At MFN, storytelling is not incidental—it is a strategy. Who gets to speak, whose knowledge is valued, and how stories are shared are central to our Theory of Change.
The stories in this space are shared by frontline and fenceline leaders, organizers, and community members who live with the impacts of the global freight transportation system every day. By centering their lived experience, organizing wisdom, and community-led data, we work to shift public narratives away from industry-driven solutions and toward justice, accountability, and community leadership.
These stories help build collective power—connecting local struggles to national campaigns, strengthening shared analysis, and expanding what decision-makers, media, and the public understand as credible expertise. Through narrative change, we make visible both the harm caused by freight pollution and the community-led solutions already shaping a more just future.
The Smokey Hollow neighborhood in Tallahassee, Florida, where MFN member Miaisha Mitchell grew up, is an example of one of these communities forcibly displaced by eminent domain in the name of urban renewal.
Johana-Marie Williams, Serenity Williams, and Dr. Bruce Strouble at an MFN gathering in Washington, D.C. in 2023. By Bruce W. Strouble, Ph.D. When my grandmother, a longtime resident of Altadena,...
Photo of a projection on the EPA building. Photo by Frank Fitzpatrick. By Molly Greenberg, Moving Forward Network Campaign Director and Yassi Kavezade, Sierra Club Senior Campaign Advisor, Clean...
Further collaboration with communities is needed to eliminate freight pollution Unfortunately, the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) new Phase 3 Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Rule on heavy-duty trucks...
Photo by Joint Office of Energy and Transportation Last week, the Biden-Harris Administration and the Joint Office of Energy and Transportation released a strategy to accelerate zero-emission...
Photo by Sam Levitan In March 2023, a cohort of 37 MFN members convened in Washington, D.C. to make our network’s demands loud and clear to policymakers. We brought frontline and fenceline community...
Community activists, residents, faith leaders, doctors, and educators rallying at the Port of San Diego’s Administrative Building, December 2022. – Photo provided by EHC.After a tireless fight, the...
For many families, reducing their carbon footprint and having more control over their energy costs is simply not attainable. Why? Because of how unaffordable and inaccessible it is to install panels...
In October 2022, a delegation of Moving Forward Network (MFN) members attended the All-In conference. At this convening, the MFN Research Workgroup, led by Dr. P. Qasimah Boston and Dr. Bruce...
