Through our people-centered participatory process, we co-created project management tools to improve the structure of the coalition. These tools address meeting protocols and processes for decision-making, evaluating, and invoicing. Our facilitation approach is reactive to member feedback and action-oriented. In order to focus the coalition’s collective energy on a shared environmental justice agenda, we led members through hands-on activities and open conversations to identify and prioritize areas of focus. Members came together into smaller action teams to lead the work. 

We also designed communications tools that help the Detroit Environmental Agenda expand their influence and embolden their voice to best address environmental justice issues across the city. 

Over three years, we facilitated 40 coalition and subcommittee meetings. We designed, developed, and maintained a website and created content for their social media. We surveyed local political candidates in 2017 and 2018 on environmental justice issues and shared the responses alongside our “get out the vote” campaign. Together, we created one-pagers to explain environmental ordinances and plans to residents. And finally, we helped create opportunities for members and residents to participate in the City of Detroit Office of Sustainability’s work to create a Sustainability Action Agenda that will guide future sustainability efforts and investments.