2020 Annual Report - US Climate Action Network (USCAN)

US CLIMATE ACTION NETWORK Annual Report 2020

Front Cover:Marnese Jackson (NAACP).

Photo credit: Stephanie Bowman (Mothers Out Front).

US CLIMATE ACTION NETWORK ANNUAL REPORT 2020 50 F STREET NW, WASHINGTON, DC 20001 P: 202-255-2322 | operations@usclimatenetwork.org www.usclimatenetwork.org

MISSION, VISION, AND THEORY OF CHANGE USCAN’S MISSION 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 which 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 If we work together, we will successfully impact climate change. This theory 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 members decide that working together will enable us to meet the network’s vision.

Our Vision. Artwork by Courtenay Lewis.

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MESSAGE FROM THE BOARD CHAIR Friends, Allies and USCAN Family, 2020 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, 2020 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 Board Chair Kyle Ash

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 significantly 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 16 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 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 2021 and beyond, I am hopeful.

The challenge is significant, but our network, and our community at large, is equal to it. The release of the 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 invoke a transition to climate conscious behaviors across society—is gathering steam as it heads into its second phase. With a new administration in office, we have prepared to go from defense to offense, We have the tools we need to win!

Onward!

Kyle Ash

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MESSAGE FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Family, I am so grateful for all the ways USCAN’s members and supporters stood together and with USCAN in 2020. At USCAN our mission is to build trust and alignments among our members. We were scrappy and flexible in doing this work in 2020 in the midst of a global pandemic, a racial justice reckoning, and a massive outbreak of large fires and hurricanes. However, if we look at the data, we can see that our mission frankly suffered in 2020. We were unable to get together in person to karaoke and plot the plan forward, and we also suffered from our media environment that isolates us from each others’ experiences rather than creating common experience. The reality is that we are going into 2021 with weaker relationships and less alignment than we have had in the past in our climate network.

That’s not the whole story of 2020, though. On the bright side, we are also going into 2021 having beat back fascism in our own country, which was no easy feat. We are going into 2021 with stronger commitments from USCAN member organizations to Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion. And we are going into 2021 with an administration that was pushed to run for office on a platform of climate justice, racial justice and economic justice. Finally, we are going into 2021 with a plan.

If I may use a Star Wars analogy, 2020 was like the Star Wars prequel Rogue One. 2020 was the year that many people died to give us a chance to prevail. We start 2021 with the plans to destroy the Death Star in hand and much need for courage and organizing ahead of us. It is not time for the resistance to disband, but rather it is time for us to organize a plan to win.

Last year, even in such a hard year, USCAN members responded quickly to support our communities, by redirecting Member empowerment grants to mutual aid, and helping to launch the Transform, Heal, and Renew by Investing in a Vibrant Economy (THRIVE) agenda to show how we can come out of the COVID-19 related economic crisis and tackle racial injustice and climate injustice at the same time. THRIVE now has over a hundred co-sponsors in Congress and hundreds of organizational supporters. USCAN members also used our member empowerment grants to launch the US Fair Shares Initiative in 2020, which shows how we can be a good neighbor to the rest of the world and meet our responsibility to the world, in accordance with our capabilities. 2020 was the first election cycle where we operated our associated

USCAN Executive Director Keya Chatterjee.

Photo Credit: Erica Flock.

the associated c(4) US Mobilizing for Urgent & Sustainable Transformation (USMUST) was operated who have support across the USCAN membership. Last but not least, in 2020 USCAN members also launched Arm in Arm, a movement to ignite an era that ends the climate crisis by centering racial and economic justice. Arm in Arm conducted dozens of acts of “disruptive humanitarianism” in 2020, with hubs in a few dozen communities, and many rising actions planned in 2021.

While I cannot in all honesty say that our network is stronger at the end of 2020 than it was at the start, what I can say is that we survived together to struggle towards justice tomorrow, and that we have a plan that we believe in. We have an incredible opportunity in front of us to build a movement that secures an economy that works for the people and puts climate justice, racial justice, and economic justice at its heart.

I could not ask for a more beautiful community with which to share this struggle for justice, and so I close out this letter, as I started it, with gratitude to our members, to our supporters, and to all our partners for all we have done together and all we will do to change the course of history.

In solidarity, Keya Chatterjee

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USCAN Board Members: Dyanna Jaye, Jacob Harold, James C. “JC” Woodley. Joe Goldman, Joe Uehlein, Rev. Leo Woodbery, Mikhiela Sherrod, Alden Meyer, Colette Pichon Battle, Esq., Rev. Dallas Conyers Daniel Sosland,David Turnbull, Kyle Ash, Bishop Marcia Dinkins, Marnese Krishana Jackson and Rachel Potter.

2020–2021 USCAN BOARD OF DIRECTORS Our board members are 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 2021 Dyanna Jaye Organizing Director Sunrise Movement

Joe Uehlein President and Executive Director Labor Network for Sustainability

Jacob Harold (Board Treasurer) Executive Vice President Candid

Rev. Leo Woodbery Pastor, Consultant Kingdom Living Temple

James C. “JC” Woodley (Member Empowerment Grants Review Team) Executive Director Jail and Prison Rehabilitation Information (JAPRI)

Mikhiela Sherrod (Vice-Chair) Executive Director Agricultural Missions, Inc.

Joe Goldman (Development Committee Chair) President Democracy Fund TERM ENDING JULY 2022 Alden Meyer Director of Strategy & Policy Third Generation Environmentalism

Kyle Ash (Chair) Vice President of Policy and Outreach Phoenix Zones Initiative

Colette Pichon Battle, Esq. Director Gulf Coast Center for Law & Policy

Bishop Marcia Dinkins Director Ohio Interfaith Power & Light

Rev. Dallas Conyers (JEDI Committee Chair) Director Southeast Climate & Energy Network

Marnese Krishana Jackson Director Mothers Out Front

Daniel Sosland President Acadia Center

Rachel Potter Projects Director Climate Nexus

David Turnbull (Secretary) Strategic Communications Director Oil Change International

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Spokane Arm in Arm Hub - Environmentalists. Photo Credit: Jacob Johns.

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HOW WE ADJUSTED OUR WORK DURING A YEAR OF CRISIS? 2020 was a unique year to say the absolute least; therefore, USCAN adjusted and shifted as the year progressed, being nimble to best support our members in this year of tragedy and crisis. The COVID-19 pandemic and violence against peaceful protesters who were taking to the street to protest the horrific murders and systemic abuse of Black people in this country were historical events that disrupted the very fabric of society. It was impossible to continue “business as usual” because, frankly, our members and this country were suffering deeply. The COVID-19 pandemic opened a lot of eyes to the parallels and deep seeded issues between the climate crisis and the systemic racism that has prevailed since the conception of our nation.

We at USCAN believe it is possible to transform the whole economy in our lifetimes, and we believe it is possible to do so in a way that dismantles racism and white supremacy. We must work with our allies to make sure that this moment is actually looked upon historically as the moment when white supremacy was in its death throes. We can do this. We have already launched Arm in Arm in the US to do this. Together we are demanding a "new normal," Our communities will ignite an era where we end the climate crisis by centering racial and economic justice. We know that leaders in frontline/grassroots communities remain pace-setters and sources of trusted knowledge and creative solutions to address both.

COVID-19 has killed hundreds of thousands in the US, and a quarter of those deaths are Black Americans, due to racism, social inequity, and environmental injustices that have purposefully robbed the Black community of health and well-being. The murders of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Nina Pop, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, Sean Reed, along with the racialized targeting of Christian Cooper while birding are the devastating results of 400 years of slavery, theft, mass incarceration, and other white supremacist institutions, and decades of failure to address police violence and neoliberal policies that prioritize profit over people.

USCAN quickly shifted how we worked with a focus on keeping our members safe and getting them the support to continue their incredibly effective work amidst the pandemic. By not having an in-person Annual Meeting in 2020 we were able to shift funds to support getting frontline/grassroots USCAN members the tools and resources to shift the way they work during this pandemic.

