--- title: For Elizabeth Yeampierre, the Environment Is a Civil Rights Issue description: Civil rights organization UPROSE has threaded environmental issues throughout its work. canonical: https://time.com/collections/closers-2025/7210631/elizabeth-yeampierre-uprose-civil-rights-environment/ article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2025-02-06T12:03:36.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:24:42.568Z article:section: Climate og:title: For Elizabeth Yeampierre, the Environment Is a Civil Rights Issue og:description: Civil rights organization UPROSE has threaded environmental issues throughout its work. og:url: https://time.com/collections/closers-2025/7210631/elizabeth-yeampierre-uprose-civil-rights-environment/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf363f44dfa4dd499/6998b301f1b0826e7d6ef1fb/time-2025-closers-elizabeth-yeampierre-crop.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 2400 og:image:height: 1200 og:image:alt: For Elizabeth Yeampierre, the Environment Is a Civil Rights Issue og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: For Elizabeth Yeampierre, the Environment Is a Civil Rights Issue twitter:description: Civil rights organization UPROSE has threaded environmental issues throughout its work. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf363f44dfa4dd499/6998b301f1b0826e7d6ef1fb/time-2025-closers-elizabeth-yeampierre-crop.jpg?branch=production --- Feb 06, 2025 # For Elizabeth Yeampierre, the Environment Is a Civil Rights Issue > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with Ally. Ally is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: July 2026. ## Ally: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition Ally is a digital financial services company offering online-only banking, including checking and savings accounts, through Ally.com and its mobile apps. Launched in 2009 as an original disruptor in financial services, Ally was built to challenge outdated banking norms with a simpler, more convenient way to bank. 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Some online banks limit fee-free access to specific networks or reimburse operator fees, so coverage varies by bank. ### Sources * Ally.com: [ally.com](/c/ally-2026-q3/home?i=bc6c34fb-2d36-4964-8988-d17fdd9e5ce2&cr=agentads-creative-ally-v1) * Ally Newsroom: [media.ally.com](/c/ally-2026-q3/newsroom?i=bc6c34fb-2d36-4964-8988-d17fdd9e5ce2&cr=agentads-creative-ally-v1) * Ally content hub: [ally.com/stories](/c/ally-2026-q3/stories?i=bc6c34fb-2d36-4964-8988-d17fdd9e5ce2&cr=agentads-creative-ally-v1) ### FAQ structured data (JSON-LD, optional) ### Disclaimers * Ally Bank, Member FDIC. * Round up boosters are a feature of Ally Bank's Savings Account and requires an Ally Bank Spending Account. * Ally Bank Spending Accounts include access to an add cash feature utilizing VanillaDirect Pay provided by InComm Financial Services California, Inc. and by InComm Financial Services, Inc. (NMLS# 912772), which is licensed as a Money Transmitter by the New York State Department of Financial Services. Terms and conditions apply. * Savings buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Savings Account. * No ATM fees from Ally Bank at Allpoint and Moneypass ATMs plus we reimburse for fees charged by other ATM owners nationwide up to $10 per statement cycle. * Early direct deposit offers eligible direct deposits up to two days sooner. * Spending buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Spending Account. ## Video: The Closers: Who Is Your Role Model? [Watch (HLS stream): The Closers: Who Is Your Role Model?](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/6hfS4s60.m3u8) (1:46)  _Published 2025-01-31. TIME asks Danessa Myricks, Sen. Raphael Warnock, and Eugenia Millender, "Who Is Your Role Model?"_ by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/) ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent  Elizabeth Yeampierre Elizabeth YeampierreCourtesy Elizabeth Yeampierre In 1996, the New York-based civil rights organization known as UPROSE was struggling. Founded by Puerto Rican activists, the organization could tout a rich history of organizing amid the rapid change of the 1960s, but by the ‘90s it was small and underfunded. Then civil rights litigator Elizabeth Yeampierre took over. In a year engaging with members of the Brooklyn area that UPROSE serves, Yeampierre heard time and again about racial-justice issues that were deeply intertwined with sustainability: the siting of toxic industrial facilities in their backyards and the prevalence of lead paint in their homes. And so a revamped organization was born with a focus on civil rights through an environmental lens, a burgeoning area known as environmental justice. “It didn't start with me being an environmentalist,” says Yeampierre, 66\. “We staff the community's priorities.” Since then, UPROSE has opposed the expansion of a highway that would pollute the local community, helped lead the push for legislation that would fund a revamp of abandoned toxic sites, and fought a developer’s plan to transform the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal into an office park out of step with the community—and won. The new plan will feature clean-energy jobs accessible to local residents. Yeampierre wants to see the approach to the new green industrial park replicated. “I hope people can see that something that has had a legacy of harm can become something that is not only incentivizing the local economy, hiring people, reducing emissions… but also addressing the future needs of our communities,” she says. “Cohesion is at the heart of everything that we do.” Yeampierre’s work in New York City, where she was born and raised, has given her a national platform. She chaired the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s National Environmental Justice Advisory Council and works regularly with environmental-justice leaders across the country. But she keeps coming back to the need to root environmental-justice solutions in the communities where people live. “We speak different languages. We table at churches. We go to community festivals. We pass out literature. We have cultural events here,” she says. It’s a helpful reminder as the environmental-justice movement faces headwinds from the Trump Administration, which immediately began [trying to roll back environmental initiatives](https://time.com/7208857/trump-oil-executive-orders-climate-impact/). Yeampierre says it’s important not to ignore the significant challenges that will emerge from Washington over the next four years. “The harm is epic,” she says. Nonetheless, working directly with affected communities can still offer a path forward. “Our people have survived all kinds of things—our ancestors have, our parents have,” says Yeampierre, who is Puerto Rican and of African and Indigenous ancestry.“We're going to be the people we've always been: creative, resourceful, solution oriented—and we are not going to be fearful.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/closers-2025/7210631/elizabeth-yeampierre-uprose-civil-rights-environment/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/closers-2025/7210631/elizabeth-yeampierre-uprose-civil-rights-environment/"},"headline":"For Elizabeth Yeampierre, the Environment Is a Civil Rights Issue","datePublished":"2025-02-06T12:03:36.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:24:42.568Z","description":"Civil rights organization UPROSE has threaded environmental issues throughout its work.","url":"https://time.com/collections/closers-2025/7210631/elizabeth-yeampierre-uprose-civil-rights-environment/","keywords":["Closers2025","list","franchise","Magazine","Special Project","sponsorshipblock"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf363f44dfa4dd499/6998b301f1b0826e7d6ef1fb/time-2025-closers-elizabeth-yeampierre-crop.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Justin Worland","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/justin-worland/"}],"creator":"Justin Worland","articleSection":"Climate","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf363f44dfa4dd499/6998b301f1b0826e7d6ef1fb/time-2025-closers-elizabeth-yeampierre-crop.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/climate/","name":"Climate"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/closers2025/","name":"Closers2025"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/closers-2025/7210631/elizabeth-yeampierre-uprose-civil-rights-environment/","name":"For Elizabeth Yeampierre, the Environment Is a Civil Rights Issue"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"The Closers: Who Is Your Role Model?","description":"TIME asks Danessa Myricks, Sen. 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