State Senator Nell Soto (D – Pomona) today honored environmental activist Penny Newman as the 2005 “Woman of the Year” for the 32nd Senate District.

Newman is executive director of the Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice (CCAEJ), an Inland Valley-based non-profit organization. She has been active on environmental issues for more than two decades.

Soto said she was proud to honor Newman for her “life’s work on behalf of the people of the Inland Empire, in particular, Penny’s efforts on environmental justice and other quality-of-life issues.” Newman was recognized along with other “Women of the Year” chosen from the respective districts of the other Senators and members of the Assembly.

Under Newman’s direction, the CCAEJ has assisted 32nd Senate District residents in a number of ways, including leadership development though the SALTA (Salud Ambiental, Latinas Tomando Acción – Environmental Health-Latinas Taking Action) program to raise awareness to environmental health threats around them; workshops on community planning and land use; organizing on transportation issues such as diesel emissions from trucks and locomotives; and helping to raise public awareness of the threat of perchlorate contamination in local water supplies.

“I am extremely honored that Senator Soto has selected me as a representative of CCAEJ’s work in the Inland Valleys to make our communities safer, healthier, toxic-free places for all of us to live, work, learn and play,” Newman says.  “This is truly in recognition of all the courageous people in our communities that stand up to the powers that be and demand a voice in decisions that affect all our families. And I am grateful to Senator Soto for once again recognizing the role community activists play in making our neighborhoods, and our society, better for everyone.”