Celebrating 7 Years Of Common Power!
2018 Common Purpose Office
You can tell a lot about an org by what they value in their early years. You can tell even more by how consistently they stand by those values. Common Power was born for action, taking our first steps in 2018, after deciding to participate in the blue wave midterms. Through a pandemic, a recession, generation-defining wins, and nation-defining losses we are still rooted in Action, Education, Community, and the development of leaders.
ACTION
We believe our democracy should be just and inclusive, and to make it so we must take action. Our democracy is not just and inclusive, but it should be, and can be. Making it so will not happen by us simply seeking our own enrichment or expanding our knowledge, but by taking action. This requires those who know and believe to do the hard work first. For them to take on risk and sacrifice their comfort.
Philadelphia 2024 Canvassing Trip
EDUCATION
Education is the key catalyst for action and a unifying motivator for our volunteers. Since our beginning, education has moved us toward understanding, then action. Today, it is foundational for our community and an essential part of our identity. Much of this work is brought to life by The Institute for Common Power, which is celebrating its third year of moving people from education to action.
From the past, we have discovered how to build our organization better, how to create coalitions, and how to sustain it beyond the years. We learn from previous struggles as we engage in current ones.
2025 Feb. Educator Learning Tour
2023 Truth & Purpose Learning Tour
COMMUNITY
We build community with intention into our systems. Together. Because we know community sustains our work beyond single elections and across years, we look for ways to not only foster the concepts of community, but build intentional structures in our organizing to codify community. We work in Teams, Crews, and Squads. Community is in everything, even if it doesn’t come first.
2024 Fieldwork Kickoff Event
Atlanta 2024 Canvassing Trip
NEXT-GEN LEADERSHIP
Prioritizing and amplifying next-generation leadership is the only way our community endures and we do this best through the Action Academy program, which brings in hundreds of young leaders to the CP community every year. Developing next-generation leaders and community members is the only way we ensure we can continue our work for the long term. Younger generations are also inherently more diverse across race, gender identity, and sexuality, ensuring a cohort truly representative of our country’s future. Providing them with leadership roles infuses our org with fresh ideas and keeps us aware of new challenges.
This is why Common Power is able to stay active every year. This is why we’re able to participate in elections large and small. This is how we knock on doors across six generations and diverse backgrounds that reflect America. It’s how we endured the deep deep loss from last fall, and how we find deeper joy and meaning in the community we’ve built.
2024 Atlanta Canvassing Trip
2024 SeaTac, WA Canvassing
This month, we’re celebrating the best way we know how - action! We’ve got events/initiatives lined up all throughout the month and we’d love for you to be there. Take a look at the graphic below for some of the highlighted events, or go to our event page to see what’s coming up next!
At Common Power, we don’t get ready, we stay ready.
We were born for this.
Keep on…
Charles
Executive Director, Common Power
