About us
Neighbors with a plan.
Forward Climate Coalition started in 2021 with twelve people and one question: what can this city decide on its own? Five years later we are 1,842 members and 23 partner groups, and the answer keeps getting longer.
Nobody knocks alone
Our story
From a library basement to three campaigns
We didn't start with a grand plan. We started with one local win, and every win since has trained the people who went after the next one.
3 policy wins since 2022: bike network, weatherization fund, fleet audit.
-
2021
Twelve neighbors, one library basement
After a July heat wave packed the East Side cooling center for nine straight days, twelve neighbors met in the library basement and asked one question: what can this city decide on its own?
-
2023
First win: the bike network
Two years of council-watch notes and full chambers turned a stalled bike plan into a funded 14-mile network. It also trained our first forty volunteer captains.
-
2024
The weatherization fund
Those captains knocked doors for a fund that pays for insulation and heat pumps in older rental homes, with tenants protected from rent hikes tied to the upgrades.
-
2025
The city fleet audit
Our public records requests became a council-ordered audit of every city vehicle, the groundwork for electric replacements as old trucks retire.
-
2026
Three campaigns at once
Ready by 2030, Fair Fares, Clean Air, and Solar on Schools. The most we have ever run, with the most people we have ever had.
What we stand on
Five rules we don't bend
-
Rule 01
Evidence before volume
Every campaign stands on a report we publish first, limitations included. If a number cannot survive its own footnotes, it does not go to a hearing.
-
Rule 02
Hope, with a plan
We take the problem seriously and skip the doom. People stay for work that adds up, not for fear.
-
Rule 03
Nobody knocks alone
Every first-timer is paired with an experienced captain. Every event has a job for someone who has never done this before.
-
Rule 04
Issues, not parties
We never endorse candidates or parties. We work on votes, budgets, and measures, and we thank anyone who votes the right way on them.
-
Rule 05
Money in daylight
A one-page budget every January. No countdown clocks, no guilt, and a plain answer on tax status before anyone gives.
-
Want the receipts? Every report, method, and limitation is on the research page.
How we pick fights
Three tests, every time
The steering committee votes on every new campaign, and each one has to pass all three tests. That's why you won't see us chasing headlines. You'll see us at the meetings where the decision is made.
- Winnable We can count the votes, name the deciders, and see a path to yes within two years.
- Local A Calder body decides it: the council, the county board, the school district, or the voters here.
- Measurable When we win, a number moves that anyone can check: kilowatt-hours, minutes of wait, dollars saved.
The people
Six staff, hundreds of captains
The whole team →- Amara Osei Organizing Director
- Danny Reyes Policy & Research Lead
- June Whitfield Volunteer Coordinator
In daylight
Money and politics, said plainly
- Funded by neighbors. Small gifts, listed in a one-page budget every January.
- Not tax-deductible. We lobby for local laws and budgets, so gifts to us are not charitable deductions. We say so before anyone gives.
- No party, no candidates. We work on votes, budgets, and measures, never on who wins an election.
23 partner groups, including
- Calder Interfaith Climate Circle
- Riverside Neighbors Assembly
- Calder Transit Workers Guild
- Calder State Students for Climate
- Granite Valley Growers Co-op
- East Side Tenants Union
- Calder Clinicians for Clean Air
- Calder Youth Court Watch
Example figures for this demo. Not a live count. The coalition, its partners, and its people are fictional.
Your move
The story's next chapter needs a few more names.
Three questions and the quiz will hand you a first action that fits your week. Most take five minutes.