Winning more by working together

The Coalition for Clean Air is excited to formally announce our New Constituencies for the Environment (NCE) initiative. The goals of the NCE initiative are to build a more inclusive and more effective environmental movement by improving communication and collaboration among statewide and local organizations working on environmental issues; to provide support and coordination for a wide variety of constituencies; and to help develop and win environmental advocacy campaigns. The initial funding for this effort comes from a very generous grant from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.

In making this commitment to lead efforts that strengthen environmental advocacy throughout California, CCA is recruiting expert staff who also reflect the communities most in need of clean air policy changes. We believe the NCE initiative formalizes the direction in which CCA has been moving for the past few years.

CCA spent the better part of 2004 preparing for growth and new methods of working. It is no small matter to assume a leadership role that takes an assertive approach to building support for California’s natural environment in the current economic and political environment. At the same time, the issues of environmental quality of life, of community health and the long term sustainability of our planet resonate at dinner tables in communities across the state.

CCA staff are contacting individual leaders and community groups around the state to engage them in the ongoing dialogue that will guide our approach and goals for effective advocacy campaigns and how best to support other organizations. In this manner, we expect to help mobilize new and existing constituencies into a shared coalition, and into the broader environmental movement. We are committing significant resources, to bring additional staff on board, and to utilize the media, grassroots networks, and partnerships with other organizations to achieve our collective goals. We see the NCE initiative as a long term investment that must produce tangible results, beginning with increased communication and collaboration.

If you have questions about this effort, please contact Tim Carmichael, CCA's president, at 916-498-1560 or Janine Hamner, CCA's vice president, at 213-630-1192. In addition, all CCA staff are working to meet with environmental organizations and leaders around the state in the coming weeks and months to discuss our plans and begin to get input on campaign ideas.

The Hewlett Foundation will be making additional grants to support this effort. For more information about grants, please see Hewlett's web site at http://www.hewlett.org/Programs/Environment/New+Constituencies