Moms and Mayors - Moms Clean Air Force

Connecting moms and mayors across the country.

Protecting children from pollution is our passion. When children can breathe clean air, drink clean water, and look forward to a stable future, communities thrive.

Our Moms & Mayors program connects moms with mayors around the country to improve children’s health and build resilient communities.

This partnership pairs the power of moms with the power of mayors to make change at the local level.

Local action has never been more important — or inspiring

Our federal government may be rolling back air, water, and climate protections, but mayors across the country are finding innovative solutions: running their cities on clean energy, saving money, and protecting children’s health.

Moms have a special role to play in this process. We stand shoulder to shoulder with local leaders, supporting them, urging them to do more, and celebrating the innovations that improve the quality of our air—the quality of our life—for everyone in our communities.

To ensure lasting change, moms are also serving on city boards and commissions and running for office.

Moms step up to serve their communities

Even in the face of 2020, a year like no other, Moms Clean Air Force organizers continue to find new ways to lead. Following steps from our Moms and Mayors program, our team serves on boards and commissions throughout the country.

In November, Arizona organizer Columba Sainz was appointed to the Phoenix Environmental Quality and Sustainability Commission board by Mayor Kate Gallego.
Catherine Flowers, Texas organizer, was appointed as chair of the City of Houston Equity Committee for the climate action plan implementation.
Melissa Nootz, Montana organizer, was appointed, then elected, to the Livingston City Commission.
Laurie Anderson, Colorado organizer, is a member of the Broomfield City Commission.
Vanessa Lynch, Pennsylvania organizer, is a member of the Pittsburgh area Fox Chapel School Board.
Nevada organizer and EcoMadres leader Cinthia Moore is actively working with Assemblyman Edgar Flores to create a Latino Climate Change Task Force for the Nevada Hispanic Legislative Caucus.
In our nation’s capital, DC organizer Stephanie Klein serves on the Mayor’s Green Building Advisory Council, and Moms Clean Air Force Policy Director Molly Rauch serves as an appointee to the DC Climate Change Commission.

Moms alumnae serve as well: Former New Hampshire organizers Becky Whitley and Sarah Perchino are both serving the state: Becky as a newly elected state senator and Sarah as the policy and communications director for the state senate. Christine Berg, former Colorado organizer and mayor of Lafayette, Colorado, is now the senior policy advisor for energy to Colorado governor Jared Polis, where she is in charge of helping cities implement the state’s energy plan. Former Ohio organizer Laura Burns was appointed to her local city council, then ran and won her seat.

We are proud that Moms Clean Air Force is a catalyst for civic engagement and model that climate advocacy and public service go hand in hand.

Nearly 40%

of Americans live in
areas where it is
unhealthy to breathe

Air Pollution

affects our children,
elders, and residents
of frontline communities

City Mayors

Are finding innovative
solutions towards
climate protections

Inclusive Collaboration

Nearly 40% of Americans—125 million people—live in areas where the air is officially unhealthy to breathe because of air pollution. Despite decades of progress in cleaning up our air, there is much more work to be done. Air pollution takes a toll on the health of our children, our elders, and those frontline communities living close to pollution sources.

As moms and mayors work together to realize local benefits, the following principles should serve as guidelines for collaboration:

Health Justice: Our families’ and communities’ health should be a primary consideration for any policy, permit, or plan.
Protect the most vulnerable: Work to clean up the most polluted parts of our community first.
Diversity: Ensure diverse representation in action, decision making, and design so that the solutions represent and benefit all constituencies.
Partnership: Join with local groups already doing this work. Listen and learn from local experts.