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Bringing Together Unlikely Allies for Clean Cities

By Heising-Simons Foundation

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Woman bikes in downtown Denver
Woman steps off the Kansas City Streetcar
Woman charges her car in Colorado

"What would happen if [two discrete advocacy groups] were both pushing for the same goals under one banner, leveraging each other’s strengths and assets?"

Matt Oberhoffner, climate and clean energy program officer, Heising-Simons Foundation

In 2020, COVID-19 brought the world to a haunting standstill. Schools shut down. Offices emptied out. And then, something else happened: As government officials scrambled to find creative solutions to restart society without sacrificing public health, over 500 cities, including Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., decided to open their streets to pedestrians and bicyclists so residents could safely move outside while social distancing. Cities like New York and Chicago made buses free to ride. Across the U.S., bicycles flew off shelves, restaurants and parklets spilled into the street, and people began to reimagine what city living could be. Carbon emissions fell dramatically, and air quality improved.

The pandemic demonstrated alternative ways of living and moving that were not only beneficial to public health, but also to the planet. The Coalition Helping America Rebuild and Go Electric (CHARGE) was born out of that vision.

CHARGE brings together unlikely allies across the U.S. transportation sector—from industry to advocates—so that, together, they can mount a worthy challenge to the fossil fuel forces polluting communities with dirty vehicles. Historically, clean transportation advocacy has been siloed into two camps: those who want to replace gas-powered vehicles with electric ones, and those who want to enable more people to walk, bike, and ride mass transit instead of having a car at all. Through the coalition, these two diverse groups have converged with a shared mission—to build a healthier, zero-emissions future. People need all of the above, not one or the other.

“There was a sense among some that these are two discrete advocacy areas, but they are both working on transportation. They’re just covering different levels of government and coming at the issue from different perspectives. They have different skill sets but fundamentally want the same things,” said Matt Oberhoffner, climate and clean energy program officer at the Heising-Simons Foundation. “What would happen if they were both pushing for the same goals under one banner, leveraging each other’s strengths and assets?”

One piece of the puzzle

"That’s one piece of the puzzle: creating an equitable, accessible clean transportation landscape."

Andrea Marpillero-Colomina, policy research and data analytics adviser at coalition member GreenLatinos

In the U.S., transportation contributes the most to national greenhouse gas emissions. Light-duty trucks, such as pickups and minivans, were the biggest polluters in 2022, but medium- and heavy-duty trucks were a close second, despite being a relatively small share of vehicles on the road. Since 1990, emissions have steadily increased as more people hit the road. These vehicles also emit dangerous pollutants that are harming people’s health and worsening the climate crisis, and these impacts disproportionately fall on people of color and lower-income individuals. Policymakers have a monumental task to decarbonize the sector and improve air quality. The Heising-Simons Foundation has responded to this need in many ways, one of which was as the original and biggest funder of this coalition, which tackles these issues through an intersectional lens. 

“How can we implement clean transportation policies that help make communities greener and safer and easier for people to get around and be more inclusive?” said Andrea Marpillero-Colomina, a policy research and data analytics adviser at coalition member GreenLatinos. “That’s one piece of the puzzle: creating an equitable, accessible clean transportation landscape.”

"Sparking Progress," CHARGE Report, 2023. Photo credit: Jasmine Alston

From City Councils to the White House

"On our own, none of us can fight these opponents. Working together just makes us so much stronger. During a time like this, we definitely need to partner and be in coalitions to really amplify our work."

Ingrid Malmgren, CHARGE coalition leader and senior policy director for member organization Plug In America

Photos: Woman speaks to the camera about the Minnesota Clean School Bus Programs; people walk and scooter on a pedestrian by-way in Colorado; electric school bus and advocacy sign in Minnesota; and Colorado electric vehicle sticker.

The landscape cuts across government levels—from city councils to the White House. The wide array of coalition partners reflects that reality. East Metro Strong is local, representing the east side of the Twin Cities region, while NABSA is multinational, catering to the North American bike-share and scooter-share industries. The coalition allows these individual groups to build collective power, together.

“You have more voices, more folks who can reach different decision-makers and different constituencies and can help make the case to a broader segment of society for the changes that we want to see,” said Chris Rall, director of outreach for Smart Growth America Coalitions, whose project Transportation for America is a coalition founding organization and member of the leadership team. 

And change is happening. Member organizations in cities like Pittsburgh and Kansas City are helping build electric bike-sharing programs. In Minneapolis, school buses are going electric, too. At the national level, CHARGE is shaping how municipalities build and fund EV charger infrastructure. Coalition members have been sharing ideas around “charger-oriented development,” Rall said, which refers to locating EV chargers where they can most benefit communities. In rural areas, that may look like placing a charger near mom-and-pop shops drivers can visit. In cities, EV chargers can go near bus stops or bike share stations so drivers can hop on another set of wheels while their cars juice up.

Video: Minnesota Clean School Bus Programs. Featuring Sonita Van Der Leeuw, Transportation Organizer, MN350. Check out CHARGE’s other videos on Vimeo.

This local-to-national idea sharing has paid dividends. When the federal government complicated efforts to fund such concepts due to eligibility requirements that, for instance, prioritize dollars to chargers built within a mile of the highway, the coalition held meetings with and sent a letter to federal administrators demanding that they simplify the application process for an EV charging grant program. The federal government listened: It adjusted eligibility requirements that would make space for the coalition’s vision of EV chargers where people need them—in paid parking garages, multi-family apartment buildings, and near transit. After pressure from the coalition, the Biden administration also quickly released some grant dollars before the current Trump administration entered office and issued its funding freeze.

“We saw improvements,” said CHARGE Campaign Manager Bridget Sanderson. “These conversations are very important. Pairing local advocacy power and knowledge of how this is working on the ground level with national level organizing is making change and providing a broader eligibility for this funding.”

Much work still lies ahead, but the coalition’s greatest challenge right now is defending all its achievements thus far. As grant programs bringing EV chargers to the American people face an uncertain future, alternative funding sources may have to fill the gap.

“We are up against some really formidable opponents,” said Ingrid Malmgren, a CHARGE coalition leader and senior policy director for member organization Plug In America. “On our own, none of us can fight these opponents. Working together just makes us so much stronger. During a time like this, we definitely need to partner and be in coalitions to really amplify our work.”

Unforgettable Tragedy, and New Dreams

“The scope and the scale of the problem that we’re trying to address is massive. It is going to require every ally from all corners of the U.S. transportation sector to tackle this challenge...together."

Matt Oberhoffner

And that’s what CHARGE members will do. They’ll stick together. They won’t abandon that future they envisioned when they first united in 2020. The pandemic brought the world unforgettable tragedy, but out of that disruption came newfound dreams and determination. 

“The scope and the scale of the problem that we’re trying to address is massive,” Oberhoffner said. “It is going to require every ally from all corners of the U.S. transportation sector to tackle this challenge. We must do this together.”

Photo: Kansas City streetcar.

All photos courtesy of CHARGE.

This story was written by Yessenia Funes. She is available on all major social media @yessfun.

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