Greetings, RE-AMPers!

With summertime upon us and the 2016 RE-AMP Annual Meeting just over two weeks away, the Network is bustling. In this update, you can:

• Find information about the excellent programming our Annual Meeting Planning Committee has been working diligently to develop;  
• Learn about upcoming EJ Caucus events that will help us advance equity through our climate advocacy;
• Hear from Ruth Johnson with Transportation Riders United and Matt Gladue with ISAIAH about what inspires their work and participation in the Network;
• Be the first to see the list of candidates running for seats on the Steering Committee;
• Help us find awesome candidates by sharing the RE-AMP Community Manager and the Midwest Environmental Justice Network Administrative Assistant job announcements; and more.

I hope you read on and enjoy, but before you do, I want to remind you that this will be my last Network Update before I head off to graduate school after the Annual Meeting. The decision to leave my position as RE-AMP Community Manager was incredibly difficult because of all of you. Your creativity and tenacity inspires me—and I can’t thank you enough for your collaboration! In my absence, Sarah Shanahan will rely on you to provide information that keeps other members up to date on what’s happening across the region. If you have news, events, or campaign updates the Network should be aware of, please contact her at sarah@reamp.org. Many thanks!

— Feature Stories  —

Gearing up for the Annual Meeting in Chicago!

The 2016 RE-AMP Annual Meeting is just a few short weeks away, and we couldn’t be more excited. With expected attendance from 110 member organizations, and programming running the gamut from plenaries to open space to climate advocacy skill-building workshops, the setting is ripe for the kind of strategic dialog and peer-to-peer learning RE-AMP is known for.

Our innovation around whole-systems change demands adaptability, and as our focus shifts to our work at the state level where we are building public and political will for climate action, there’s greater need than ever before to ensure that we’re aligning our state and regional strategies. Above all, this year’s Annual Meeting offers us a chance to strengthen connections across our work to improve our ability to achieve our audacious goals. We’re thrilled that over 165 individual Network members will be able to participate in this crucial conversation—and we will of course be sharing key takeaways with the wider Network in July.

You can now access the full 2016 Annual Meeting agenda. Download an app called Guidebook at this link. Then use the passphrase “reamp2016.” When you open the guide, see the “schedule” in the main menu.

Further logistics information is available on the Annual Meeting page on the Commons, and, as always, please don’t hesitate to contact Network Coordinator Lee Helgen at lee@reamp.org with any questions. We look forward to seeing many of you in Chicago on the 27th!

Building an Equity Framework for the RE-AMP Network

With state table development underway across the RE-AMP footprint and greater emphasis on finding the connections between our policy work and movement building goals than ever before, we have a timely opportunity to deepen our common understanding of the equity implications of our work, and to learn about tools and strategies that will help us advance equity through our climate advocacy. The EJ Caucus leadership team has prepared a thoughtful sequence of events that kicked off yesterday afternoon and will run through the 2016 Annual Meeting. These events will not only enable rich dialog about local environmental justice issues, but also provide guidance on how to build productive, equitable partnerships between EJ groups and mainstream environmental, energy, and climate groups. We strongly encourage you to attend as many as possible.

Webinar: Tools for Building Equity into State Table Processes: June 9th

All RE-AMP Network members were invited to attend the webinar Tools for Building Equity into State Table Processes, during which our EJ Caucus leadership team shared concrete ways for incorporating equity into our evolving state table approach. The conversation drew on the recommendations made in the 2013 equity report, focused on the Jemez Principles for Democratic Organizing, and highlighted the EJ Caucus MOU as one example of how to build productive, equitable partnerships between EJ groups and mainstream environmental, energy, and climate groups. Lessons from how these partnerships are developing at the Illinois State Table were also shared.

For anyone who may have missed yesterday’s webinar, a recording and slide decks are available for download here.

Little Village Environmental Justice Organization Toxic Tour: June 28

Annual Meeting attendees are invited to register for the Toxic Tour, which will take place on the evening of June 28th. It’s a chance for up to 30 Network members to get out into the community and learn about the struggle for environmental justice in Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood. The tour will be led by Network member LVEJO (Little Village Environmental Justice Organization) and has been pulled together with generous support from Faith In Place and the Illinois Environmental Council. Don’t miss your chance to participate in the tour! Space is limited to 30 people, and the deadline to register is June 20th. More information and registration can be found here. (Note that this opportunity requires separate registration from the Annual Meeting itself.)

