Nailah Pope-Harden

  • Statement on Governor's Budget Proposal: The California Blueprint is a blueprint for integrating climate solutions at every turn.

    Today Governor Newsom released his budget for the 2022-2023 fiscal year, “The California Blueprint,” and we are cautiously excited.

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  • ClimatePlan’s Guide to Funding Programs for the Governor’s Budget

    According to the Legislative Analyst Office, there will be a $31 billion budget surplus for the 2022-2023 fiscal year. As ClimatePlan highlighted last month in this blog, there is also $44.5 billion in federal infrastructure money headed to the state as well. California is living up to the Golden State moniker. The question is will Governor Newsom use this funding to invest in his bold and ambitious climate agenda?

    @callum-shawAs Governor Newsom prepares the budget, and directs federal funding, we hope to see many of the below programs prioritized. This list is not exhaustive, it is merely a guide of existing programs that advance ClimatePlan’s values of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, reducing vehicle miles traveled, increasing transit and active transportation access, and amplifying community voices. While some of these programs are not currently climate-friendly, new funding could be an opportunity to advocate for stronger climate requirements. 

    If you are interested in getting involved in ClimatePlan’s efforts around aligning transportation funding to California’s climate goals contact Nailah Pope-Harden, [email protected].

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  • published Policy Advocate in Staff Profiles 2021-12-06 11:40:38 -0800

    Now Hiring: Policy Advocate

    Remote

    Full time employee

    Salary range: $55,000- $65,000 DOE

    ABOUT CLIMATEPLAN

    ClimatePlan is a statewide network of health, equity, and environmental nonprofits dedicated to improving California’s land use and transportation. We are currently focused on ensuring California meets its greenhouse gas reduction targets, shifting state transportation spending, advancing sustainable and equitable solutions for the housing crisis, and implementing regional Sustainable Communities Strategies. Our work not only fights climate change, it also results in cleaner air, land and water conservation, and greater access and opportunities for families and communities. With more than 50 partners, ClimatePlan brings diverse interests together and has brought new energy and new voices to urban planning, transportation, and conservation in California. ClimatePlan’s fiscal sponsor is Community Partners. To learn more, visit www.climateplan.org.

    ABOUT THE POSITION

    The ClimatePlan network carries out numerous campaigns around the state. Our policy staff works hard to coordinate these efforts and provide leadership on key campaigns aligned with ClimatePlan’s mission and values. Our Policy Advocate must possess the skills to think creatively and strategically about our issues to influence policymakers and key decision-makers. The Policy Advocate must also provide strong analysis to shape California state and regional policy and funding on climate change, equity, land use, housing, health, and conservation.

    Key Responsibilities

    Support key policy campaigns

    • Provide policy analysis on state policy, including state administrative policy, funding, and legislation as related to ClimatePlan’s mission and values.

    • Under the guidance of the Executive Director and network partners, co-lead key policy campaigns to achieve network priorities via power-mapping, workgroup meetings, creating advocacy materials etc.

    • Mobilize support and achieve policy campaign objectives via action alerts, coalition-building, etc.

    • Build relationships with key partners and policymakers who are involved in efforts to tackle climate change, promote public health and equity, protect natural and working lands, and invest in sustainable transportation.

    Communicate our policy positions

    • Develop a strong understanding of – and ability to effectively communicate – climate change mitigation policy tools, specifically focusing on land use and transportation planning, including sustainable communities, affordable housing, active transportation, public health, social equity, natural and working lands, and environmental justice.
    • Under the guidance of the Executive Director, write policy platforms, fact sheets, and other advocacy materials that elevate our research, findings, or policy positions on issues related to land use and transportation planning and investments.

    • Draft action alerts, sign on letters, support letters and other campaign materials as needed to the network.

    Administrative Support

    • Provide content and policy leadership for legislative briefings, statewide convenings, and ClimatePlan quarterly meetings as requested.

    • Schedule meetings and set agenda with key decision-makers, including agency staff and elected officials, convene conference calls, and organize in-person meetings as needed.

    Desired Skills

    • Basic understanding of the fundamentals of climate change, as well as land use and transportation planning and investments.

    • Knowledge and/or desire to learn about the injustices and inequities within housing, land use, and transportation planning.

    • Proven ability to build relationships with a diverse set of partners and decision-makers

    • Strong communication skills, including research, writing, editing, and verbal

      communication.

    • Experience drafting impactful written materials, including action alerts, sign-on letters,

      and other advocacy materials.

