Summer Impact Report: We couldn’t do this without your support
A Word from our Executive Director
First, let me thank you for making our work possible. None of the following could happen without your support. As you may know, we have such great teams! I have to brag on them a little…
Our Green Tie Awards was a huge success. The most people ever came to applaud legislators who spent their hours working for the environment and for environmental justice. Leaders who care, inspire us!
Attorney General, Josh Stein was the Keynote speaker and his words had the crowd on their feet, celebrating a leader who works for all the people of North Carolina.
We attended the Conservation Voter Movement's annual conference, and NCLCV Board Chair, Doug Rader, joined us. And once again, NC had a lot to share.
Ty McFarland, Director of Communications, presented a great Ignite talk about the work we’re doing as part of the Coalition Against Robinson’s Extremism (C.A.R.E) and killed it! Meech Carter, Director of Clean Energy Campaigns, presented www.energyfundsforall.org to great applause. And Kerry Wiggins inspired other state leagues with her vision for empowering communities.
Thank you for making it possible for our sister organizations, NCLCV– which works to elect legislators who care about ALL the people in North Carolina– and NCLCV Foundation–which works alongside community members to address issues that matter most to them–continue to fight for our environment, our communities, our democracy, and our climate. I say it often – voting is the most important thing we can do for our environment, and your support makes it happen.
What Mark Robinson says:
“The holocaust never happened.”
“I would take my truck and turn pro-Palestinian protesters into human speed bumps.”
“Once you make a baby, it’s not your body anymore. It's y'all's, and that includes the husband”
The LGBTQ community is "filth."
Climate science is "junk science."
Our top priority in 2024 is to elect Attorney General Josh Stein as Governor and to break the supermajority in at least one chamber of the General Assembly. We believe the North Carolina House of Representatives offers the best opportunity to restore balance. This work will also lay the groundwork for 2026 when North Carolina is expected to have a pivotal U.S. Senate race on the ballot, along with our state legislature.
Your Vote Matters
NCLCV is working hard to see that you know the best folks to elect. We join forces with multiple partners to grow our impact. For instance, in one primary race last May, we worked closely with Unite Here. They knocked on doors while we communicated with voters in their mailbox. We invested time. We invested dollars – with your help. But in the current political climate, winning still isn’t easy
Your vote matters. Every vote matters. Here’s just one example of how every vote counts: In House District 27 (Halifax, Northampton, and Warren), we helped defeat a 10-term incumbent, Michael Wray, who most recently had a 50% on our Scorecard. That means his votes had negative impacts on the environment, on social justice, on issues that matter to you and affect your lives.
In his place, we helped elect Rodney Pierce, an African American middle school teacher and environmental justice advocate who cares about how legislation affects all the people in his district. He cares about people and he cares about the environment.
He won the race by 34 votes.
“To the North Carolina League of Conservation Voters, thank you for your strategic support in my primary race. And to the citizens of our state, please don’t ever think that your vote doesn’t count or won’t have an impact on who represents you. The votes of 34 people made the difference for me.” Rodney Pierce
Clean Energy
Meech Carter, our Clean Energy Campaigns Director, was appointed to the NC Mining Commission’s stakeholder engagement panel in January to provide a conservation perspective on their rules reform within the mining program. This work is particularly relevant given two mining operations are entering North Carolina: one has already received permit approval, and another is set to file this upcoming summer. Our efforts on waste reduction strategies aim to minimize environmental impact, contributing to a sustainable approach to mining operations. Additionally, we are working to strengthen financial requirements, ensuring that mining companies have sufficient funds to manage potential risks and mitigate negative outcomes. This panel will continue into the summer and will likely impact the upcoming permit processes.
Khalilah Karim Joins the Development Staff
After five years as the PowerUp NC Director in Raleigh, Khalilah is bringing her expertise to Development as Co-Director.
“Khalilah was hired as the Associate Director,” says Lari Hatley, Director of Development, “but her skill, expertise, talent and wisdom were so quickly apparent. I knew I had a true partner, so we changed that title!”
“We are focusing on refining the public engagement threshold to ensure the voices and concerns of local communities are heard and addressed effectively.”
