Alternatives for Community and Environment (ACE) is an environmental justice

Environmental justice

Environmental justice is "the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, sex, national origin, or income with respect to the development, implementation and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies." In the words of Bunyan Bryant,...

 community organization

Community organization

Community organizations are civil society non-profits that operate within a single local community. They are essentially a subset of the wider group of nonprofits. Like other nonprofits they are often run on a voluntary basis and are self funded...

 based in Boston's Dudley Square

Dudley Square

Dudley Square is the primary commercial center of the Roxbury neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, located at the intersection of Dudley Street and Washington Street...

. Founded in 1994, ACE works to eradicate environmental racism and classism and achieve environmental justice. Its four core program areas are the Dudley Square Organizing Project (DSOP), Roxbury Environmental Empowerment Project (REEP), T Riders Union (TRU)

T Rider's Union

The T Rider's Union is a committee of the New England-based public interest group Alternatives for Community and Environment that advocates for improved public transit services in the Boston, Massachusetts metropolitan area....

, and Environmental Justice Legal Services (EJLS).

Accomplishments

Some of ACE's notable accomplishments include the following:

• In September 2009, youth members of REEP and TRU, in collaboration with the Youth Way on the MBTA
  Youth Way on the MBTA
  Youth Way on the MBTA is a campaign to improve the affordability, convenience, and safety of the MBTA for youth. Launched in 2007, the campaign is a collaboration between Boston-based non-profits Alternatives for Community and Environment and the .In September 2009, Youth Way on the MBTA reached...
  
  , reached an agreement with Massachusetts Secretary of Transportation James Aloisi to extend the hours for student passes and investigate the feasibility of an unrestricted youth pass.

• With partner organizations in the Green Justice Coalition, ACE and its Dudley Square Organizing Project helped ensure that environmental justice considerations were included in the landmark 2009 Massachusetts energy efficiency plan.

• ACE's Environmental Justice Legal Services represented Chelsea residents in a 2007 case that prevented the construction of a diesel-fueled power plant adjacent to an elementary school.

• In 1999, ACE worked with a number of governmental agencies to implement Airbeat, a real-time air pollution monitoring system.