Energy and Housing Justice Convenings
Completed
Challenge
Silos of energy and housing justice work in Minnesota fragment our power to achieve change. The energy and housing justice movements will be stronger if they come together, break down silos and recognize the ways they are connected.
Impact Goal
Create more public awareness and education of energy and housing issues, deepening understanding of how the two are connected. Establish a common ground for continuing the movement and show how people in the housing space can work together with people in the energy space.
Funding
Project Leads
Sustainability Education Co-Program Director
Department of Fisheries, Wildlife and Conservation Biology
Connecting Movements to Drive Systems Change
Systems change becomes more possible when energy and housing are framed by advocates and seen by decision makers as human rights. Achieving this requires coalition work that pushes for systemic reform which centers energy and housing as human rights.
To support this, the project team gathered housing justice and energy justice advocates to build a common knowledge base and connect the movements.
Outcomes
- Conducted ten one-on-one meetings to share the project idea with existing advocates in order to better understand their work, refine the idea based on their feedback and recruit more people to join either the project management team or to attend the convenings
- Convened an initial three hour workshop to promote relationships and build the foundation for the second, larger convening
- Convened a larger, public three hour workshop, focused on sharing experiences, storytelling and centering community voices in solutions to current energy and housing issues
- Collaborated with a visual artist to develop a zine, to be publicly distributed and used to create additional awareness of energy and housing justice issues
Meet the Project Team
Project Lead
Beth Mercer-Taylor
Staff
Since 2008
Sustainability Education Co-Program Director
Institute on the Environment
Julia Nerbonne
Department of Fisheries, Wildlife and Conservation Biology
College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences
Additional Team Members
Project Status
Last Updated
Aug 05, 2026
Impact Location
Minnesota