Grantee Highlight: Sunrise Movement is changing the direction of climate politics in this country.

Note from the CREDO team: This February, Sunrise Movement is among three amazing groups that will receive a share of our monthly grant. Funding from the generous support of CREDO members will power its youth mobilization program as the group works to bring the Green New Deal to communities across the country in 2022.

Read this important blog post from Miles Goodrich, Fundraising Director below, then click here to visit CREDODonations.com to cast your vote to help determine how we distribute our monthly grant to this organization and our other amazing grantees this February.

The world as we know it has changed, and a new one will take its place. What will this new world look like? Who gets to decide?

These are the questions that the young people of Sunrise Movement are asking themselves right now. Thanks to the movement that we’ve built – which includes thousands of CREDO members – we have completely changed the direction of climate politics in this country. 

Five years ago, Donald Trump had just taken office with a climate denying party in power in Washington. The most ambitious climate legislation at that point was a failed industry bill from a decade earlier. 

Now, the Green New Deal – an ambitious suite of policies to decarbonize the economy and invest in racial and economic justice – is a unifying banner for progressives in city, state, and national politics. Because of the moral power of Sunrise Movement and our allies, the question isn’t if climate action will happen. The question is, what form will it take and who will benefit?

As we entire year three of a global pandemic that has demonstrated with cruel clarity the brokenness of our country’s safety net and political institutions, so many of us feel tired and disappointed. We have good reason to be. The American constitutional order is broken. The Senate, Supreme Court, and Electoral College are all slanted against the rising multiracial generation of young people who have fought so hard for the Green New Deal. White supremacists are consolidating power at every level of government. Meanwhile, fossil fuel companies continue to pollute the environmental justice communities. The climate keeps warming.

So we ask again – what will this new world look like? Who gets to decide?

Many of the young people of Sunrise know our answer – this new world will be shaped by those who have power, and our power comes from our people. We find hope in the communities around us, in the places we call home. When the federal government won’t act, we’re fighting to bring the Green New Deal to our neighborhoods to keep our families and friends safe from the fires and floods. Enough with the two year boom-and-bust cycles of social media attention and political circus frenzy. We’re in this for the long haul.

There is still an opportunity to steer our world away from the climate crisis and make systems of power work for all of us instead of a wealthy few. Together, we can force the government to negotiate a new deal with us instead of them– a Green New Deal. The Green New Deal will dismantle the fossil fuel economy and create millions of good union jobs transitioning to a new economy that invests in the safety, health, and wealth of all people.

This is the world the young people of Sunrise are building. A world where communities don’t have to fend for themselves in times of crisis but are instead provided resources and support to thrive. A world where our jobs don’t hold us hostage, solely for our survival but allow us to prosper and achieve meaning. A world where every worker not only has a voice through their union but earns their full worth. A world where healthcare isn’t the business of a few, but a human right free and accessible to all.  A world where we don’t continue legacies of injustice against others but redress and heal them. A world where young people aren’t trapped in fear and debt but are guaranteed education and the right to dream in safety. Together we can win a world where work is fulfilling, where our water and air are clean and crisp, where the places we call home are here to stay, and the natural beauty of our earth is around for generations to come.