Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion

As part of its educational mission, Earthrise has a responsibility to elevate justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (JEDI) in the legal profession and in our efforts to train future environmental advocates. Earthrise also has a responsibility to better understand and support diverse communities most affected by environmental harms. At Earthrise, we seek opportunities to serve impacted communities through our legal work and to create a learning environment that collectively cultivates accountability, respect, and empathy, qualities that we believe are foundational to implementing JEDI principles.

To reach our full potential, Earthrise is committed to implementing JEDI principles at every level of the organization. Earthrise will take a variety of steps to do so, including prioritizing the following key pathways:

• Earthrise will conduct further outreach to and seek feedback from students of color. The outreach will be designed to more actively recruit a broad range of students, as well as to evaluate student experiences through the JEDI lens in order to enhance the clinic experience once the student arrives.
• Earthrise will seek to nurture students interested in pursuing careers in the field of environmental justice, both by providing opportunities to participate in cases that prioritize environmental justice issues, and by integrating environmental justice educational opportunities into the class curriculum.
• Earthrise will incorporate inclusive and equitable practices in every hiring decision we make, including the annual hiring decisions for summer clerks and legal fellows.
• Earthrise will prioritize cases to ensure that environmental justice is a significant factor that we seriously consider when determining what matters we will investigate or file and in selecting which clients we will represent.