We also made changes to our Member Empowerment grant requirements to reduce potential burdens for members that received that support, along with making the reporting process more flexible to accommodate their needs. In March 2020, we informed recipients of the 2019 grants that we welcomed any needed modification to the terms of their grant agreement. Specifically we let them know USCAN will loosen or eliminate restrictions in the following areas: not holding grantees responsible if conferences, events, and other project deliverables must be postponed or canceled and allowing support to be shifted to community-based emergency response funds and other efforts to address the health and economic impact on those most affected by this pandemic.

Parallels between the climate crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic are numerous. We must also be clear that the significant impacts of the climate crisis on vulnerable communities are being realized because this country was willing to sacrifice Black, brown and Indigenous lives by placing polluting and extractive facilities in Black, brown, and Indigenous communities in the United States and around the world. The climate crisis is, at its core, a racial injustice crisis. The climate crisis is the result of racism and colonialism, and the imperialist worldview that sees indigenous lands in Africa, Asia, the Americas and beyond as places to plunder, steal, and extract from, instead of as places with deep histories, knowledge, families and cultures to protect and defend. US imperialism and profit-obsession has put B lack and brown bodies on the line all over the world as the climate crisis unfolds. The communities that have done the least to contribute to the climate crisis are hit worst, precisely because they have been purposefully made vulnerable by racism and imperialism.

Our ability to be flexible and learn as the year shifted from crisis to crisis has been imperative for the health of our network and support for our members. The incredible work we have done with them is a great display of how we as a network can overcome immense challenges in the face of adversity.

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OUR NETWORK — NEW ORGANIZATIONS FROM 2020 50by40

Leakwood, KS

Advocates for the Environment

Los Angeles, CA

Blaque Women Rising

Dayton, OH

Charleston Climate Coalition

Charleston, SC

Climate Community Center

Pawtucket, RI

Climate Crisis Policy

New York, NY

Climate Law & Policy Project

Washington, DC

Dayenu: A Jewish Call to Climate Action

New York, NY

End Climate Silence

New York, NY

Houston Climate Movement

Houston, TX

John Muir Project

Big Bear City, CA

Kentucky Interfaith Power and Light

Louisville, KY

Next is Now Organize Uplift Resources and Strategy (OURS)

Mount Carmel, SC

Our Climate Education Fund

Washington, DC

Phoenix Zones Initiative

Albuquerque, NM

Southern Echo

Jackson, MS

Stand.earth

Bellingham, WA

The Climate Collaborative

Hartland, NY

United Parents Against Lead & Other Environmental Hazards (UPAL)

Richmond, VA

Win Without War

Washington, DC

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STRATEGIC PLAN We are currently in the fourth year of our 2017–2022 Strategic Plan.

This year, we continued to focus on meeting our core goals.

GOALS Our goals are: Democratic Participation, Building Trust, Fostering Alignments, and Enhancing Network Effectiveness.

OUR FOUR GOALS

1

Facilitate Democratic Participation

2

Build Trust

Foster Alignments

3

1

Create sustaining value in the network by transitioning to a democratically member driven network model.

2

3

Build critical mass for climate action and policy by enabling alignments between clusters of members.

4

4

Build the foundational relationships essential for collective action by facilitating peer learning activities that foster trust and candor between members.

Enhance network effectiveness.

DEMOCRACY It was clear that the pandemic wouldn't stop us from working together to address the climate crisis. In the midst of zoom fatigue, members showed up to the Annual Meeting each day and were actively engaged, as evidenced by the many comments put in the chat and the lively discussions in the small group breakouts.

— Dr. Ife Kilimanjaro, Former Senior Director, Network Engagement, USCAN

Democracy is a core value at USCAN, and our members greatly value the member-led democracy that happens yearly through their participation in the network. Our most important, and often symbolic, moment for our members to democratically participate is at our Annual Meeting when we vote on network alignment areas for working together for the year ahead. Leading up to the Annual Meeting, our Nominations Committee, a diverse selection of our members, solicits input from Voting Participants as well as reviews our spring survey to compile what is most important to our members. However, in 2020 it was clear that we were not going to have a “normal” Annual Meeting. Not only were we faced with designing and executing a virtual meeting of 180+ USCAN members due to a deadly pandemic and authoritarian-esque election, we also realized that the values we voted on prior to COVID-19 and prior to the extreme violence against Black people and peaceful protesters this summer were not the values we needed. The scope and gravity of these intersecting crises were too brutal to go on with business as usual.

To shift to meet the needs of our members and honor the suffering and challenges our members were facing, we decided that we would be voting on our next year on a different set of goals. Members had two options: the

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first was to stick with the action teams that were voted into existence in 2019, the second was to reframe our current action teams to meet the needs of our members right now. Members overwhelmingly voted for the action team reframing, with 90% in alignment for the change. We were impressed with the enthusiasm members expressed preparing for a “Year of Action.”

Democracy is reflected in everything we do at USCAN, whether in voting at the Annual Meeting, using memberled committees and review teams, soliciting feedback from members on our annual surveys, or asking for evaluation at the end of all of our meetings. For example, our members let us know that there are a few things they enjoyed at the Annual Meeting and things that they would like to see differently. We have taken this feedback to heart and will incorporate it into our 2021 Annual Meeting, which will also be virtual!

TRUST

Arm in Arm Salt Lake City.

Photo Credit: Cherise Udell.

THE 2020 ANNUAL MEETING GOES VIRTUAL! Our members say, our Annual Meeting means the most to them of all our programs. We had no idea what we were going to do as it became clear we wouldn’t be able to get together this year.

Ife’s quote above highlights the commitment and steadfastness of our members despite a global pandemic, racial unrest, and economic uncertainty. Months spent preparing to host the Annual Meeting created the right environment and made sure our members connected, aligned, and produced at the highest levels even in the digital environment.

Due to the unforeseen circumstances of COVID-19, USCAN held a Virtual Annual Meeting (VAM) for the first time this past June. We shifted gears, along with our members, to convene together over the course of three weeks.

The purpose of the 2020 VAM was to create a space that built on prior meetings and advanced collective work, facilitated deeper relationships and trust among members, and where we learned from and shared with non-member allies in the climate movement. USCAN recognizes that we are a living community of individuals, families, and

ecosystems. In the midst of the climate crisis, our vision is ambitious and just; however, we know we are running out of time and need to take greater coordinated actions to achieve it. This is what held us together at the VAM. Our incredible member-led steering and nominations committees helped us create and design our virtual meeting, something none of us had experience doing. With input from these committees and our membership as a whole, we were able to design an engaging and ambitious gathering.

We made a few new changes in order to have a successful virtual meeting, including hosting an orientation call for members new to the annual meeting, using new tools like Mentimeter and Zoom polls to make the online experience more engaging, having happy hours and game nights for fun and networking, and providing ample screen breaks.

We also used a buddy system to connect new members with experienced voting participants, and we stretched our typical in-person meeting time to seven days spread out over the course of three weeks.

This year, we convened to vote on the fourth day of our VAM. Members overwhelmingly voted for the action team reframing, with 90% in alignment for the change.

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My favorite part of the VAM [Virtual Annual Meeting] was the energetic forward motion and alignment of the network in the middle of a global downshift. Now that all of our worst fears have come true, it brings me confidence and hope to know that the years of building relationships and solidarity over the years have paid off and we are on-time and in place.

— Lindsay Harper, Arm in Arm

The action teams were restructured as follows: + Building Power from the Grassroots Up: In 2020, this action team explored questions related to how to address people’s needs and issues WHILE fighting the systems that exacerbate them (issues) AND building new, more just systems and generate a set of movement strategies, principles and practices for use in the network and beyond in the short and long term. + Coordinating Policy to Affect Broader Change: This action team coordinated policy positions and efforts to apply pressure for local, state, federal (e.g, Green New Deal scale, big stimulus), and global policies that we must advocate for in the US (e.g., climate finance, international loss and damage policy). + Organizing/Mobilizing/Winning Elections with Distancing: Focusing on specific strategy, campaign tactics, and immediate action, this action team laid the groundwork to win 2020 federal and 2022 state and local elections for just and equitable climate action and coordinate actions and efforts relevant to this context of social distancing (including oversight for voting rights violations to keep the network informed). + Socially and Economically Just Response and Recovery: Given that COVID-19 and climate impacts have been hitting our communities and our colleagues globally, this action team explored our coordinated

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respons, particularly in the areas of how we take care of each other through crises and building more resilient communities.

