Issue: Energy Policy

This website is a celebration of Just Infrastructure projects taking root as federal water dollars flow. It is also a storytelling resource for those pushing for equitable spending and future funding. For example, from urban greening in New Orleans and Chicago to drought preparedness in the San Joaquin Valley and the Navajo Nation, federal funding and local organizing are laying the groundwork for a just and resilient water future. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act together include more than $60 billion for water projects. This historic water spending has the potential to advance the human right to water while helping us weather heat, drought, fire and floods. To meet this moment, we must: pair engineering and technology with nature-based projects, and prioritize areas that have historically been overlooked and underfunded.

Since 2017, New York Communities for Change (NYCC) has built hard-hitting multi-racial campaigns to win transformative results. In large part, their climate-focused work began in response to the devastation that Superstorm Sandy wrecked on the organization’s membership. NYCC attacks the linked crises of inequality and climate change. In order to win, NYCC combines its base in low-income communities of color with the predominantly white progressives who are active on climate to bring powerful pressure on specific governmental and corporate decision makers for major results. This report describes NYCC campaigns from 2017-2022. Some highest-impact winning campaigns: NYC pension divestment, enacting local law 97, stopping the Williams NESE pipeline, cracking BlackRock, removing Lee Raymond from the JP Morgan Chase board, and stopping new fracked gas power plants, all won alongside allies. NYCC hopes that activists, foundation funders, donors, and leaders take a close look at this kind of organizing and base building work.