
Partnership not Punishment
Partnership not Punishment How Moratoriums and Bans on neighborhood breeders endangers community-based sheltering We acknowledge that caring for companion animals within shelters is exhausting, frustrating,
A three percent increase in adoptions among people of color would give 2 MILLION pets a loving home.
97% of Animal Welfare holds an implicit bias against individuals from low socioeconomic status, and over 65% hold implicit bias toward Latin X and African Americans.
The work we do at CARE, Human and Animal Well-Being, addresses the bias within Animal Welfare in service to the field and marginalized people and their pets.
HUMAN AND ANIMAL WELL-BEING [HAW] is a unique, six stage, method of community support and advocacy that centers the well-being of people, in contrast to Animal Welfare’s traditional animal only focus. Few organizations work in the same way as CARE. As illustrated below, we start with building trust with community members before attempting to implement programming.
Our work begins with establishing trusting relationships within marginalized and underserved communities.
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We ask those closest to community challenges for their insights by way of Community Participatory Research [CPR]
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Insights gains from CPR and other studies guide CARE’s program design, partnerships, and resource distribution.
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Community Animal CARE is a shelter intervention program that supports communities with pets and their Proximate Leaders.
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Everything we learn from our community partners and research studies is hosted and shared through The Circle of Learning and Leadership.
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People of Color and marginalized communities suffer from negative stereotypes. Our Narratives tell a truer and more beautiful story about them.
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Our programs and their missions
🏭 Residents of the Colleton County Black community are facing challenges related to a contentious $5 billion gas power plant and pipeline needed for a data center.
An article from Capital B News @capitalbnews shows that this project could become one of the largest in the South, following failed attempts to build a similar campus in a predominantly white county in Georgia.
Federal agencies have been directed to fast-track AI data centers on contaminated sites, including a nearby one.
🌳 This proposal threatens timberland and wetlands and is part of a broader expansion of energy-intensive facilities in South Carolina. Santee Cooper and Dominion Energy are advocating for the gas plant along the Edisto River, but its costs have already doubled, sparking environmental concerns over air quality, water resources, and wildlife habitats.
For years, Black residents have fought for the cleanup of Superfund sites as part of the environmental justice movement. The plan to build data centers on these hazardous sites has raised alarm among advocates, who see it as compromising community health for commercial gains.
🛢️ The proposed gas plant for the Colleton County data center may result in over $30 million in local healthcare costs due to increased respiratory illnesses, as noted by the Southern Environmental Law Center. Gas power plants emit harmful pollutants that disproportionately affect Black Americans, while diesel backup generators can worsen air pollution in nearby non-white communities.
Black Americans have the highest death rates from pollution in the U.S. Data centers pose health risks due to their diesel backup generators, which emit harmful particles similar to those from gas power plants.
⛔ Researchers found that about 4 million people live within one mile of these centers, exposing them to higher levels of diesel exhaust and other pollutants, primarily affecting predominantly non-white communities.
🔗 Read the full article in the link in bio
#CAREequity #CARENews
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📍 The story of segregation in America didn’t happen on accident, it was designed by American policy.
Historian Richard Rothstein, author of ‘The Color of Law’ argues that federal housing programs created after the Great Depression deliberately separated white and Black communities. Through policies like redlining, federal agencies denied mortgage insurance in neighborhoods with Black residents while subsidizing white suburban developments that excluded them.
🚧 Public housing followed a similar pattern. Early projects were built for working-class families but were segregated by race. When federal programs later helped white families move to suburban neighborhoods, public housing became concentrated with low-income residents and communities of color.
These policies didn’t just shape neighborhoods, they forever shaped opportunity.
🏡 Homeownership allowed many white families to build wealth, send their children to college, and pass resources to future generations. Families who were excluded from those opportunities were left far behind.
Understanding this history helps explain why housing inequality persists today.
📖 Source: @npr / Fresh Air interview with Richard Rothstein @nprfreshair
🔗 Read the full story at the link in our bio.
#CAREequity
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💔 Dr. Michele L. Whitney`s @drmichelelisa groundbreaking phenomenological study, Understanding Grief Experiences of Pet Loss Among African Americans (Walden University @waldenuniversity, 2025), addresses a critical gap in human-animal bond research.
The Study: 23 African American adults in the Midwest who experienced pet loss during adulthood participated in semi-structured interviews.
📑 The Framework: Grounded in the Dual Process Model of coping with bereavement (DPM), which examines how individuals oscillate between loss-oriented coping (grief work) and restoration-oriented coping (adapting to life after loss).
🔎 Key Findings: Eight primary themes emerged, capturing the lived experiences of participants: (a) familial bonds and pet relationships, (b) anticipatory grief, (c) disenfranchised grief, (d) grief confrontation, (e) grief avoidance, (f) post-loss social support, (g) grief inequities, and (h) spiritual and emotional growth.
This research informs culturally relevant practices in human services, mental health, and bereavement care.
💡 Read Dr. Whitney`s full research using the link in our bio
#CAREequity
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UPDATE: Kitty is home!
We are almost there. Keep Donating! Still need $1,085
Direct CARE CALL!🚨
This cutey named Puff Rush needs your help.
🩺 Urinary Obstruction Surgery
💵 COST: $3,000
The cat owner only got approved for $1,000 in Care Credit. Right now the clinic is Holding her cat until she can pay the full amount.
Let’s help her get her cat back ASAP!
We need to raise $2650
Donate with link in the bio!
Or
https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=FRS4TFNP987DE
All funds will cover her costs and the rest will go into Direct CARE funds for the month of March!
#givedirectcare
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The Gathering tickets are on sale!
May 11-13th in Philly
The Study at the University
2 Days of workshops and presentations.
Learn about branding, public relations, budgets, policies and grants.
This year’s receptions is a Black and White Ball!
Tickets are $249
BIPOC Tickets are $99 (limited quantity) – email jen@careawo for BIPOC ticket code
Special thanks to our main event sponsor Maddie’s Fund
Registration in Bio or https://secure.qgiv.com/for/companionsandanimalsforreformandequity/event/thegathering4/
#thegathering2026 #philly #alessoninlove #thankstomaddie
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Partnership not Punishment How Moratoriums and Bans on neighborhood breeders endangers community-based sheltering We acknowledge that caring for companion animals within shelters is exhausting, frustrating,

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The Impact of a Conversation By: Michelle George, National Director of CAC Operations The impact of a conversation can lead to many things.