WHAT WE DO

It’s the 21st century and we are modeling a new way to do policy work - one that begins with the premise that the needs of the people, not policymakers, come first.

CAIP believes there’s no room for paternalism in policy, and that each of us can determine our needs and provide directives to our government for how to meet them.

How do we do this?

DECODE People know what they need. Assessing policy to address these needs is just a matter of translation.

DEVELOP Once we identify community needs - and the avenues available to meet them - we can develop a policy platform that gets at the roots of injustices to change the material conditions of people’s lives for the better.

DELIVER We believe that effective policy platforms serve as tools for building movements. CAIP designs innovative and effective strategy to move from setting goals to delivering change.

Our expertise

  • Issue areas we know well: reproductive health/rights/justice, policing and criminalization, gender and sexuality, racial justice, domestic violence/ sexual assault, healthcare access, immigration, and their myriad intersections.

  • We can help your team with (for more details see our offerings below):

    • Understanding local, state and federal policy systems and processes

    • Policy analysis

    • Policy advocacy

    • Communications for policy campaigns

    • Movement building strategies.

CAIP LABS

Our deep history in movement means we have a bias toward action. CAIP is experimenting in the lab of grassroots policy strategy with the goal of building movements and shared analysis across issues and silos. We are a think tank that harnesses grassroots wisdom through conversations, convenings, and strategy sessions designed to subvert traditional policy approaches. Through CAIP Labs we design spaces that yield the shared thinking and analysis that are the cornerstone of successful movements.

OFFERINGS

POLICY AGENDA SETTING

Ever wondered if it’s possible to do policy work and stay true to your values? We’re here to show you that it is, and to help you create a policy agenda that is both visionary and strategic.

Our process is tailored specifically to your needs. It includes:

    • A landscape analysis: who are the players, what have they done, what are the roadblocks? This part of the process will help you determine where you are best positioned to make change.

    • A stakeholder engagement process: Who do you want to be accountable to as you develop your policy work? Who’s best aligned with you? This is how we connect policy change to movement building.

    • Co-creation of a policy agenda that reflects your work, your community and your goals.

TAILORED TRAININGS & STRATEGIC ADVISING

How can you use a policy agenda to build the kind of political power needed to make change? We offer coaching to support you in creating a strategic, innovative and effective strategy to move from setting goals to making change.

Call us, tell us where you’re stuck, and we’ll create a specific training or process for you. If your team is new to policy change work, we can help you get started.

We know that crafting, amending, and implementing legislation to govern is not inherently easy work, but it is work that everyone deserves to participate in because it determines the quality of our lives. When negotiating power and developing governing structures, we believe that communities most impacted by bad governance and systems should drive the conversation and offer input on how to make it better. We’re here to share our strategies to help you do just that.

POLICY COMMUNICATIONS

The ways we talk about policy affect the ways we engage in it. CAIP’s expertise in strategic communications paired with our years of policy experience has equipped us to understand the nuances of communicating in this often mystified realm. Whether communicating to a grassroots base, the general public, or legislators, CAIP has expertise in creating strategies that clarify:

  • Why policy is an important strategy for grassroots power

  • What a policy change will mean in peoples’ lives

  • Why a legislator should support a policy change

We do this with our partners by developing communications strategies to launch the policy agendas we develop with their bases, or as a stand-alone service to demystify complex and ambitious legislative projects and campaigns, like the BREATHE Act.

WHO WE WORK WITH

Folks we love working with: communities of color, immigrants, LGBTQIA+ folks, women/trans/NB people, young people, and those who want their policy goals to match their values. Some of our clients include:

RESOURCES

Why engage in policy? As a firm working with left-flank movements and projects who are often in conflict with the state and state entities, we are often asked: why engage in policy work at all? Here’s how we start this conversation with our clients and partners.

Negotiating With Integrity: Deciding if and when to negotiate a compromise is a delicate strategic balance, but in the policy process we are often met with the limits of our current power. If you are at the limit of the pressure you are able to exert on an elected official or legislative body, you will arrive at a time to negotiate your wins - and what you must let go for the next fight. We created this tool to support our clients in this process.