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About Elected Officials to Protect America
Elected Officials to Protect America (EOPA) is a network of current and former elected officials who care deeply about protecting our planet and people. EOPA is committed to solving the climate crisis, ensuring environmental justice, and protecting our lands and waters. We educate through value-based storytelling, training lawmakers, and connecting elected officials to inspire strong environmental leadership.
Led by representatives from frontline communities and lawmakers who are veterans, EOPA has a consistent track record of successfully organizing elected officials to promote bold climate action. In New York, we helped with divestment from fossil fuels. In California, we organized 400+ elected officials to help prompt Governor Newsom to declare working towards a 100% clean energy by 2040 and announce 3,200-foot safety zones around wells. At our nation’s capital, we organized veterans who are lawmakers from 50 states to secure permanent funding for the U.S. Land and Water Conservation Fund.
Our work has been covered in hundreds of news outlets including the New York Times, Washington Post, Politico, CNN, ABC News, and BBC News. Our video production arm, EOPA Code Blue, has exposed Saudi Arabia buying up American water, which was later covered in The Guardian.
Now, we are organizing thousands of state and local lawmakers, led by lawmakers who are veterans and represent frontline communities, to mobilize for clean energy solutions while we protect our public lands and people.
Our Principles:
- Public Stewardship. Elected officials are publicly entrusted to steward and protect their communities, our democracy, and future. We believe it is the responsibility of every one who takes the Constitutional Oath of office to protect people they represent and act to secure the common, long-term interests of all who they represent.
- Leadership. When a problem threatens our democracy, it is the responsibility of our elected officials to step up and lead to protect those they represent. The consequences of failing to address the climate crisis threatens our survival as a nation. Clean energy solutions are the way forward to true energy security.
- Collective Power. We have the power to join together and collectively lead. When a problem crosses jurisdictional boundaries, our elected officials come together to provide leadership to find solutions. We provide the atmosphere and educational resources for collective leadership to happen – to protect our people and communities and restore our environment and democracy.
Elected Officials to Protect America is committed to centering, connecting, and supporting leadership of public servants who represent frontline and historically marginalized communities. Veterans, indigenous people, people of color, women and LGBTQ+ people, and people from immigrant and working-class backgrounds are strongly encouraged to apply.
Available Positions:
National Fellowship (part and full-time)
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1776 Fellowship
Elected Officials to Protect America seeks public servants at every level of office who are talented organizers and policy advocates to organize elected officials across the country to become our democracy’s champions on the climate emergency, environmental justice, and land and water protection.
EOPA is led by representatives from frontline communities and lawmakers who are veterans. We work to advance federal, state, and local policy to restore a safe climate, ensure environmental justice, protect our land and water and democracy.
The ideal candidate is an elected official with a talent in peer-to-peer organizing, and has a track record of leading effective campaigns or policy change initiatives, communications savvy, and a passion for climate and environmental justice.
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National Fellowship (full-time or part-time)
Elected Officials to Protect America’s National Campaign Fellowship gives aspiring and emerging campaign professionals an opportunity to gain real-world experience as a regional, state, or national coordinator, work directly organizing inspirational climate justice champion elected officials across the country, and be trained and mentored by current and former elected officials.
Fellows have gone on to win elected office, become senate staffers, and manage electoral and policy campaigns. We have also hired outstanding Fellows onto our team as staff.
We are seeking highly motivated, dedicated, and passionate changemakers to lead a variety of roles and projects in the startup phase, including research, outreach, strategy, partnerships, fundraising, and communications. If you want to contribute to a high-leverage start-up campaign and make a national difference, this fellowship is for you.
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HOW TO APPLY
Apply online here: National Fellowship Application
If the form is not accessible or for troubleshooting questions, please email: talent@protectingamerica.net
In your cover letter, tell us what’s motivating you to apply, and what talents, skills, and expertise you have that will be most important in this role.
Our hiring process is thorough. In addition to a screening interview and competency interview, we will conduct a chronological career history interview in which we ask about your entire career and professional development. Finalists are asked to arrange reference calls with some of your former managers, supervisors, and others.