The VOCES Project places Camden residents at the heart of its mission, fostering connections between community members, researchers, and organizations to tackle critical environmental challenges. Combining scientific research, the humanities, and community storytelling, VOCES focuses on climate justice and health equity, creating a platform for collaboration, advocacy, and action, and amplifying the voices of those who are most affected by these issues.
With MARCH’s recent turn to focus on the environmental humanities, we find it both fitting and exciting to be able to host the VOCES project at the center.
Our Mission
To empower communities through education, bilingual resources, and storytelling, while fostering partnerships to address environmental and health disparities.
What We Do
Community-Driven Research: Collaborate with residents to collect and analyze data on environmental challenges, such as urban heat and pollution.
Storytelling & Humanities: Use creative tools to share stories, advocate for change, and bridge the gap between scientific research and local experiences.
Bilingual Resources: Provide workshops, materials, and presentations in Spanish and English to ensure accessibility for all.
Why it Matters
Low-income communities and communities of color face disproportionate impacts from climate change and environmental injustice.
Informed residents can better advocate for their health, environment, and rights.
How You Can Get Involved
Join the Conversation: Share your experiences and ideas about climate and health challenges with us.
Come to our workshops. See below for our upcoming events.
Upcoming Events
New Ways for Imagining the Future of Humans and Nature presented by Jorge Marcone
Tuesday, February 11 at 12:45 – 1:45 pm (free period)
Location: Campus Center (South ABC)
The talk will explore how Indigenous and local knowledge are pivotal in shaping inclusive ecological futures, featuring films produced by contemporary Indigenous communities in the Global South and the U.S.
Dr. Marcone is Professor of Environmental Humanities in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese, and the Program in Comparative Literature at Rutgers University-New Brunswick. Associate Dean of Humanities at Rutgers’ School of Arts and Sciences, Co-director of the Public Humanities, and Environmental Humanities+Justice initiatives.
Voces de la Comunidad Presents: Storytelling, Materiality, and Environmental Change with Gisela Heffes
Wednesday, March 5 at 11:20 am – 1:50 pm (free period)
Location: Campus Center – West ABC Conference Room
Join us for a talk and workshop with Professor Heffes, a leading scholar in Latin American Environmental Humanities. This interactive session will explore how storytelling and materiality serve as powerful tools for engaging with ecological change, expanding beyond conventional narratives. Participants will reflect on the objects that shape their daily lives and collaborate in a creative activity that connects personal experiences to broader environmental changes.
11:20 am -12:20 pm Book Talk: Writing Assemblages: Ghost of Extinction and Material Entanglements
12:30 pm – 1:50 pm Workshop: Poetizing Absence: Storytelling, Extinction, and Loss
Refreshments will be provided.
Dr. Heffes is a Professor of Latin American Literature and Culture at Johns Hopkins University. She is a creative writer as well as one of the most prominent scholars in Latin American Environmental Humanities.
In Between Spaces in Translation: Writers House in Conversation with Latin American and Latinx Studies, MARCH, and English
Tuesday, March 11 at 12:45 – 1:45 pm
Location: Writers House (305 Cooper Street, Camden, NJ 08102)
Using The House on Mango Street as a starting point, four faculty members will explore the connections between identity, language, and environment. This discussion will consider what it means for a seminal work of Chicano literature to be composed in English, the complexities of translating it into Spanish, and how place—whether urban landscapes or cultural spaces—shapes the narratives we create.