The Power Shift Network (formerly known as the Energy Action Coalition) was a network of environmental and social justice groups, focusing particularly on involving young people in activism. The Power Shift Network has supported a petition opposing the use of emission-free nuclear energy. 1
In the summer of 2024, the group officially ceased operations. 2
Background
Environmentalists founded what eventually became the Power Shift Network in 2004 as the Energy Action Coalition to encourage young people to promote weather-dependent energy and oppose the use of conventional energy sources. The group began as a northeastern-based coalition of seven to eight groups working on different environmental issues. 2
The group eventually organized on over 700 college campuses and hosted four conferences which it called “Power Shift convergences” in 2007, 2009, 2011, and 2013. At these conferences, the group hosted presidential candidates and helped found other youth-oriented environmentalist movements. In 2008, the group claimed that it activated 350,000 young people to be climate voters and leaders. Ultimately, the group claimed credit for pressuring then-President Barack Obama to terminate the Keystone XL pipeline and for passing the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act spending package in 2009. 2
In addition to focusing on environmentalism and climate change, the group also focused on racial issues. The group mandated “racial justice” training for its member groups which led many of them to leave the coalition. Despite the splintering over racial issues, the group continued to focus on race and eventually became racial minority-led. 2
In 2016, the group changed its name to the Power Shift Network and continued its support for youth organizing. The group began offering fiscal sponsorship services, awarded microgrants to groups, continued to host regional conferences, and created a resource bank. 2
Programs
By 2018, the Power Shift Network had created three programs. Frontlines To Power encouraged racial minorities and “individuals from frontline communities” to run for local office. The group created a map of conventional energy projects to target for protests. 3
Power Shift 2021
The Power Shift Network hosted an online convergence called Power Shift 2021. Among the headliners was communist activist Angela Davis. 4
Youth Climate Demands
In 2021, the Power Shift Network issued what it called the “Youth Climate Demands” before then-President Joe Biden’s Leaders Summit on Climate. Among the demands the group issued were reducing 75 percent of emissions by 2030 and “net zero” emissions by 2040, declare a climate emergency, phase out reliable sources of energy and oppose the development and use of more reliable sources of energy, reinstate the ban on the U.S. export of crude oil, provide additional foreign aid to developing countries, recognize and uplift “Indigenous knowledge,” and provide more money to local governments, among other demands. 5
Opposition to Nuclear Energy
See also Opposition to Nuclear Energy
The Power Shift Network was one of more than 650 signatories on an August 2022 letter organized by People vs Fossil Fuels and addressed to the Democratic leadership in the U.S. Congress. The letter was titled: “Opposition to Fossil Fuel Project Approvals and Permitting Reforms Conditioned on the Inflation Reduction Act.” 1
The letter portrayed as “false solutions” carbon sequestration, carbon-free nuclear energy and all sources of energy not approved as “renewable” by the signatories: “Relying only on large scale investments in renewable energy and environmental justice alone will not stave off climate disaster if Congress simultaneously puts its legislative foot on the gas to expand fossil fuel production and false solutions like carbon capture, hydrogen, biomass, biofuels, factory farm gas, and nuclear power.” 1
Nuclear power plants produce no carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gas emissions, and as of 2021 accounted for 20 percent of American electricity production—the largest source of zero-carbon electricity in the United States. 6
Funding
The Power Shift Network has received grants from several left-of-center funders. The group received an undisclosed grant from the Pennywise Foundation. 7
Between 2020 and 2023, the group received $350,000 from the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. 8
In 2013, the Chorus Foundation gave $25,000 to the group. 9
The group mostly raised money online through small-dollar donations through ActBlue Charities. 10
Closure
In 2020, the Power Shift Network received substantial funding for racial justice work. But the group did not receive funding for organizational infrastructure tools, training, and coaching to support the development of existing staff. The staff of the group shifted from a white-led group to a racial minority-led group. The group had to invest more time and work to maintain donor relationships and networks. Eventually, the funders who provided the surge in funds for racial justice work did not renew the funding, leading to the group’s weakened financial position. 2
The board of directors consisted of youth and network alumni who supported the group’s mission and goals but did not have the nonprofit experience to properly run and direct the group. Many of the college-aged board members were only able to commit to one term on the board due to life circumstances. Eventually, the board of directors and the staff became disconnected. 2
By 2023, the group had gone through a significant leadership change and financially collapsed after hosting its final convergence in New Orleans. In May 2023, all staff were furloughed. 2