Going into our last two days of the VAM, June 29th and 30th, we held member-led breakout sessions that were open to funders, allies, and observers in addition to member Voting Participants. We held ten over this two-day period, at staggered times, so that folks could join as many as they pleased.

After every convening, we ask our members for their feedback via a survey. Many members noted that USCAN was able to pull off a great virtual convening despite the global pandemic.

Folks were pleased with the breakout sessions and spaces to have conversations, as well as the broad range of engaging subjects we had for our breakouts and plenary sessions.

Members did note that there were a few things we could improve on. Some of these were: not enough time in breakout sessions; some folks would have preferred three eight-hour long days versus the shorter days over the course of three weeks; the days were too long for engagement and attention spans; and that despite all the efforts it was still difficult to connect and build deep relationships in a virtual space.

Members said that the lack of an informal space to converse and connect was something that they loved about the inperson Annual Meeting and did not feel that this kind of space had been recreated virtually.

USCAN Virtual Annual Meeting Volunteer Orientation.

USCAN Virtual Annual Meeting Game Night Scavenger Hunt.

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Metimeter Poll - what our members are going to bring into their collaborative Action Team work.

Arm in Arm beta test.

In person event in February, 2020 Photo Credit: Carrie Clayton.

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During the second week of the Annual Meeting, we held a gathering for Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) members in the Network. This year’s meeting took place as two half-day sessions on June 22nd and 23rd. We started holding this meeting in 2019 to gather feedback on how we could improve the network’s focus on centering voices of leaders of color.

Rev. Dallas Conyers (Sustaining Way) opened the BIPOC meeting with an activity focused on the value of centering yourself in work and life, to allow for leaders to be their best selves. Later, leaders had a discussion on how to use levers and pillars of power to adequately address racial issues given the current moment. A few of the themes that emerged from the opening day discussions were: allyship and dealing with anti-blackness, working within faith groups to move systemic change, finding ways to support existing leadership in BIPOC communities, making organizations a better place to work, and identifying paths to economic independence.

The second day opened with a Climate Justice Healing Circle in small groups led

by Huda Alkaff (Wisconsin Green Muslims), Rev. Brendolyn Jenkins Boseman (The Imani Group), Jacqui Patterson (NAACP), and Gloria Ricks (Mt. Zion Community Outreach). Members discussed what healing is, how they personally approach it, and also shared various resources with one another to promote healing. The later part of the day was a review and discussion of a Strong and Just Disaster Relief and Recovery Plan. Members offered input as to how their communities were increasing resiliency and providing protection to the most vulnerable members.

They also identified what actions must be taken for communities to have a strong and just recovery. This information will be compiled as input before the full USCAN membership works on the relief and recovery plan later this year.

Members closed out the meeting with a deep dive into the emergent themes from the meeting as well as how to create skills and plans to support BIPOC leaders and communities in the coming months.

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Arusha. Photo Credit: Keya Chatterjee.

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CLIMATE ACTION NETWORK-INTERNATIONAL STRATEGY MEETING IN ARUSHA The following is an update from Rev. Michael Malcom (USCAN International Liaison 2020) and Keya Chatterjee following the CAN-I strategy meeting in Arusha: My summation is that we are headed in the right direction for change, and we're all in. Following last year's meeting in Costa Rica, we determined that we would intentionally seek to center justice through diversity, equity, and inclusion. This year we saw this intentionality come to fruition.

And the CAN network benefited from the many voices in the room.

As a result, the CAN Secretariat has adopted many changes to the network's focus for 2020 and beyond. These changes were well received by all because they reflected the collective voice of the members. Here are the Building Power Goals from the meeting.

Building Power Goals + Community-owned movements (nodes scoping and planning) and frontloading + Tailored capacity-building and training + Collaboration and communication (rapid response for frontline defenders, peer learning)

By 2030: + We should be able to wield our power to call for boycotts and force actions. + CAN should have clout through solidarity so that if we go into community it means something. + Ownership by communities, who give direction to the movement. + People in our communities know how to join the fight. + Community people are decision-makers and in power. + People recognize they have power. + Increase linkages between issues. + Power to get polluters to recognize their responsibility. + Resilience is built to survive and thrive.

In person event in February, 2020 Top: Arusha.

Bottom: Rev. Leo Woodberry in Arusha.

Photo Credit: Keya Chatterjee.

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ALIGNMENTS

IMPLEMENTING SHARED STRATEGIES In service to USCAN’s goals—stated previously as: Democratic Participation, Building Trust, Forging Alignments, Increasing Network Effectiveness—members in 2020 rose to the challenge of a year bookended by a global pandemic and a highly divisive, consequential US election, both of which illuminated and exacerbated the realities of racial and economic injustice. They did so by investing and tending to both interpersonal and community relationships and trustbuilding, doubling down on a shared commitment to Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion across the network, and prioritizing collaboration across members and organizations to drive impact towards USCAN’s vision.

The four action teams plus members’ participation in external coalitions and convenings like the Green New Deal Network provide the vehicle for strategic alignment through the implementation of shared strategies. The fruits of this effort, over the course of 2020, include some of the following successes: A. Evolution of the focus on advancing 100% clean and renewable energy policies and programs for all, through the restructured Coordinating Policy to Affect Broader Change Action Team. + Members serving on the Action Team and its various subcommittees have operationalized the equity scorecard for state/territory level 100% renewable energy bills by completing an assessment of New York’s and New Mexico’s implementation of their respective 100% renewable legislation. Two more states— Washington and Virginia—will be completed by the summer of 2021.

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+ They have also identified the thematic areas in the Vision for Equitable Climate Action (VECA) policy platform that need updating based on broad member and stakeholder consultation/feedback and are in the process of making revisions to sections focused on Electricity, Buildings, Transportation; Just Recovery; Mitigation and Adaptation, and International Policy Coordination. + They successfully hosted the first Virtual Capitol Hill Briefing on VECA for congressional staffers, including the US Senate and House of Representatives’ personnel office and committee staff. Several more briefings are planned over the course of 2021 and leading up to the 2022 midterm elections. + Finally, several members are actively representing the network in international fora and national coalitions with substantive contributions made to planning for COP26 via our participation in the “Kitchen Cabinet,” a coalition of organizations focused on climate policy at the global level, and the COP26 Coalition, alongside our role in the Green New Deal Network, which is working to advance the THRIVE Agenda from a resolution to actual legislation.

B. Expanding the focus from winning the 2020 elections for just and equitable climate action, to laying the groundwork to win both 2020 federal and 2022 state and local elections through coordinated and sustained public mobilization efforts/campaigns that include civil disobedience and disruption. + Members exemplified the ethos of reciprocity, solidarity, and collaboration through the creation and

Arm in Arm DC — Indigenous People's Day. Photo Credit: Thomas Walker.

wide dissemination of valuable resources on voter registration and education including guidance on permissible activities for 501(c)3 organizations versus 501(c)4 ones. + They also supported individual member participation in voter registration drives and get out the vote initiatives; as well as close coordination between the Mobilizing, Organizing, and Winning Elections Action Team and Arm in Arm on planning for escalation of disruptive humanitarian actions based on post-election eventualities in the absence of a free and fair election.

