Our mission is to build trust and alignments among members to fight climate change in a just and equitable way.
USCAN’S VISION
We envision a powerful, inclusive, and trusting network of US organizations who work together to meet the global goals in the Paris Climate Agreement and exceed the US targets outlined in that agreement.
USCAN’S THEORY OF CHANGE
USCAN’s theory of change is that if we work together we will successfully impact climate change. This is rooted in the belief that our network members must double down on democracy and relationships in order to pursue our shared goals. Our inside game and our outside game members must be in relationships with each other and coordinate in areas where they decide that working together will enable us to meet the network’s vision.
Front Cover:
USCAN Annual Meeting 2019.
Photo Credit: Grace June Imagery.
USCAN members protesting to stop Enbridge line 3 pipeline.
Photo credit: Grace June Imagery.
MESSAGE FROM THE BOARD CHAIR
Friends, Allies and USCAN Family, 2019 was an interesting year, characterized by tumult in the halls of power and a continuation of the uphill struggle we in the climate community have faced since Trump’s election in 2016. However, 2019 was also a year of highlights, both for the movement and for USCAN. We are finally seeing everyday people, in the US and around the world, stand up and say “enough” — just a few examples of which include the meteoric rise of a cohort of inspirational young activists led by Greta Thunberg and the proliferation of civil society actions like Fire Drill Fridays and Shut Down DC.
USCAN continues to operate at the center of those refusing to take matters lying down. Our membership, the beating heart of our network, has expanded from 165 to 176, and they are leveraging the power of collaboration, relationships, and speaking with one voice more than ever. This year, our Member Empowerment Grants program supported 23 proposals for a range of collaborative projects including but not limited to developing leadership in frontline organizations, building power to support tribally-led climate justice efforts, and increasing engagement and activism within faith communities. From joining strikes across the US and taking over the COP 25 Plenary to developing and implementing our
own Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion checklist across all our work, I am proud that the centering of shared strategies that lift up all voices and perspectives — which was a primary aim of our 2017–22 strategic plan — has been brought to life.
Looking ahead to 2020 and beyond, I am hopeful. The challenge is significant, but our network, and our community at large, is equal to it. The development of a Vision for Equitable Climate Action (VECA) policy platform, which focuses on a just socio–economic transition that bridges the rural–urban divide, is underway and will be ready for implementation by the next Administration. Arm in Arm — a movement designed to force a transition to climate conscious behaviors across society — is gathering steam. And all this as we roll into the year that the Paris Agreement takes effect.
MESSAGE FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Climate Strikes, Fire Drill Fridays, Shut Down DC, and taking over the COP 25 Plenary were just some of the highlights of 2019 for our network. This was the year that all the Democrats in the primary supported the Green New Deal. This was the year that climate activist Greta Thunberg was selected by Time Magazine as their Person of the Year. This was the year that Trump attacked her on Twitter, was impeached, announced his intention to withdraw from the Paris Agreement, made our light bulbs (and our everything) pollute more, and made clear that he is totally confused about wind energy and the struggles of everyday people who have been caught in floods and fires. This was the year our members sowed the seeds for more organizing and more non- cooperation, even while we planned to get more engaged in policy and elections.
Our network was strong coming out of 2019, ready to face the reality of what it will take to achieve our vision of meeting the original goals put forward in the Paris Agreement. I remember a decade ago, looking at the model runs and repeating over and over to the media that we needed to hit a turning point in 2020, so that our greenhouse gas emissions “peak and decline” in 2020. The next decade is critical for limiting the dangerous risks and impacts of irreversible, runaway climate change impacts. Never before in the history of humanity have we faced such threats to either our well-being or that of the planet's ecosystems. We have a decade to halve our emissions to meet our vision as a network. The next decade is critical. The year ahead is critical, and we must be ready to do more. Arm in arm, our communities will need to ignite a transformational era that will end the climate crisis by centering racial and economic justice. Let’s do this.
Onward!
Rachel Potter
While the UN climate meetings at COP 25 were a failure in 2019, the good news about this COP was that our members rose up in solidarity and remained nonviolent in the face of aggressive UN security who were ripping badges off peoples’ necks and signs out of their hands, even while they indiscriminately pushed people out into the cold without coats. Our people practiced nonviolent civil disobedience, exactly as it must be practiced.
In solidarity, Keya Chatterjee
USCAN Board Chair Rachel Potter (Climate Nexus).
USCAN Executive Director Keya Chatterjee.
Photo Credit: Erica Flock.
2019–2021 USCAN BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Our board members are a critical leaders both within and outside of the network. They selflessly devote their time to weaving strong relationships amongst our members, participating in various USCAN committees, and making sure we have the resources necessary to achieve our shared vision. Last year, every board member made a financial contribution to USCAN.
