Nearly 50 years ago, Robert F. Kennedy spoke before an audience in a South Africa ruled and divided by apartheid, saying, “Each time you stand up for an ideal, or act to improve the lot of others, or strike out against injustice, you send forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.”
Half a century later, his words still ring true. We need a million new centers of energy and daring. That’s why we started Change Corps, the training academy for activists—to train you to organize them.
That’s where Change Corps comes in
We’re a group of experienced organizers who understand that new organizers need a place to start, learn and make their mark. We’ve been doing this for more than 20 years with Green Corps, the field school for environmental organizing, whose graduates now work at such groups as Sierra Club, Greenpeace, Environment America, Environmental Action and MoveOn.org.
Training young activists
Change Corps offers a three-step training program to help you launch your career in social change. When Change Corps organizers complete their training, they’ll know how to organize people on the issues they’re passionate about and will have an opportunity to become part of a wave of new organizers who will keep pushing and prodding our country forward for years to come.
Change Corps in action
In June 2016, Change Corps hosted our first annual Changemaker Of The Year event, which honored progressive organizer and President of Planned Parenthood Action Fund, Cecile Richards. Guest speakers at the event included Change Corps Board President David Rossini, Sen. Al Franken, and Garrett Arwa, the National Political Director of For Our Future Fund. The event was a big success, raising critical funds to train the next class of Change Corps organizers.
Watch what Senator Franken and Cecile had to say about the importance of organizing and the work that Change Corps does today.
Change Corps - Changemaker of the Year Award Honoring Cecile Richards from Change Corps on Vimeo.
Video by Albert Myers
Things to know when you apply
Change Corps is part of the The Public Interest Network. We're a group of organizations working to address problems our society can’t afford to ignore -- from preserving irreplaceable resources like air, water and a livable climate; to transforming vast systems of transportation and energy that were designed to meet the needs of a different century; to growing and distributing food in ways that won’t destroy the environment and threaten human health.
Throughout The Public Interest Network, we believe that a clear vision, common-sense ideas, a fact-driven case for action, and the power of bringing people together are the necessary ingredients to any successful effort to solve society's problems. We share a set of core values and a strategic approach to making positive change. Click here for things you should know about our network when you apply.
Staff leadership
Throughout the Change Corps program, you’ll have opportunities to connect with key people in the social change movement, including our own staff and board of directors.
Photo: Dani Neuharth-Keusch
Ryan Doyle
Ryan Doyle is the executive director for Change Corps. Before joining Change Corps, Ryan worked for Green Corps, the field school for environmental organizing, as an organizer in the class of 2010 and then an assistant organizing director for four years. In this role, Ryan helped to run Green Corps’ classroom training, directly managed dozens of Green Corps organizers, and developed and led field campaigns on behalf of partner organizations, including Green Corps’ successful partnership with Catapult Campaigns to convince agribusiness giant Wilmar International and its partner Kellogg’s to adopt deforestation-free palm oil policies.
Photo: Dani Neuharth-Keusch
Manny Rin
Manny is an assistant organizing director with Change Corps. After graduating from UC Davis with a degree in Environmental Policy in 2012, he worked as a campus organizer with the California Public Interest Research Group (CALPIRG). In his five-year experience organizing to make social change, Manny has helped to recruit and train hundreds of student activists, won grassroots campaigns to protect the environment, and helped to register over 2,000 student voters in the 2012 election. Manny was born and raised in the California Bay Area.
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