Annual Meeting Session: Environmental Justice Caucus 101: June 29

As an emerging caucus within the RE-AMP Network, the EJ Caucus will serve as a space for Network members to support the regional EJ movement, and to build their organizational capacity to integrate equity into their work. During this workshop, the EJ Caucus leadership team will provide an update on the development of the Caucus, share best practices for how Network members can engage with the Caucus, and offer perspectives on equity and movement building. Attendees will gain a better understanding of the purpose and vision of the EJ Caucus and be able to identify opportunities for collaboration.

Member Interview: Matt Gladue, ISAIAH

ISAIAH helps people of faith “act collectively and powerfully toward racial and economic equity in the state of Minnesota.” The organization is relatively new to the climate and energy movement, yet is making waves already with a campaign to move Xcel Energy to create greater access to renewable energy for low-income communities. ISAIAH recently joined the Network as a new member organization, and RE-AMP Community Manager Jessica Conrad caught up with ISAIAH Organizer Matt Gladue to learn more about the organization’s current focus, to hear Matt’s thoughts on the most important opportunities for our work in Minnesota, and to find out what motivates him to do this work. You can read the full interview here.

Member Interview: Ruth Johnson, Transportation Riders United

Transportation Riders United (TRU) has been working since 1999 to improve public transit in greater Detroit through education, engagement, and advocacy. The organization became a member of the RE-AMP Network in 2015, and since then, Assistant Director Ruth Johnson has found numerous ways to engage with the Network from her involvement in the Transportation Working Group to her participation in a collaborative leadership development program and more. RE-AMP Community Manager Jessica Conrad recently had a chance to ask Ruth what advice she might offer to new Network members about finding a meaningful niche for participation within RE-AMP, and to learn about TRU’s work on a historic regional transit plan. You can read the full interview here.

— Network News —

Update on Current Funding Opportunities  

There are currently several opportunities to apply for funding in support of policy campaign or state table work across the region, including the following:

• The GWSAF is accepting letters of inquiry (LOIs) for funding in support of core state table infrastructure and capacity-building work.  One LOI will be accepted per state table, and details about the application process have been shared with state table leadership.  The will be the focus of GWSAF funding during this round.
• The McKnight Foundation has issued an invitation to state tables in Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin.  Each table will have the opportunity to submit a proposal for integrated clean energy policy campaigns.
• The GWSAF is accepting letters of inquiry (LOIs) for policy campaign work that advances the Network’s priority strategies for 2016: Clean Power Plan implementation work, work to advance distributed solar, work to close dirty coal plants, work to change transportation priorities, and work to advance the transmission capacity needed to move wind power to market.  There is very little available funding within the GWSAF to support these priorities at this time, as the GWSAF is currently prioritizing building state table capacity.  However, there are some opportunities for aligned funding from participating foundations, and RE-AMP will use the fundable opportunities identified in your LOIs to raise additional resources for campaign work, either through the GWSAF or aligned with it.  Full proposals will be invited as resources become available.  The GWSAF committed in 2015 to making their process less time-intensive for applicants, and the new LOI process is intended to do just that.  
• The Energy Efficiency Rapid Response Fund continues to have resources available to support RE-AMP members that encounter unexpected needs or changed circumstances in the course of ongoing energy efficiency campaigns or multi-state initiatives.  For more information on the EERRF guidelines and application process, please visit the Fund’s page on the Commons.

Update on the 2016 Steering Committee Elections

The 2016 RE-AMP Steering Committee elections have been scheduled for this summer, overlapping with the Annual Meeting. Candidate applications closed at the end of May and the Nominations Committee did a fabulous job of recruiting folks to run from across the Network, and we are happy to share this strong list of candidates with you now:

At-Large Steering Committee Member (one seat)
Sarah Mullkoff, Michigan Environmental Council
Antonia Ornelas, Elevate Energy
Brian Sauder, Faith in Place
Wayde Schafer, Sierra Club Dacotah Chapter

Clean Energy Working Group Leader
Duane Ninneman, CURE

Transportation Working Group Leader
Peter Skopec, WISPIRG Foundation

Faith Caucus Representative
Susan Hendershot Guy, Iowa Interfaith Power and Light

Rural Caucus Representative
Liz Veazey, We Own It

Youth Caucus Representative
Cassie Steiner, Sierra Club John Muir Chapter

You can find a list of the current Steering Committee members here.

We have encouraged all candidates to attend the Annual Meeting, where there will be time to network with fellow RE-AMP members (and ask for their votes!). Right after the Annual Meeting, ballots will be sent to key contacts at organizations that are Full Members of RE-AMP. See the 2016 Elections Guide for more information about term lengths, as well as the election timeline and process.

Update on the State of State Tables

Over the past few months, it has been exciting to see so many state tables really starting to take off! Many of your tables have hired new staff as State Table Coordinators. These people are great first points of contact and many are doing both administrative work for the table as well as member engagement work.  Please join us in welcoming these new staff!

