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BEA and Sachamama Launch Campaign Lab
Aug 06, 2026
New cohort-based initiative responds to growing concerns about data center expansion and the need for greater investment in movement communications and narrative strategy
Building Equity and Alignment for Environmental Justice (BEA) and Sachamama have launched the inaugural BEA x Sachamama Campaign Lab, a cohort-based program designed to help grassroots environmental justice organizations strengthen their communications, narrative strategy, and campaign capacity while developing a shared advocacy campaign focused on data centers and their impacts.
The program comes at a critical moment. As data centers expand across the country, frontline communities are raising urgent concerns about their effects on water, energy systems, land use, utility costs, air quality, labor, public resources, and community decision-making. At the same time, many grassroots organizations leading these fights lack access to the communications infrastructure, media support, and narrative strategy needed to elevate local experiences and influence broader public conversations.
The stories communities tell about themselves shape how they see their future and their power to change it. Too often, the organizations closest to these fights have the least access to the communications infrastructure to amplify their work. The Campaign Lab is an investment in changing that, equipping organizations to transform lived experience into narratives that build movements and drive lasting change.
The inaugural cohort includes:
- Alianza Nacional de Campesinas
- Centro por la Justicia (Southwest Workers Union)
- Ironbound Community Corporation
- New Mexico Environmental Law Center
Together, the organizations bring perspectives rooted in farmworker justice, neighborhood organizing, water and energy justice, public health, and movement litigation. Their existing work demonstrates the wide-ranging ways data center growth intersects with longstanding environmental injustices.
Over several months, cohort members will receive training and support in campaign development, messaging, storytelling, media strategy, and audience engagement. They will also work together to develop and amplify a shared campaign grounded in frontline experiences and community priorities.
Interest in the Campaign Lab exceeded the number of available spaces, with applications from BEA member organizations across multiple regions. The strong response reflects both the urgency of data center expansion and a broader unmet need for communications and narrative capacity within the environmental justice field.
The response to this opportunity confirmed what we've been hearing from our members for years: grassroots organizations want to build stronger communications and campaign capacity, but too often those investments aren't available. This cohort is about creating shared infrastructure that helps organizations connect local organizing to a broader narrative, strengthen one another's work, and build a model we can continue to grow across BEA.
The Campaign Lab is being launched as a pilot that BEA and Sachamama hope to refine and replicate with future cohorts focused on additional issues and communities.
About Building Equity and Alignment for Environmental Justice
Building Equity and Alignment for Environmental Justice is a movement-building organization and funding intermediary that works to shift resources and power to grassroots environmental justice organizations.
About Sachamama
Sachamama is a Latino-led organization building climate leadership and communications capacity in local communities through expert-led training, advocacy campaigns, and media outreach.
Contact
Libia Bianibi, libia@beajustice.org