Highlights from the Corpus Christi Community Organizing Summit 2025
It was exciting to host, along with our friends, the 2025 Corpus Christi Organizing Summit. We were joined by community organizers, advocates, experts, students and activists sharing campaigns and organizing stories around issues, and networked through panels and workshops.
We gathered over 20 local leaders at the Antonio E. Garcia Center. The summit included community leaders who have mounted campaigns to fight a toxic desalination plant, polluting petrochemical facilities and more.
Elida Castillo, Program Director, CHISPA Texas (left), and Max Haworth, Community Organizing Director, Community Action Works (right), kick off the Corpus Christi Community Organizing Summit.
Corpus Christi Council Member Sylvia Campos, served as our keynote speaker for the Corpus Christi Community Organizing Summit talking about her story and the importance and impact of community organizing.
Your why is important, it will sustain you, it will keep you focused, you won’t be swayed or easily influenced so we can protect our planet, our way of life and leave this earth in a better place then we found it. I wanted to leave you with one of my favorite quotes: “We don’t inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children’s future.”
Armon Alex, Co-Founder & Co-Director, Gulf of Mexico Youth Climate Summit, (2nd right), Jesus Wong, Campus Organizer, Texas Rising (2nd left), and Elida Castillo, Program Director, CHISPA Texas (left) served as panelists on the Impacts and Organizing Panel.
The panel and discussion was facilitated by Max Haworth, Community Organizing Director, Community Works (right), where each of the panelists talked about their community and student organizing experiences with campaigns tackling toxics by petrochemical facilities in Corpus Christi.
Genesis Granados, Environmental Justice Programs Senior Manager, Air Alliance Houston (left), Reem Tariq, Environmental Justice Outreach Coordinator, Air Alliance Houston and Taurjhai Purdie, Think 100% Campaigns Manager, Hip Hop Caucus, ran a workshop that dove into the air permit opposition process to learn how to mobilize against petrochemical air pollution. They explored principles of language justice, strategies for youth engagement, and helped provide practical tools to initiate and strengthen air permit opposition in communities.
We also ran an interactive campaign planning workshop helping community members put together a winning campaign plan. We began running through principles behind campaign planning, and developing plans to implement in their communities. We went over essential steps including identifying targets for change, making plans to influence these targets, coalition-building, and sharing resources to boost the power of our campaigns. Folks drafted an initial campaign plan and got feedback from our trainers, Max Haworth, Community Organizing Director, Community Action Works, and Elida Castillo, Program Manager, CHISPA, Texas.
One of the biggest highlights of the day was recognizing and giving out community organizing awards to exemplary and outstanding community organizers and groups.
I’ve listed our distinguished awardees below:
- Texas Rising received the Student Activist Award for their outstanding work engaging students and registering future voters on campus. They were deeply involved with the local library board and are continuing to strengthen the ties between students and community. They elevate the importance of local elections with students and have a dedicated commitment to developing their skills as organizers and activists.
- Concerned Citizens of Robstown and Calallen received the Most Outstanding Group Award for their exemplary community organizing work against the proposed Avina Ammonia Plant. They have grown their online group to over 2,800 members and have been a powerful presence at local, regional, and statewide meetings. The core group has kept the broader community updated about important permitting dates, recruited a significant number of parties to a contested case hearing, and found ties to how different projects are connected.
- Jason Hale, Sierra Club received the Outstanding Community Activist Award for their outstanding work in elevating community-driven knowledge and concrete truths in the local fight against desalination and water conservation. Jason has been a consistent voice at local meetings and at the Texas State Capitol giving expert testimony and public comment. He has also been an educator to so many in the Corpus Christi community to ensure people have the information and confidence they need to share their own testimonials.
- Monna Lyttle, CHISPA Texas received the Community Spirit Award for for their outstanding work in engaging her local community and for continuing to be a beacon for the Hillcrest neighborhood. Monna has been a fierce voice for justice, love, and connection. She is a crucial organizer in the fight to end the Inner Harbor Desalination Plant and a lightning rod for ensuring all voices are heard. She inspires us to act and lead with love.
There was so much energy throughout the summit. Seeing community organizers, students, advocates and experts sharing their stories, their campaigns; networking and learning from each other was inspiring.
I have no doubt that coming out of the summit, these organizers will be bringing that energy to their own work, whether that be on their campus or in their neighborhood to make real change building healthier and greener communities this year.
If you are interested in finding out how you can support any of these groups, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us.