C. Cementing the centrality of Building Power from the Grassroots Up as a core tenet of USCAN by making it a permanent action team that: + Successfully incubated the Arm in Arm strategy by testing the training curriculum and methodology for delivery/replication; seeding the first participants in Arm in Arm Organizing Hubs (see comprehensive update on the Arm in Arm strategy below); + Developing informational and educational materials and resources for the VECA policy platform geared towards community and grassroots accessibility and relevance; + Refining the asset mapping tool with a build-out to a geographic information system (GIS) version that is online to ensure both access and versatility (members in 2020 supported providing access to assets through resource sharing starting with 41+ organisations, and expanding to encompass 1000+ resources and more organizations); creating and now updating the “Navigating the Moment” resource document; + And finally establishing a faith committee to engage faith communities, congregations and places of worship

that are composed of people of color and exploring/ addressing the interconnectivity of issues by working through the lens of justice, climate and race.

D. Launching the Socially and Economically Just Response and Recovery (SEJRR) action team as a direct response to the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in communities and constituencies that are broadly representative of USCAN membership. Through the work of this Action Team, members: + Collaborated on developing a resource, ”9 Principles for the Creation of Strong and Just Disaster Recovery and Resilience Plans.” that addresses climate gentrification and is also a living policy document that operationalizes reparations. With the resource now available, the action team is working on integrating it into the VECA policy platform and socializing it with at least 10 members of Congress proactively and following disasters. + They also disseminated information on how to establish and execute a community controlled fund, launch an online mutual aid donation page, and access resources like the Progressive Multiplier Fund as effective examples of rapid response tools for communities responding to and recovering from climate disasters. Finally, members collectively amplified and elevated the voices, resilience and leadership from frontline communities by contributing to the Arm In Arm Action at the Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington, D.C. that was organized by the Metro DC Hub in collaboration with other coalitions immediately after the November elections, with items of personal significance that were damaged due to climate impacts (fires, floods, drought), along with the story of their significance. uscan annual report 2020 | 19

Building Power from the Grassroots Up Convening.

Photo Credit: Michael Malcom.

100% RE Action Team Virtual Meeting .

VISION FOR AN EQUITABLE CLIMATE ACTION PLATFORM At least 175 people from 106 of USCAN’s member organizations participated over the past two years in developing the Vision for Equitable Climate Action (VECA) platform. Members rolled the platform out in May 2020, and it represents broad agreement across the climate movement offering ambitious, achievable, and specific actions. And it includes voices that are frequently missing from the climate movement: those who are most impacted by the climate emergency but often not heard.

On October 27th, the Hill Committee of the Coordinating Policy Action Team hosted a Capitol Hill briefing on the VECA

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Platform. Well over 30 people attended, including a mix of USCAN members and congressional staffers for committees and members of the US House of Representatives and Senate. Presentations on different sections of VECA were given by David Arkush (Public Citizen) on economy-wide targets, Basav Sen (Institute for Policy Studies) on renewable energy and just transition, Daphne Wysham (Center for Sustainable Economy) on fossil fuel phase-out, Bob Yuhnke (Elders Climate Action) on transportation, Jennifer Mamola (John Muir Project) on agriculture and land use, and Brandon Wu (ActionAid) on international responsibility. The session was moderated by USCAN Executive Director Keya Chatterjee. Members will continue their work of pushing for equitable climate action using the VECA platform as a guiding document in the years to come.

Arm in Arm pattern.

ARM IN ARM Arm in Arm and the National Core Support Team (NCST) were aptly primed for the real-time stress test of the COVID-19 pandemic and the civil unrest following the murder of George Floyd. Starting in 2019 a group of people from across race, gender, class, and regional identities came together to learn from successful and unsuccessful social movements of the past and brainstorm on what was needed in this moment to actually put an end to the climate crisis. It was determined that centering racial and economic justice was the nexus at which the collective “we” could win comprehensive, durable, and intersectional climate policy to protect people and create healthy and prosperous futures for everyone. The year 2020 gave the Arm in Arm formation an opportunity to put rubber to the road as people around the country began actively looking for tools to organize their communities and address the systemic racial and economic injustices laid bare by the pandemic.

In the spring, as the uncertainty grew around how long the quarantine would last and people’s priorities and capacities began to shift, Arm in Arm responded by making some internal adjustments and accommodations. The original plan was to hold in-person trainings and support trainers in holding trainings in their communities. Because of the quarantine and people’s limited ability to come in contact with one another, that training capacity was shifted internally, and the NCST, and eventually other trainers, held Training 4 Trainer sessions every other month. As more people became interested in taking the training but were not able to commit to the trainer level of involvement of training others in their community,

Arm in Arm introduction trainings were developed and also held internally.

We opened up the original NCST weekly meetings to monthly meetings for additional functions within the Arm in Arm Universe, such as the first Tuesdays of the month, which are Arm in Arm Leader calls geared towards Hub leaders, trainers, and the NCST. The second Tuesday of the month is the National Core Support Team meeting at which Arm in Arm National leadership make decisions based on information filtered up from the various monthly meetings and climate ecosystem happenings. The third Tuesday of the month is the Arm in Arm Universe: Regions & Committees calls are geared towards Arm in Arm participants and supporters across in the seven regions to hear and discuss regional opportunities and actions which folks can plug into and support. During that same time Hub leaders that hold any of the six committee roles in their local Hubs can also discuss opportunities, challenges, and share resources. The fourth Tuesday of the month is one-on-one coaching time for those in the Universe who would like to speak to regional coaches and committee leads.

In April we started with six Hubs across five regions. To date we have 26 Hubs and Hub leaders across six regions. There are 55 trainers in place to train others in their communities. Lines of communication are now open to folks not only within a Hub but also Hub leaders and trainers within regions so that more collaboration can occur within the Universe.

There were two national calls, one in the spring and one in the fall, where leaders from across the Arm in Arm Universe shared resources, plans and opportunities. The last Universe call of the uscan annual report 2020 | 21

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scorecard for economic recovery plans based on the THRIVE Agenda and the 50-page policy document we have been working through, as well as to draft legislation. The Coordinating Table would have final approval on the scorecard.

The table also agreed to move forward with an action postelection for a Biden landslide scenario. We also discussed the Rising Majority scenarios work for post election day, including contested election scenarios.

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As of the end of the session, there were 101 congressional sponsors, 90 for H. Res. 1102 in the House and 11 for S. Res. 693 in the Senate, along with over 250 organizations endorsing.

1- Arm in Arm Gardening. 2- Arm in Arm Food. 3- Guerilla Gardening Arm in Arm. 4- Keya at DNC. 5- BLM BLM BLM Arm in Arm. 6- Arm in Arm logo round. 7- Decolonize Union Station. 8- Arm n Arm—We Will Transition America. 9- Noah had a plan Arm in Arm. Photo credit: Keya Chatterjee, Cherise Udell, Jacob Johns.

year in December focused on how organizations that had either signed on as supporters or were interested it could learn what supporting Arm in Arm would look like.

Now, Arm in in Arm is moving from phase one of training and building the base and into phase two of rising actions and trigger events. These are defined as actions at the scale of Standing Rock and No Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL), in seven places across the US. In the next quarter, the plan is to focus on getting people trained, supporting actions around transportation equity and dirty infrastructure, and caucusing across the Arm in Arm Universe in the spring of 2021.

Colossil Fossil CAN-I Photo.

COLOSSAL FOSSIL AWARD INTRODUCING THE THRIVE AGENDA The THRIVE (Transform, Heal, and Renew by Investing in a Vibrant Economy) Agenda presents a bold new vision to revive our economy while addressing these interlocking crises of climate change, racial injustice, public health, and economic inequity with a plan to create dignified jobs for millions of unemployed workers and support a better life for the millions more who remain vulnerable in this pivotal moment.

The THRIVE Agenda launched on September 10th, 2020.

USCAN member Joelle Novey (DC/MD IPL) identified one of our launch event speakers, Reverend Kip to speak at the THRIVE launch.

As of the end of the session, there were 101 congressional sponsors, 90 for H. Res. 1102 in the House and 11 for S. Res. 693 in the Senate, along with over 250 organizations endorsing.