    • Commitment to building an inclusive movement that welcomes a diversity of missions

      and political strategies.

    • Positive attitude and sense of humor!

    COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS

    This job is a full-time remote position. Salary ranges from $55,000 - 65,000 a year, based on experience. Compensation includes health and dental insurance, generous vacation time, cell phone and internet reimbursement, and an employee contribution 403b retirement plan.

    Our staff is focused on making positive change in the world. We prioritize equity and inclusion with what we do and how we work together as a team. People of color, of all abilities, of all sexual and gender orientations, and women are strongly encouraged to apply.

    TO APPLY

    To apply for this position or for any questions please email your resume and cover letter to [email protected] with “Policy Advocate” in the subject line.

    Resumes will be accepted until position is filled. 


  • Now Hiring: Communication Assistant

    Remote, 

    Part-time employee, 20-25 hours per week

    Rate: $25 per hour

    ABOUT CLIMATEPLAN

    ClimatePlan is a statewide network of health, equity, and environmental nonprofits dedicated to improving California’s land use and transportation. We are currently focused on ensuring California meets its greenhouse gas reduction targets, shifting state transportation spending, advancing sustainable and equitable solutions for the housing crisis, and implementing regional Sustainable Communities Strategies. Our work not only fights climate change, it also results in cleaner air, land and water conservation, and greater access and opportunities for families and communities. With more than 50 partners, ClimatePlan brings diverse interests together and has brought new energy and new voices to urban planning, transportation, and conservation in California. ClimatePlan’s fiscal sponsor is Community Partners. To learn more, visit www.climateplan.org.

    ABOUT THE POSITION

    Our Communication Assistant who must be able to strategically deploy our communication tools in a timely fashion, provide communications support to on-the-ground campaigns, and orchestrate large and small-scale events to strengthen our network and to win support from potential allies.

    Key Responsibilities

    Web and Social Media

    • Maintain the ClimatePlan website, blog and social media

    • Implement ClimatePlan’s social media strategy to strengthen our Twitter and LinkedIn

      outreach.

    • Curate, edit and distribute our bi-weekly email newsletter featuring current news and

      partners’ announcements.

    Campaign Support

    • Assist the coalition to identify key messages and develop communications strategies to communicate them to target audiences.

    • Support in responding to media inquiries or strategically soliciting earned media. Draft or edit op-eds and letters to the editor.

    • Produce written campaign collateral, such as informative and attractive fact sheets and handouts.

    Desired Skills

    • Basic understanding of the fundamentals of climate change, as well as land use and transportation planning and investments.
    • Knowledge and/or desire to learn about the injustices and inequities within housing, land use, and transportation planning.

    • Proven ability to build relationships with a diverse set of partners and decision-makers

    • Strong communication skills, including research, writing, editing, and verbal

      communication.

    • Experience drafting impactful written materials, including action alerts, sign-on letters,

      and other advocacy materials.

    • Commitment to building an inclusive movement that welcomes a diversity of missions

      and political strategies

    • Positive attitude and sense of humor!

    COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS

    This is a part-time position approximately 20 hours per week. This position will require occasional evening and weekend hours.

    Our staff is focused on making positive change in the world. We prioritize equity and inclusion with what we do and how we work together as a team. People of color, of all abilities, of all sexual and gender orientations, and women are strongly encouraged to apply.

    TO APPLY

    To apply for this position or for any questions please email your resume and cover letter to [email protected] with “Communications Assistant” in the subject line.

    Resumes will be accepted until the position is filled. 


  • published Meet Nailah Pope-Harden in Blog 2021-08-11 14:53:06 -0700

    Meet Nailah Pope-Harden

    As I sit down to write this my two-year-old son, Naeem, is playing in the backyard. It is hands down his favorite place to be. While the recent fires make air quality less than ideal, his south Sacramento-born and bred lungs are used to less than ideal air quality. Albeit, he could care less about pollution because he’s two and this is the most important part of Naeem’s day. He waters our lawn, plays in the mud, and runs back and forth until he’s exhausted. Sometimes between sprints, he stops and lifts his head up, looks directly at the sun, and roars. That little roar, from that free Black boy body, is why I care so deeply about climate and environmental justice. Making sure that he stays safe, healthy, and free in this world is the second thing (coffee being the first) that gets me out of bed.