TERM ENDING JULY 2020
Alden Meyer
(USCAN Member Empowerment Grants Review Team)
Director of Strategy & Policy Union of Concerned Scientists
Associate Vice President, Campaigns National Wildlife Federation
Colette Pichon Battle
(USCAN Development Committee Chair)
Director
Gulf Coast Center for Law & Policy
Daniel Sosland
President Acadia Center
TERM ENDING JULY 2021
Dr. Jalonne White-Newsome (USCAN Treasurer)
Senior Program Officer
The Kresge Foundation
Dyanna Jaye
Organizing Director Sunrise Movement
Jacob Harold (new board member)
President and Chief Executive Officer Candid
James C. “JC” Woodley (new board member)
Executive Director
Jail and Prison Rehabilitation Information (JAPRI)
David Turnbull (USCAN Secretary)
Strategic Communications Director Oil Change International
Kyle Ash (USCAN Board Functions Committee Chair)
Senior Legislative Representative Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM)
Rachel Potter (USCAN Chair)
Managing Director, Operations Climate Nexus
William (Bill) Snape (USCAN General Counsel)
Senior Counsel Center for Biological Diversity
Joe Goldman (new board member)
President Democracy Fund
Rev. Leo Woodbery
Pastor, Consultant Kingdom Living Temple
Joe Uehlein (USCAN Vice-Chair & Future Vision Committee Chair)
President and Executive Director Labor Network for Sustainability
Mikhiela Sherrod (new board member)
Executive Director
Agricultural Missions, Inc.
Top: USCAN Board Members at the 2019 Annual Meeting. Pictured: from left to right: Kyle Ash (Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine), Rev. Leo Woodberry (Kingdom Living Temple), Colette Pichon Battle (Gulf Coast Center for Law & Policy), Keya Chatterjee (USCAN), David Turnbull (Oil Change International) J. Drake Hamilton (FRESH Energy Group), Claudia Malloy (National Wildlife Federation). Not pictured: Alden Meyer (Union of Concerned Scientists), Daniel Sosland (Acadia Center), Rachel Potter (Climate Nexus), William Snape (Center for Biological Diversity), Dyanna Jaye (Sunrise Movement), Jacob Harold (Candid), James "JC" Woodley. (Jail and Prison Rehabilitation Information), Joe Goldman (Democracy Fund), Joe Uehlein (Labor Network for Sustainability), Mikhiela Sherrod (Agricultural Missions, Inc.) Photo Credit: Grace June Imagery.
Bottom: USCAN Members attending the CAN International Strategy Meetings. Pictured from left to right: Carrie Clayton (USCAN), Rev. Leo Woodberry (Kingdom Living Temple), Kathy Egland (NAACP and EECHO), Alden Meyer (Union of Concerned Scientists), Mikhiela Sherrod (Agricultural Missions, Inc.), Rev. Michael Malcom (The People's Justice Council), Loretta Slater (The Whitney M. Slater Foundation). Photo Credit: Rev. Michael Malcom.
OUR NETWORK
This
Earth
Energy
First
Interfaith
Interfaith
Low
Interfaith Power and Light Minnesota
Mothers Out Front
Mt.
Pee
Resurrection
Sojourners
Southeast Climate and Energy Network (SCEN)
Unitarian Universalist Service Committee
Utah
Various members at USCAN Annual Meeting 2019. Photo Credit: Grace June Imagery.
Micco Sampson of the Sampson Brothers, USCAN Annual Meeting 2019. Photo Credit: Grace June Imagery.
STRATEGIC PLAN
This year marked the third year of our 2017–2022 Strategic Plan. This year, we continued to focus on meeting our core goals of Democratic Participation, Trust, Alignment, and Effectiveness within the network. We also put an additional emphasis on improving competency in our three top value propositions for network members.
GOAL 1: DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION GOALS
Democracy is a core value and practice that informs how decisions are made network-wide. In 2019 we continued the practice of soliciting member input through participation in member-led committees. We also sought input into the issues and strategies on the voting ballot and informed the Annual Meeting program by inviting members’ participation in the annual spring survey. The Nominations Committee worked together to develop the list of strategies along with descriptions that constituted the voting ballot. And, as described below, the Nominations Committee redefined and led the voting process at the Annual Meeting. The Steering Committee took guidance from the spring survey to identify plenary and breakout session topics at the Annual Meeting.
On our annual fall survey, we solicited member input into several key decisions, ranging from USCAN participation in various coalition tables to interest and willingness to sign onto policy statements.
VOTING PROCESS AND ACTION TEAMS
Every year at the Annual Meeting the network democratically votes on Network Alignment Areas. The Nominations Committee oversees and updates the process beforehand and is actively engaged during the Annual Meeting to ensure a fair and equitable voting process from start to finish. This year, with feedback from the previous year and leaders on the committee; USCAN piloted an evolution from sticker dot voting to ranked-choice voting. Ranked-choice voting can minimize “wasted” votes and the impact of strategic voting or “peer pressure.” This allows for freedom to rank areas in order of choice to allow the voter to express full, honest preferences on the ballots.
