|
Dear Hi,
I'm writing to you today for the last time, because I am leaving Conservation Voters of PA this week, 12 years after moving to Pennsylvania to found this organization with the support of a small but fiercely committed group of advisors.
All of you have busy lives that have been made harder in the last year, and the internal workings of a nonprofit may not be of particular interest, even though you care about our water, air, land, and protecting the planet for our children and grandchildren. But today, I ask you to please take an extra minute to read this.
We founded Conservation Voters of PA in August 2009 to build power for Pennsylvania's environmental community, and, with your support, we are changing the way Pennsylvania's elected officials take care of our environment. In the last 12 years, we've built one of the state's most powerful advocacy organizations — a lens that focuses the passion and advocacy of members like you into a glaring spotlight that our elected officials cannot ignore.
We've helped elect new environmental champions in the legislature — leaders like Senator Steve Santarsiero, Representative Leanne Kruger, Representative Danielle Friel Otten, Representative Summer Lee, and many others.
We've brought together tens of thousands of residents to play an active role in fighting to protect our shared environment.
And we are poised to take significant steps toward reducing our climate pollution, cleaning up our air and our water, and investing in the parks and open spaces that sustain us.
It hurts to leave the urgent work of protecting our health and safety unfinished (as if that work can ever be “finished”). But I am leaving the team in incredibly capable hands. Molly Parzen, our longtime Assistant Director, will be taking the wheel as the Interim Executive Director while the board conducts a search for the next candidate. Molly, who served as both my right hand and my left brain for the last decade, leads a staff of smart and committed individuals who are each leaders in their own specific fields and who, together, are our best hope for the kind of clean, safe Pennsylvania we all hope to see.
Joanne Kilgour, our Board Chair, ranks among the best, most thoughtful and wise people I know. Under Joanne’s leadership, our Board of Directors, composed of the savviest environmental and political minds in PA, will continue to serve as our strategic advisors and hold the staff accountable to our mission. I couldn't be prouder of the staff we've put together or more honored by the trust our board has put in me over the years.
The team is mighty, but the fights are huge. The results will shape the world for generations to come — and we can’t win these fights without members like you.
So here's what you can do to help in this moment of transition:
First, step up your engagement in a small way. For some, that means retweeting our posts to help other Pennsylvanians find ways to actively support the environment. For others, it means making the calls to your legislators that we ask you to make (which is probably the single most powerful thing you can do to make a real difference). And for some, it means being active volunteers, meeting legislators in person, knocking on doors for candidates, and writing letters to the editor. Fill out this form if you’re interested in stepping up and a CVPA team member will be in touch.
Second, sign up as a monthly donor. Give $5 or $10 each month to help make this work possible. You may think that a few dollars can't help, but the lobbyists working to protect our environment are outnumbered 20 to 1 in Harrisburg, and we're STILL winning a lot of fights because we have the power of the people on our side. If everyone getting this email gave $10 per month, we could nearly double our lobbying power — or elect two additional pro-environment state representatives next year.
Finally, I want to thank you. There have been some lonely moments in this work. There have been times of such frustration and despair that I came close to giving up. But every time that happened, I was able to look to our members — people like you who aren’t paid to do this work, but who simply refuse to accept a world in which corporate profits matter more than our neighbors and our families. You inspire me, and it has been an honor to work with you.
I may be taking a new job to attack these problems in a different way, but by leaving the staff, I also have the honor of joining you as an active member of Conservation Voters of PA for the first time. Together, we can help this organization continue to shape the clean and healthy Pennsylvania that my family and yours deserve to live in.
Thanks for all you have done and all that you will do,
Josh
|