Meech Carter
Khalilah is a wife, mother, organizer, and longtime advocate of social justice. Growing up queer in a working-class Muslim family in Decatur, GA, she started organizing through the fight for queer rights and reproductive access for all, learning what it takes to build real community power. For the past decade, Khalilah has organized with AFSCME, SEIU, and numerous community groups. For much of that time, she built unions from the ground up, across the U.S., with private and public sector workers, implementing public policy and strategies for community transformation.
Lari and Khalilah serve both NCLCV and NCLCVF. Khalilah's deep connection to the work NCLCV Foundation does on the ground helps tell the story of our work and impact. So I hope you all get a chance to meet her in the near future.
PowerUp in Raleigh has a New Director: Marinel Ubaldo
Marinel Sumook Ubaldo is an environmental advocate and a Master of Environmental Management graduate at Duke University. With a wealth of experience in community engagement, climate change advocacy, and disaster risk management, she has established herself as a leading voice in environmental protection and social justice. Her work spans various roles, including member of the Advisory Board at Global Witness, Board Member at Climate Tracker Asia, and Founder and Co-Managing Director at Institute for Youth in Climate Diplomacy. Marinel’s commitment to her cause is further reflected in her extensive involvement with Laudato Si’ Philippines and Plan International, focusing on youth engagement and community development.
Throughout her career, Marinel has made significant contributions to both local and global initiatives. She spearheaded the ‘Make Rich Polluters Pay Campaign,’ generating over 500,604 actions globally to hold major polluters accountable, and the ‘Write4Rights Global Campaign,’ which garnered 538,070 actions worldwide to support dignified relocation for super-typhoon Haiyan survivors. Marinel also played a pivotal role as the main petitioner for the ‘National Inquiry on Climate Change,’ leading to a landmark resolution affirming the liability of major fossil fuel companies for human rights harms due to climate impacts. Her advocacy efforts have taken her to international platforms, where she speaks on climate policy, climate justice, loss and damage, and just energy transition.
Marinel is here at the North Carolina League of Conservation Voters (NCLCV) to continue her passionate advocacy for environmental justice and accountability. By working with NCLCV, she seeks to leverage her experience and insights to influence meaningful environmental policy changes, promote sustainable practices, and inspire collective action towards a just and resilient future.
“My goal is to amplify the voices of communities affected by climate change and environmental injustice and to push for stronger policies that hold polluters responsible.”
PowerUp NC in Fayetteville is getting ready to celebrate 10 years in the community
A highly successful Leadership Luncheon featuring Senator Val Applewhite not only inspired leaders in the community,it inspired the Fayetteville staff to plan an even bigger event to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of Power the Vote and the overlapping 10-year anniversary of PowerUp NC in Fayetteville next year!
PowerUp NC is still working in Eccles Park. The community had come to PowerUp for help in convincing the city to repair long standing damage done by inadequate drainage in the predominately Black and low-income community. After community meetings, petitions, meetings with the city council, visits by scientists and other experts, the city has agreed that the problem is the city’s, and something must be done. The city is searching for the $10,000,000 needed to repair the damage.
PowerUp Winston-Salem continued growing their coalition group, “100 Winston.”
PowerUp and 100 Winston continue to meet with local officials on affordable housing and addressing critical issues that prevent low-income homeowners from fully enjoying the benefits of the Weatherization Assistance Program. The city is currently revamping the TURN program, a forgivable loan program that assists homeowners with up-fitting homes, to make it more convenient for applicants to be approved. PowerUp NC is doing outreach with coalition members on IRA opportunities, as well as reaching out to major local churches to help spread the word.
Additionally, with the help of Meech Carter, NCLCV’s Clean Energy Director, PowerUp is diving into better understanding the Affordable Clean Energy Plan (aka the Inflation Reduction Act) and educating our constituents, so they understand, identify and apply for future benefits. Meech also worked with PowerUp to submit a proposoal, "Filling the Weatherization Gap: An Energy Efficiency Pilot Program in Winston-Salem," to DEQ’s Climate Pollution Reduction Grant Program.
