How do we keep a movement alive?

Movements can be incredibly powerful examples of the human capacity to create change. We have all reaped the benefits of so many movements that have come before us, brave leaders and communities who have fought for change that has allowed us many of the rights and freedoms we have in our lives today.?

But this work is never done. And some of the problems we face in the world today are so incredibly complex, so significant in scale that it can be hard to imagine humans alone are capable of addressing them. So when I ran into Eva Hernandez at TED this year, I knew she was someone I wanted to have on the podcast to address this subject by helping to unpack some of the ways we can continue to build strong social movements that effectively engage our communities in some of the biggest challenges we collectively face in the world.?

Eva has spent the past 20 years as an organizer, campaigner, strategist, and leader at Sierra Club, Moveon, Dogwood Alliance and GreenCorps. As a movement strategist, she focuses on one of my absolute favorite things–people power, or more specifically, the power of engaging a community. And this month, Eva steps into a new role as executive director at Mosaic, a fund that allocates money across environmental and climate movements to build power in communities across the United States.

One of the things I was absolutely delighted to hear Eva talk about was the importance of narrative in any movement strategy–telling a bigger story that helps people understand how they fit into the work. I talk about this a lot with my team, clients and partners when we’re focusing on identifying ways to engage a community. As Eva mentions, it’s so much more than just a lot of good stories, it’s a way to get everyone on the same page and help them recognize how they can contribute and how that contribution adds up to a greater sum.?

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