Edhat Staff
On Wednesday, June 28, the Environmental Defense Center (EDC) will be honored as a Nonprofit of the Year at a celebration of California Nonprofits Day at the State Capitol in Sacramento.
EDC has been selected by State Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson as an exceptional nonprofit organization in her 19th Senate District community. EDC will join nearly one hundred other nonprofit leaders from across the state being honored at the annual California Nonprofits Day event, formally recognized by Assembly Concurrent Resolution 54, authored by the chair of the new Assembly Select Committee on the Nonprofit Sector Assemblywoman Monique Limon (D-Santa Barbara).
This year EDC celebrates its 40th anniversary working to protect our local environment. Formed in response to the 1696 Santa Barbara Oil Spill, EDC remains the only nonprofit, public interest environmental law firm between Los Angeles and San Francisco. EDC focuses on climate and energy issues, as well as protecting clean water, open space and wildlife, and the Santa Barbara Channel. EDC’s current priorities include preventing oil trains from transiting through our coast and communities, fighting hydraulic fracturing and acidizing on offshore platforms, and preventing risky and unnecessary oil and gas projects from Oxnard to San Luis Obispo.
“EDC is honored by this important recognition of our work for our communities,” said Executive Director, Owen Bailey. “As we celebrate our 40th anniversary working to protect our climate and local environment, we are grateful for Senator Jackson’s recognition and leadership for our environment, and for being included among this illustrious community of effective nonprofit organizations.”
“For decades, the Environmental Defense Center has been fighting to protect our coast, our water and air quality. Their work has enhanced the quality of life that all of us hold so dear along our central coast. For these reasons, I am honored to recognize them as our nonprofit of the year,” said Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara).
The award recipients will be honored at a luncheon at Sacramento’s Convention Center, with welcome addresses from Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, Assemblymember Limon, and Jan Masaoka, CEO of the California Association of Nonprofits (CalNonprofits). California Attorney General Xavier Becerra has also been invited to speak to the gathered honorees and their legislators.
“Nonprofit organizations are vitally important to the economy and well-being of California. But too often nonprofits are ‘hidden in plain sight.’ We are thrilled that the State Assembly has passed a resolution for the second year in a row that puts the spotlight on nonprofits as an economic power that uses that power for the common good. We congratulate all of the award recipients on being honored for the great work they do every day to make California a better place,” said Jan Masaoka, CEO of California Association of Nonprofits (CalNonprofits), a statewide alliance of over 10,000 organizations, representing and promoting California’s growing nonprofit sector and working to bring the full power of nonprofits to strengthening communities.
The Environmental Defense Center, a non-profit law firm, protects and enhances the local environment through education, advocacy, and legal action and works primarily within Santa Barbara, Ventura, and San Luis Obispo counties. Since 1977, EDC has empowered community-based organizations to advance environmental protection. Program areas include climate and energy, and protecting clean water, the Santa Barbara Channel, and open space and wildlife. Learn more about EDC atwww.
Photo: Linda Krop, EDC Chief Counsel, and Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson at an event earlier this year.
