About Impact
Impact is a team of organizers, working on behalf of groups like PIRG and Environment America.
Sometimes people ask, what’s an organizer? An organizer is someone you need when simply standing up for what’s right isn’t enough to make a difference. When you’re faced with resistance to change, and you need to get lots of people to join together to take the right action at the right time, that’s what Impact organizers do, for our environment, our democracy and our future.
So when PIRG wanted to protect public health by reducing the overuse of antibiotics in the food industry, they brought in the Impact team. We organized doctors, nurses, small farmers and consumers to call on Subway and other fast food chains to act. And we won: The big chains took action to reduce the use of antibiotics in their supply chains.
If you can see yourself next year organizing to make a difference for our health and environment, apply to join the Impact team. With Impact, you make a difference now; the work you do builds the power we need to win more victories; and you gain the experience that PIRG, Environment America and other groups look for when hiring new advocates and campaign directors.
Things To Know When You Apply
Impact 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, commonsense 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.
The Impact Team
Allison Cairo
Director
Alma mater and major: Bowdoin College, Anthropology
Job experience: New Jersey and Maryland Campus Organizing Director, Fund National Summer Canvass Director, U.S. PIRG Deputy Director, Environment America and Fair Share Elections Field Director, Director of the Public Interest Network State offices, The Public Interest Network Field Director
Favorite all-time campaign: "In 2008 I went to Virgina for the first time to run the Community Voters Project, which does non-partisan voter registration and mobiliziation primarily among African American and Latino communities. I got to travel all over the state, registering voters and training our staff to make sure we hit our goals and talked to everyone we could. Near the end we were doing day trips to small towns all around the state. Overall, our team helped register around 80,000 people in Virginia."
Why Allison is excited about Impact: "With Impact, we have an opportunity to be in critical states all across the country working on issues people care about. I love that at Impact we focus on building long term power in those places, while we also put grassroots energy and action behind these important issues."
Favorite book about social change: "Walking with the Wind" by John Lewis
Laura Deehan
Campaign Organizing Director
Alma mater and major: UC Davis, International Relations
Job experience: WashPIRG Lead Organizer; CALPIRG Organizing Director
Favorite all-time campaign: Save the Ocean, Ban the Bag. From 2010-2015 CALPIRG worked in cities across California to protect the ocean and ban single-use plastic grocery bags. The local efforts built enough momentum to win passage of the first statewide legislation to ban plastic bags in 2014! We involved more than 50,000 college students in the effort, training hundreds of young people to be activists in their community.
Why Laura is excited about Impact: "For many of society’s problems, we have solutions that the public can agree on. But change only happens when that support is built and mobilized at the right moment. That's what we do at Impact. We organize to win concrete changes that will add up to big change over time and a stronger democracy for the future. I love that!"
Activist hero/ine: Mario Savio
Contact Laura: (510) 844-6804,
Megan Severson
Campaign Organizing Director
Alma mater/major: Lawrence University, Government & Spanish
Job experience: Student PIRGs' Midwest Organizing Director, Wisconsin Environment State Director
Favorite all-time campaign: 2008 New Voters Project. We registered thousands of students throughout the Midwest to vote, and students turned out to the polls in record numbers that Election Day.
Why Megan is excited about Impact: "I believe that most people want to help make the world a better place. But with issues like global warming, polluting industries, and all-powerful banks, the problems can often feel
so overwhelming that most citizens don't know where to start. That's why I'm excited about Impact. Impact is training up the next generation of organizers — people who have the passion, the skills and the vision to motivate
the rest of our society to speak up and take action."
Favorite book about social change: "Silent Spring," by Rachel Carson
Contact Megan: (608) 268-0511,
Len Montgomery
Campaign Organizing Director
Alma mater/major: Oberlin College, Political Theory
Job experience: Organizer and Organizing Director, The Student PIRGs; Canvasser, Canvass Director and Regional Director, Fund for the Public Interest; Policy Associate, Frontier Group
Favorite all-time campaign: The "No on 23" campaign in California, where we organized college students to defeat a bad ballot initiative that would have set back global warming protections.
Why Len is excited about Impact: "I can't wait to work with the new class of organizers to take on important issues. The more work we can do in the states and the more volunteers and activists we work with, the more social change we can make!"
First concert: Arlo Guthrie
Contact Len: (303) 573-5995 x326,
Adam Rivera
Campaign Organizing Director
Alma mater/major: University of Pennsylvania, Philosophy, Politics, and Economics
Job experience: Environment Florida Campaign Organizer, Environment Florida Advocate, Environment America Assistant National Field Director, The Public Interest Network Solar Campaign Organizing Director
Favorite all-time campaign: Working to stop offshore drilling in Florida.
Why Adam is excited about Impact: "The organizing and movement-building work we do could be what makes the difference on many of the most important issues of our time."
Activist hero/ine: Bayard Rustin
Contact Adam: (202) 683-1250
x383,
Member questions or requests: 1-800-401-6511