Alumni Action Alert: Show your support for the summer canvass!
Many alumni asked us over the years for more opportunities to get engaged in important issues. Now we send an Alumni Action Alert each month on a particular issue or campaign The Public Interest Network is working on, along with some actions that you can take to help protect the environment, public health or the public interest.
Quick action: Click here to send a shoutout to the summer canvass team in your area, or where you worked on the canvass in the past!
Boston staff out on turf
More info: As you know, the Fund for the Public Interest – with help from the many of you who have worked on or run a summer canvass office in the past – has helped build people power over the years for more than 120 groups like the PIRGs and Environment America, on a wide range of issues like holding polluters accountable, fighting global warming and standing up for public health. Canvassers for the Fund have gathered millions of petition signatures and raised more than $400 million to help these groups win their campaigns.
This summer, the Fund is adapting time-tested canvassing strategies to safely go out into communities in ten different cities across the country. The canvass is partnering with Environment America and PIRG to help states choose wildlife over waste and build on past successes to pass the next round of statewide bans on single-use plastics and call on corporations like Whole Foods to reduce their plastic packaging and waste. Fund canvassers will also be working to build support for efforts to save the bees and other pollinators by banning the use of harmful pesticides, and to combat climate change by convincing state leaders to make commitments to 100% renewable energy.
Andre Delattre briefing the Chicago office
How’s it going, you may ask? After a hiatus at the start of the pandemic, the canvass had returned to in-person work last summer, but due to starting up again from scratch and prioritizing staff safety above all else, it was a much smaller summer than usual. This summer, the canvass has officially relaunched and is on track to accomplish twice as much: as of now, every office is growing, staff are excited to work on even more state-specific campaigns than usual, and spirits – and averages! – are high. Canvass staff are on the ground and making a difference in Boston, New Brunswick, Philadelphia, DC, Atlanta, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, Oakland and Portland. But as you know, there’s always more to be done, so the canvass offices in these cities are still busy hiring staff to get out into neighborhoods, knock on doors, talk about the issues, sign up members, raise money, get petition signatures and win campaigns.
Dinner after a day of West Coast Director Training in PDX
We want to ask you to help give them a leg up in their work. For the summer canvass team to know they have not only the full backing of current Public Interest Network staff but also the strength of our alumni network behind them, will help make this summer great. Here are some specific actions you can take, but if you have additional ideas, please let us know!
Actions:
Send a word of encouragement to the summer canvass team in your area, or where you worked on the canvass in the past.
Share job listings for canvassers and field managers with your social media networks: Here’s a graphic and a link.
Canvass! If you’ve been itching to get back out there and knock on some doors yourself, and live near one of our offices, contact Danielle Bauer to find out about options for working or volunteering on the canvass.
Any other way you would like to support the summer canvass team? Just let us know!
