Resource Library

Where do Americans stand on election issues? Let them tell you. State- and CD-level data on American voters’ attitudes, including on specific climate policies. 
Nationscape Insights is a featured project of Democracy Fund Voter Study Group and UCLA, in partnership with USA TODAY. Our interactive graphics, updated weekly, delve into this large-scale study of the American electorate. You can explore geographic and demographic breakdowns and more.
The Democracy Fund + UCLA Nationscape Project has been asking Americans about the biggest issues in the 2020 election – the economy, guns, abortion, climate change, to name a few. They’ve asked detailed questions to learn more about voters, nuances in their positions, and how they may evolve.

The first chapter of the Washington State Environmental Justice Task Force (EJTF)’s Fall 2020 report provides context for what environmental justice (EJ) is, how to build on existing EJ work in Washington, and why state government must prioritize addressing EJ issues and environmental health disparities. The second chapter focuses on the EJTF’s process for developing recommendations, a statewide EJ definition, and EJ principles. The final chapter of the report includes all EJTF recommendations. The report appendices include additional resources, including guidance developed by the EJTF’s Community Engagement Subcommittee for how state agencies can develop their own community engagement plans. 

This webinar is a 90-minute overview of the organizing model pioneered by the retail workers organization United for Respect. It was presented by O2O Strategies, a sister organization of UFR dedicated to helping other people-powered organizations use what they’ve learned to help them build the power they need to win. This interactive session features the historical context surrounding the development of this model, the strategic reasons to lead with digital tools, case studies on organizing campaigns and victories achieved using this model, and an in-depth explanation of how the model works, from supporter recruitment to members leading campaigns to victory.             

Multiracial organizing (MRO) can easily be siloed in culture, but it needs to be integrated in all parts of your DNA: story, strategy, structure and culture. MRO is hard work, and if your movement or organization is struggling to navigate how to do it well, you are in the majority. Representation and tokenization are easy traps to fall into. If your movement cannot clearly articulate why building multi-racial movement is important for winning, you may find it hard to organize with integrity, and conflicts will arise in your organization about who is leading and who is in your base. “Ideological grounding” is an important first step. Different kinds of MRO will be best in different kinds of contexts: majority white spaces, majority Black spaces, versus majority POC, non-Black spaces. Historic organizational memory matters, and there are different “levels of intervention” that can help strengthen MRO organizing. This report details those kinds of interventions and other aspects of successful MRO.

In this webinar, the Lab team is joined by the Regulatory Assistance Project to explore recommendations from the new report Energy Infrastructure: Sources of Inequities and Policy Solutions for Improving Community Health and Wellbeing.
In addition to the report, participants also learn from advocates across the country fighting for an equitable clean energy future. Contributing speakers shared their reflections and lessons learned from a variety of perspectives on what it takes to achieve energy equity, including how they’re financing low-income solar, how they’re growing solar through state-level policy, and how to work in strong coalition.
Contributing speakers include: Donna Brutkoski, Communications Associate, Regulatory Assistance Project; Yesenia Rivera, Director of Energy Equity and Inclusion, Solar United Neighbors; and Jacqueline Hutchinson, Vice President of Operations, People’s Community Action Corporation.

American’s external political efficacy – the belief that one can influence government decisions – has been on the decline over the last several decades. Greater involvement in civic associations may help to reverse this. Analyzing a panel dataset of several hundred environmental association members, this study found that as members got to know their association’s chapter leaders, external efficacy increased.