In June 2023, staff wrote a letter to the board which became public. The letter attacked the board for its failure to provide oversight of the group and collaborate with the staff. The letter denounced the board’s actions as “steeped in white supremacy organizational culture.” The letter criticized the treatment of the Power Shift Network’s 13 fiscally sponsored organizations, claiming the groups did not have access to their allotted money. The letter said, “we will never achieve [positive] ends if we allow the thorns of capitalism and white supremacy to choke our progress and our ability to connect with one another in solidarity.” The staffers concluded their letter by posting their public peer-to-peer payment tool handles and asking for donations, claiming they had been unable to crowdfund relief. 11
In summer 2024, the group officially sunset and ceased operations. 2
Leadership
At the time of the Power Shift Network’s closure, Eriqah Vincent and Sarin Glenn were the co-executive directors of the group. 12
Eriqah Vincent first joined the Power Shift Network in July 2020 as the group’s network engagement director and became co-executive director in October 2022. Before joining the Power Shift Network, Vincent worked for the Partnership for Southern Equity as the group’s just energy manager. Before that, she worked for the National Wildlife Federation. As of November 2025, Vincent is on the boards of the Southeast Climate and Energy Network and Girl Plus Environment. Vincent works as a consultant for the Hive Fund for Climate and Gender Justice and has her own logistics and event planning company catering to the environmentalist movement. She considers herself a “Ecowomanist.” 13
Sarin Glenn first joined the Power Shift Network in December 2019 as a network organizer. She was later promoted to political education and trainings coordinator and became co-executive director in October 2022. She was previously a regional organizing director for NextGen America. Before that, she worked for the Women Effect Fund, former U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke’s (D-TX) 2018 Senate campaign, and the Texas Freedom Network. As of November 2025, Glenn is a racial equity research analyst for Democratizing Capital and has a firm specializing in consulting on farming mushrooms. 14
Dany Sigwalt was the former executive director of the Power Shift Network, first taking the role in December 2019 and leaving in November 2022. Prior, Sigwalt was the group’s operations director. Before that, she worked at the Future of Music Coalition and the Washington Peace Center. As of November 2025, Sigwalt works as a consultant writing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) trainings for clients such as the New Venture Fund, and is the managing director of the Green Leadership Trust. 15
The last chairman of the board was Michel Legendre who worked for Corporate Accountability and Worth Rises. As of November 2025, Legendre is a consultant and works as a campaigns director for the Dogwood Alliance. 16
Financials
According to the Power Shift Network’s 2023 tax returns, the group had $2,002,434 in revenue, $2,683,362 in expenses, and $-72,487 in net assets. 12
References
- “Letter from 650+ Groups Opposing Fossil Fuel Projects and Proposed Permitting Reforms.” People vs Fossil Fuels. August 24, 2022. Accessed July 21, 2025. https://peoplevsfossilfuels.org/dirty-deal-letter/
- “Final Branching Narrative Report for PSN.” Power Shift Network, July 18, 2024. https://www.powershift.org/sites/default/files/2024-07/final-branching-narrative-report.pdf.
- Rodney, Jason. “Youth = Unstoppable: Reflections from the Power Shift Network.” Climate Generation, February 15, 2018. https://climategen.org/blog/youth-unstoppable-reflections-power-shift-network/.
- “Register for Free Headliner Session: Angela Davis, Destiny Hodges, & Jamie Margolin.” Home – Action Network. Accessed November 17, 2025. https://actionnetwork.org/forms/ps21-headliner-angela-davis-destiny-hodges-jamie-margolin.
- “Youth Climate Demands.” Home – Action Network. Accessed November 17, 2025. https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/youth-climate-demands.
- “Nuclear explained.” U.S. Energy Information Administration. Accessed July 21, 2025. https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/nuclear/us-nuclear-industry.php
- “Power Shift Network.” The Pennywise Foundation. Accessed November 17, 2025. https://www.pennywise.org/power-shift-network.html.
- “Power Shift Network.” Rockefeller Brothers Fund. Accessed November 17, 2025. https://www.rbf.org/grantees/power-shift-network.
- “Power Shift Network.” Chorus Foundation. Accessed November 17, 2025. https://chorusfoundation.org/what-we-fund/power-shift-network/.
- Sigwalt, Dany. “Big News at PSN.” Power Shift Network, May 13, 2022. https://www.powershift.org/blog/big-news-psn.
- “PSN Staff Letter to Board.” Google Docs, June 20, 2023. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1SOCozFGpvOAfpWkPZcYEnLYZx7vqAmj96qic67SNT6s/edit?tab=t.0.
- “Power Shift Network, Full Filing – Nonprofit Explorer.” ProPublica. Accessed November 17, 2025. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/455616367/202421369349315627/full.
- “Eriqah Vincent.” LinkedIn. Accessed November 17, 2025. https://www.linkedin.com/in/eriqahvincent/details/experience/.
- “Sarin Glenn – Community Mycologist and Fungal Educator – Full Moon Mushrooms .” LinkedIn. Accessed November 17, 2025. https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-glenn-748035175/.
- “Dany Sigwalt – Green Leadership Trust.” LinkedIn. Accessed November 17, 2025. https://www.linkedin.com/in/dsigwalt/.
- “Michél Legendre – Campaigns Director – Dogwood Alliance.” LinkedIn. Accessed November 17, 2025. https://www.linkedin.com/in/michel-legendre/.