Since 2018, the Climate Advocacy Lab has distributed Climate Justice Microgrants to 25 environmental justice and climate justice organizations around the United States who are doing powerful work to protect and improve their communities.

This resource delves into the critical role of power in achieving social change, highlighting the necessity of understanding, challenging, and transforming power dynamics. It outlines various forms of power, including "power over," "power within," "power with," and "power to," discussing their implications in movement building. Power within: to dream, believe in oneself, hope, create and solve problems. Without it, we do not speak out and step up. Sometimes we believe this is the most unstoppable form of power. Power with: finding common ground with others, building solidarity on reciprocity and love, knowing, and respecting differences, and working together for a common purpose and ideals. Power to: make change, change lives, and make a difference in the world one step at a time; even the power to think, imagine, be silent, and resist the status quo. Power for: the combined vision, values and demands that orient our work and hold the seeds of the world we seek to create. The framework underscores the importance of recognizing and addressing visible, hidden, and invisible power structures to create equitable societies. JASS provides tools and methodologies for activists to build and mobilize power effectively in their advocacy efforts.

This resource can equip activists with the skills necessary to map and comprehend power structures effectively. The training emphasizes visualizing relationships among stakeholders, identifying key influencers, and developing strategic approaches to engage them. Participants learn to clearly define their campaign goals and navigate complex power dynamics, which is crucial for effective advocacy. This structured approach to power analysis aims to enhance the impact and success of social change initiatives. Power mapping is a method which visualizes how power is exercised across the whole playing field, allowing you to target key players and forward plan tactics for maximum impact. Determine who is anchoring decision-makers against you, how you can weaken this hold to sustain the change you are working to achieve.

When developing and carrying out a nonviolent campaign for social change, organizers need to consider steps for increasing the pressure on those whose actions or decisions are opposed. There are lots of ways a movement can escalate a conflict while remaining nonviolent. In Ebert's model, the first stage of a nonviolent campaign emphasizes bringing an issue into the public sphere. In the second stage, the campaign increases public pressure by staging legal forms of non-cooperation (strikes, consumer boycotts, slow-downs) as well as innovative lawful activities (fair trade initiatives, alternative economy structures, nonviolent intervention). The third stage of escalation uses nonviolent civil disobedience as both a protest and as a form of civil usurpation. Of course, there are more ways to escalate a campaign than increasing the level of non-cooperation or developing constructive alternatives. Perhaps the most common are escalation through increasing numbers of participants, increased length of public protests (think of people occupying a public square to protest against a repressive regime for many weeks) or a wider variety of participants.

Here is a comprehensive framework for understanding power dynamics through "power analysis." It introduces concepts such as "power over," "power within," "power with," and "power to," elucidating various facets of power in societal contexts. The analysis emphasizes the necessity of recognizing visible, hidden, and invisible forms of power to effectively address social inequalities. This resource serves as a vital tool for activists and policymakers, enabling them to strategize interventions that promote equity and inclusion by transforming existing power structures. The first step in creating a power map is to define the goal, vision, or interest that you are going to focus on in your analysis. After placing individuals and organizations on the map, you might be able to see some patterns and relationships. Power mapping can enhance your group’s understanding of the political context and your ability to think strategically. It can also build trust and shared understanding between participants in the group as they work together to develop each step of the research, discussion, and mapping process.

Digital security is key for organizations relying on teamwork, especially with lots of team members working from home. This site describes tips in a few categories, including: secure group chat and conferencing tools, physical and emotional protection while using home for work, digital security and privacy, digital first aid kit, surveillance self-defense, and more. With teams increasingly working remotely during COVID-19, we are all facing questions regarding the security of our communication with one another: Which communication platform or tool is best to use? Which is the most secure for holding sensitive internal meetings? Which will have adequate features for online training sessions or remote courses without compromising the privacy and security of participants? Security in-a-Box is a guide to digital security for activists and human rights defenders. The Digital First Aid Kit aims to provide preliminary support for people facing the most common types of digital threats. Surveillance Self-Defense is the Electronic Frontier Foundation's guide to defending yourself and your friends from surveillance by using secure technology and developing careful practices.

This curriculum is intended to be a starting point for training(s) you may be delivering to your community in moments of rapid response. This curriculum was developed with love and adapted from years of direct action training in and out of the Ruckus Community. During a training, provide a rapid overview to participants of what to do to prepare for mass action. Pay attention to verbal and nonverbal communication. Prepare an action pack. Protect your data. This guide provides many specific steps to use during a training and during action preparation and planning.

A strategy for a social change campaign can be as simple or complex as you and your group determine. It should communicate your theory of change, the political context you are working in, the problems and solutions, your goals, power analysis, tactics and timeline. ‘Cut the issue’ to narrow down bigger picture problems into more manageable parts. What part of the problem or bigger issue do you intend to work on? It might be helpful to frame it as a solution or partial solution. Name the problem, identify issues and justify which one/s you plan to tackle. The campaign focus might include a ‘problem statement’ that defines the social or environmental justice that your group is most concerned with. The ‘cutting the issue’ exercise can help you define your goals. How do you want things to be? If this issue or problem is resolved, how will the situation have changed? How will justice be achieved? Goals should be discrete and directly linked to the scope. It is generally best to focus on one campaign goal or limit to two or three. If your goals are sufficiently different, it may be worthwhile developing separate campaign plans. This guide also covers: vision, situational analysis, critical path analysis, organizational considerations, allies, constituents, targets, objectives, tactics, evaluation, and success indicators.

A security culture is a set of customs and measures shared by a community whose members may engage in sensitive or illegal activities. Security culture practices minimize the risks of members getting arrested or their actions being foiled. While we are trying to stop bad things from happening, our powerful opponents (usually governments or corporations) are working hard to stop us. This guide is about the security measures activists can take to protect ourselves and make our work more effective. This guide mostly focuses on the actions of law enforcement, such as intelligence officers and police, as it usually has the greatest authority to target activists. Law enforcement uses the legal system to harass protesters. Law enforcement investigates and infiltrates groups. Law enforcement disrupts activities. Opponents and law enforcement engage in targeted excessive force and violence. This guide also describes some ways for activist groups to protect themselves, including assessing risk, weigh the pros and cons, manage emotions, be nice and supportive, stop bad behavior, and more.

Know your role before, during, and after social movement actions. Roles might include activist/organizer/coordinator/campaigner, fundraiser, researcher, scout, artist, etc. During an action, people might be: risking arrest, directing supporting, liaising with police, peacekeeping, talking to or reaching out to media, etc. This guide describes all these types of roles and actions. After an action, some roles that might be needed include lawyer, documentarian, fundraiser, letter writer, etc.