Hailey Miranda: Youth-Led Climate Resilience in the Bronx

Hailey Miranda is an environmental justice youth leader at the South Bronx-based organization We Stay/Nos Quedamos. Among other things, Nos Quedamos teaches youth skills to advocate for environmental justice and provides social impact programs that use climate solutions to benefit the Melrose neighborhood. The organization was founded by Yolanda Garcia, a community activist who fought for resident rights to stay and rebuild their community after the Bronx fires of the 1970s. Yolanda and her neighbors bravely advocated for their rights against the city, which had other plans to rebuild without community input. Today, Nos Quedamos ensures that the people of the South Bronx continue this legacy of resilience through planning, preparation, and programming that builds community strength and self-determination. They do this through community gardens, resiliency hubs, solar canopies, stormwater management, and more to allow community members to stay and thrive in the South Bronx, even in the face of growing climate vulnerabilities.

One of the most important things you can do regarding climate change is talk about it.

• Hailey grew up in the South Bronx and has lived there all her life. One person that has influenced the development of Hailey’s community is Yolanda Garcia, the founder and first Executive Director of Nos Quedamos and a celebrated community activist. Yolanda is known for her tireless efforts to improve the health and well-being of South Bronx residents and for her rallying cry of "We Stay/Nos Quedamos." This spirit of resilience has new meaning for the South Bronx today with regards to intersectional and just solutions for climate change. When was a time you felt your voice was powerful? How might you use your voice to move climate solutions and justice forward?
• Hailey shows the historical blueprint drawings of a redesigned South Bronx based on the vision of her organization Nos Quedamos. The community engaged in sessions to map, design, and plan out this vision, inspiring the long-term commitment to the community-based planning and service work of her organization. If you could lead a process in your community to redesign your current neighborhood, would you change its layout or infrastructure? What might make it more climate resilient? What do you think your community would want to see? What are ways you can advocate for these changes in real life with your community?
• Hailey says that people outside of her community often hear negative stories about the Bronx. She wants people to know that the Bronx is so much more than what is currently portrayed, but positive stories about the vibrance, joy, culture, and community care are not often represented in the media. Why is it important for stories in the media to be more inclusive and representative of good news and solutions? What is an example of a positive or solutions-focused story in your community that you would like others to know about? 
• Hailey describes role models whom she looks up to and now, as a youth leader, she gets to play that influential role in the lives of young people in the Bronx. Hailey talks about the importance of listening to youth. She wishes older generations would recognize that young people have something to offer, and that learning and knowledge exchange can be a part of solutions. What lessons might be learned when we share our struggles, challenges, and victories across generations? What is your generation, and how do you think that shapes your perception of climate change and solutions?

Learn about the solutions in this story.

• Solution Sectors: Buildings, Electricity
• Solutions Clusters: Enhance Efficiency, Shift Energy Sources
• For more on all of Project Drawdown’s climate solutions, visit drawdown.org/solutions
• Learn more about Hailey’s work at We Stay/Nos Quedamos

Explore Climate Solutions 101, the world's first major educational effort focused solely on climate solutions. This video series combines Project Drawdown’s trusted resources with the expertise of inspiring, scientifically knowledgeable voices from around the world: drawdown.org/climate-solutions-101.

Check out the Drawdown Roadmap, a science-based strategy for accelerating climate solutions that ensures efforts to stop climate change by governments, businesses, investors, philanthropists, community organizations, and others are as impactful as possible.

Visit the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication, a resource that shares research, communications strategy, and opinion polling on climate communications.

• Subscribe to the Project Drawdown newsletter to receive biweekly insights and inspiration to guide your own climate solutions journey.
• Drawdown Ecochallenge, presented by Ecochallenge.org, is a fun and social way to take measurable action on the top climate solutions. Take the challenge, and see how a few weeks of action add up to a lifetime of change for you and the planet. If you want to take action on climate solutions like Hailey, start a challenge today.
• The Drawdown Labs Job Function Action Guides are practical resources that highlight specific, high-impact climate actions employees in common corporate professions can take at work.
• ChangeX connects people with proven ideas for strengthening communities with the resources needed to implement those changes. Explore countless ways to improve your community and help the world reach drawdown.
• Climate Generation's Green Careers for a Changing Climate Instructional Supplement (for Grades 6-8) contains resources to help young people learn about Green STEM Careers—paths that use STEM skills to help reduce the impacts of climate change. Throughout this instructional supplement, students use Project Drawdown resources to make important connections between climate solutions and different careers.
• Solutions Journalism Network highlights the importance of reporting stories of climate solutions in the media to create a more equitable and sustainable world. Visit their Teaching Climate Solutions resource to find curated collections and the latest examples of climate solutions journalism.
• SubjectToClimate (StC) is a nonprofit online connector for K-12 leaders of all subjects to find materials on climate change at no cost. Explore StC’s educator-generated database to connect to Project Drawdown-based climate education resources.