Issue: Principles & Processes

When the Training Team was given the task of building out our Training for Impact Spring 2023 cohort, my wheels immediately started turning; my thoughts kept bringing me to my own experience as a brand new organizer in the climate justice space. Thinking about my own experience and how trainings, peer-to-peer learning, and relationship opportunities supported me in my journey as an organizer and an advocate, I was so excited to build out a program that encapsulated those key aspects with the Lab’s Training Team. Read on to learn how we built out the 2023 Training For Impact cohort! 

Working in the climate advocacy space, our focus is almost always turned towards the communities we are building power with and the actors and systems we wish to influence and change. As the calendar flips to May – Mental Health Awareness Month – I want us to take a look inside our movement spaces at the evidence around the urgency of addressing burnout, the additional mental health stressors present in our sector, and where the evidence points us towards improving the success and sustainability of our movement.Throughout this newsletter, I will be digging in on some of the recent evidence –including from the Lab itself! – on the four-day work week as an institutional strategy to address the factors that contribute to burnout.

From studying past social movements, the Lab has learned that the transformational change necessary to equitably address the climate crisis is more likely to occur when multiracial, cross-class (MRXC) movements* claim their collective power, expand the imagination of what’s possible, and organize and mobilize people at scale. In the last 5 years, the Sunrise Movement has demonstrated a commitment to learning and practice on multiracial, cross-class movement building. This week’s newsletter features reflections and lessons from Lab member and Deputy Organizer Director at Sunrise, Dejah Powell. As a Lab member yourself, you can read the full report* on how Sunrise has been working to build a movement across race and class, and the implications and learnings based on those efforts. This report was developed as part of the Lab’s Climate Justice Microgrant Program.