Sammi's Fundraiser

I remember it was a warm Sunday evening of 2023’s NYC Climate Week. Amongst the beeping taxis and under the unapologetic lights of New York City, I was arm in arm between my friends, Amber and Tania, skipping down the street. We were riding the wave of stopping NYU from funding coal, oil, and gas companies as we had just won divestment earlier that month. Once we reached the green gates of our subway station, we made our way to our fellow organizer Alicia’s apartment.

As we entered Alicia’s walk up preparing to take off our shoes, we opened the door to dozens of differently sized sneakers. I looked at Tania and said, “Woah, how many people are here?”

I soon learned that these sneakers belonged to other student climate organizers from all over the country! Utah! North Carolina! San Diego! Washington D.C.! You name it. Somehow, word had spread to meet in this exact corner of Brooklyn. 

The faces of graduate students who had shared their knowledge of winning divestment on their own campuses with me and my friends, on the many bleak nights of strategizing, welcomed us in. From the Google Doc templates of how to efficiently delegate goals to anecdotal stories of talking to university admin about the importance of a just and green future, I thanked them for all of it. 

This same night, I was also approached by organizers from UNC Chapel Hill and Pomona. And they were asking me for advice on how to win divestment! I tried my best to share everything I could.  A full-circle moment, if I say so myself. 

For a moment, I listened to the mixture of excited voices and Bad Bunny beats beaming through Alicia’s speakers. Scanning the room, I noticed golden specks seeming to decorate the varying groups of people in every corner. I heard talks of getting a Green New Deal on their college campuses, plans of getting their community members elected, and laughs between newly made friends. In this moment, a just and renewable future we all wanted so badly didn’t seem so far away. 

Many of CCN’s founding staff and members were there that night and would soon replicate its special energy. However, they would make it bigger and more accessible. I’m talking prepaid meals, free housing, and coordinated travel (again, paid for). Eventually, nights like these would spread across entire weekends from the Northeast to the West Coast, the South and soon the Midwest. 

Three years later, I now sit on CCN’s Finance and Operations Committee, and I am a Coach. Without CCN, winning divestment 3 years ago would have just been a story I told my grandkids. But through their paid positions, celebratory Zoom calls, and training sessions, I have now shared with 60+ college campuses across the country what it takes to win when all odds are against you. 

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Your funds (no matter how big or small) will make it possible for many, many other students to get a chance to learn that their voice matters and that they, too, can defeat fossil fuel lobbyists right from their college dorm room.

$10 makes a pack of CCN stickers

$20 covers a student's meal

$100 gives art supplies to student orgs

$500 pays for a student's semester stipend