We Matter Community Association (WMCA) stands in the gap for its Eight Mile, AL, community on quality of life issues, particularly those related to environmental justice. The organization was formed informally in 2013 (and officially registered in 2016) when residents banded together to demand remediation in response to a 2008 chemical leak that had been causing health issues ever since. More recently, the organization has been focused on addressing Prichard’s water crisis, where years of systemic racism and neglect have put residents up against skyrocketing water bills and unreliable service. These two crises are indicative of the history of environmental injustice in Prichard, the burden of which is felt most heavily by the city’s poorest residents. WMCA serves as a voice for the community, having secured representation on the newly formed Advisory Council for the water utility, and hosting well-attended community meetings to educate and hear from residents about the issues they face.
Carletta Davis, President of We Matter Community Association (second from the left) at a community organizing training meeting. (Photo courtesy of Anthropocene Alliance)
We Matter Community Association is driven by a 12-member Executive Committee composed of business and non-profit professionals in Prichard with personal investments in the community’s prosperity. Like the broader Prichard community (population 19,848, 90% Black), WMCA is Black-led. Beyond its executive team, WMCA boasts a team of roughly 25 volunteers and reaches Prichard residents through regular community meetings where hundreds of residents are known to attend. This coalition has yielded major wins on environmental justice issues: bringing community oversight to Prichard’s imperiled water utility and securing a low-income assistance program to help residents with skyrocketing water bills. These highly visible successes are matched by less heralded but still essential work, such as helping residents fill out health assessments related to the 2008 chemical spill that brings ongoing health risks to residents and standing with community members who have lost family to gun violence.