Sara Conrad in Iowa, housed at Iowa Policy Project
Kathryn Savoie in Michigan, housed at Ecology Center
Wayde Schafer in North Dakota, housed at Sierra Club
Justin Fay and Natalie Cook as interim staff in MN, housed at Sierra Club North Star Chapter

There has been a flurry of activity with most tables, and way too much to capture in this update, but below are some brief snapshots.  Of course you can always check out the state table pages on the Commons or follow up with one of the points of contact for more information.

• Wisconsin has an in-person meeting in Custer, WI on June 16th. They are working out details to their partner agreement, landscape analysis, and regranting criteria. It is expected that they will adopt their partner agreement (governance document) at their in-person meeting and they are also looking at ways to embrace the Jemez Principles for Democratic Organizing. Contact Elizabeth Ward elizabeth.ward@sierraclub.org for more details.
• North Dakota has an in-person meeting on June 18th. They’ve been organizing a ton of groups in the eastern part of the state and they want to keep the momentum going as well as demonstrate to folks the importance of building a state table. They are going to be doing some work on their partner agreement at this meeting. They plan to have another in-person meeting in July to continue work on the partner agreement, landscape analysis and plant seeds for the power analysis. Contact Wayde Schafer for more details!
• Iowa has an in-person meeting on June 10th. They are slated to talk about their partner agreement, landscape analysis and power analysis. Sara Conrad has a survey out gathering data from groups to feed their analysis. Contact Sara Conrad for more information.
• Illinois has an in-person meeting on June 10th. They have a full slate of work to talk about in terms of their CPP campaign and to identify the needs of the table to answer the LOI request from the GWSAF. Contact Jen Walling at jwalling@ilenviro.org for more details.
• Michigan held an in-person meeting a couple of weeks ago and are planning to meet at the Annual Meeting. They have small groups working on the purpose of the table, landscape analysis and thinking through their leadership structure. Contact Kathryn Savoie for more information.
• Ohio just met to make their re-granting awards in support of their Civic Engagement Plan. Contact Trish Demeter tdemeter@theoec.org for more information.
• Minnesota has put together a nominating team that is now working through the process to put forward a slate of candidates for their leadership team. Contact Justin or Natalie for more details..

We’ve also been convening interested table leaders from across the region every month as part of a State Table Cohort call. Our last check-in was used as a space for states to update each other on their work, to ask questions, to get feedback from one another, and to introduce some ideas related to power analysis. We have our next cohort call scheduled for June 17th where we’ll talk about the Annual Meeting and discuss the next funding round. If you are looking for resources available to state tables you can always check out the State Table Resource Page on the Commons.

Welcoming our New Network Members

On behalf of the entire Network, at this time we’d like to extend a warm welcome to the Center for Transportation and the Environment and the Christian Reformed Church in North America. Please help us extend a warm welcome to staff from these organizations at upcoming Network activities!

Current Job Openings with the RE-AMP Network

RE-AMP Community Manager Jessica Conrad has been accepted into an international Master of Science Program in Sustainability Leadership in Sweden and will leave her position with the Network at the end of June. She will continue serving in her current capacity through the 2016 Annual Meeting, at which point Sarah Shanahan will take over the community management role on an interim basis, until we hire a replacement. We’re now accepting applications for the  RE-AMP Community Manager position, and the job posting is available here.

In addition, the Midwest Environmental Justice Network (MWEJN) seeks a part-time Administrative Assistant to staff the Environmental Justice Caucus. The MWEJN Leadership Team is now accepting applications, and the job posting is also available here.

Please help us spread the word about these opportunities by sharing them with your networks!

Calling All Movement Builders & Organizers!

Stephanie Enloe, our Rural Caucus Coordinator, is designing a session for the 2016 Annual Meeting that will include small group discussion on how movement building contributes to RE-AMP’s audacious greenhouse gas reductions goals—and she needs your help!

Are you involved in movement building or organizing activities that advance our Network goals, bring more people into the climate movement, or set the stage for a policy win? Do you see a gap where the RE-AMP Network would benefit from a greater focus on movement building?

If you answered “yes” to either question above, send Stephanie a short note (one to two sentences) at stephaniee@cfra.org telling her about your existing movement building goals or ideas for movement building goals! She would love to incorporate your ideas into her session design.

Message Guidance Around the D.C. Circuit Court’s Recent Decision

Many of you have read about the D.C. Circuit Court’s decision to delay oral arguments on the Clean Power Plan case until September so the full en banc D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals can be present. In a recent Commons post, our Global Warming Solutions Working Group leader Charles Griffith shared messaging guidance on this issue from our national partners, along with a helpful article that distills some of the early thinking about the decision: “West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency is one of the most important environmental cases in almost a decade. The case will decide whether the EPA violated the law when it finalized its carbon rule to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from the power sector under the Clean Air Act…” Read on via Charles’s post here.

