California Environmental Rights Alliance Information

The California Environmental Rights Alliance (CERA) was founded in January 2003 by many of California's most experienced and effective environmental health and justice advocates. We created CERA to serve the needs of communities of color and low-income residents confronting California's worst environmental problems and enjoying the fewest environmental assets. Prior to creating CERA, staff members Dr. Joseph Lyou and Ms. Angela Johnson Meszaros had worked as environmental health and justice advocates for more than a decade at other Los Angeles-area organizations. To assure an on-going connection to community-based issues and priorities, they invited leaders from local grassroots groups and other colleagues to serve on the CERA Advisory Board. CERA became a project of Community Partners®, which serves as our non-profit fiscal sponsor.