At the June convening 161 voting participants (VoPs) from 125 member organizations selected four priorities to accompany our standing priority and commitment to engage
in the global climate negotiations (Global Climate Advocacy): 100% Renewable Energy, 2020 Elections, Building Power from the Grassroots Up, and Equitable and Ambitious Climate Vision.
Each of these priorities are being advanced by action teams that carry the same name. Action team leadership, description and priorities were selected and defined for the 2019–2020 period:
100%
Renewable Energy
This action team is co-led by Huda Alkaff (Wisconsin Green Muslims) and Harrison Wallace (Chesapeake Climate Action Network). This Action Team strives to further 100% renewable energy commitments and measurable achievements around the world. It emphasizes making sure that 100% RE commitments and achievements are clean, healthy, renewable, and rapidly deployable. Members work on this by making sure that energy equity and just energy for all are central to the Action Team’s work.
Preparing for the 2020 Elections for Just and Equitable Climate Action
This Action Team is co-led by RL Miller (Climate Hawks Vote) and Jacob Johns (Backbone Campaign). This Action Team focuses on preparing to win 2020 elections for just and equitable climate action by making sure climate change is a top electoral priority. Members also coordinate and align the work of members in lobbying and election-related activities that are aimed at securing just and equitable climate action.
USCAN Intern Blythe Coleman Mumford at the pre-Annual Meeting Leaders of Color Gathering. Photo Credit: Grace June Imagery.
Building Power from the Grassroots Up
Co-chairs Shontae Cannon-Buckley (Clean Air Coalition of Western New York) and James “JC” Woodley (JAPRI.org) lead this Action Team. Groups collaborate through a just and equitable process to build grassroots power in the climate movement, under the leadership of grassroots and frontline USCAN members. Together, we are creating space for a stronger, more coordinated climate network across the diverse member organizations, as well as exploring opportunities and advancing strategies to increase funding to the grassroots.
Equitable and Ambitious Climate Vision
This Action Team is co-led by David Arkush (Public Citizen) and Lindsay Harper (Georgia WAND). The Equitable and Ambitious Climate Vision (EACV) Action Team continued developing the Vision for Equitable Climate Action (VECA) policy platform, by further exploring and emphasizing the elements related to a just social and economic transition, the urban/rural divide, and making sure those elements are central. This team began coordinated discussions with policy makers and allies at all levels and aims to have a document ready in early 2020 for deployment by the elected US President and Congress on Inauguration Day, January 2021.
Global Climate Advocacy
MIchael Hansen (Gasp) and Kelly Stone (ActionAid US) co-lead this Action Team. The Global Climate Advocacy Team (GCA) has two major goals. The first is to coordinate with GCA members and other US stakeholders to influence the administration, educate Congress and leverage US engagement in international processes to advocate for and create stronger policies and tools for their implementation. The second is to frame broad US engagement in international spaces and share information on process and outcomes with USCAN membership and beyond (e.g., CLEAN list, etc).
CLEAN STRATEGY
GOAL 2: TRUST
We aim to build the foundational relationships essential for collective action by facilitating peer learning activities that foster trust and candor between members.
Trust is earned, not given. It takes time, and it takes great care. A network is remarkably more impactful when members sincerely trust each other. USCAN continued focusing on building connections between members to solidify a foundation to USCAN’s member alignment success. Members continued to build trust by getting to know one another and working together in action teams (see page 9), on committees (i.e., Annual Meeting Steering Committee, Nominations Committee, etc.), during in-person gatherings and with the support of collaborative grants (see page 14).
In April 2019, an advisory committee of members came together to take stock of how to revitalize Clean Strat, the member-led group dedicated to coordinating federal lobbying action. Members discussed how to fill the gaps around building block climate proposals, Green New Deal policies, and issues of resilience and environmental justice. Since the meeting, Clean Strat has focused on building momentum on legislation where there is member alignment, coordinating defense around administrative rollbacks, and making progress on critical bills to the climate movement. One key outcome of the meeting in April was to have members meet in person each week to build the relationships necessary to move at the speed of trust. In 2019, members provided input to the Select Committee on the House Crisis and built support in the House of Representatives for the 100% Clean Economy Act.
ANNUAL MEETING
Following the Annual Meeting, we asked members how well we met our goal of strengthening and deepening connections, fostering the development of new relationships and building trust across the network. Of those that answered this question, 78.9% agreed that we met this goal. Members also shared that they met or reconnected with 1 or more people with whom they aligned around strategy (93%).
Keya Chatterjee interviews Governor Jay Inslee. Photo Credit: Tamara Toles O'Laughlin,
Buddhist Tzu Chi Foundation's Steve Chiu
USCAN Annual Meeting 2019.
Photo Credit: Grace June Imagery.
FIRE DRILL FRIDAYS
GOAL 3: FOSTER ALIGNMENTS
Alignment is a process in which members reach shared understanding with people they trust. In 2019 USCAN continued to build critical mass for climate action by facilitating the deepening of alignments between clusters of members and implementing shared strategies.
