Clean and Prosperous America is a left-of-center environmentalist advocacy group that campaigns for Democratic Party candidates. It targets young, ethnic-minority voters and rural Black Americans to increase voter registration and participation, arguing that doing so would cause the biggest increase in votes for Democratic party candidates. ¹

Background

Founded in 2020, Clean and Prosperous America is a 501(c)(4) advocacy organization that supports environmentalism as the basis of its campaigns for Democratic Party candidates. Its campaigns target ethnic minorities and rural Black Americans in swing states, claiming that increased voter participation by those groups will result in Democratic candidates winning elections. ²

Clean and Prosperous America targets younger voters by using climate-alarmist language in its advocacy. It claims that continued use of conventional energy will lead to catastrophic climatic events as justification for environmentalist policies. ³

Clean and Prosperous Institute

Clean and Prosperous Institute is Clean and Prosperous America’s 501(c)(3) arm. Clean and Prosperous America’s website states that donating to it is a tax-deductible alternative to donating to Clean and Prosperous America. ⁴ It advocates for policies that align with the Green New Deal as it advocates for public spending on environmental energy companies to eliminate the use of conventional energy under the guise of creating jobs and promoting environmentalism. ⁵

Campaigns

Clean and Prosperous America’s first campaign was during the 2020 general election and continued into the Georgia U.S. Senate runoff elections. It states that it spent over $1.25 million in 11 states that it considered to have “competitive” races, including Georgia, Arizona, North Carolina, and Iowa. Clean and Prosperous America claims to have spent $300,000 on ads and $650,000 to activist organizations that sought to increase voter participation by young and ethnic minority voters. It claims that its research found that increasing voter participation by these demographics would have the most meaningful impact on electing Democratic Party candidates. ⁶

Clean and Prosperous America provides resources to grantee organizations, including a list of like-minded activist groups that campaign to increase voter participation by young people and ethnic minorities. ⁷ It also provides educational material for activist groups to train volunteers to recruit friends and family members, materials on compelling written outreach campaigns, legislative advocacy, fundraising, and mapping. Clean and Prosperous America also refers fellow campaigns to Stacey Abrams’ “playbook on winning Georgia,” which is her guide for how Democratic Party candidates can succeed in Georgia elections. ⁸

Partner Organizations

Clean and Prosperous America’s website states that it is partnered with Environmental Defense Fund, Alliance for Climate Education, NextGen America, Generation Progress Action, and Rural Democracy Initiative to support its campaigns. ⁹

People

Page Atcheson is the grant program manager for Clean and Prosperous America and is also the associate director for Global Warming Mitigation Project, a nonprofit organization that advocates for eliminating the use of conventional energy. She previously served as executive director of Our Climate, which advocates for environmentalist policies. ¹⁰

1. “2020 Election Impact.” Clean and Prosperous America, September 8, 2021. https://cleanprosperousamerica.org/youth-community-oriented-campaign/our-impact/.
2. “2020 Election Impact.” Clean and Prosperous America, September 8, 2021. https://cleanprosperousamerica.org/youth-community-oriented-campaign/our-impact/.
3. “Home.” Clean and Prosperous America, April 10, 2023. https://cleanprosperousamerica.org/.
4. “Fundraising Drive.” Clean and Prosperous America, December 14, 2022. https://cleanprosperousamerica.org/fundraising-drive/.
5. “Building Back Better.” Clean & Prosperous Institute, July 17, 2020. https://www.cleanprosperousinstitute.org/project/building-back-better/.
6. “2020 Election Impact.” Clean and Prosperous America, September 8, 2021. https://cleanprosperousamerica.org/youth-community-oriented-campaign/our-impact/.
7. “Landscape Analysis.” Clean and Prosperous America, March 2, 2023. https://cleanprosperousamerica.org/project/landscape-analysis/.
8. “Organizing Toolkit.” Clean and Prosperous America, December 2, 2022. https://cleanprosperousamerica.org/youth-community-oriented-campaign/organizing-toolkit/.
9. “CAPA Collaborators.” Clean and Prosperous America, June 5, 2021. https://cleanprosperousamerica.org/project/our-collaborators-stories/.
10. “About Us.” Clean and Prosperous America, March 1, 2023. https://cleanprosperousamerica.org/about-us/.