Climate Justice Plan Series: Nakisha Nathan on Belonging as Climate Strategy
This is the first of an ongoing series about Multnomah County’s Climate Justice Plan. Breach Collective will be featuring the voices and perspectives of important figures who have helped shape and advance this groundbreaking climate policy.
When Multnomah County’s Office of Sustainability was threatened by budget cuts earlier this year, community members didn’t stay silent. They organized, rallied, and raised their voices to protect not only a crucial government office, but a vision of policymaking rooted in justice, care, and accountability. They also wanted to ensure that the county’s bold Climate Justice Plan (currently in the drafting process) would have the governmental infrastructure to be carried to fruition.
One of those who spoke up was Nakisha Nathan, co-executive director of Neighbors for Clean Air – a community partner of Breach’s and a Portland-based environmental justice organization working to ensure all Oregonians have clean air to breathe. For Nakisha, the Office of Sustainability has long modeled what meaningful partnership between government and community can look like.
That trust has been earned through years of showing up. From helping Neighbors for Clean Air track and respond to policy changes, to ensuring that organizations working with frontline communities have a real say in shaping the county’s Climate Justice Plan, the office has practiced a kind of governance that centers human impact, not just carbon metrics or economic modeling, and Nakisha thinks that this approach is essential.
This perspective reframes what effective climate planning requires. It’s not just about numbers, it’s about people. That means centering lived experience alongside data, and building momentum through stories not only about, but stories told by communities that are most impacted by climate change.
Belonging as Climate Strategy
Nakisha believes that the county’s Climate Justice Plan is a strong example of how policymakers and communities can work together to shape a vision grounded in the lived realities of those most affected. The plan has been co-created by a multi-sector Steering Committee made up of 13 frontline, community-based organizations, including Neighbors for Clean Air, and led by the county’s Office of Sustainability and the Coalition of Communities of Color. A first draft of the Climate Justice Plan was released in April 2025; Breach and 14 other organizations provided official feedback on the draft.
The drafting process of the Climate Justice Plan was heavily influenced by targeted universalism, a framework developed by the Othering & Belonging Institute. Rather than applying one-size-fits-all solutions, relying solely on metrics of abstract modeling, or merely calling for “inclusion,” the plan uses a methodology to intentionally identify who is most impacted and then design strategies that uplift everyone by addressing those deepest inequities.
In many ways, Nakisha believes it comes down to a sense of belonging. As she sees it, the concept of belonging is a dynamic, ongoing, and self-reinforcing process of building community systems that protect and sustain people, especially during climate crises. And unfortunately, the reverse is also true: communities that are stripped of belonging get stuck in vicious cycles of suffering and isolation.
At its core, belonging isn’t just about being invited to the table, it’s about having the power, stability, and connection to help shape – if not lead – the conversation. For communities facing the harshest impacts of the climate crisis, a sense of belonging can be the difference between vulnerability and resilience. As Nakisha points out, when people feel rooted in their neighborhoods, connected to their culture, and supported by their community, they’re better equipped to face crises and fight for lasting change. But belonging doesn’t happen in a vacuum, it depends on the material conditions that allow people to survive and thrive.
The Material Roots of Belonging and Climate Justice
Having the material conditions to thrive includes some of the Climate Justice Plan’s 12 strategic goals: that every community member have access to nutritious and culturally meaningful food, to wealth-building opportunities, and to safe and affordable housing. These goals may not be immediately understood as “climate issues,” but Nakisha is clear: they most absolutely are.
Climate justice is more than just a policy goal, it’s about guaranteeing the conditions that positively shape the daily lives of every community member. As Nakisha explains, climate justice means homes can protect us from wildfire smoke or extreme heat. It means access food that nourishes our bodies and reflects our culture. It means living in communities that support our mental health and our ability to care for one another.
Shaping a Path Forward, Together
A key to climate justice is belonging. Feeling connected – to land, to neighbors, to shared traditions – strengthens our ability to survive crises and push for change. And that sense of belonging isn’t just emotional, it’s material. If people don’t have their basic needs for health and security met, communities are stretched thin so that when disaster hits, the harm ripples outward.
Multnomah County’s draft Climate Justice Plan and the methodology that went into co-creating it with frontline communities offers a path forward: one rooted in lived experience, driven by community voices, and aimed at systemic transformation. It’s a recognition that true resilience starts with justice and that everyone deserves the chance to survive the climate crisis and thrive through it.
The Climate Justice Plan is currently in draft form. Multnomah County accepted feedback from community members and organizations, and is in the process of incorporating that input.