ARM IN ARM
Over the course of 2019, twelve USCAN Members gathered together under the auspices of USCAN’s “organizing hub” to study the history of social movements. The team used that learning to design a new effort called Arm in Arm. Arm in Arm is designed to create a decentralized mass movement centered around nonviolent direct action. We began the initiative with the assertion that in order to achieve our vision, we will need to have large-scale civil disobedience. Historically, movements that have been able to engage 3.5% of the population in civil disobedience have been able to secure fast and deep change in their societies. In this process we came together using the successful methodology of the Sunrise Movement, using the “momentum” theory of organizing and “frontloading” for planning. This work allowed the group to struggle together toward joint political education and analysis and to create a plan to get to scale. The “frontloading” process, which simply means planning for successfully achieving an objective, prepared us for decentralization.
Networks like USCAN are structures that are set up for decentralized action, and by introducing these concepts and processes to our members, we were able to leverage the power within our network. Together, the member-led team created a powerful “DNA” to meet more people’s needs at a higher level. The “DNA” is comprised of strategy, story, and structure; simple principles that will enable complex behavior and allow for unity and autonomy among the movement’s participants. As this annual report was being finalized, members were beta testing Arm in Arm in more than a dozen locations in their communities and across the network to organize “Arm in Arm in our communities to ignite a transformational era that ends the climate crisis by centering economic and racial justice.” In 2020, Arm in Arm will launch a distributed organizing model with autonomous hubs and supporting organizations that will get millions of Americans to participate in coordinated work stoppages and boycotts, aiming for a crescendo in 2022.
In 2019 many USCAN members participated in civil disobedience with Jane Fonda through Fire Drill Fridays. Each Thursday, Jane held a teach-in on a different topic, and each Friday she led celebrities and activists to risk arrest and demand a Green New Deal. USCAN members participated throughout Fire Drill Fridays. Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, Hip Hop Caucus, Sunrise Movement, GreenLatinos, and many other USCAN members were involved. Some highlights where when Keya Chatterjee (USCAN) spoke at the launch of Fire Drill Fridays and when the American Nurses for a Healthy Environment organized over 60 nurses to get arrested on the day focused on public health, which was also Jane’s 82nd birthday on December 21, 2019. As Jane Fonda said, “We don’t do civil disobedience as a first effort. But we’ve been petitioning and writing and marching and begging the government, and they don’t hear. We’ve used every lever of democracy. And so we have to take a step further." In 2020, Greenpeace is taking forward Fire Drill Fridays to expand the places and people able to risk arrest to demand a Green New Deal.
USMUST
In 2019 we launched US Mobilizing for Urgent and Sustained Transformation (USMUST), our 501(c)(4). The name was suggested by USCAN board member, Alden Meyer, and voted upon by USCAN members. This sister entity to USCAN will enable us to coordinate our 501(c)(4) members around additional political work in the coming decade as the stakes rise in each election and legislative cycle.
WORLD BANK PROTESTS
On October 18, activists from around the world converged to call for the World Bank President and Directors to take stronger action on climate change. Co-coordinated by USCAN, its members and global and national allies, more than 75 folks mobilized in Washington, DC’s Murrow Park to hear speakers before marching around the International Finance Corporation and back to the park. Along the route, protesters stopped in front of the press office, where reporters came out to capture photos and quotes. A collaboratively drafted letter, with signons of more than 110 organizations, was delivered to Work Bank President Malpass and Directors.
Top: Arm in Arm members at the June 2019 Retreat. Pictured: first row left to right: Elizabeth Lee (United Methodist Women), Keya Chatterjee (USCAN), Marie Risalvato (USCAN), Aru Shiney-Ajay (Sunrise Movement), Mikhiela Sherrod (Agricultural Missions), Loretta Slater (Whitney M. Slater Foundation), Rev. Leo Woodberry (Kingdom Living Temple). Second row left to right: Cara Cook (Nurses for Healthy Environments), Lindsay Harper (Georgia WAND), Michael Hansen (GASP), Guido Girgenti ( facilitator), Cherise Udell (Utah Moms for Clean Air), Ife Kilimanjaro (USCAN), Mark Magana (GreenLatinos). Not pictured: Alison Arne (New Jersey Organizing Project), Jacob Johns (Backbone Campaign). Photo Credit: Lindsay Harper.
Heron Belfron of the
Bottom:
Jubilee Debt Campaign Caribbean speaking at the 2019 World Bank Protests. Photo Credit: Brandon Wu.
2019 USCAN MEMBER EMPOWERMENT GRANT RECIPIENTS
In 2019 the USCAN Member Empowerment Grant Program was able to support 23 grassroots/frontlines USCAN member organizations! As a member-run program, the funds approved support projects covering four major types of work: collaborative implementation, peer learning, grassroots/frontlines, and alignment convening. These kinds of activities build trust and build power to advance climate-friendly energy policies and broaden climate solutions partnerships.
