CEWG's member organizations first met in Autumn 2017 in Richmond, VA. At this first gathering, CEWG coalesced around the collective strengths of its member organizations and the desire to pursue equitable climate solutions derived from community input and expertise. In 2021, CEWG added a Coalition Manager, followed shortly by a Policy Fellow. In 2024, CEWG's member organizations and staff are actively engaging in grassroots and grasstops outreach as we pursue equitable climate solutions in Virginia.
CEWG's mission is to contribute to decarbonization in Virginia with special attention to ensuring a just transition in energy and fenceline communities across the Commonwealth. CEWG is dedicating to shifting Virginia's economic narrative from one that disproportionately harms Black and Brown communities. The coalition thoughtfully engages with advocacy leaders and community members across the state to ensure that CEWG is plugging into existing progress towards decarbonization, while identifying outreach and policy gaps that our member organizations are poised to fill.
In addition to the collective bandwidth and expertise of staff from CEWG's member organizations, the coalition is supported by two full-time staff members:
Lauren (she/her) joined CEWG as Coalition Manager in 2021. Previously, she worked for CEWG Member, Chesapeake Climate Action Network, and is dedicated to advancing climate equity across Virginia. Lauren lives in Williamsburg, VA with her family and makes time for trips to the local library and very slow jogging.
Leah (she/her) joined CEWG as a Policy Fellow in 2022 after completing her Master of Social Work in Sustainable Development & Global Practice at University of Denver. Before grad school, she was the AmeriCorps VISTA Social Impact Coordinator at the University of Tennessee’s Office of Sustainability, and has a background in Cultural Anthropology & Religious Studies. Leah lives in Roanoke, VA, and loves spending time with her niece and nephews on her family farm in the Smoky Mountains of East Tennessee
The Chesapeake Climate Action Network (CCAN) is the first grassroots, nonprofit organization dedicated exclusively to fighting global warming in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. Our mission is to build and mobilize a powerful grassroots movement in this unique region that surrounds our nation’s capital to call for state, national and international policies that will put us on a path to climate stability.
Virginia Interfaith Power & Light collaborates among people of faith and conscience to grow healthy communities by advancing climate and environmental justice.
New Virginia Majority (NVM), Virginia’s leading civic engagement organization, builds power in working-class communities of color across the Commonwealth. We organize in communities year-round for racial, economic, and environmental justice through political education, mass-scale voter outreach, mobilization, and intensive leadership development around dozens of issues. Our organization strives to create a powerful movement to transform Virginia through voter engagement and issue campaigns that develop civic leadership and build public support.
Founded in 1997, Appalachian Voices brings people together to protect the land, air and water of Central and Southern Appalachia and advance a just transition to a generative and equitable clean energy economy. We work in North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.
Virginia Organizing is a non-partisan statewide grassroots organization dedicated to challenging injustice by empowering people in local communities to address issues that affect the quality of their lives. Virginia Organizing especially encourages the participation of those who have traditionally had little or no voice in our society. By building relationships with individuals and groups throughout the state, Virginia Organizing strives to get them to work together, democratically and non-violently, for change.
At Progress Virginia, we drive powerful, values-based narratives to uplift and amplify grassroots voices through innovative digital communications and earned media strategies. We build progressive power alongside marginalized communities to tear down systems of white supremacy, advocate for equitable policies, and ensure leaders reflect the communities they serve.