Women’s History Made Today

It is said that “you can’t be what you can’t see.”

The conversation around representation is often concentrated on the silver screen or the board room. But Movement Strategy Center (MSC) wants to recognize the achievements of women and femmes we work with every day, people we see directly investing in our futures — showing up behind the scenes, serving their communities through youth development and community outreach. They are the ones who will influence the way we live and how future generations live.

We (virtually) sat down with Corrine Van Hook-Turner, a seasoned facilitator and fundraiser who leads the vision and strategy for Climate Innovation (soon-to-be-called People’s Climate Innovation Center) — an MSC anchor project and member of the Movement Strategy Network (MSN). As director, Corinne leads through a lens of racial equity and transformative movement building. We chatted about the women who inspire us, past and present; the fight for climate justice; what she’s learning from today’s youth; and building support for Climate Innovation’s call for an initial investment of $100 million in philanthropic support by Earth Day 2022. Read on for more.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

MSC: In your email signature, you quote Angela Davis: “you have to act as if it were possible to transform the world radically. And you have to do it all the time.” Safe to say she is a woman you admire — who are some women and femme leaders you look to for guidance, past and present? And what have you learned to be essential leadership qualities from them?

CVHT: Yes! Ms. Angela Davis, for sure. But it’s a long list for me, both in the past and present.

Sometimes when I am asked about Sankofa, which is the West African (Akan people of Ghana) word associated with the proverb “se wo were fi na wosankofa a yenkyi,” which translates to “go back and fetch,” I think about how you must know where you came from to know where you are going. Reaching to the past to bring forward into the present and future. It is a part of my ancestry.

I’ll start with my grandmothers. On the paternal side, because I grew up with her, and learned from her before she passed, was Ms. Mildred Gardner, the matriarch of our family. Growing up, she provided not just love but so many lessons, and she was able to translate that through her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. She met all of my children except for my last daughter … Even just seeing that generational connection was potent, and a lot of that is brought into my leadership … She has left legacies that still exist in the present world, and she was a maker! … My grandmother was known as Lillian Roche as a designer. She designed clothes, and that was her passion as a maker, so in a fundamental sense … We are inherently designers.

Another person is my work-wife, Pandora Thomas, founder of EARTHseed Permaculture Center and Farm and senior fellow at Climate Innovation. Just learning with her about nature-based practice and the connection between all of the beings, human and non-human, has been super powerful. As well as the rest of my team. Jamie Love is new. Tamara Jones, who I have known for a good ten years. And Biana Pillar Verbera, and Sarah Quiroga, who I met through MSC. And Michelle Gabrieloff-Parish, who I met through Pandora … These women who are just brilliant, amazing and powerful, and strong and actively embody fierce leadership in their lives every day …

I would also add ancestor Octavia Butler. Before we started talking about dreaming, Afrofuturism, liberation, joy, radical imagination — Black people needed to be able to do that for us to manifest it; Octavia’s Butler’s teachings are a superpower and beyond her time, look at EARTHseed!

I would also say all of the women I’ve learned from and get to be in relationship with, like Colette Pichon Battle … Growing up, I was going to be a lawyer, and I shared that with her, and she is always like “whenever you want to light that fire, it is never too late.” One of Colette’s many superpowers is to make me feel grounded, inspired, and supported.

I appreciate Rosa Gonzalez from Facilitating Power. I can facilitate the way I do by learning from her. And we get to work so closely together. Seceda Grant, who I just met through Solutions Project, is powerful, amazing, and brilliant.

I am thinking about Desire Reggie Williams, who has become a brilliant, bold strategy leader. She is smart, concise, succinct, observant, and aware … And Jessica Tovar from Local Clean Energy Alliance. The reason I know about energy justice and energy democracy is partly because of her fierce leadership …

Ms. Margaret Gordon, cofounder, and co-director of West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project … She saw leadership in me even when others did not. She shows up and commands respect, and I love that. I’ve learned so much from her because she taught me that no one gives us permission; we can assert that for ourselves. She is still dropping the gems in this life to share that with Young Black Climate Leaders.

Among a list of so many others!

MSC: You are surrounded by so many strong women and femmes — ancestors and people in the present. You mentioned that many of these women were powerful, how do they show their power, and what does it feel like?

CVHT: They show it through their deep care and love for who they are, what they do, and the communities they represent: communities of color, Black people, Latin people, which is also part of my ancestry. And Indigenous people across the diaspora — my Indigenous ancestry is Blackfoot and Taino. So in bringing in the culture of who they are, they create a connection that is so inspiring. The expertise they bring is off the charts for this work in terms of solutions, and what liberation, economic justice, and energy justice should look like. When we think about what would be if we were able to achieve a Just Transition, they live it and act in it every day even though we are navigating systems to get there. They make no compromises in their stance and how they show up. There are no apologies needed because of their transparency and authenticity. They are not trying to say all of the right things. They show up in their power with such pride and love in their heart … A quality not everyone has. They are humble, supportive, special, and creative. You can tell it connects to their deep history and story, and they bring that with them … They are all designers and visionaries.

MSC: Thinking about tomorrow’s leaders — has your work in youth development and education influenced the way you think about your time as a young adult? And what have they taught you?