2019 USCAN MEMBER EMPOWERMENT GRANTS RECIPIENTS:
Agricultural Missions, Inc
Collaborative for Training, Consciousness Raising and Strategy Development, Peer Learning . Partnering with Partnership for Southern Equity, Care About Climate, Climate Justice Lead, Christian Social Action, United Methodist Women
Care About Climate
Finishing Up Asset Mapping, Collaborative Implementation Partnering with Sustaining Way, Georgia WAND, People’s Justice Council
Creation Justice Ministries
Next Generation Rising, Peer Learning Partnering with Franciscan Action Network, Interfaith Power and Light of the DMV, Young Evangelicals for Climate Action, Our Children’s Trust, GreenFaith
Earth Ministry
Building Bridges, Building Power, Grassroots/Frontlines (two-year grant)
EcoEquity
The US Fair Share in a Global Climate Emergency Mobilization — Building Civil Society Consensus, Collaborative Implementation Partnering with ActionAid, North Carolina Interfaith Power and Light, Center for Biological Diversity
Environmental Finance Center West at Earth Island Institute (EFC West)
Motivating Moccasins on the Ground: Engaging Tribal Communities Around Climate Change, Grassroots/ Frontlines (two-year grant)
Gasp
The Southeast Climate & Energy Podcast, Collaborative Implementation . Partnering with Southeast Climate & Energy Network (SCEN), Gulf Coast Center for Law & Policy, People’s Justice Council
Georgia Interfaith Power and Light (GIPL)
Building Resilience: Alabama/Georgia Weatherization & Nuclear Protection Project, Collaborative Implementation Partnering with Georgia WAND, Partnership for Southern Equity, People’s Justice Council
Georgia Interfaith Power and Light (GIPL)
Green Teams Mobilize for a Just Transition: Coal, Ash, and 100% Clean Cities, Grassroots/Frontlines (two-year grant)
Jail & Prison Rehabilitation Information Community Outreach Program (JAPRI)
Kentucky Clean Energy Coalition Campaign, Grassroots/ Frontlines (two-year grant)
Kingdom Living Temple
Justice First Campaigns — A Green New Deal from a Southern Perspective, Collaborative Implementation. Partnering with Gulf Coast Center for Law and Policy, Dogwood Alliance, Southeast Climate and Energy Network (SCEN)
Kingdom Living Temple
South Carolina State Solar Initiative, Peer Learning Partnering with Low Country Alliance for Model Communities, The Whitney M. Slater Foundation, Restoration Outreach Ministries, Southeast Climate Energy Network (SCEN)
Michigan Interfaith Power and Light (MI IPL)
Engaging the Unengaged: Enlisting Less-Involved Populations in Climate Conversations, Peer Learning Partnering with Minnesota IPL, Iowa IPL, Ohio IPL, Pennsylvania IPL
Mt. Zion Community Outreach, Inc - Change Earth, Wind, & Water: We Have the Power!, Grassroots/ Frontlines (two-year grant)
Mt. Zion Community Outreach, Inc
Climate Justice Healing Conversation Circles, Peer Learning Partnering with Wisconsin Green Muslims, The Imani Group, Inc., National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), Environmental and Climate Justice Program
New Jersey Resource Project
Keep Our Communities Above Water: Working Together for Socially and Economically Just Adaptation and Mitigation, Collaborative Implementation Partnering with New Jersey Research Project, Anthropocene Alliance, MHAction, Sierra Club, Union of Concerned Scientists
People’s Justice Council
Mapping the Equity and Environmental & Climate Justice Network of the American South, Collaborative Implementation . Partnering with Southeast Climate and Energy Network (SCEN), Partnership for Southern Equity, Georgia WAND
All Our Little Lights: Convening Local Faith Communities for Climate Action, Collaborative Implementation. Partnering with Interfaith Power and Light, United Methodist General Board of Church Society, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
The Whitney M. Slater Foundation
Fully Engaging Black USCAN Members for Action, Alignment Convening . Partnering with Sol Nation, NAACP, Alabama IPL, United Methodist Church General Board of Church and Society, Clean Air Coalition
Wisconsin Green Muslims
100% Equitable Renewable Energy, Peer Learning Partnering with Chesapeake Climate Action Network, Environment America, Economic and Environmental Justice, United Methodist Women
A big thank you to the Member Empowerment Grant Review Committee for 2019:
Alden Meyer, Union of Concerned Scientist and USCAN Board Member
Bill Wood West Michigan Environmental Action Council
Hanford Lin, Buddhist Tzu Chi Foundation
Nakisa Glover, Sol Nation
Patricia Carlson, Sustaining Way
Sara Ward Ohio IPL
(In the foreground left to right) Huda Alkaff (Wisconsin Green Muslims), Jacob Johns (Backbone Campaign) and Jana Merkelbach (CAN International) at pre-Annual Meeting Leaders of Color Gathering, 2019.
Photo Credit: Grace June Imagery.
USCAN Executive Director Keya Chatterjee speaking while Jane Fonda looks on at the Fire Drill Fridays Mobilization in October 2019.
Photo Credit: USCAN.