The Green New Deal Network Coordinating Table met in October 2020, with USCAN representation from Keya Chatterjee, Bishop. Marcia Dinkins (OH IPL), and Tim Judson (NIRS). The group agreed to move forward with a public

2020 was the five-year anniversary of the Paris Agreement, and the Climate Action Network-International announced a historic Colossal Fossil of Five Years Award for who was the best at doing the worst on climate change and protecting their people from climate catastrophe. Unsurprisingly, the United States took home the Colossal Fossil of Five Years, as well as the Fossil for Not Providing Finance and Support.

KATRINA 15 2020 was the 15th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. USCAN members came together for virtual events to participate in 15 Days of Remembrance, spearheaded by the Gulf Coast Center for Law and Policy and Gulf Coast communities on the front line of climate change. These 15 Days of Remembrance events served to commemorate, remember, and discuss the 15 years of resistance and recovery. The Gulf Coast Center for Law and Policy used this powerful moment to serve as a reminder of what is necessary for equitable recovery and demonstrate that the Gulf South is positioned to be a leader in these intersecting movements locally and nationally.

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SCEN Convening by Alex Easdale. Photo taken pre-Covid 19. Photo credit: Southeast Climate and Energy Network.

MEMBER EMPOWERMENT GRANTS The purpose of the 2020 Member Empowerment Grant Program was to build grassroots power for climate action and increase trust and alignment among our members.

Member Empowerment Grants direct more funding to frontline and traditionally underfunded groups to build long-term grassroots power from the ground up, creating unity and solidarity within USCAN and the climate movement as a whole. These grants can fund member operating costs, campaigns, and/or programmatic needs. The grants focus on work that relates to one or more of the priorities (alignment areas/action teams) that were agreed upon by USCAN membership at the USCAN Annual Meeting in June 2017, June 2018, June 2019, and/or June 2020.

To ensure this program is equitable, transparent and broadly supported, key decisions are made by a Review Committee of USCAN members drawn from faith, environmental justice (EJ), youth, and green groups.

In addition to our Collaborative and Grassroots grants, this year we altered our “norm” to accommodate members affected by COVID-19, recognizing that the work of some of our members needed to shift because of this global pandemic. This alteration enabled our members to apply for COVID-19 Response Grants.

In 2020, USCAN received 28 Member Empowerment Grant submissions, for a total amount of funding requested in this grants cycle of $1,266,382. We were fortunate to be able to fund 16 of these grants. Our review team was tasked with the

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tough decision of choosing the grant recipients and worked for weeks to ensure the grants process was fair and equitable.

As always, we would like to fund all of our grant applicants!

The work our members do together and individually is incredibly valuable and important. Please read the short summaries below of the 16 grants we were able to fund.

Creation Justice Ministries — BIPOC Young Adult Faithful Climate Action Fellowship, Implementation Partnering with Wisconsin Green Muslims, GreenFaith, United Methodist Women, Interfaith Power and Light (DC.MD.NoVA) Faith partners active in the USCAN “Building Power from the Grassroots Up” Action Team implemented the second year of the “Faithful Climate Action Fellowship” for 20 BIPOC Christian and Muslim 18 to 26 year-olds in the Midwest and Southeast. Fellows receive training and make a commitment to the following climate justice priorities: to get published, engage in public speaking, help their respective communities to participate in the Building Power from the Grassroots Up Action Team’s Asset Mapping project, and develop support resources for BIPOC climate movement emerging leaders.

United Parents Against Lead & Other Environmental Hazards (UPAL) — Building Capacity through Environmental Justice Leadership in the Southeast, Peer Learning Partnering with: Partnership for Southern Equity (PSE), Virginia Interfaith Power and Light (VAIPL), Chesapeake Climate Action Network (CCAN)

Peer learning across states and regions equips us with the leadership development tools and community capacity building skills we all need to better address the climate crisis collectively and powerfully through a racial equity lens. This multi-state peer learning project will increase Arm in Arm membership by providing disruptive humanitarianism training and resistance strategies that offer alternatives to the status quo. Fighting for Environmental and Climate Justice in the Southeast through peer learning and information sharing is essential to our survival.

Georgia Interfaith Power and Light — Building Grassroots Power: A Revised and Re-aligned Network Strategy and Network Steering Committee, Implementation Partnering with: Earth Ministry/Washington Interfaith Power and Light Interfaith Power and Light (DC.MN.NoVA) Virginia Interfaith Power and Light National Interfaith Power and Light (non-funded) Faith in Place (non-funded) Arkansas Interfaith Power and Light (non-funded) The Interfaith Power & Light network mobilizes a unique and powerful constituency of people of faith in calling for equitable climate action. This project will support four USCAN member organizations elected to serve on a new IPL Network Steering Committee, whose goal is to broaden shared leadership and provide strategic guidance to improve the efficacy and impact of the IPL network. Modeled after USCAN's effective approach, the NSC will build capacity for climate action in states across the nation, provide mentorship to IPL affiliates based on measures of organizational health, and continue to create a network culture and practical framework for mobilizing the faith community for a just and equitable climate vision at the local, state, regional, and federal levels.

Lowcountry Alliance for Model Communities (LAMC) — Charleston Climate Community Forums, Grassroots/Frontline The Lowcountry Alliance for Model Communities works to build healthy families by creating opportunities. We create opportunities through home ownership which is a wealth building tool, close the educational and economic gaps by reducing the barriers to participation and addressing legacy pollution in our communities through education, advocacy and policy changes. Our goal is to engage our residents in meaningful ways to educate them; educate them to empower them; and empower them to become the advocates for the change they seek.

Southeast Climate and Energy Network — Leveraging Grassroots Power through Resource-Sharing & Power Mapping, Implementation Partnering With: Care About Climate, Southeast Climate & Energy Network (SCEN), Sustaining Way, The People's Justice Council The year 2020 has been full of immense social transformation coupled with a pandemic and an intensifying climate crisis.

This scenario highlights the opportunity and necessity for SCEN and USCAN to transform as networking organizations by strengthening communication among all members through the sharing of mutually valuable resources digitally. Leveraging Grassroots Power through Resource-Sharing & Power Mapping supports the evolution of our respective networks’ capacity infrastructure by aligning strategically to develop communityled solutions. Building on two years of previous pilot work, this year we will launch a user-friendly platform for asset and power mapping within the USCAN and SCEN networks, allowing members to expand their work by sharing resources, increasing organizational capacity, enhancing relationship building, and developing opportunities to coalesce around joint campaigns through power-mapping.

Wisconsin Green Muslims — Multisolving for Equitable Community Climate Solutions: Connecting Systems Thinking and Simulations with Virtual Education at a Time of Multicrises, Peer Learning Partnering with: Climate Generation (Minnesota), Climate Interactive (National/Global), RE-AMP (Midwest) How can we solve for multiple social challenges through equitable climate solutions? Multisolving is a concept developed by Climate Interactive that provides an approach for finding systematic solutions that protect the climate while also improving health, equity, and well-being. At a time of fragmented society and overlapping crises, multisolving explorations and learnings can help us find equitable and just community climate solutions that solve multiple problems with interconnected interventions. Our proposed work combines the concept of multisolving with virtual, shared learning and developing real world solutions using the power of networks.

GASP — People’s Green New Deal for Birmingham, Frontlines/Grassroots The main goal of this project is to develop a People’s Green New Deal for the City of Birmingham. Building on our basebuilding work and expanding it to encompass bottom-up organizing for policy change, the People’s Green New Deal for Birmingham will result in actionable sustainability and climate plans for the City of Birmingham. The deliverable will be in the form of a report containing policy recommendations offered to the City of Birmingham as a comprehensive Municipal Green New Deal that can be adopted by the City Council and implemented by the Mayor. uscan annual report 2020 | 25

Arm in Arm Birmingham. Photo credit: Michael Hansen.

