Greetings, RE-AMPers!

With the new season upon us (we hope), it seems like the perfect time to give our monthly RE-AMP Network Updates a fresh look and feel—and an infusion of new content, including member interviews and feature stories. In our April Update, you can:

• Get the lowdown on the state table development process—and hear specifically from Wayde Schafer about why the North Dakota State Table matters;
• Meet Ellen Anderson, Executive Director with Energy Transition Lab, one of our newest member organizations focused on energy storage;
• Keep in the know about Network news and events, including the 2016 Annual Meeting;
• Learn about the critical climate and energy work happening across our region, and more.

Please read on, enjoy, and remember: I rely on you to provide information that helps keeps other members up to date on what’s happening across the region. If you have news, events, or campaign updates others should be aware of, please contact me at jessica@reamp.org. Many thanks!

— Feature Stories —

State of State Tables: An Update from State Table Coordinator Sarah Shanahan

Innovation has always been a hallmark of the RE-AMP Network, and the state table development process has been yet another venue where members are demonstrating their adaptability and creativity. Tables are evolving differently in each state to suit its unique needs, opportunities, and political landscape, and we want to thank everyone who has contributed their time and energy to building strong state tables. For those of you who are wondering “What the heck is a state table?” or are looking for contact information on a state-by-state basis, check out the State Table resource page on the Commons. The page also includes links to a handy State Table FAQ, a recording of the Network-wide webinar State of State Tables hosted by Network CEO Scott Cooper in March, and many other resources.

Here are a few highlights from each state table:

• Illinois: The Illinois State Table is focused on the Clean Power Plan, however the state still hasn’t passed a budget. This is a major holdup for the state’s climate and energy work. That said, the table is still working to build the power necessary to pass climate and energy policies when the budget is in place.
• Iowa & North Dakota: The Iowa and North Dakota State Tables are hard at work doing outreach to recruit potential allies and table members. Both tables are looking forward to welcoming new voices to their respective conversations.
• Michigan: The Michigan State Table is in the process of scheduling and laying the groundwork for their first in-person meeting in May. Please share your availability if you haven’t already done so. Applications for a state table coordinator are also open. The position’s responsibilities include membership management, coordination with the leadership team, and logistics support.
• Minnesota: The Minnesota State Table held its first in-person meeting in late March. Participating members left the meeting feeling somewhat uncertain about what the outcomes mean for their own work, but hopeful at the same time. There was strong emphasis on developing a table that feels different from what existed prior to this year, and attendees spent significant time sharing ideas for what they want it to look like.  Members have decided to hire a short-term table coordinator and to put together a nominating committee tasked with creating a leadership team that will eventually carry the state table work forward.
• Ohio: The Ohio State Table is gearing up to implement their civic engagement plan. As part of their power analysis, they have identified key districts for building public will in support of climate and energy policy. The table is looking to overlay this work with candidate education on climate and energy policies as well.
• Wisconsin: The Wisconsin State Table is holding its first in-person meeting this year in Milwaukee on April 27th from 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. For more information contact Keith Reopelle at kreopelle@cleanwisconsin.org.

If you’ve yet to get involved in your state’s table, you can start by joining the state group pages on the Commons and contacting the conveners listed there. For any questions related to state tables, you can contact State Table Coordinator Sarah Shanahan at sarah@reamp.org.

Member Interview: Wayde Schafer on the North Dakota State Table

“North Dakota is ground zero for the climate and energy movement,” says Wayde Schafer, a long-time climate and energy advocate with the Dacotah Chapter of the Sierra Club. Home to the Bakken oil boom and vast untapped opportunities for wind, solar, and geothermal energy, the state faces a critical decision to either cling to dirty fuel sources or to embrace clean energy and innovation. Wayde recently shared his perspective on the opportunity the EPA Clean Power Plan brings to North Dakota and on why RE-AMP’s state table development process is crucial for advocates’ effort to advance the transition off of fossil fuels. Read the full interview between Wayde and RE-AMP Community Manager Jessica Conrad here.