GOAL 4: ENHANCE NETWORK EFFECTIVENESS
INCORPORATING FEEDBACK
Throughout the year, we gather input from members on everything from what is going well and what could be improved to key decisions that need to be made. As a general practice, we query members at the end of action team, committee and full group calls about what can be improved for the next time. In preparation for the 2019 Annual Meeting, we incorporated feedback from the 2018 post annual meeting assessment and spring survey. Below is one example of how member feedback was heard and incorporated.
Pre-Annual Meeting Leaders of Color Gathering
In our 2018 Fall Survey, our members ranked “Move together collectively and centering leaders of color within the climate movement” as the top value proposition USCAN offers. However, 39% of respondents said that we were delivering and that it could be improved. As a result, we held a listening session in January 2019 to hear feedback and discuss issues of particular relevance to leaders of color. Leaders expressed
that they wanted a space to discuss issues of particular relevance to them, so we planned a gathering for leaders of color before the 2019 Annual Meeting.
The purpose was to create space and opportunity for leaders of color to share with and learn from one another’s experiences, strengthen relationships and identify strategies for engaging leaders of color more effectively in USCAN. Approximately 78 people attended and offered suggestions for how to improve effectiveness in several areas. We then took this information and found ways to address these concerns including, but not limited to: increasing transparency of shared resources and information and highlighting leaders of color in our Network communications.
TABLE PARTICIPATION
Green New Deal Network Coordinating Table
In 2019, Keya and Ife joined the Green New Deal Coordinating Table to co-coordinate a three-pronged strategic campaign to advance the Green New Deal around elections, legislation/ policy and mass disruption. In 2020, members will begin bringing members to participate in this table.
People’s Climate Movement
In 2019 Peoples Climate Movement (PCM) worked on assessment and evaluation of what strengths, opportunities, weaknesses, and threats will be faced for the coming years. Throughout that process, USCAN solicited and shared input from members. This year, the Green New Deal exploded into the public consciousness; youth activists led massive strikes across the country; and states like Colorado, Washington, New York, and more passed legislation to tackle climate change while ensuring good jobs and justice for all. In step together, PCM activists contacted members of Congress,
Rev. Leo Woodberry (New Alpha CDC/Kingdom Living Temple) and Loretta Slater (Whitney M. Slater Foundation) at the pre-Annual Meeting Leaders of Color Gathering, 2019. Photo Credit: Grace June Imagery.
Herbert Fraser-Rahim (Lowcountry Alliance for Model Communities) asks a question at the Pre-annual Meeting Leaders of Color Gathering.
Photo Credit: Grace June Imagery.
Collin Rees (Oil Change International) and Alexander Clemetson (Ohio Interfaith Power and Light) attend a training before protesting to stop Enbridge line 3 pipeline.
Photo Credit: Grace June Imagery.
marched in the streets alongside climate strikers, demanded that the media hold presidential candidates accountable to climate issues, and so much more. With the shifting context for the moment we are in, and the creation of new tables like the Green New Deal Coordination Table, some key strategic questions related to how PCM should proceed remained, and PCM began a process to develop a recommendation for how to move forward in a powerful, aligned, and clear way in 2020 and beyond.
Fight Back Table
USCAN is a member of the Fight Back Table, which is a collaborative effort of more than 40 progressive movement organizations that work across-movement to meet the challenges upon us in the current political climate. In the March meeting, we set goals for 2019–2020 and mapped out how to make it happen through working committees, centering women of color in our movements and advancing the Our Story Project. The Our Story narrative expresses a shared story, vision, and values of the change we aim to make that is built out of the critical race-class work. In the December 2019 meeting participants explored a variety of political scenarios, identified meta-goals, listed critical next steps of each, and assessed the strengths and weaknesses of each approach. The purpose of this activity was to identify what the capacity for response would be under an array of potential outcomes.
JUSTICE, EQUITY, DIVERSITY, AND INCLUSION (JEDI)
Ensuring we implement JEDI in our daily operations, Action Teams and member engagement; the JEDI committee created the JEDI Operations Handbook working closely with USCAN staff. The handbook set measurable goals and outcomes to ensure that USCAN as a whole is advancing the values in the JEDI Statement, and that staff and board are held accountable for their commitment to advancing the JEDI Statement.
The JEDI Operations Handbook includes the JEDI Statement; JEDI checklist to ensure these values are being practiced in all of our meetings and work spaces; the Environmental Movement Glossary, a living document and foundation to address topics and key terms used within the movement; and an operations plan that assesses how we work and function as an organization. These ideas and values are being replicated and put into practice as we bring these values into our membership and show the movement how integral democracy, JEDI, transparency, trust, and relationship building is in order to fight climate change in a just and equitable way. Additionally, all of our members agree to adhere to the Jemez Principles, which institutionalize these ideas into action not only within our network, but in any environmental organization that interacts with USCAN and our members.
USCAN members protesting to stop Enbridge line 3 pipeline. Photo credit: Grace June Imagery.