Agricultural Missions, Inc. — Planning for a Just, Equitable and Sustainable Recovery of the Local Food System in the South, Peer Learning Partnering with: Agricultural Missions, Inc., Kingdom Living Temple, Whitney M. Slater Foundation, Pee Dee Indian Tribe, additional non-member partners Improved access to healthy food and nutrition education can address, in a direct way, the systemic injustices that lead to poor health, lack of access to fresh, healthy food, and lack of economic opportunities for the Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) community. The current coronavirus pandemic presents a situation in which the current food system is challenged as never before. One of the ways to address the problem of food insecurity in the long term is to work with families, local organizations, farmers and communities to develop a regional food system that involves direct collaboration and participation of farmers, consumers and distributors where necessary. By working together collaboratively to strategize and plan, we can build on the systems already put in place during the pandemic to build infrastructure, advocacy and actions that ensure just and equitable policies, practices, and economic opportunities in relief, recovery and rebuilding efforts of the food system in the South.

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The Whitney M. Slater Foundation — Reclaiming Our Vote, grassroots/frontline The Slater Foundation works in areas of health, climate change, environmental justice and equity. We work primarily with people of color and low income communities to educate and empower them to make systemic and policy changes.

Colorado Farm & Food Alliance — Securing Rural Prosperity and Frontline Climate Action, grassroots/frontline The Colorado Farm & Food Alliance (COFFA) envisions a Colorado where a strong local food movement supports rural communities that are economically secure, socially equitable, and ecologically resilient. We advocate and take action for a livable climate that allows agriculture to flourish and for policies that protect healthy, productive lands and abundant, clean water. We support a thriving farm and local food economy that supports producers and workers, strengthens community, and increases food security; and we work to ensure that quality and nutritious local food is available and affordable for all Coloradans.

Sol Nation — Sol Nation, grassroots/frontline Sol Nation is closing the green gap. We are supporting the work that will expose the green gaps in their many forms related to power, infrastructure, resources, and education. Our work amplifies and provides direct pathways to close these gaps to support the communities we serve.

North Carolina Interfaith Power and Light — Southeast Faith Leaders Network (SFLN) Collaborative Implementation Partnering with: Creation Justice Ministries, Georgia Interfaith Power & Light, North Carolina Interfaith Power & Light, Southeast Climate & Energy Network The Southeast Faith Leaders Network (SFLN) is a collaborative effort building long-term grassroots power lifting up the principles and values of a just transition as we convene faith leaders throughout the Southeast region. As active member organizations of USCAN, we are putting our “Faith into Action” to address the causes and consequences of climate change as a moral imperative and to serve as visionaries in creating beloved communities.

GASP — Southern Communities for a Green New Deal (GND), Implementation Partnering with: Dogwood Alliance, Kingdom Living Temple, Southeast Climate & Energy Network (SCEN) The main goal of Phase Two of the Southern Communities for a Green New Deal (SC4GND) project is for project partners to build broad national, regional and state level support for the SC4GND platform, which reflects the issues and needs from communities in the South. This project builds upon our multi-state methodology to address under-investments and lack of attention toward southern communities in the context of the impact of the global climate crisis. We will disseminate and promote policy recommendations found in the concepts document that our collaborative networks have developed over the past year as the main tool to engage a wide set of national and regional stakeholders. The idea is that SC4GND informs the development of climate policy at both the state and federal level.

The Imani Group — The Black Church - The Green Movement, implementation The Black Church has been and continues to be the most impactful institutional voice in the Black community. It is not only a place where religious/spiritual practices take place but it also serves as the gatekeeper of knowledge and participation in larger society. However, far too many churches are unaware of the devastation that climate change and environmental injustice cause in the communities where they are located. We will change that.

EcoEquity — US Fair Share — USCAN Collaborative Implementation Initiative, implementation Partnering with: Action Aid, Center for Biological Diversity, EcoEquity, Friends of the Earth, North Carolina Interfaith Power & Light The IPCC has made it clear that humanity has to do everything possible to hold the warming to 1.5C, or as low as possible.

This means that, in addition to its domestic challenges, the US climate movement must take on the challenge of defining and socializing the US fair share in the larger global effort. That is the gap which this US Fair Shares Initiative is attempting to fill.

Environmental Finance Center West (EFCWest) — Using Root Cause Analysis for DEI and Systemic Issues, peer learning Partnering with: Care About Climate, Southeast Climate & Energy Network (SCEN), Sustaining Way, The People's Justice Council This proposal seeks to support partner organizations and USCAN efforts to identify strategic targets, policies and leverage points for systems-level change. The project will involve four USCAN organizations in virtual root cause exercises to help them identify opportunities to address the complexity and intersectionality of race, equity, diversity and climate justice.

We can’t wait to see all of the incredible work these grantees are able to accomplish. We hope to secure additional funding in 2021 so that we may continue to lift up our grassroots/frontline member organizations as well as fund clusters of our members working together on collaborative projects!

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US FAIR SHARE The USCAN Fair Share project emerged through a USCAN Member Empowerment Grant project. This alignment process over the last year was released to the world in November of 2020 and includes a website, organizational sign-on, webinar, press release, and media.

This effort to quantify “The US Climate Fair Share” is a collective effort by the US Climate Action Network (USCAN) to center the dual challenges of global climate change and global inequality and to ensure that US climate action is appropriately considered in this context. As the richest country the world has ever known—and also one of the world’s most starkly divided ones—and one that even now has vast influence on other countries, it is of utmost importance to people around the globe that a comprehensive US climate plan take into account the world outside our own borders.

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US Climate Action Network members have developed a set of common policy positions, which together constitute our Vision for Equitable Climate Action. The VECA, as it is known, is an evolving document that, importantly, includes a clear statement on the United States' Global Issues and Responsibilities. This statement calls out some priority actions that must be immediately addressed and states that "the American people must begin a profound new conversation about global climate justice and about the US’s fair share in the shared global effort of stabilizing the climate system." The Fair Share position explained on this website is, we hope, a step towards that new conversation.

ENHANCE NETWORK EFFECTIVENESS

EJ Panel2 at May 2019 SCEN Convening.

Photo Credit: Alexander Easdale.

INCORPORATING FEEDBACK Bi-annual Surveys — In 2020, USCAN’s Network Engagement Team continued the precedent of conducting biannual surveys for of the broad and diverse swathe of USCAN’s entire network as a vehicle for strengthening democratic participation and receiving candid and constructive feedback about the network’s priorities, shared strategies and effectiveness in delivering its vision and mission..

Information from both surveys was also supplemented with a specific survey on the conduct and outcomes of the USCAN 2020 Annual Meeting that for the first time had to conform to a virtual format due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Unsurprisingly, the feedback illuminated strong consensus around elevating and centering frontline and environmental justice communities and constituencies; driving accountability within and across the USCAN network including with founding organizations to demonstrate authentic adoption of the USCAN Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Statement and four goals; an unrelenting focus on grassroots mobilization and engagement around the 2020 US Federal, state and local elections; and increasing appetite to learn and adopt disruptive humanitarianism as a strategy for citizen empowerment and mobilization to address the climate crisis and the attendant racial and economic crises. The feedback also surfaced strains and the erosion of relationships across the network as a direct consequence of the social isolation that the pandemic necessitated, as well as a decrease in the intensity of alignment around USCAN priorities.

In response, the Network Engagement Team will be investing over the next couple of months in more intensive member outreach that will include and reflect the perspective and recommendations of actual USCAN members including those active on action teams, other USCAN committees and tables, and the Board of Directors. The team will also conduct broad recruitment for participation on the 2021 USCAN Annual meeting planning committee to ensure the process is both inclusive and fully representative of USCAN’s membership.

Finally, as a subset of the annual meeting planning committee, the team will convene a representative group of members to develop a charter for review and adoption by USCAN members that memorializes terms of engagement and dialogue for bridging differences and divergent positions as we work towards a just and equitable climate future.

BIPOC Listening Session February 6th - During one of our quarterly funder calls, our funders let us know that they would be interested in learning more about the leaders of color in our network and what they think could be improved in the network, as well as what they thought was working well. We decided to have a listening session with our BIPOC members to listen to their needs, wants, and evaluation of how the network was working for them and their grassroots/ frontline organizations, as well on how USCAN was delivering on our JEDI principles.