Member Interview: Ellen Anderson, Executive Director, Energy Transition Lab  

The Energy Transition Lab (ETL) is tackling the critically important work of “solving our most pressing challenges to enable our energy system’s transition to the future.” Based at the University of Minnesota, the organization leverages the expertise of the academic community and works in collaboration with the public, private, nonprofit, and community sectors. ETL recently joined the Network as a new member organization, and RE-AMP Community Manager Jessica Conrad caught up with ETL’s Executive Director Ellen Anderson to learn about the organization’s current focus, to hear Ellen’s thoughts on the most important opportunities for the climate and energy movement in Minnesota, and to find out what motivates her to do this work. You can read the full interview here.

The RE-AMP Asset Team Brings Staff Support to State Tables

Four RE-AMP Staff members make up the asset team and work together to support members in a variety of ways. At present the team is supporting the state table development process with both staff time and resources. Read on to learn what exactly each member of the asset team has to offer:

Sarah Ann Shanahan, our RE-AMP State Table Coordinator, works closely with state table staff and leadership teams across the region. She helps them develop strong plans and make connections with other tables in an effort to ensure that what we’re learning throughout this process gets shared across the entire Network. You can reach Sarah at sarah@reamp.org.

Melissa Gavin, Co-Director of the RE-AMP Organizing Hub, offers guidance on how to create transparent and equitable partner agreements and on how to conduct a power analysis. She and her Co-Director Keith Reopelle are available to assist state tables in working through these processes. The Org Hub offers a variety of additional campaign excellence services, which you’ll surely want to take advantage of if you haven’t already. You can reach Melissa at melissa@reamp.org.

Gail Francis, our RE-AMP Knowledge Manager, reads all the grant reports in an effort to find learning opportunities for our Network. In addition, she’s guiding state tables through a conversation-based reporting pilot program to facilitate relationship building, provides guidance on re-granting, and is available to help you think through any systems- and process-related questions you may have. You can reach Gail at gail@reamp.org.

Jessica Conrad, our RE-AMP Community Manager, offers membership management and guidance around creative relationship building for state tables. She prepared the state table participation tracker, revised the prospective member application process, and the discussion guide for addressing essential membership-related questions. Jessica is always available to answer questions about the Network or to help you find a meaningful niche for your engagement. You can contact her at jessica@reamp.org.   

No matter whether you’re leading a RE-AMP State Table, or a collaborative campaign, the asset team is here to help. Please don’t hesitate to get in touch with them at anytime.

— Network News —

RE-AMP Steering Committee Creates Dedicated Seats for Caucuses

In response to a proposal submitted by the Youth Caucus, in March the RE-AMP Steering Committee voted to create dedicated steering committee seats for each of the Network’s four caucuses. Antonio Lopez with the Environmental Justice Caucus and Susan Guy with the Faith Caucus were appointed to the steering committee last year and will carry out their terms. Moving forward individuals who fill those seats will be voted into office rather than appointed. The Rural Caucus and Youth Caucus are now in the process of determining whether or not they want to elect members during the 2016 Network elections to represent them on the committee. See additional information about this year’s elections process below.

Network Elections Coming up in June

Ballots for this year’s steering committee elections will be made available prior to 2016 Annual Meeting in late June, and the election process will close in early July. Candidates are strongly encouraged to attend the annual meeting where they will be invited to campaign and meet with Network members. Stay tuned for further information about the elections process, a list of open seats, and how to become a candidate in the May Network Update.

Climate and Energy Funders Convene in Washington DC

Many of RE-AMP’s member foundations participated in climate and energy discussions with their peers from across the country during the week of April 11th. In addition to the annual convening of the Climate and Energy Funders Group (CEFG), the Council on Foundations (COF) also had climate as a theme for their conference that week. RE-AMP Network CEO Scott Cooper spoke at the COF Conference on a panel called Taking Aim at Climate Change: State and Local Action Makes a Difference. Alongside foundation leaders from California, New Jersey and Boston, Scott helped make the case for new funders—especially place-focused funders—to initiate meaningful responses to the climate crisis.  Meanwhile, at the CEFG meeting, Network members participated in panel discussions about electric vehicles, the Clean Power Plan, how to engage conservatives in climate work, and many other topics that are important to our movement.

Welcoming ISAIAH!

On behalf of the entire Network, we’d like to extend a warm welcome to our newest member organization ISAIAH, a vehicle for congregations, clergy, and people of faith to act collectively and powerfully toward racial and economic equity in the state of Minnesota. Please introduce yourself to Matt Gladue and other ISAIAH staff at upcoming Network activities!

