Fortify Washington! is a process of building power at the local level by coming together to ask our city councils take a stand on the big-picture issues that are important to us through the passing of resolutions or the taking of other concrete action.
Founded in the aftermath of the Nestucca Barge oil spill, Earth Ministry/WA IPL has 30+ years of equipping and mobilizing people of faith and conscience to put their values into action for the wellbeing of communities and the environment. We are continuing that legacy by adding yet another critical component of community organizing to our Advocacy Program, direct action organizing at the city council level, based on the Midwest Academy model.
This process isn’t new. Cities have either been asked to pass resolutions or done it of their own accord for a long time. One local example is Shoreline, WA: Res. 401, Res. 534, Res. 542.
Organizing to get a city council to send a letter to a legislator on a specific bill or issue
is more powerful than individuals sending emails on that issue separately.
The Importance of this Moment
Because of the current political circumstances in the U.S., this moment in history is marked by thousands of protests, most of which, unfortunately, are not being leveraged at all to target any decision makers with any clear demands.
So, if they wont, then we will. And we’re bringing it to scale by developing a series of toolkits that can be used at any protest, anytime.
And this is where you come in! You can take your next step in organizing for a more environmentally-just world by printing the current toolkit and taking it to a protest to help us capture power and make change at the City Council level.
See Fortify Washington!
Campaigns to find the toolkits.
Why it matters for sacred communities
Faith communities in which people worship together are arguably the single most important repository of social capital in America.
Robert Putnam, author of Bowling Alone
Sacred communities have the power to lead change in their communities. By bringing networks of sacred communities together to work on the same issue, we bring to scale our effort, increasing our ability to effect change and Fortify Washington! across our state (and our country!)
Sacred communities have a history of taking a stand for a better world, probably most recognizeably Dr. Martin Luther King and the churches of the Civil Rights Movement.
And, like Palm Sunday, other religions and faiths also have their commitment to action. Buddhism seeks to end suffering, both personally and collectively, through action that is nonviolent, but not pacifist. Daoism seeks change through “effortless action,” and by seeing that “The Fist and the Dao are United.”
At the time, [Palm Sunday] was a deliberate act of theological and political confrontation. It wasn’t just pageantry; it was protest.
Andrew Thayer The New York Times April 14, 2025
So as members of sacred communities, we must look into our practices and faith to support taking action to make the world a better place, especially under what are arguably unprecedented times in the United States of America.
Further Information
Why City Councils? (click to expand)
City Councils are the closest generalist elected body to us where we live. There are other local bodies, such as School Boards and Rec & Park Districts, but those bodies’ purview is more narrow and specific. This is not to say that the power we build can’t or shouldn’t be directed to these bodies as necessary, but that it’s easier to build sustained power with City Councils, because they can be approached with a wide range of issues, as noted in the Shoreline, WA resolutions above.
Do you know if your
City Council members’
values align with yours?
City Council members live in our cities. They’re our closest elected officials. But do you know if your City Council members’ values align with yours? Do you even know their names? What if they move up the ladder to higher office? Do you know if that’s a good thing?
Working at the City Council level allows us to build power where we live, with the people closest to us, while more powerfully influencing the issues that are important to us. This power then exists to do anything from effect change to disaster relief.
In measurable and well-documented ways, social capital makes an enormous difference in our lives…Social capital makes us smarter, healthier, safer, richer, and better able to govern a just and stable democracy.
Robert Putnam
Multi-Issue Organizing (click to expand)
The wide range of issue is also important, because the other part of this effort is that it is platform-based, multi-issue organizing. The “platform”, in the case of Earth Ministry/WA IPL is the Principles of Environmental Justice, codified at the First National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit held in 1991. Being “multi-issue” means that we keep the action going by moving on to new issues regularly, allowing us to start new efforts in new cities while keeping the momentum going in cities that have already joined our movement.
“There is a way to keep the actions going and to prevent it from being a drag, but this means constantly cutting new issues as the action continues, so that by the time the enthusiasm and the emotions for one issue have started to de-escalate, a new issue has come into the scene with consequent revival. With a constant introduction of new issues, it will go on and on.”
-Saul Alinsky