New York State Assemblywoman Taylor Darling (D-18) grew up in Bedford-Stuyvesant in Brooklyn and Hempstead on Long Island, and she said she felt the disparity living in a community that is predominantly Black. She said finding green space to play was “impossible,” and her family suffered from asthma, exposure to lead, water and air pollution.

Her new fight to secure $15 billion for climate justice in the 2022-2023 state budget is a personal one. With the approval deadline looming about two weeks away, Darling along with Assemblywoman Michaelle Solages (D-22) said they want to implement programs to “fix the wrongs” caused by environmental racism — that includes lack of green space, updating housing, improving air and water quality as well as training for jobs in the environmental sector.

“The drive on Washington Avenue from Hempstead to Garden City, you see very, very little trees while you're driving through Hempstead, heading towards Garden City,” Darling said. “But as soon as you pass that invisible fence into Garden City, it's so lush. It's so rich that the air smells and tastes different because the greenery is there.”

The proposed $15 billion would allow for investment in communities like Hempstead and Bedford-Stuyvesant, where residents have borne the brunt of the environmental burden of exposure to industrial waste and limited access to parks.

This infusion of financial support into disadvantaged areas would allocate $4.8 billion for infrastructure for the energy transition such as expanding offshore wind, grid stability and upgrading energy systems in public housing. It would also include electrifying buses, including the school fleets.

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