This is the work of many.

Over the next few weeks, Clean Air’s staff and Clean Air’s campaign teams will be re-introducing ourselves… who we are, our beliefs and visions, and why we wake up each day and organize for a better world.

My name is Julia, and I’m Clean Air’s Grassroots Development Organizer.

Ten years ago, I walked door-to-door talking to my neighbors about stopping fracking from coming to our state. Little did I know then that those conversations and connections would be my entry point into 10 years of building the most beautiful and fierce community I could have ever imagined. I want to thank each of you for being a part of that… for so generously and courageously sharing your laughter, tears, and anger along the way.

For me, it has been 10 years in the making. For those that have been in this decades longer, thank you so much for welcoming me with open arms and instilling in me the armor of love that keeps me going each and every day.

For those of you that are newer to this movement for justice, welcome! I am here for you. I love you. And I am proud of you. In a world that too often divides us, wears us down, and leaves us hopeless… let’s continue to come together and show it otherwise.

I get to do that every day as Clean Air’s Grassroots Development Organizer. At Clean Air, we’re rewriting our own story about money. We know that the way money works in this country is not going to change overnight. So while we hold our institutional funders to our same values, challenging them to listen and respond to our lived truths through better practices, we are also creating our own grassroots fundraising systems.

And the heart of that reimagined system is you and me. I don’t just love my job because I get to raise money to fund badass organizing work. I love my job because I get to organize people and their relationship with money to create a grassroots movement that not only is ready to take on the most well-funded adversaries you could imagine, but actually has the power and heart to win. In a world where we are purposefully divided—fundraisers or organizers; nonprofits or foundations; delivering hard numbers or simply keeping the bills paid—we are pushing back.

On Giving Tuesday, y’all raised $21,586 to fund our movement for health and justice. I want to be clear… you did that. This is a movement. This is the work of many, not a few. This is why, as my fearless colleagues and comrades in arms will share with you over the next few weeks, we can take on Elon Musk and the largest Trump donor in WNY, and we can win.

This is why I love working for Clean Air. Because I get to work with the most fearless people in Tonawanda, Delavan Grider, Seneca Babcock, and across Buffalo that have come together to organize for a better world for all of us. I cannot wait to watch what we will do next.

Will you join our unstoppable movement for justice by becoming a Member or Supporter today?

This is the work of many, and we need you on our side.

Love,

Julia