The West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project is a resident led, community-based environmental justice organization dedicated to achieving healthy homes, healthy jobs and healthy neighborhoods for all who live, work, learn and play in West Oakland, California.
Our mission is to build grassroots capacity to provide local leadership for positive change. Our work aids residents in understanding the political, social, and natural forces that impact their lives. We give impacted residents the tools to participate in these processes and to drive change from the bottom.
West Oakland’s community is stronger than the environmental crises we’re up against
West Oakland is a dynamic, diverse neighborhood. It is the unceded homeland of the Ohlone people. An early maritime powerhouse, it became the center of industry and transportation in the East Bay. Our neighborhood birthed new musical genres and new political movements, from the West Coast Blues to the Black Panthers.
West Oakland remains a thriving multiracial and multiethnic community. Our neighbors are immigrants, refugees, and Black people who fled racial violence in the South during the Great Migration. We are parents, grandchildren, youth, and elders.
But racist policies and corporate profiteering have left West Oakland with polluted soil, air, and water. Our neighborhood is poisoned by freeways, heavy industry, and shipping and logistics centers. Pollution, systemic racism, and lack of economic opportunity shorten the average West Oakland lifespan by six years compared to the county average. And the climate crisis intensifies existing inequality with extreme heat and toxic sea level rise.
These challenges are familiar to all Black, brown, and poor neighborhoods–and our history of community power shows us the path forward.
We believe that the people most impacted by crises, from environmental racism to climate change, are also the best equipped to fight them. We are part of a long tradition of environmental justice advocates, a movement led by Black women that tells us that our survival depends on each other.
In a time of ongoing division and harm to marginalized communities, we believe in building bridges at a hyperlocal level through collaboration between neighbors, local leaders, and government.
The fight for climate justice is both local and global, leading us to stand with all people harmed by environmental destruction, profiteering, and state violence. People already know what they need: our job is to foster community power so they can put their own solutions into action.
We imagine a West Oakland where:
- Everyone breathes clean air, drinks clean water, and moves on clean soil.
- Informed, engaged residents set and achieve their own goals, leading the way to community self-determination.
- New and old neighbors work together to create a resilient, vibrant neighborhood–for all of us.
What we do
Air quality
We measure and research West Oakland’s air quality, and use the data to advocate for stronger policies.
Energy equity and climate justice
From alternatives to dirty diesel trucks to decarbonizing our kitchens, we’re pushing a transition off fossil fuels that prioritizes our local communities.
Built environment
We push for equitable, resilient infrastructure. We envision a neighborhood that’s green, walkable, and welcoming to all.
WOEIP in the news
OAKLANDSIDE | February 20, 2026
Dense tree barriers to cut air pollution are coming to West Oakland
SF PUBLIC PRESS | AUGUST 7, 2025
West Oakland’s Tree-Planting Push Hinges on Community Care
WBUR | APRIL 21, 2024
Battery-powered big rigs could haul the future of trucking
Disclosures
WOEIP is a nonprofit, tax-exempt charitable organization under Section 501(c)3 of the Internal Revenue Code. Donations are tax-deductible as allowed by law; our tax identification number 20-2384563.