"Haawka!" May the Fire in Your Heart Burn Bright!

"Haawka!" May the Fire in Your Heart Burn Bright! is a campaign designed to raise awareness, lift up environmental justice issues, and inspire community involvement and participation in environmental campaigns. In collaboration with the Environmental Health Coalition, the campaign will visually showcase, celebrate, and inform the public about the Environmental Health Coalition’s community training programs, activism, actions, vision, and plans for environmental justice. The artist Alicia María Siu will conduct community workshops to create the content and design. The resulting design will address the poor air quality of Barrio Logan due to toxic emissions from various commercial businesses and vehicles in the area, celebrate past historic gains such as the closing of the chrome plating industry next to residential areas, recent efforts in updating the community plan for more green spaces, community access to the bay, emission-free vehicles and bicycle lanes. The mural will also include a vision of green spaces, the creation of the Chicano Park herbal garden, community activism, and honoring Kumeyaay's presence as original environmental stewards. Through creating a community mural, the artist and collaborator will engage the community in content dialogue to collectively create and complete a mural that the community can be proud of. The community will see their efforts represented in the mural, which will serve as a platform for community voices and inspire the next generation of community environmental justice activists in the lowest California Healthy Places Index community of Barrio Logan and Chicano Park.