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SITTING AT OTHER TABLES Each year, USCAN members vote in our Fall Survey to let us know which tables USCAN should prioritize. USCAN found itself, at the request of our members, participating in multiple different tables. We interacted with the Green New Deal Network, the Five Tables, and the Climate Forum.

Green New Deal Network USCAN was represented at the the Green New Deal Network Coordinating Table in 2020 by Keya Chatterjee, Bishop. Marcia Dinkins (OH IPL), and Tim Judson (NIRS). The Table launched the Peoples’ Bailout and the THRIVE Agenda in 2020, and also agreed to move forward with a public scorecard for economic recovery plans based on the THRIVE Agenda and longer policy document that outlined the recovery that we need. The Table was publicly launched in early 2021, following more than a year of work together across coalitions.

Climate Action Campaign 2020 was an important year for pushing the coalition tables to fully lean into diversity and inclusion, while transforming ourselves to embody justice, equity. Much of the work in 2020 with the Climate Action Campaign was dedicated to pushing those priorities and working on ourselves as a coalition.

A number of tables where USCAN previously sat also achieved their goals and decided to ‘sunset’ in 2020, to allow their members to fully participate in the diverse, and flourishing ecosystem of climate justice activism. The Green Group and the Peoples Climate Movement were among the tables that celebrated years of collaboration and successful advocacy as they wound down in 2020.

JUSTICE, EQUITY, DIVERSITY & INCLUSION (JEDI) ACCOUNTABILITY In 2020 we found ourselves in a profound moment of protesting the murders of BIPOC members by the police and reckoning with racial injustice associated with systemic oppression. In response to this moment, the Board and leadership of USCAN have reinvigorated the Justice, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion (JEDI) committee. This committee is actively working to dismantle white supremacy culture within our network.

Over the past decade, USCAN has significantly increased our membership of BIPOC-led organizations and action teams. We have also significantly increased the number of empowerment grants given to BIPOC-led organizations and to projects focusing on efforts within BIPOC communities. Unfortunately, over this same time period we have noticed an equally significant decline in engagement and tangible investments into our programs by USCAN’s founding organizations: Environmental Defense Fund (EDF); Sierra Club; Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC);

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Friends of the Earth (FOE); World Wildlife Fund (WWF); Audubon Society; Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS); World Resource Institute; and Greenpeace.

During multiple Arm in Arm Training 4 Trainers and the Intro Trainings, participants inquired about resources on how to operationalize anti-racism. One next step from our antiracism training at Arm in Arm is to bring the learning from that training into our day to day work at USCAN. With Board approval, this question was referred to USCAN’s JEDI committee. After intentional deliberation, one of the steps the JEDI committee decided to take was to write a letter to the CEOs of each of our founding organizations asking them to share how they are addressing JEDI issues within their organizations, and inviting them to become more invested in USCAN’s programs. USCAN executive staff, Board members and JEDI members have held follow-up meetings with leadership of each of those organizations.

While there has been an array of responses to the letter sent to our founding organizations, we are encouraged by the positivity of many of the responses and additionally heartened by some of the ongoing conversations we are now having with our founding partners.

GET INVOLVED Become a member: Contact membership@usclimatenetwork.org and learn how your organization can become a USCAN member.

Follow us online: usclimatenetwork.org facebook.com/USClimateActionNetwork instagram.com/climateactionnetwork @USCAN

MAKE A DONATION

STAFF LIST

USCAN Staff Members: from top left Marie Risalvato, Sydney Mosier, Lindsay Harper, Keya Chatterjee, Ishmael Buckner, Rosita Scarborough, Carrie Clayton, Jamiere Folmar, and Stephanie Ready.

Keya Chatterjee Executive Director

Jamiere Folmar Network Systems Director

Carrie Clayton Senior Network Systems Director

Ishmael Buckner Network Engagement Coordinator

Rosita Scarborough Senior Network Engagement Director

Stephanie Ready Network Systems Coordinator

Marie Risalvato Network Engagement Director

Sydney Mosier Network Coordinator

FINANCIAL REPORT 2020 USCAN’s fiscal year begins July 1. This report is for the calendar year ending December 31, 2020.

CALENDAR YEAR JANUARY 1, 2020 TO DECEMBER 31, 2020 TOTAL Revenue

Grants & Contributions

Annual Membership Dues

Interest Income

3,026,735 102,560 2,760

Total Revenue

$3,132,055

Expenditures Salaries

663,719

Employer Payroll Taxes

Benefits

115,992

Consultants

15,904

52,891

Annual Meeting

8,134

Fundraising/Marketing/Social

48,656

Internships

11,100

Meetings & Conferences

45,620

Shared Program Costs

87,730

Member Empowerment Grants

745,031

Travel

Action Team Coordinators & Participants

Arm in Arm

9,682 159,560 90,499

Total Expenditures

$2,054,518 Net Revenue

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$656,194

2020 EXPENDITURES 2020 EXPENDITURES

FUNDRAISING INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT TO MEMBERS FOR U.N. & INT'L MEETINGS

8% 8%

ARM IN ARM

7% 52% 14%

SHARED PROGRAM COSTS: INTERNSHIPS, ACCOUNTING & AUDIT, INSURANCE, SUPPLIES

11%

MEMBER EMPOWERMENT GRANTS ― MEMBER STIPENDS, DIRECT MEMBER SUPPORT

MEMBER MEETINGS

THANK YOU FOR YOUR GENEROUS SUPPORT: USCAN Member Organizations

VKRF

Kendeda Fund Kresge Foundation

Nathan Cummings Foundation

Mertz Gilmore Foundation

Wallace Global Fund

Pisces Foundation

11th Hour

MacArthur Foundation

Grove Foundation

Surdna Foundation

International Council on Sustainable Energy

Hewlett Foundation Mosaic Tides Foundation

Overbrook Foundation

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.

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US CLIMATE ACTION NETWORK MEMBER ORGANIZATIONS 350.org

Brooklyn, New York

Climate Action Rhode Island

Newport, Rhode Island

350 Spokane

Spokane, Washington

Climate Advocacy Lab

San Francisco, California

50by40

Leakewood, Kansas Rockport, Maine

Climate and Development Lab, Brown University

Providence, Rhode Island

Acadia Center ActionAid USA

Washington, District of Columbia

Climate Community Center

Pawtucket, Rhode Island

Climate Crisis Policy

New York, New York

Climate Generation: A Will Steger Legacy

Minneapolis, Minnesota

Climate Hawks Vote

Washington, District of Columbia

Climate Interactive

Washington, District of Columbia

Climate Law & Policy Project

Washington, District of Columbia

Advocates for the Environment

Los Angeles, California

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

Climate Mobilization Project

Brooklyn, New York

Anthropocene Alliance

Chicago, Illinois

Climate Nexus

New York, New York

Avaaz

New York, New York

Climate Reality Project

Backbone Campaign

Vashon, Washington

Washington, District of Columbia

Berkeley Carbon Trading Project

Berkeley, California

Climate Scorecard

Milton, Massachusetts

Blaque Women Rising

Dayton, Ohio

Colorado Farm & Food Alliance

Paonia, California

BlueGreen Alliance

Minneapolis, Minnesota

Columban Center for Advocacy and Outreach

Washington, District of Columbia

Brighter Green

New York, New York

Conservation International

Arlington, Virginia

Buddhist Tzu Chi Foundation

San Dimas, California

Corporate Accountability International

Boston, Massachusetts

Care About Climate

Flagstaff, Arizona

Creation Justice Ministries

CARE USA

Atlanta, Georgia

Washington, District of Columbia

Center for American Progress

Washington, District of Columbia

Dayenu: A Jewish Call to Climate Action

New York, New York

Tucson, Arizona

Detroiters Working for Environmental Justice

Detroit, Michigan

Center for Biological Diversity Center for Climate Protection

Santa Rosa, California

Dogwood Alliance

Asheville, North Carolina

Center for Community Change

Washington, District of Columbia

Earth Ministries

Seattle, Washington

Earthjustice

San Francisco, California

Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL)