EJ Caucus Coordinator Brittany Anstead Moves on to EcoWorks

Last year we welcomed Brittany Anstead to the RE-AMP staff team to provide support to the Environmental Justice Caucus. We will greatly miss working with Brittany, who has recently  accepted a job with EcoWorks, but we are delighted that she will remain a member of the RE-AMP Network through her work with our Michigan-based member organization.

Knowledge Manager Gail Francis to Trek Across Norway!

RE-AMP Network Knowledge Manager Gail Francis will be taking a leave of absence this summer to pursue her long-held dream of hiking Norway end-to-end. This 1,700-mile trek will begin at Europe’s northernmost point in early June. If all goes well, she will trek across the tundra under the midnight sun, ascend up into the glacial peaks, stroll through the bucolic pastures, and arrive at the southern tip of the peninsula by late September. Anyone who wants to follow her journey can email her at gail@reamp.org and she’ll add you to her email update list. Lee Helgen, who is available at lee@reamp.org, will be the point of contact for any questions about Gail’s work during her leave.

Highlights from the Discussion on Building Power Through Regulatory Work

In March, eight Network members from four states came together to discuss how to approach regulatory work with the goal of building power over the long term. Using organizing tactics employed by advocates in Wisconsin to fight increased fixed charges on consumers, discussion leader Tyler Huebner of RENEW Wisconsin posed the following questions:

• How do we come out of this fight stronger, even if we lose this round?
• Who are the people who fill the seats as commissioners, and how do we reach them effectively?
• How do we coordinate national, state, and local tactics in a way that allows us to maximize strength and minimize risk?

Many of the participants face hostile regulatory bodies in their own states, like in Wisconsin. Others are more fortunate but want to become even more effective in reaching their relatively supportive commissioners.

Wisconsin leveraged a few key tactics, including:

• Partnering with local groups—and being sure to do it in a way that respects their expertise, meets their own needs, and helps them become stronger.
• Using a message frame that connects with the broadest possible audience. In this case, the central challenge was the financial burden utilities want to impose on all customers. (For more on how to frame communications, see pages 8-9 of RE-AMP framing guidance report.)
• Working with local units of government to support consumers.

Is there a topic you would like to convene a small group to discuss? Feel free to reach out to RE-AMP Knowledge Manager Gail Francis, who is available at gail@reamp.org, and she’ll help!

RE-AMPers Attend Camp Wellstone in Saint Paul

The RE-AMP Organizing Hub recently supported several Network members in attending Camp Wellstone in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Camp Wellstone’s training on grassroots advocacy is considered one of the best in the nation, and the Organizing Hub was pleased to help Network members build their organizing and mobilizing skills through this intense three-day training.  Attendees learned how strategic planning, transformational organizing, and transactional mobilizing come together to help organizations win on advocacy campaigns.  

While attendees learned from trainings on volunteer recruitment, message development, campaign planning, power mapping and storytelling, they also benefited from taking part in a training that connected them with organizations outside of the environmental sphere.  

According to one attendee, Dylan McDowell of National Caucus of Environmental Legislators, “So many trainings I go to are designed for environmental organizations, but this one had only a few environmental groups in attendance, while the rest were focused on issues like social justice. This really helped me think more broadly about my issue and that I need to do a better job of engaging those communities and stakeholders by finding commonalities between our missions.”

To learn about upcoming trainings, programs and services, visit the Organizing Hub’s page on the RE-AMP Commons.

Are You Using the Elections to Reach Your Mission?

Does your 501(c)3 organization use elections to further its mission? Does it participate in activities such as voter registration, voter education, get-out-the-vote activities, candidate education, or candidate forums? If so, we need to hear from you! This year the RE-AMP Organizing Hub is focusing on civic engagement and we want to hear from RE-AMP members, like you, who are doing this work now or in the recent past. Please respond to Melissa Gavin at the RE-AMP Organizing Hub at melissa@reamp.org and describe what elections-related work your 501(c)3 organization is doing. Respondents may be featured in upcoming RE-AMP Organizing Hub webinars.

Get the Lowdown on What’s Happening with the RE-AMP Rural Caucus

The April Rural Caucus Newsletter is now available! Check it out for information on how the Clean Power Plan affects rural communities, on-bill financing resources, and a recap of the discussion about Rural Caucus representation on the RE-AMP Steering Committee.

Did you Miss the Clean Jobs Midwest Webinar?

