This workbook is meant to help you translate the analysis and recommendations we provide there into workable features of your organizing. Whether you’re currently involved in a multiracial, cross-class climate coalition, thinking about starting one, or evaluating a past coalition on reflection, we hope this workbook clarifies for you and your coalition partners the breadth of considerations and decisions you should be prepared for.
This workbook is divided into the recommendations we arrived at in the report. We provide a short commentary on why we think each recommendation is important and then break the concept down into a series of questions meant to kickstart discussions between you and your coalition partners. These conversations will (hopefully) lead to a greater sense of trust and clarity among you all as you step into your work. Full descriptions of each
recommendation can be found in the report (page 35).
These exercises are, at their heart, about making your individual assumptions explicit to each other. By having clear conversations with coalition partners on these points, you can avoid harmful miscommunications that, at best, slow down the work of the coalition and, at worst, can splinter the coalition altogether. With that said, finding alignment may not be easy or quick, so we also foreground the importance of trust, cooperation, and empathy when approaching these discussions. While these questions are framed in terms of a new coalition getting off the ground, feel free to rephrase them to whatever stage matches your coalition’s trajectory.