Honorees: Nov. 12, 2015 Southern California Environmental Leadership Awards

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This year's honorees:

State Senator Fran Pavley
Byron Sher Lifetime Achievement Award

Senator Fran Pavley has spent her lifetime living and working in Los Angeles and Ventura counties as a parent, educator, and elected official. She is indisputably one of the greatest environmental champions in state history. It is impossible to quantify the impact she has had on environmental politics in California, and her work has effected change on a national and global scale. After nearly three decades as a teacher, Senator Pavley became the first mayor of the City of Agoura Hills, and served for four terms on the city council. In 2000 she was elected to the California State Assembly, and she was elected to the California State Senate in 2008. In the Assembly she authored Assembly Bill 1493, known as the Pavley Law, which became the model for national vehicle emissions standards, and Assembly Bill 32, the nation’s first cap on greenhouse gas pollution. Senator Pavley currently is pursuing legislation that sets even more ambitious targets for climate-pollution reduction by 2050 that would provide California businesses with regulatory certainty while also strengthening the economy and improving public health, especially in communities disproportionately impacted by pollution. In addition to many more environmental victories, Senator Pavley has also advanced legislation to benefit teachers, public safety, transportation, and public spaces. She lives with her husband, Andy, a veteran and lifelong teacher, in Agoura Hills, where they raised two children and four guide dogs for the blind.

David Allgood

David Allgood is a longtime environmental leader and the recently-retired Political Director of the California League of Conservation Voters. For more than 25 years, Allgood has played a leading role in CLCV’s core work—electing environmental champions and working with the progressive community to pass strong environmental laws. He has been a driving force behind many of California’s most important environmental policies, including the effort to reduce air pollution from our state's major ports and protect the health of workers and residents in surrounding communities. In 2001, Allgood organized what would become the California Alliance, a coalition of progressive groups including CLCV, the California Nurses Association, and the Consumer Attorneys of California; the Alliance has been instrumental in electing numerous environmental champions to the state legislature. Allgood’s legacy includes serving as the Board Chair for the Coalition for Clean Air and the Environmental Alliance for California’s Health. He served on the California Coastal Commission, and was as an Ex Officio Member of the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy. He is a past member of the Advisory Council of the Baldwin Hills Conservancy, and was a Founding Board Member of SalPAC, America’s first Salvadoran-American Political Action Committee. He was tapped by Assembly Speaker Karen Bass for the Environmental Commission of California, and previously held a similar position for State Senator Alan Lowenthal.

East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice

East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice (EYCEJ) is an environmental health and justice non-profit organization working towards a safe and healthy environment for communities that are disproportionately suffering the negative impacts of industrial pollution. EYCEJ recognizes and promotes full and authentic community participation in making policies that affect them directly, promoting the implementation of Environmental Justice guidelines for local, state, and federal governments and agencies as well as industry. Established in 2001, EYCEJ promotes direct democratic decision-making and taking collective action for safe and healthy communities where we live, work, learn and play. Residents of the Commerce/East Los Angeles area founded EYCEJ to address the increasing environmental health impacts of industrial pollution in their community, as well as several pending expansion projects adjacent to homes, schools and parks. They led the Community Advisory Committee that advises the Gateway Cities Council of Governments on its I-710 major corridor study, and, in collaboration with residents, successfully campaigned for the City of Commerce City Council to pass an Environmental Justice Resolution, which included the development of a general plan working group with a focus on environmental health and justice. EYCEJ has been recognized by Communities for a Better Environment and received the Environmental Justice Achievement Award from the United States Environmental Protection Agency.

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