If you missed the webinar about the new survey of clean jobs in the Midwest, you can watch the recording to learn about the interactive features that allow you find out about the clean jobs in your state, right down to the congressional or state districts, and even county level. (Note that you will need to download the mp4 file to view the full recording.) You can also hear about the methodology and listen to the ways that members attending the webinar are thinking of using this new data. Many thanks to the Clean Energy Trust’s Alex Foucault for sharing this compelling information in such an understandable format.

Synapse Webinar Covers Modeling Techniques for the Clean Power Plan

Those of you who are interested in modeling techniques for the Clean Power Plan may be interested in this webinar from Synapse. It provides a great overview of the strengths and weaknesses of different methodologies, using easy-to-understand examples. Although the webinar is billed as “CPP modeling” it’s actually relevant to Integrated Resource Planning and other types of dockets as well.

— Network Events —

Join us for the 2016 RE-AMP Annual Meeting: June 27, 28 & 29, Chicago

Since its founding over a decade ago, the RE-AMP Network has been defined by its ambitious goals and by its innovation around whole-systems change. This approach demands adaptability, and in 2016 we find ourselves in the midst of an exciting transition. As we continue to convene on an issue-by-issue basis to set regional strategy, we’re also working to build state-level climate and energy tables for increased collective impact. This pivotal transition begs the question: How can we strengthen connections across our work at both state and regional levels to achieve our audacious goals?

Attend this year’s annual meeting, Connected for Impact: Building Network Strength for Midwest Climate Action, to help answer this question and amplify the Network’s power and ability to achieve results. The meeting will be held on June 27th, 28th and 29th in Chicago. At the meeting, Network members will work together to:

• Align goals and strategies across state and regional work to build Network strength
• Discuss practices that will help us advance equity within our climate advocacy
• Strengthen our connections between one another and to the Network

The conversations we’ll have at this year’s annual meeting will not only help us understand how to make our climate advocacy efforts even more impactful, but also build Network strength for accelerating the transition off of fossil fuels in the Midwest. We look forward to announcing our keynote speakers and providing session descriptions as soon as they are available.

Online registration will open on Monday, May 2nd, and logistics information will be made available on the Annual Meeting resource page on the Commons next week. We hope to see you in Chicago!

Midwest Electric Vehicle Strategy Meeting: April 14 & 15, Chicago

Advocates will convene in Chicago on April 14th and 15th to discuss a Midwest strategy meeting for engaging key advocates and allies in moving utility and other electric vehicle policies forward in our region. Meeting goals include learning about the latest utility-based efforts in California and here in our region; establishing alignment around key strategies in the Midwest; and developing a plan for collaboration and engaging potential funders. For more information about the meeting, you can contact Charles Griffith at charlesg@ecocenter.org.

— Campaign Updates —

Youth in Minnesota Step Up in Support of the Clean Power Plan

RE-AMP member organizations Climate Generation and MPIRG are currently partnering with Neighborhoods Organizing for Change (NOC)—a racial justice organization based in the Twin Cities—to engage young people in support of a racially and economically just State Implementation Plan for the Clean Power Plan in Minnesota. Together they developed a policy platform in alignment with the Climate Justice Alliance Our Power Plan, generating over 750 postcards from young people to MN Governor Dayton’s office. They held a youth listening session with the MN Pollution Control Agency in early April, followed by a Youth Summit with Governor Dayton and Youth Lobby Day at the Capitol, turning out over 100 high school and college students to elevate environmental justice as a non-negotiable component of the Clean Power Plan for youth in Minnesota. They are currently in the process of convening a meeting with young environmental justice leaders and the Dayton Administration, to learn more about the MN Pollution Control Agency’s EJ Advisory Committee, and opportunities for young environmental justice leaders to participate.

For more information, you can read and share this reflection from Minneapolis high school student, Addie Welch and this article recently published in the MN Daily but UMN student organizer, Kyra Brown.

Curious About Our Climate Advocacy Efforts Across the Region?

As many of you know, our Network Knowledge Manager Gail Francis reads through project reports for all of the work funded by RE-AMP. What she learns often serves as the basis for group discussion, annual meeting programming, or other analysis, and she also likes to share key highlights. See her brief summary of all the incredible work going on across the region!

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The Network is at its best when members actively share stories and learnings. Share yours by contacting Jessica Conrad at jessica@reamp.org or by phone at 509-254-1477.