The Public Interest Network

Overview
Headquarters: 
Denver, Colorado, United States
Website: 
publicinterestnetwork.org
Size: 
201-500 employees
Founded: 
1979
Areas of Focus: 
Environment
Human Services
Populations Served: 
All Populations
About Us
Mission: 

The Public Interest Network runs organizations committed to our vision of a better world, a set of core values, and a strategic approach to getting things done.

The 16-plus groups in The Public Interest Network each strive for solutions on their own, while the force of our combined strategies builds pressure for change across the political and economic spectrum.
Mission: We work on issues that speak to the need for a new kind of politics. Our campaigns challenge decision-makers to stop tolerating problems that are increasingly absurd in an age of advancing technology and growing abundance.

We've won hundreds of victories at the local, state, national and corporate levels, and because of these laws and policies, people are buying healthier and safer products, getting more of our energy from the sun and the wind, drinking cleaner water and breathing cleaner air.

Programs: 

Wind power for America

American wind energy is powering the equivalent of nearly 13 million homes, avoiding as much carbon pollution as if 13 million cars were taken off the road, and supporting more than 70,000 American jobs. Thanks to President Obama and Congress, critical tax credit for wind power were extended on January 3, 2013.

Stop Fracking Our Future

Across the country, fracking is contaminating drinking water, making nearby families sick with air pollution, and turning forest acres into industrial zones. Yet the oil and gas industry is pushing to expand this dirty drilling—to new states and even near critical drinking water supplies for millions of Americans. We need to show massive public support to stop the oil and gas industry from fracking our future.

Solar for All

Millions of Americans are ready to go solar so we can power our lives and our communities with clean, renewable, local energy. Yet some utilities and other special interests want to throw new obstacles in the way. Our Solar for All campaign is working to knock those barriers out of the way.

No Bees, No Food

Millions of bees are dying off, with alarming consequences for our environment and our food supply. We rely on bees to pollinate everything from almonds to strawberries to the alfalfa used to feed dairy cows. What happens if the bees disappear? It’s simple: No bees, no food. Let's give bees a chance. 

21st Century Transportation

Better infrastructure and more efficient transportation for our future. 

Defend the Consumer Financial  Protection Bureau

Standing up for consumers against reckless banking and financial practices.

Democracy for the People

Stanching the flow of special interest money in our elections.

Why Work For Us?: 

We’re The Public Interest Network—a group of people who share a vision of a better country, a set of core values about our work, and a coordinated strategic approach to getting things done.

We work on issues that speak to the need for a new kind of politics. Our campaigns challenge decision-makers, as well as all of us, to stop tolerating problems that are increasingly absurd in an age of advancing technology and growing abundance.

How do we preserve irreplaceable resources like air, water and a livable climate for our grandchildren? How do we transform vast systems of transportation and energy that were designed to meet the needs of a different century? How do we produce food for a growing world in ways that won’t threaten human health and destroy the environment? How do we sustain the democratic ideal of the United States, as civic participation is diminished by consumerism and the rise of corporate personhood?

Questions like these drive all of our work. The 16-plus groups in The Public Interest Network each strive for solutions on their own, while the force of our combined strategies builds pressure for change across the political and economic spectrum.

Take global warming. Environment America has fought for and won state and federal policies that clean up polluting power plants. U.S. PIRG has worked in dozens of states and cities for better public transportation. Bold Alliance has organized citizens to protest dirty oil and gas pipelines in so-called “red states.” Green Century Funds has led the charge for fossil fuel free investing. Frontier Group, our think tank, has researched the vast potential of renewable energy. And that's just one issue, and just some of our groups.

Over the past 45 years, this coordinated strategic approach has helped us win hundreds of victories at the local, state, national and corporate levels. Because of the laws and other policies we’ve won, people are buying healthier and safer products, getting more of our energy from the sun and the wind, drinking cleaner water and breathing cleaner air ... the list just goes on.

But every day brings a new challenge or new opportunity. No matter how big the challenge, we know how to break down problems to a manageable size; set ambitious but achievable goals; work like crazy to win; and build the resources we need to win the next campaign.

We believe that organizing, and the power of bringing people together to call for change in one voice, will always be at the heart of successful efforts to solve America’s problems.

industry: 
Nonprofit