Power Boards and Commissions: We launched our third fellowship program in April. Nearly 70 people attended the kickoff event in Fayetteville. Fayetteville Mayor Mitch Colvin brought greetings on behalf of the city, and Councilmember Malik Davis (a 2023 fellow) was the keynote speaker. This year, there are 12 fellows and 20 mentors participating in this innovative program. Ten fellows in this year’s class have already been accepted to a board, and two fellows from the 2022 cohort are now serving on NCLCV/F’s boards! In total, more than 25 fellows have been accepted to a board or commission in the last three years. Additionally, Power Boards for Democracy added two new staff members: Maraim Rivera, who was a fellow in our 2022 cohort, serves as program coordinator, and Ivis Romero, a current fellow, is serving as program assistant.
Kerry and Malik also were asked to present at the Conservation Voter Movement conference in Atlanta. They did a great job, and more and more states are interested in replicating the program.
Power The Vote: Power the Vote’s 2024 site- based nonpartisan voter registration program launched on April 8th. They are currently running programs in Winston-Salem, Fayetteville, Raleigh, Delco, and Greenville. The goal for this year is 40,000 voter registration forms, and we've already collected almost 18,000 registration cards.
In addition to the voter registration program, Power the Vote has launched its earliest Get Out the Vote (GOTV) program, running concurrently with our voter registration work. We will use all the tactics we have to ensure voters turn out in November-- door canvassing, site based work, parties to the polls, texting, and phone banks.
Administrative Advocacy –Work in Communities
Our Administrative Advocacy effort works with governmental agencies to ensure that all communities are well-served. It serves as an active watchdog to hold our decision-makers accountable to our communities. Here are just a few examples:
Our Administrative Advocate, Robin Smith, worked with WAMY Community Action on providing weatherization and home repair assistance to low-moderate income (LMI) community members in Yancey County. During the weatherization process, a community member receiving assistance was subjected to racial comments by the contractor doing the weatherization work. We worked with the local program staff to address this situation directly.
However, this incident flags a broader issue for Affordable Clean Energy funds coming into the state, and how those funds are administered. We are working to ensure that contractors conducting work for the state go through Diversity, Equity, and Inclusivity training to prevent what happened in Yancey County from happening in other locations, especially in rural areas.
Environmental Justice: We also submitted comments on the draft environmental justice goals prepared by the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (NCDEQ) pursuant to Executive Order 292. The draft goals lacked specific, measurable, attainable, and time-bound goals to reach the objectives set forward in Executive Order 292. NCLCV worked in collaboration with SELC, NCCN and other organizations to provide feedback on ways the Department could improve their environmental justice goals.
Carbon Plan: NCLCV also worked to engage a technical expert to assist the CPIRP subcommittee on the Carbon Plan Scorecard development. The committee is now working to set up a meeting with the NC Utilities Public staff to discuss the scorecard and what can be done to address the problems.
We worked in partnership with People Power NC to turn the community out to the Roxboro (Person County) and Marshall (Catawba County) Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity hearings in June. We developed talking points to assist community members in testifying at the hearings.
Your support makes it possible for NCLCV to continue holding Duke Energy accountable.
None of this would have been possible without you. Thank you for your support. It should be no surprise that Duke’s updated carbon plan received another failing grade.”
Your support is helping us fight for cleaner energy
Beginning last year, and continuing through much of this year, NCLCVF has engaged in a substantial paid media campaign around the Carbon Plan and Duke Accountability. Using messages developed and tested through our polling project, we created television and social media ads calling for the NC Utilities Commission to reject Duke’s plan and hold them accountable. Our ads began last fall and have run since March this year (they will pause at the end of August). The ads are tied to our website and a petition to further educate and engage North Carolinians on demanding clean energy in North Carolina. And our PowerUp organizers will be following up with a postcard campaign from residents who are impacted by high utility bills and ongoing pollution. We recently submitted over 1,000 signatures calling on the NC Utilities Commission (NCUC) to reject Duke’s plan. We have heard specifically from Duke and the Utilities Commission that they are seeing the ads. In July, the NCUC Public Staff questioned significant elements of Duke’s plan, calling instead for less gas, and more renewable energy and battery storage than Duke proposed. We intend to go back on the air in November, before NCUC announces their plan at the end of the year.
Here’s our latest ad.
Thank you for making all of this work possible!
