Events - The Margin

After Allen Field
A Briefing Series taking you inside the story
August 7th, 2025

Join The Margin and Managing Editor, Ko Bragg, for an urgent conversation about After Allen Field, journalist Amal Ahmed’s deep‑dive into Harris County, Texas’s first mandatory buyout program. In the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, county officials identified Allen Field—a low‑lying, predominantly Hispanic and Black neighborhood along Greens Bayou—as “hopelessly deep” in the floodplain and paid more than 400 homeowners to leave. Rather than build infrastructure, the land was cleared, leaving vacant lots where families once lived and fracturing the tight‑knit community ties built over generations. As Texas communities reel from the latest Guadalupe River flooding, this discussion couldn’t be more urgent.

Read the story here.

AUGUST 7TH, 2025
7 PM CST (8 PM EST)
ZOOM

Speakers

Panelist: Amal Ahmed, Journalist - After Allen Field
Panelist: Zoe Middleton, fmr. Harris County staffer, Associate Policy Director at the Union of Concerned Scientists
Panelist: Alice Liu, Co-Director of Communications, Organizing, and Disaster Preparedness with West Street Recovery
Host: Ko Bragg, Managing Editor, The Margin

They’ll unpack:

Managed retreat vs. resilience: What lessons can other flood‑prone regions learn from Houston’s bold and imperfect experiment?

Equity in disaster policy: How mandatory buyouts can both protect lives and disrupt communities, especially among historically marginalized groups

The human cost: Stories of families who never returned to Allen Field—and those who, through organizing, secured additional support to rebuild on safer ground

Registration Info
https://bit.ly/AfterAllenField

Hosting Organization & Contact Info
The Margin
contact@themargin.us

In Toxic Detention
A Briefing Series Inside the Story
July 8th, 2025

View the recording of the event here. 

Join us for a powerful discussion with journalist Rico Moore, the investigative reporter behind The Margin’s exposé “In Toxic Detention,” and community members directly impacted by Washington’s privately run immigration facility: the Northwest Detention Center (NWDC) in Tacoma.

JULY 8TH, 2025
6 PM PST (9 PM EST)
ZOOM

For years, NWDC has operated on a toxic Superfund site, exposing detainees to contaminated soil, groundwater, and air, with ongoing reports of diesel fumes, brown water, and mental health crises behind its walls.

Despite hundreds of complaints and mounting evidence, ICE and GEO Group continue to block public health inspections and deny wrongdoing. This event brings together voices on the frontlines of environmental justice, immigrant rights, and investigative journalism.

• Read the story here 
• Hear the story behind the investigation
• Listen to first-hand testimonies
• Submit your questions for discussion

Speakers
Panelist: Rico Moore, Journalist - In Toxic Detention
Panelist: Rufina Reyes, Director of La Resistencia
Panelist: Maru Mora-Villalpando, Founder of La Resistencia
Host: Bryce Cracknell, Editor in Chief & Founder, The Margin

Hosting Organization & Contact Info
The Margin
contact@themargin.us