In 2017, LCVEF completed our strategic plans for 2017-2020. Our overarching goals are: Advance clean energy progress at the state and local levels. We will continue to seize opportunities in states and cities to drive progress on the economy-wide shifts to clean energy. Continue to push the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to draft a new rule for safer lead levels in drinking water, and work with our state league partners to advance local policies. Seek to prevent any attempt by the administration to abolish or reduce the size of a national monument. Use communications strategies to tell stories of how low-income communities of color are disproportionately impacted by environmental racism, and are organizing for solutions. Launch a coordinated national voting rights program in five states that pushes back against voter suppression and works to advance proactive voting reforms. Expand the library of resources available to our full network of 32 state league partners.

Given the attacks at the federal level and the energy in states, cities, and municipalities, LCVEF has decided to increase our work with our state affiliates to both achieve local and state victories as a counterweight to the attacks in Washington, and as a way to build power for the future. LCVEF’s strategic plan for 2017-2020 includes building on our existing relationships with our 32 state affiliates to create a strong and unified Conservation Voter Movement (CVM). We will also continue our long-term efforts to build a larger, more active, and more racially diverse environmental movement. We also must fight back against core threats to American democracy in the form of assaults on voting rights, ballot access, and structural barriers to participation, which are often aimed at under-represented communities. Ensuring that all people have the opportunity to participate in open, fair, and equitable elections is essential to a just society and to the policy outcomes we are fighting for.

With a history dating back to 1985, LCVEF possesses national experience with field organizing, list development, and nonpartisan civic engagement that is unmatched in the environmental community and rarely outside it. Our collaboration with state LCV education funds gives us a wide geographic reach and an organizing and advocacy presence in 32 state capitals and in Washington, DC. We use these relationships to continue to raise the profile of our priority issues in Washington, DC, and in states across the country. LCVEF’s work serves diverse groups, ranging from the general public to environmental organizations to policymakers. LCVEF has been a national leader in engaging and building alliances with public health, labor, and veterans’ groups on climate and energy issues. Each year, our issue programs and nonpartisan civic engagement efforts reach millions of citizens, hundreds of media outlets, and numerous elected officials.

Investing in evaluations is built into LCVEF’s organizational culture, plans, and budgets. We gauge the effectiveness of our work in multiple ways and use metrics and rigorous analysis to continually improve our programs. For our issue advocacy programs, we measure progress by tracking the number of individuals we educate and mobilize on environmental issues and the actions they take. We also track the earned media we generate, the relationships we build with decision makers, and the extent to which policymakers at all levels of government act to advance sound environmental policies. We consistently measure the success of our nonpartisan civic engagement programs through formal quantitative evaluations to test best practices, track our impact on voter participation rates, and assess the cost per net-new-vote generated by our work. Controlled experiments are designed and executed by industry experts, and results shared with partners and allies.

LCVEF has been a leader in efforts to build momentum towards the clean energy future that is essential to the health of our planet and our survival. In the past several years, we helped win the first-ever national limits on carbon pollution from power plants, higher vehicle fuel-efficiency standards, new protections for clean water, and the signing of the Paris Climate Agreement. We engaged tens of thousands of volunteers and expanded grassroots organizing programs and registered 435,000 people of color, women, and young people to vote nationwide through our largest nonpartisan civic engagement program ever. Looking ahead, we have launched our Clean Energy For All campaign focused on securing commitments and plans from states and cities across the country to achieve 100% clean energy by 2050 and we continue to expand our ongoing civic engagement work focused on transforming the electorate to better reflect our country's changing population.