Program Priorities
California League of Conservation Voters Education Fund (CLCV Ed Fund) is a nonpartisan 501 (c)(3) organization dedicated to improving the quality of the environment for all Californians. Our programs elevate the importance of environmental issues by educating Californians and involving them in the democratic process. In addition, we build the capacity of environmental organizations by developing and providing tools and resources to help them more effectively protect the environment.
Our ongoing priorities are as follows:
Opinion Polling and Research
CLCV Ed Fund conducts opinion polling and research to produce data to strengthen and sharpen the advocacy and outreach efforts of the environmental community. The data enables organizations to develop audience-specific messages, provide targeted services and strengthen mobilization efforts. CLCV Ed Fund research findings are also disseminated to policymakers, corporate leaders, and philanthropic leaders for use in creating programs and policies that address environmental concerns.
CLCV Ed Fund is initiating two polls:
- Asian Pacific Islanders (APIs): APIs make up 12.5 percent of California’s population and are the fastest growing major racial or ethnic group. Little is known about API environmental attitudes and concerns, resulting in the exclusion of API needs in policy decisions. CLCV Ed Fund plans to conduct the first-ever API opinion poll to: 1) help policymakers develop policies that addresses the needs of APIs; 2) help environmental and API organizations better serve the needs of APIs; and 3) increase API civic participation, including voter registration and issue advocacy. Read about the poll results.
- Baseline: CLCV Ed Fund will conduct a survey to provide the environmental community with “baseline” data on the environmental attitudes of California voters. This data will help inform CLCV Ed Fund in setting priorities for its environmental education and outreach programs. Further, this baseline data will help the environmental community measure its progress in gaining support for environmental protection.
Green California
Green California successfully brings together a broad range of California’s environmental advocacy community to work together to achieve our vision of a cleaner, healthier and more sustainable California.
Green California supports the environmental movement by developing and providing tools and resources that focus the collective strength of our community in support of policies that will bring us closer to our vision. Green California participants actively work to educate and inform our members, the public, and decision makers to help facilitate the enactment of large-scale policy change that addresses significant issues, such as global warming, environmental budget priorities, and other issues of community concern.
CLCV Ed Fund works with Green California participants, consisting of over 50 organizations from around the state, to advance a strong environmental policy agenda, by:
- Developing informational tools, such as compiling dossiers of regional and legislator-specific information, providing organizations with and educating them on how to use demographic information about their members, and creating an environmental Website for advocates to share and store information and support letters;
- Conducting relationship-building activities, such as arranging and coordinating meetings with legislators, hosting events with legislators, organizing an environmental advocacy day, and convening a statewide environmental summit;
- Organizing regular meetings of environmental advocates to identify areas of shared interest, share intelligence and resources, and cooperate on strategic initiatives; and
- Structuring committee meetings based on issue areas to evaluate environmental legislation, strengthen environmental policies, and increase improve communication.
Recent events
- Watch video of CLCV Education Fund Senior Program Manager Katy Rexford explaining Green California in 2 minutes
- Watch video from the Green California Summit on December 8, 2008.
- See pictures from the Green California New Legislator Reception on January 27, 2009.
Civic Engagement
Residents in local communities play a critical role in advancing environmental changes through the democratic process. Unfortunately, many residents ignore civic affairs. To engage these residents and inform our efforts, CLCV Ed Fund will utilize the findings from the opinion polling and research – which will provide a powerful message development tool – to develop civic engagement programs in these communities. We will identify and communicate with potential supporters, partner with local organizations, implement outreach and education strategies, register citizens to vote, and involve them in the democratic process. For example, in 2000, using the results of our groundbreaking Latino environmental polls, we registered Latinos to vote, mobilized the Latino community to participate in civic affairs and advocate for seminal environmental health bills that were signed into law, and involved their communities in policy discussions and decisions, which led to their needs being incorporated in policies.
List Enhancement Program
A list enhancement project takes the membership of participating organizations, matches them with the public state voter file and returns the lists to the groups “enhanced” with new data, including member age, gender, phone number, congressional and state legislative districts, county, voting precinct, how many other participating organizations they belong to, and frequency of voting.
Using this data, participating organizations will be able to increase the effectiveness of their organizing strategy, activist and volunteer recruitment, voter education, and fundraising programs, among others.
For More Information:
, Assistant Executive Director
6310 San Vicente Blvd., Suite 425, Los Angeles, CA 90048
(323) 939-6790 x 404
© 2009 California League of Conservation Voters Education Fund.
