I had the pleasure of catching up with State Table Member, Jessica Collingsworth. She had some great advice about how to maintain a healthy culture within the state table through good communications. You can read more about her experience below.- Sarah Ann Shanahan, RE-AMP Community Manager

Sarah Ann Shanahan: Tell us a little bit about yourself and your role at the Union of Concerned Scientists.

Jessica Collingsworth: I’m a Policy Analyst and Advocate at the Union of Concerned Scientists in our Chicago office working in MI, IL, and MN primarily. I advocate for clean energy policies in states, ensure that they are implemented well and that we are doing outreach to supporters on the benefits of clean energy.

Sarah Ann Shanahan: Tell us a little bit about the Illinois State Table and your role in it.

Jessica Collingsworth: The table started about 3 years ago, bringing together environmental, public health, and environmental justice groups around the state to work on clean energy policy. We originally came together for the clean jobs bills. As many know our renewable energy standard was broken and we needed to fix it in order to achieve 25% renewables by 2025. We also wanted to increase the energy efficiency standard. The table has expanded by recruiting across the state with a focus on downstate and community groups.

I chair the policy committee where we work on specific policies, so when the bills are moving we tried to work out the kinks and talk about the policy implications with the full table. The committee has branched out to several subcommittees including the the IL Solar for All, led by LVEJO, a renewable portfolio standard implementation subgroup led by ELPC and and energy efficiency subgroup led by NRDC and Elevate Energy.

There’s also a grassroots committee, led by Sierra Club who’s responsible for coordinating actions like rallies or getting action alerts out to supporters to contact legislators, or to get people to the climate and science marches. If there’s immediate action, like a bill that is up, they activate the grassroot groups.

We coordinate our media strategy through a communication subgroup led by ELPC.

Finally, there’s a legislative subgroup that tracks bills and develops strategy for our legislative work. Currently they are working to ensure the renewable energy resource fund is protected from being swept, the RERF will help fund the IL Solar for All Program.

Sarah Ann Shanahan: What has changed for your work since you’ve begun participating in the state table?

Jessica Collingsworth:  A lot more collaboration. The table has been a place to work with a variety of groups and we’ve been able to build power, through communication and collaboration, to build a real force in our state. We are in a great position to be able to implement a bill that we all worked together to pass. Being part of the table actually lowers your burden because you don’t have to be an expert on everything, you can rely on other expertise around the table.

I’m a huge fan of the state table. I’m glad that others are doing it because it makes it easier for a regional group, like mine, to connect with others. I’ve been following the Ohio table and my next step is to connect with the North Dakota table.

Sarah Ann Shanahan: What’s one piece of advice you have for other members of state tables.

Jessica Collingsworth: Really keep lines of communication open by having regularly scheduled meetings. It stays constant, so we can plan ahead and plan to be engaged. Email updates are a great way to stay in touch too. All of which allows people to plug in and be heard. Our subcommittees play that critical role as well, serving as a place to talk through some of the issues we are facing.

Sarah Ann Shanahan: What inspires you?

Jessica Collingsworth: I’m inspired by the number of people who contact me every week who want to get engaged. They are fired up and want to make a difference. We’re currently getting calls from scientists because science is being silenced and that inspires me to keep doing this work.

Sarah Ann Shanahan: Anything else you’d like to share with the Network?

Jessica Collingsworth:  Clean energy momentum is happening! It’s not going to stop because of the President, so don’t be discouraged. If you are interested we just released an analysis called Clean Energy Momentum: Ranking State Progress.  Check it out here.