In the case of my research with ALIGN NY, the term “field” can mean a lot of different things. Is the field the green technology industry and its technological and labor infrastructure, as in the case of the Climate Works for All Campaign that focuses on installing solar and updated HVAC systems on public buildings? Is it the labor market in New York State and the organizations that define it, as in the case of ALIGN’s upcoming work on unionizing Amazon workers and pushing for environmentally sustainably distribution centers? From where I sit adjacent to the organization, the field ALIGN most often finds itself is interstitial — it finds its greatest impact on the edges of each field where issues overlap and where solutions may be mutually beneficial to multiple types of stakeholders.
One of my preliminary assignments with ALIGN included creating a list of stakeholder organizations that either already exist as part of the ALIGN network through its involvement in green coalitions or that may be able to provide data to supplement the research on job creation. The result of this assignment was a long list of seemingly unrelated entities, but which all had a vested stake in the state enforcing humane employment practices and striving for sustainable communities. This included public agencies such as The Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS), apprenticeship and job-training programs like the Consortium for Worker Education (CWE), and even religious groups like the Catholic Community Relations Council, which serve as community development groups.
As for the bounds on organizations and individuals working in the field of sustainably economic development, they seemed to have shattered with the formation of these cross-organizational partnerships. My suspicion is that these partnerships arose out of necessity, as response to the climate and wealth disparity crises at the federal and state levels lagged far beyond the need at the local levels. Labor and climate groups, with organizations like ALIGN brokering compromises that meet the needs of all involved, have created a new field that thinks about the NYS economy and climate as having entwined fates.
That is an interesting point that as a coalition builder ALIGN can find impact by bringing seemingly unconnected interests together. As you learn more this summer, I do wonder if you’ll find that in this work there are indeed some challenges with “bounds” being set, precisely because of the type of work ALIGN does. i.e. when you’re trying to keep together a coalition that comprises of actors with different priorities you, may by necessity, need to make some compromises that may feel limiting to some coalition members. Look forward to learning more!