USCAN Members at the closing circle on the last day of the Annual Meeting.
Photo credit: Grace June Imagery.
2019 UNITED NATIONS CLIMATE CHANGE CONFERENCE (COP 25)
We showed up! We spoke up!
COP 25 turned out to be a high stakes game of political will with the large, rich developed countries flexing their powerful muscles to bully, intimidate and subvert small, vulnerable nations. After two weeks of disruptive, stymied negotiations, COP 25 went into 44 hours of overtime and ended in a global climate loss. Over 70 USCAN members attended COP 25. Together they showed amazing solidarity, strength and power-leveraging. We have so much appreciation for Kathy Egland who served as the USCAN liaison this year. Ms. Egland’s leadership through a difficult COP showed the strength of solidarity and deserves special applause. Thank you also to those who provided leadership around the press huddle, particularly Climate Nexus and the speakers, and for the (first official!) USCAN side event on Grassroots Community Solutions - Amplifying the voices of front line communities, especially Chloe Noël (Maryknoll Office of Global Concerns) for coordinating and panelist Jacob Maurice Johns (Backbone Campaign), and Margarita Parra (Clean Energy Works). It was great to see the wide diversity of USCAN represented at COP, especially as the gap between the outside demands and the official negotiations seems wider than ever.
WORKING WITH CLIMATE ACTION NETWORK INTERNATIONAL
Climate Action Network International Strategy Meetings
Five Climate Action Network (CAN) members from across the globe met in Costa Rica from March 18–22 to develop a strategy and work plan for 2019. Throughout the meeting, participants raised a number of principles to steer the network’s approach across all activities, which were summarized and agreed on the last day of the meeting:
+ Guided by justice and equity, CAN stands in solidarity with the vulnerable and marginalized and implements an integrating approach, linking human rights, environmental justice, poverty, inequality, biodiversity, and rights of nature.
+ Science, in particular the 1.5 IPCC Special Report, guides our work: to reflect the urgency and need for rapid transformational change in all our activities and that we cannot work in a business as usual mode. Moreover, the scientific guidance provides the opportunity to take a long-term approach to our work with a 2030 timeline from which we will back cast to what is necessary in the short- and medium-term.
+ Taking such a longer-term approach allows for a movement-driven rather than moment-driven approach, interconnecting policy and people as well as the national and international level. The network aims to use more accessible language on climate for people and connect the international level with national level and grassroots activities in an inclusive way.
+ Three main pillars were agreed to guide the network activities through the year and the political timeline: raising ambition, addressing climate impact, and support. USCAN was able to support bringing five members to this international space. A big thank you to Kathy Egland (NAACP), Rev. Leo Woodberry (New Alpha CDC/Kingdom Living Temple) and Loretta Slater (Whitney M. Slater Foundation), Rev. Michael Malcom (Peoples Justice Council), and Mikhiela Sherrod (Agriculture Missions), for sharing your knowledge and leadership in this international space.
STAFF LIST
Keya Chatterjee
Executive Director
Carrie Clayton
Senior Network Systems Director
Ife Kilimanjaro
Senior Network Engagement Director
Marie Risalvato
Network Engagement Director
Jamiere Folmar
Network Systems Director
Ishmael Buckner
Network Engagement Coordinator
Stephanie Ready
Network Systems Coordinator
Become a member:
Contact membership@usclimatenetwork.org and learn how your organization can become a USCAN member.
Follow us online: facebook.com/USClimateActionNetwork usclimatenetwork.org @USCAN instagram.com/climateactionnetwork
USCAN staff members at the 2019 Annual Meeting from left to right (Eve Presler, Ife Kilimanjaro, Sydney Mosier, Jamiere Folmar, Marie Risalvato, Keya Chatterjee, Carrie Clayton, Blythe Coleman-Mumford, Casey Brayton, Ishmael Buckner) Not pictured: Stephanie Ready
Photo Credit: Grace June Photography.
FINANCIAL REPORT 2019
USCAN’s fiscal year begins July 1. This report is for the calendar year ending December 31, 2019.
2019 EXPENDITURES
CALENDAR YEAR JANUARY 1, 2019 TO DECEMBER 31, 2019
INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT TO MEMBERS FOR UN & INT'L MEETINGS
SHARED PROGRAM COSTS: INTERNSHIPS, ACCOUNTING & AUDIT, INSURANCE, SUPPLIES
MEMBER MEETINGS
THANK YOU FOR YOUR GENEROUS SUPPORT:
USCAN Member Organizations
The Better Tomorrow Fund
Elmo Foundation
Franciscan Sisters of Mary Kendeda Fund
Kresge Foundation
MacArthur Foundation
Mertz Gilmore Foundation
Nathan Cummings Foundation
Phalarope Foundation
Surdna Foundation
The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation And all of our individual donors
SOUTHEAST CLIMATE ENERGY NETWORK (SCEN)
MEMBER EMPOWERMENT GRANTS ― MEMBER STIPENDS, TRAVEL SUPPORT
To ensure the network’s effectiveness, credibility, cohesion, and advancement toward common goals, USCAN members use the Jemez Principles for Democratic Organizing as a guide for conduct.