Washington, District of Columbia

Earthworks

Washington, District of Columbia

Center for Popular Democracy

Brooklyn, New York

ecoAmerica

Center for Sustainable Climate Solutions (CSCS)

Harrisonburg, Virginia

Washington, District of Columbia

EcoEquity

Albany, California

Center for Sustainable Economy

Lake Oswego, Oregon Boston, Massachusetts

Charleston Climate Coalition

Charleston, South Carolina

Education, Economics, Environmental, Climate and Health Organization (EEECHO)

Gulfport, Mississippi

Ceres Chesapeake Climate Action Network

Takoma Park, Maryland

Elders Climate Action

Truckee, California

Citizens Climate Lobby

Coronado, California

Elected Officials to Protect NY

Fly Creek, New York

Clean Air Coalition of Western

Buffalo, New York

End Climate Silence

New York, New York

Clean Energy Action

Boulder, Colorado

Energy Alabama

Huntsville, Alabama

Clean Energy Works

Washington, District of Columbia

Environment America

Denver, Colorado

Climate Access

San Francisco, California

Environmental and Energy Study Institute

Washington, District of Columbia

Environmental Defense Fund

New York, New York

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Environmental Finance Center

West Berkeley, California

Michigan Interfaith Power and Light

Southfield, Michigan

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

Chicago, Illinois

Minnesota Interfaith Power and Light

Minneapolis, Minnesota

First Faith Baptist Church

New York, New York

MH Action

San Francisco, California

Franciscan Action Network

Washington, District of Columbia

Moms Clean Air Force

Washington, District of Columbia

Friends Committee on National Legislation

Washington, District of Columbia

Mothers Out Front

Boston, Massachusetts

Friends of the Earth

Washington, District of Columbia

Mt. Zion Community Outreach, Inc.

Grovetown, Georgia

NAACP

Baltimore, Maryland

Gasp

Birmingham, Alabama

National Wildlife Federation

Reston, Virginia

Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)

New York, New York

New Jersey Organizing Project

West Creek, New Jersey

Georgia Interfaith Power and Light

Decatur, Georgia

Georgetown Climate Center

Washington, District of Columbia

Georgia WAND

Atlanta, Georgia

New Mexico Interfaith Power and Light

Albuquerque, New Mexico

Next is Now

Mount Carmel, South Carolina

Green Deshis

Ellicott City, Maryland

Green For All

Berkeley, California

North Carolina Conservation Network

Raleigh, North Carolina

GreenFaith

Highland Park, New Jersey

Raleigh, North Carolina

GreenLatinos

Washington, District of Columbia

North Carolina Interfaith Power and Light

Takoma Park, Maryland

Greenpeace USA

Washington, District of Columbia

Nuclear Information and Resource Service Ohio Interfaith Power and Light

Columbus, Ohio

Oil Change International

Washington, District of Columbia

Organizing Uplifting Resources Strategy (O.U.R.S.)

Mount Carmel, South Carolina

Our Children’s Trust

Eugene, Oregon

Our Climate Education Fund

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

Houston Climate Movement

Houston, Texas

Illinois Environmental Council

Springfield, Illinois

Institute for Carbon Removal Law & Policy

Washington, District of Columbia

Oxfam America

Boston, Massachusetts

Institute for Policy Studies

Washington, District of Columbia

Pacific Environment

San Francisco, California

Partnership for Policy Integrity

Amherst, Massachusetts Atlanta, Georgia

InterAction

Washington, District of Columbia

Partnership for Southern Equity Pee Dee Indian Tribe

McColl, South Carolina

Interfaith Power and Light

San Francisco, California

Pennsylvania Interfaith Power and Light

State College, Pennsylvania

Interfaith Power and Light (DC. MD.NoVA)

Washington, District of Columbia

People's Action Institute

International Environmental Law Project (IELP) at Lewis & Clark College

Portland, Oregon

Washington, District of Columbia Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Iowa Interfaith Power and Light

Des Moines, Iowa

Philadelphia Physicians for Social Responsibility

Jail & Prison Rehabilitation Information Community Outreach Program (JAPRI)

Greenville, South Carolina

Phoenix Zones Initiative

Albuquerque, New Mexico

Pivot Point

Shelton, Washington

Polar Bears International

Bozeman, Montana

John Muir Project of Earth Island Institute

Big Bear City, California

Power Shift Network

San Francisco, California

Kentucky Conservation Committee

Frankfort, Kentucky

Presbyterian Church USA

Louisville, Kentucky

Kentucky Interfaith Power and Light

Louisville, Kentucky

Protect Our Winters

Boulder, Colorado

Kingdom Living Temple

Florence, South Carolina

Public Citizen

Labor Network for Sustainability

Takoma Park, Maryland

Washington, District of Columbia

League of Conservation Voters

Washington, District of Columbia

Quaker Earthcare

Albany, New York

Rachel Carson Council

Bethesda, Maryland

Livelihoods Knowledge Exchange Network (LiKEN)

Lexington, Kentucky

RE-AMP

Madison, Wisconsin

Low Country Alliance for Model Communities

Charleston, North Carolina

Refugees International

Washington, District of Columbia

Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns

Washington, District of Columbia

Resurrection Restoration Center For the Homeless

Florence, South Carolina

Michigan Climate Action Network

Traverse City, Michigan

Service Employees International Union (SEIU)

Washington, District of Columbia

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Sierra Club

San Francisco, California

U.S. Baha'i Office of Public Affairs

Sojourners

Washington, District of Columbia

Washington, District of Columbia

Union of Concerned Scientists

Cambridge, Massachusetts

Sol Nation

Charlotte, North Carolina Washington, District of Columbia

Unitarian Universalist Service Committee

Cambridge, Massachusetts

Solutions Project South Carolina Interfaith Power and Light

Greenville, South Carolina

United Methodist Church - General Board of Church and Society

Washington, District of Columbia

United Methodist Women

New York, New York

Southeast Climate Energy Network (SCEN)

Fort Lauderdale, Florida

United Parents Against Lead (UPAL)

Richmond, Virginia

Southern Alliance for Clean Energy

Knoxville, Tennessee

US Climate and Health Alliance

Oakland, California

Southern Echo

Jackson, Mississippi

Utah Moms for Clean Air

Salt Lake City, Utah

Southern Oregon Climate Action Now

Jacksonville, Oregon

Utah Valley Earth Forum

Spanish Fork, Utah

Stand.earth

Bellingham, Washington

Virginia Interfaith Power and Light

Richmond, Virginia

Sunrise Movement

Washington, District of Columbia

Voices for Progress

Washington, District of Columbia

Sustaining Way

Greenville, South Carolina

We Own It

Madison, Wisconsin

SustainUs

Quincy, Massachusetts

West Michigan Environmental Action Council

Grand Rapids, Michigan

Texas Impact

Austin, Texas

Win Without War

The Climate Collaborative

Hartland, New York

Washington, District of Columbia

The College of the Atlantic, Program in Global Environmental Diplomacy

Bar Harbor, Maine

Wisconsin Green Muslims

Milwaukee, Wisconsin Mill Valley, California

The Episcopal Church Office of Government Relations

New York, New York

Women's Earth and Climate Action Network

Graniteville, South Carolina

Women's Environment and Development Organization (WEDO)

New York, New York

The Imani Group The Mountain Pact

Truckee, California

World Resources Institute (WRI)

Washington, District of Columbia

The People's Justice Council

Atlanta, Georgia

World Wildlife Fund (WWF)

The Whitney M. Slater Foundation

Florence, South Carolina

Washington, District of Columbia

The Wilderness Society

Washington, District of Columbia

Young Evangelicals for Climate Action

Indianapolis, Indiana

Tribal Environmental Policy Center (TEPC)

Rio Rancho, New Mexico

usclimatenetwork.org