Taking greater action toward transformative change, centering love.

Build Trust & Alignments

USCAN recognizes that the quality and depth of relationships are crucial factors in determining the success of a network. Remaining agile and innovative, USCAN has worked hard to ensure that all members feel like integral parts of the USCAN family. The organization has effectively provided collaborative, healthy, and secure spaces for members to establish and strengthen relationships and trust. In addition, USCAN has introduced new opportunities for members to come together both physically and virtually, promoting knowledge-sharing, celebrating accomplishments, and engaging in discussions on well-being.

In 2023, a new vibrant collaborative space for members to come together in localized regions was created: "USCAN Regional Meetings". These gatherings aim to unite participants around shared concerns, agendas, and theories of change. The primary goal of these meetings is to foster learning, sharing, relationship-building, collaboration, and coordination on innovative strategies and tactics.

Pathway Toward Impact

Over the past few years, USCAN members have been focused on building alignments by working together in action teams toward shared aims, learning with one another, sharing resources, and developing principles and practices of equity, justice, diversity and inclusion. All of that work laid the basis for what members are now calling for, a pivot toward external facing work that delivers on climate, with clear outcomes and deliverables, while continuing to learn how to work together in principled ways.

How We Build Trust & Alignments

To cultivate relationships that build trust and create conditions for alignments, it is critical that members are given the space and support to be in community with one another. Building trust takes time, and USCAN is committed to weaving trust-building activities into USCAN meetings, convenings, and other instances where members are in touch, as appropriate. These convenings include:

Theory, Action, and Healing Conference. Formerly known as the Annual Meeting, members will have a place to share theory, discuss actions (lessons from past and/or possibilities for future) and learn from each other. This will also be a space for members to focus on supporting one another’s wellness and healing needed to work together effectively. This annual gathering will also serve as a place to focus on campaign implementation, strategy refinement and deep thinking. USCAN will offer travel support for members in need of assistance.
Regional member peer-learning and training spaces. Regional meetings provide members within those regions an opportunity to connect over common concerns, agendas, and theories of change. These convenings should occur at least twice per calendar year and could serve as opportunities for peer learning and training.
Informal connection opportunities. Members crave opportunities to connect outside of structured convenings. Through groups like the ad hoc member committees, and tools like listservs, members have the chance to work together and connect in diverse ways.

Framing Concepts

Taking greater action toward transformative change, centering love.

The strength of USCAN is its diversity of membership and the perspectives, expertise and strategies they bring to the table. We recognize and celebrate this diversity as we know that in order to successfully attain our ambitious mission, we need to work on multiple issues, employing myriad strategies simultaneously.

The Four Roles of Activism framework, developed by Bill Moyers within the Movement Action Plan, provides a conceptual framework that helps movement actors to understand the different roles required to advance social change, “...how to play each role effectively, and foster understanding and collaboration across the roles.” The bottom line is we all have a part to play and by working together, we can get further. As urgent as the climate crisis is and as formidable the actors are that benefit from status quo, it is critical that USCAN members work together to realize the world articulated in the vision.