— Network Events —

Iowa State Table Meeting  |  June 10th

Network members are invited to an in-person Iowa State Table meeting on Friday, June 10th from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. CDT at Grinnell College. Lunch will be provided. Additional logistics and reference materials are available on the Iowa page on the Commons.

Webinar  |  Network Orientation  |  June 15th

All members are invited to register for a live interview between RE-AMP Staff and Network veterans about the history, structure, and culture of the Network, current member benefits, the funding process, and the 2016 RE-AMP Annual Meeting. The webinar will be held on June 15th from 11:00 a.m. – 12:15 p.m. The conversation will not only provide insight into RE-AMP’s unique approach to systems thinking and network development, but also provide a forum where you can ask questions about how our approach will help us build a broader and even more effective climate movement in the Midwest. In addition, the presentation will include a brief orientation to the Commons, the private website where you can connect with other Network members and share resources. Especially if this year’s Annual Meeting will be your first, we strongly encourage you to attend! Registration is available here.

Wisconsin State Table In-Person Meeting  | June 16th

Network members are invited to an in-person Wisconsin State Table meeting on June 16th at Midwest Renewable Energy Association headquarters in Custer, Wisconsin. See the Wisconsin group page on the Commons for additional information.

Conference  |  Surge Summit  |  September 27th

Clare Butterfield with the Illinois Science and Energy Innovation Foundation invites Network members to Surge Summit, a conference focused on the human side of the smart grid. The conference will take place in downtown Chicago on September 27th, and will be attended by guests from the nonprofit, utility, and technology sectors. Forward-looking speakers will highlight the latest best practices for engaging diverse audiences with new energy offerings. Learn more and register at www.surgesummit.org, or contact Peter Toth at Foresight Design Initiative at petert@foresightdesign.org or 773-271- 1990 with questions.

Convening  |  Midwest Power Shift  |  August 13th & 14th

Since 2007, Network member Energy Action Coalition (ECA) has hosted biannual national Powershift convenings that have engaged tens of thousands of young people to mobilize, educate, and organize to rise up and face the climate crisis head on. This year, EAC is taking Powershift on the road and working with local anchor organizations to host four regional convenings from July through October. The Midwest convening will take place in Detroit, Michigan on August 13th and 14th at Wayne State University. Registration is live at this link.

EAC has an exciting cohort of organizers—including staff from Network member organizations Climate Generation: A Will Steger Legacy and Soulardarity—working hard to put together the program—but they could use your help! Although the official deadline for program proposals has passed, if you are interested in submitting a workshop, please don’t hesitate to reach out to EAC’s National Divestment Campaigner Sean Estelle at sean@energyactioncoalition.org or Powershift Coordinator Aiyi’nah Ford at aiyinah@energyactioncoalition.org.

— Campaign Updates —

Break Free Midwest

1,000 people gathered on in Whiting, Indiana for a Break Free Midwest action outside of Chicago. 350.org reports that “Local, regional, and national activists stood shoulder-to-shoulder to say that we need to come together from across all walks of life and lead the way toward a future without fossil fuels.” Click here to watch an inspiring video from the event. This regional action happened in coordination with actions around the globe. RE-AMP member organizations that participated include MN350, Sierra Club John Muir Chapter, and Climate Generation: A Will Steger Legacy, Minnesota Interfaith Power & Light, Minnesota Public Interest Research Group, and Indigenous Environmental Network. 

— From the Archives —

Webinar Recording  |  Network Goals & Progress  |  May 2016

In this May 2016 webinar, Network Knowledge Manager Gail Francis gave a fascinating report on how much progress we’ve made together in accelerating the transition off of fossil fuels in the Midwest. In addition to reporting on our collective progress, the webinar highlighted our current objectives and projections for how they will add up to important 2020 interim achievements. You’ll find that we’ve come a long way since the Network was formed in 2005, and that there’s still a long way to go. In case you missed it, the slide deck and a recording from the webinar is available here.

Webinar Recording  |  Leading with a Network Mindset  |  June 2014

If you are new to the RE-AMP Network or have been involved for years, this webinar hosted by Ruth Rominger and Beth Tener will provide you with insights on the perspective and skills that have been at the root of the Network’s success. You’ll see how developing a network mindset is essential for getting the most from your participation in the Network! The recording is available here.

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The Network is at its best when members actively share stories and learnings. Share yours by contacting Sarah Shanahan at sarah@reamp.org or by phone at 608-547-9548.