CVHT: The Young Black Climate Leaders refer to us as “yelders” — not relatively young, not quite elders. And they inspired the reference there. I think the pedagogy of practice for how I facilitate is that it is cyclical, iterative, interdependent, and intergenerational. We all have something to teach each other … I’ve been doing youth development work for over 20 years, starting as a young person being a part of youth programming. That constant learning — the learning stance, listening stance, and curiosity are super essential — and being in a space with young people allows for that.

… I am no longer a young person … but there is often an assumption that I am young because I am a vertically challenged person. When it comes from young people, it’s good. When it comes from older people, it can come off as condescending. But the powerful thing of having those experiences allows me to show up better and allows me to look within and around my experience with youth work, so I am not replicating those same things. And it allows me to create that space where young people can feel seen and trusted. Everyone is deserving of respect.

MSC: Shifting a little, What kind of opportunities can we expect from the National Building Performance Standards Coalition?

CVHT: We have been doing deep design work with Facilitating Power and Kapwa Consulting, on how we accelerate government and community collaboration. Each of us was doing work in capacity building as those closest to climate impact are communities of color, and low-income, disabled, and elderly people … We need to build capacity at a community level so communities can show up as partners to the table on policies that will affect them. They should be able to benefit from it … Communities should be our decision-makers. We all approach the work in different roles — philanthropy, facilitating government as actors — we have to be better aligned on how we are doing the work. Often we get disconnected from each other, so how can we come together and how can we as people in the movement show up in better alignment, solidarity, and community with each other? … I always say it is so much more about alignment than agreement for me.

MSC: What is the difference between alignment and agreement?

CVHT: Agreement is about having a dialogue and discussion to arrive at a place that is the same. To feel like you and I are in exchange and we can agree on something … That is something that we can arrive at on our own that a body of people can agree on and not feel like they are compromising their values. In this work, we feel pressured to agree. Because when we think of our decision-making practices and who holds power in our capitalist system, we need to agree with the folks in power to make a change. If that is not something that naturally agrees to your terms … then I don’t think that agreement serves us. It serves as a construct to maintain power and a system to keep the many oppressed. It’s not liberatory for me. That’s why consensus building as a practice is so important.

We are so used to these practices of forcing people to agree … We do not dig into why they feel a certain way. Even a unanimous decision pushes your boundaries to get you to agree and not check if that’s part of your belief. In contrast, consensus building is like arriving at a place that doesn’t compromise the guiding principles. It allows us to say — as long as it is not disrupting me, my work, who I am accountable to, and I can still see myself where we’ve arrived, even if it’s not how I would do something — that is consensus building and alignment. It can represent the whole. Conscious building unlocks the dialogue, and that’s how we learn through dialogue and discussion! We do not learn by forced agreement … We are not all the same, and disagreement is inevitable. And that’s okay. I can disagree with someone and align with them at the same time … We as people are different, so it is embracing that difference.

MSC: Kresge’s Environment Program has recognized People’s Climate Innovation Center as a grantee partner with the Institute for Market Transformation (IMT). How do Climate Innovation and IMT share in responsibility and credit in leading the formation of a robust support network to fulfill the Coalition’s commitments?

CVHT: It was about bringing climate equity and justice practitioners together to dial in on our movement’s needs and what we are navigating. We are navigating the flow of resources and making sure that these communities direct them, so they can build their self-determined, community-owned infrastructures to be libratory. How are our movements accountable? That includes intermediaries providing resources to the communities doing the work on the front lines. We need to be better aligned with that in terms of policymaking. So when Climate Innovation got introduced to Institute for Market Transformation (IMT) through a partnership with Upright Consulting, Jermey Hayes, who we work with, asked me if I would be interested in this work. But Climate Innovation is not the building standards expert — IMT is. IMT is on its journey to be movement accountable, so we serve as the equity partner … To create a table for community-led policymaking.

Building performance standards are part of the solution, not the only solution. At the heart of Climate Innovation, we acknowledge the expertise of the climate movement is deep, broad, and fast, and we need to expand where we can to share that expertise. Our contribution is to facilitate and have a practice governed by a community-led organization. IMT gathers the technical partners, and our responsibility is to make sure we are frontline and grassroots accountable …

Climate is not just about buildings — it’s about disability justice, economic systems. I want to think about how building performance helps with employment development and getting off a dirty grid. But we understand that when we insert a solution, we need to ask how that solution impacts those not traditionally brought to the table. We look at the needs then translate that to build performance standards.

When we are accountable to our communities from the beginning, we are subverting the top-down paradigm. Communities need to have agency, decision-making power, and resources.

If we think about how capital flows across borders, no one bats an eye. When a concept hasn’t been tested, and people need millions of dollars to learn about something — we don’t ask any questions. But when we think about justice work and philanthropy, we have to beg for funds that belong to us. That is our money. Do not call us to tables without resourcing. We need to move toward that. We know it’s possible. We see millions flying out the door …

We are so busy fighting the bad, but we need people to have the time for world-building and what we are transitioning to. So we can be better prepared and aligned in our power to protect our communities in the best way we know how.

Curious to learn more about players in our ecosystem? Read more at the Move Blog.