These principles are:
1. be inclusive;
2. emphasis on bottom-up organizing;
3. let people speak for themselves; 4. work together in solidarity and mutuality; 5. build just relationships; and 6. commitment to self-transformation.
USCAN MEMBERS
350.org Brooklyn New York
350 Spokane Spokane Washington
Acadia Center Rockport Maine
ActionAid USA Washington District of Columbia
Agricultural Missions, Inc. New York New York
Alliance for Affordable Energy New Orleans Louisiana
Alliance for Climate Education (ACE) Boulder Colorado
Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments Mount Rainier Maryland
American Jewish World Service New York New York
American Lung Association Chicago Illinois
Anthropocene Alliance Chicago Illinois
Avaaz New York New York
Backbone Campaign Vashon Washington
Berkeley Carbon Trading Project Berkeley California
BlueGreen Alliance Minneapolis Minnesota
Brighter Green New York New York
Buddhist Tzu Chi Foundation San Dimas California
Care About Climate Flagstaff Arizona
CARE USA Atlanta Georgia
Center for American Progress Washington District of Columbia
Center for Biological Diversity Tucson Arizona
Center for Climate Protection Santa Rosa California
Center for Community Change Washington District of Columbia
Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) Washington District of Columbia
Center for Popular Democracy Brooklyn New York
Center for Sustainable Climate Solutions (CSCS) Harrisonburg Virginia
Center for Sustainable Economy Lake Oswego Oregon
Ceres Boston Massachusetts
Chesapeake Climate Action Network Takoma Park Maryland
Citizens Climate Lobby Coronado California
Clean Air Coalition of Western New York Buffalo New York
Clean Energy Action Boulder Colorado
Clean Energy Works Washington District of Columbia
Climate Access San Francisco California
Climate Action Rhode Island Newport Rhode Island
Climate and Development Lab, Brown University Providence Rhode Island
Climate Generation:
A Will Steger Legacy Minneapolis Minnesota
Climate Interactive Washington District of Columbia
Climate Justice Initiative Anchorage Alaska
Climate Mobilization Project Brooklyn New York
Climate Nexus New York New York
Climate Reality Project Washington District of Columbia
Climate Scorecard Milton Massachusetts
Climate Hawks Vote Washington District of Columbia
Colorado Farm & Food Alliance (for Resource Balance) Paonia California
Columban Center for Advocacy and Outreach
Washington District of Columbia
Conservation International Arlington Virginia
Corporate Accountability International Boston Massachusetts
Creation Justice Ministries Washington District of Columbia
Detroiters Working for Environmental Justice Detroit Michigan
Dogwood Alliance Asheville North Carolina
Earth Ministries/ Washington IPL Seattle Washington
Earthjustice San Francisco California
Earthworks Washington District of Columbia
ecoAmerica Washington District of Columbia
EcoEquity Albany California
Education, Economics, Environmental, Climate and Health Organization(EEECHO) Gulfport Mississippi
Elders Climate Action Truckee California
Elected Officials to Protect NY Fly Creek New York
Energy Alabama Huntsville Alabama
Environment America Denver Colorado
Environmental and Energy Study Institute Washington District of Columbia
Environmental Defense Fund New York New York
Environmental Finance Center West Berkeley California
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Chicago Illinois
Forum for Climate Engineering Assessment Washington District of Columbia
Franciscan Action Network Washington District of Columbia
Friends Committee on National Legislation Washington District of Columbia
Friends of the Earth Washington District of Columbia
Gasp Birmingham Alabama
Georgetown Climate Center Washington District of Columbia
Georgia WAND Atlanta Georgia
Green Deshis Ellicott City Maryland
Green For All Berkeley California
GreenFaith Highland Park New Jersey
GreenLatinos Washington District of Columbia
Greenpeace USA Washington District of Columbia
Gulf Coast Center for Law & Policy Slidell Louisiana
Health Care Without Harm Reston Virginia
Hip Hop Caucus Washington District of Columbia
Humane Society International Washington District of Columbia
Illinois Environmental Council Springfield Illinois
iMatter Ventura California
Institute for Policy Studies
Interfaith Power and Light MI Southfield Michigan
Interfaith Power and Light MN Minneapolis Minnesota
Interfaith Power and Light NC Raleigh North Carolina
Interfaith Power and Light NM Albuquerque New Mexico
Interfaith Power and Light OH Columbus Ohio
Interfaith Power and Light PA State College Pennsylvania
Interfaith Power and Light RI Riverside Rhode Island
Interfaith Power and Light SC Greenville South Carolina
Interfaith Power and Light VA Richmond Virginia
International Environmental Law Project (IELP) at Lewis & Clark College Portland Oregon
Jail & Prison Rehabilitation
Information Community Outreach Program (JAPRI) Greenville South Carolina
