Remarkable People

About Us

Green For All is a national organization working to build an inclusive green economy strong enough to lift people out of poverty.

Our Mission

Green For All is dedicated to improving the lives of all Americans through a clean energy economy.  We work in collaboration with the business, government, labor, and grassroots communities to create and implement programs that increase quality jobs and opportunities in green industry – all while holding the most vulnerable people at the center of our agenda.

Why We Need a Clean-Energy Economy

A clean-energy economy will move America past some of its most pressing challenges.
By making us energy independent, it will improve our national and economic security.  By radically reducing the pollution that causes global warming, it will improve the health of our families and neighborhoods.  And by creating millions of quality jobs and careers, it will pull America out of the current recession, strengthen our middle class, and better protect us from future economic turmoil.
More than that, building a clean-energy economy is a chance to reinvigorate and reinvest in the best part of the American dream:  the idea that everyone gets a chance to succeed.  By ensuring that every community has equal access to the new opportunities of the green economy, we can lift millions of people out of poverty.

Green For All’s Work

Pulling together workforce development agencies.  Training young community leaders to be world-class spokespersons for the clean-energy economy.  Developing business tools for small green enterprises.  Advocating on Capitol Hill for green job training for vulnerable communities.
Green For All operates effectively at a number of different levels to build a clean-energy economy that closes the gaps in income, opportunity, security and health across the country.  Its work covers a broad spectrum and takes many forms.   As varied as it is, this work all flows from three primary tasks:  to innovate policy, develop capacity, and build a movement.

INNOVATE POLICY
Green For All develops and advocates for innovative policies that 1) promote a clean-energy economy to solve the urgent problems of both our economy and our environment, and 2) enable governments at the federal, state and local levels to expand access and opportunity in the clean-energy economy.

DEVELOP CAPACITY
Green For All helps develop and strengthen the capacity of -- and partnerships among -- business, government, labor, non-profits and grassroots communities. These groups, sectors and partnerships leverage public and private investment to sustain a clean-energy economy and create millions of quality green jobs.

BUILD A MOVEMENT
Green For All engages and equips diverse and unlikely national and regional networks of leaders, organizations, coalitions and communities to build awareness and increase demand for policies and infrastructure that create clean-energy jobs and investment in green industries.  The organization works to strengthen this popular movement’s ability to organize and effect change at the local, state and national levels. 

What Is ColorOfChange.org?

ColorOfChange.org exists to strengthen Black America's political voice. Our goal is to empower our members - Black Americans and our allies - to make government more responsive to the concerns of Black Americans and to bring about positive political and social change for everyone.

We were heart-broken and outraged by the catastrophe that followed Hurricane Katrina. And we were devastated to realize that no African-American organization or coalition had the capacity to respond on the necessary scale.

Hurricane Katrina made it clear that our lack of a political voice has life-and-death consequences. With no one to speak for them, hundreds of thousands of people - largely Black, poor, and elderly - were left behind to die. But it wasn't just Black folks. Poor, sick, and elderly people of every color were abandoned too. We are not alone, and when we work to protect Black lives and interests, we do the same for all who have been left behind in political silence.

ColorOfChange.org is comprised of Black folks from every economic class, as well as those of every color who seek to help our voices be heard. Our members are united behind a simple, powerful pledge: we will do all we can to make sure all Americans are represented, served, and protected - regardless of race or class.

What We Do

Using the Internet, we enable our members to speak in unison, with an amplified political voice. We keep them informed about the most pressing issues for Black people in America and give them ways to act. We lobby elected representatives using email, the telephone, and face-to-face meetings.

We bring attention to the needs and concerns of Black folks by holding coordinated events in different parts of the country, running TV and print advertisements, and demanding that the news media cover our issues. We also work with other groups - online efforts and other organizations that are doing related work - to magnify our impact.

When we come together and speak with one voice, we cannot be ignored. 

Ella Baker Center: The Basics

The Ella Baker Center is named for an unsung hero of the civil rights movement who inspired and guided emerging leaders. We build on her legacy by giving people opportunities and skills to work together to strengthen our communities so that all of us can thrive.

The Problem

Decades of disinvestment in our communities have led to despair and hopelessness. Too many of us are incarcerated, too many lack access to educational and professional opportunities, and too many of our communities are viewed as the problem rather than as part of the solution. This keeps all of us from reaching our potential.

The Solution

Through our people-powered campaigns, the Ella Baker Center offers smart solutions and uplifting alternatives to violence and incarceration. The safest neighborhoods aren't the ones with the most prisons and the most police. They're the ones with the best schools, the cleanest environment, and the most opportunities for young people and working people. Instead of basing policies on fear, we're building a society where decisions and laws are based on love and common concerns.

Our Campaigns

Like Miss Baker, we believe that when people have the knowledge, inspiration and solutions they need to address the challenges they face, they can make a difference. The Ella Baker Center motivates and mobilizes leaders to work on a variety of initiatives that bring peace, justice and opportunity to our communities.

Books Not Barsorganizes the largest statewide network of families of incarcerated youth and champions policies to replace California's costly, broken youth prison system with alternatives that work.
Green-Collar Jobs Campaignbuilds a thriving green economy that puts the planet and people first.
 Soul of the Cityplaces the well-being of Oakland directly in the hands of the community. We honor the important role that each person plays in creating a vibrant and thriving city.
 Heal the Streetstrains Oakland youth to become community leaders and violence prevention advocates.

We use a mix of tactics to accomplish our mission, from grassroots organizing, direct action and media advocacy to public education, policy reform and legal service. This has earned us a reputation for tenacity and innovation. But more importantly, it has earned victory after victory for our campaigns:

To defeat Proposition 23, we launched a historic statewide coalition of over 130 community-based organizations and leadersthroughout California, with deep roots in communities of color.

In just the past two years, alone, participants in our campaigns have contributed over 1500 hours of community service and voter mobilization to help Oakland thrive.

We spearheaded the effort to defeat Prop. 6, which would have spent billions on prison building and thrown more young people into adult prison.

Our advocacy brought federal and city resources together to launch the Oakland Green Jobs Corps, an innovative program to provide young adults pathways out of poverty through green careers.

We've sponsored -- and enacted -- multiple bills to help families stay connected to their young people while they're locked in youth prisons.

Our pioneering Books Not Bars campaign has helped reduce the California youth prison population by more than 60% and closed four of the State's abusive prisons for kids.

We built California's first-ever support and advocacy network for families of incarcerated youth.

We got the San Francisco Police Department to fire Marc Andaya, a brutal "cowboy" cop who beat, stomped and pepper-sprayed an unarmed black man named Aaron William to death.

We derailed plans to build a massive "super-jail" for youth. For two years, we led a "strange-bedfellows" coalition of urban youth and suburban homeowners in a campaign to stop Alameda County's plans to build what would have been one of the biggest juvenile halls in the country - at a time when juvenile crime was steadily falling.

We won the dismissal of violent, abusive guards in one of California's youth prisons.

We secured the release of two wrongly convicted Latino youth, through a mix of advocacy and strategic media that placed the case on 60 Minutes.

Our organization has been an incubator for innovation. Many of the projects we have seeded have evolved into their own blossoming organizations including Green For All, FIERCE, Urban Peace Movement, and the Oakland Green Job Corps.