Local Organizations for relationship building

HERE is a list of ideas for groups that might be organized where you live. Find your local chapter and reach out to them. Ideas include:

Find a CCL member that belongs or is willing to join.
Meet directly with the leadership for the organization over coffee and talk about how we can interact with their members and what their priorities are on climate policy issues.
Set up a talk in front of their membership.

Match CCL volunteers with the organization. For instance,

A Republican should reach out to a Young Republican club or the College Republicans.
A fisherman is a good person to reach out to your local Trout Unlimited group - but that person does not necessarily need to be conservative.
A Rotary Club member is the best person to reach out to your local Rotary Clubs.

How to Contact Local Organizations

See what local organizations exist in your area. If you live in a college town perhaps get in touch with the college republicans of that college. Here are some examples of how to find out ways to get in touch:

Do they have an official website? Groups such as Young Republicans tend to have websites built for that particular state.

Some groups may have a website for the whole organization so check there first, it may contain links to the different branches nearby.
Does the website have a link to who to contact or who to email?

Do they have a facebook? Many college republican and young republicans have facebook groups that post when meetings are and allow for you to chat with the organization through facebook messenger.

However, be aware of the last time that group updated. If the last post is from a year or older then the page is probably abandoned and they cannot be contacted through this.

When you get in touch, make sure to tell them who you are, what you do, and why you would like to work with them.

Veteran & Active Military

See if you have any veterans in your group or that you can bring into the discussion.

Consider showing a Roger Sorkin film from the American Resilience Project:

The Burden
Tidewater (2017 release)

Show at a convenient location WITH a panel for questions after the film that includes military or retired military personnel. Have the military personnel help advertise to veterans. Charge at the door to cover costs - but veterans get in free.

Create other approaches to find veterans and have them engage in the subject of energy and climate policy.

The messenger is important - having veterans speak to veterans is important.

Strategy for Evangelical Christians

Seek out your local or regional network of Creation Care organizations. Have one of your members act as a liaison to that group and attend their meetings.

If a regional group exists, evaluate the makeup of the member churches - often churches self-segregate by political leaning of their members just like people do. Make sure the organization is reaching out to include conservative and evangelical congregations.

Evaluate if there is a state Christian Coalition organization. Please check THIS MAP of states to see if CCL already has a working relationship with the Christian Coalition through the Conservative Energy Network.

Evaluate other ideas for engaging bodies of faith that may have more conservative membership.

Invite a High-Profile Conservative Speaker

[connect to current Invite/Host Conservative Speaker Event]

Attend events near you

Certain events are more likely to bring together an overlap of conservatives AND people concerned or alarmed about climate OR people open to a dialogue on climate and energy issues.

HERE is a listing of some larger events that are happening across the country that are more likely to bring together an overlap of conservatives AND people concerned or alarmed about climate OR people open to a dialogue on climate and energy issues. See if any are in your City or State and evaluate if someone wants to attend to network with people there (and probably learn a lot too). There is NO budget for this - that is why it is beneficial to look for your own “local” events but you may also need to cover registration costs on some events.

Division of Labor: have a “scheduler” for talks

Talk Scheduler & Speaker roles: Many groups find they make more progress if someone agrees to schedule talks for people; and a group agree to give talks to conservative audiences. The person scheduling does not have to be comfortable public speaking; and those who give talks can have pre-arranged talks set up for them. This can lead to many more outreach events.

CONSERVATIVE PAGE ONLY

Conservative Energy Network (CEN) links

The Conservative Energy Network has affiliates in over a dozen states across the country. We have a working dialogue with the Conservative Energy Network and their member organizations.

ACTION: Check the list of affiliate organizations on their WEB SITE. If you are in a state with a member organization, talk to Jim Tolbert (james.tolbert@citizensclimate.org) about the best person and best method to engage the organization. These are established, existing networks of conservatives supporting clean energy in states across the US focusing on state policy.