PACT is working to make sure that the green wave 'lifts all boats,' offering hope and opportunity for all in the critical effort to protect our environment for the health of our community and the future of our world."

For more information, visit www.pactsj.org. Click here to watch video coverage of the event!

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