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  • Climate Action Plan for Transportation Infrastructure (CAPTI) is the next step to achieving California's climate goals

    A year and a half after Governor Newsom issued Executive Order (EO) N-19-19 - a multi-agency call to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and mitigate climate change impacts - we are now seeing a plan for how this EO will be implemented. The EO has asked that the California State Transportation Agency (CalSTA) leverage $5 billion of discretionary state transportation spending to prioritize reaching our state’s climate goals. In response, CalSTA has created the Climate Action Plan for Transportation Infrastructure, known as CAPTI. 

    Through stakeholder meetings, comment letters, and surveys, CalSTA created CAPTI’s guiding principles and investment strategies. These recommendations will be the foundation for how future transportation decisions are made. CAPTI is an opportunity to create significant shifts towards more equitable, healthier, and climate-friendly transportation. The ClimatePlan network and partners have been engaging with CalSTA and other agencies to provide input on the guiding principles along the way. 

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  • Women can move California into a healthier, more equitable future!

    The events of 2020 - a global pandemic, calls for racial justice, wildfires in our state, and a contentious national election - have put us in need of equity and climate focused leadership more than ever. A few weeks ago, ClimatePlan asked for real climate leaders who understand equity and justice. ClimatePlan welcomes the changes happening at the California Air Resources Board (CARB), which is at the forefront of combating climate change, and the State’s Legislature, which has developed some of the most ambitious climate laws in the nation. 

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  • ClimatePlan says, "Equity is Not Salt; We Need to Add Spice" at CTC / CARB / HCD joint meeting

    On Wednesday, November 4, 2020, ClimatePlan and Greenlining Institute gave a presentation at the California Air Resources Board / California Transportation Commission / Housing and Community Development Joint Meeting on what it looks like to co-fund transportation equity. In the clip below, I share that we must stop treating equity as if it's salt. We cannot sprinkle equity into programs, or sprinkle a little equity into a public participation workshop. We cannot add equity as garnish to transportation plans that are already baked and mostly finalized. We must season our programs with more equity. We need "fall off the bone, succulent, and satisfying programs." We can't create these programs by adding more salt, or adding more equity through public participation programs. We have to dig deep to identify what are the systemic issues. Watch the video below to hear me share more on what's needed for more succulent, fall off the bone transportation programs.

    Hana Creger at The Greenlining Institute presented after me and shared how the California Air Resources Board and California Transportation Commission can move beyond sprinkling equity, to actually adding spice into current transportation programs. You can review The Greenlining Institute's slides here or watch the meeting here (Hana starts at 2:15:33).

    I have written about the work ClimatePlan is doing to create an Equity Advisory Committee (EAC) here, here and here. If you are interested in getting involved in these efforts contact Nailah Pope-Harden, Policy Manager at Nailah [AT] climateplanca [DOT] org. 

    P.S. I also hope that I have changed the way that you cook. Now when you open your spice cabinet, I hope you're thinking about equity.


  • Advocates push for vision in California's most recent statewide transportation plan

    The California Transportation Plan 2050 (CTP)  was recently released by CalTrans. To respond to the plan, 17 organizations within the ClimatePlan network signed on to a CTP 2050 comment letter and submitted the letter on October 22, 2020. In the letter, ClimatePlan and other organizations highlight that we appreciate the aspirations of the CTP and its goals to provide a coordinated vision for transportation in California that reduces emissions, advances equity, and promotes public health. We also offer many recommendations on how the CTP can make even further progress in these areas. 

    Below are several general themes that ClimatePlan and other signers would like to see bolstered and addressed more thoroughly throughout the Plan. We include very specific recommendations within each of these themes in the full letter.  You can read the full PDF of the letter here. 

    Prioritizing Equity
    While we commend Caltrans for incorporating an equity portion into their plan, our overarching recommendation is, in addition to just having a separate equity goal, equity should be integrated into each strategy addressing the areas or people in most need. 

    Achieve Our Climate Goals
    The Plan appropriately draws on many other plans and builds on the earlier CTP 2040. However, it is unclear what progress, if any, has been made in the implementation of earlier plans or what barriers to implementation of earlier plans have been identified. To meet our climate goals, these types of assessments need to be made.

    Improving Quality of Life

    Our transportation system is inextricably linked to the quality of life. As we strive to make our transportation system cleaner, it is not enough if it is not accessible transportation in certain areas, particularly low-income and rural areas. Quality transportation promotes quality health outcomes.

    For more information, contact Nailah Pope-Harden, ClimatePlan's State Policy Manager, at [email protected] 

     

     

     

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Climate justice, equity-focused, hood adjacent, mother of free black body.

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