Power-Building Toolkit
This toolkit is a living resource designed to help us move from advocacy to influence. Whether you are an individual advocate or part of a growing coalition, these tools are here to help you navigate the complexities of power and build the collective strength needed to shape our community’s future.
Here is how to make the most of this resource:
This toolkit is built for organizers, grassroots advocates, and coalitions that are ready to strengthen and scale their power-building capacity. It offers the opportunity to “Choose Your Own Adventure”, based on your skill-level, experiences, and intended goals.
Inspiration for This Toolkit
As an aspiring advocate and community organizer, I have had the privilege of learning from, working alongside, and building power with some of the most courageous, brilliant, and relentless women of color. Their leadership, wisdom, and care have shaped not only this work but the way I understand community, advocacy, and collective power. These experiences have inspired the development of this toolkit.
I dedicate this toolkit to the women who may never hold formal titles, whose names are too often left out of the headlines, and whose labor and leadership are rarely recognized within grassroots movements. These are the women who organize behind the scenes, care for their communities, speak truth to power, and continue showing up even when the work is hard and the recognition never comes.
“May this toolkit honor the labor, leadership, and wisdom that so often goes unseen.”
Toolkit Author’s and Contributors
Provecho Collective’s Policy and Community Justice Team: Dayana Leyva, Brace Gibson, Charlie Kestler, and Grace Benasutti, wrote the content, developed the tools, and procured the additional resources in this toolkit. We want to extend special thanks to all of the contributors who helped shape this toolkit into what it is today.
Provecho Collective’s Communications Team completed the design and translation of this toolkit**: Kasey Neiss, Jamie Petrie, and Leticia Macias**
Special Thanks
This toolkit was created by and for community leaders, advocates, organizers, and coalition leaders. It reflects the collective knowledge, lived experiences, and dedication of many people who contributed their time, expertise, and care to make this resource possible.
Special thanks to Jacob Aragon, Policy Intern at Provecho Collective, for supporting the original drafts, research and development, and the many iterations of this toolkit.
We are deeply grateful to Mariah Guerrero, Marissa Cantrell, Stephanie Salazar-Rodriguez, Hazel Tan, and Lucy Guecera for sharing their expertise, insight, and wisdom, which helped build the foundation of this toolkit.
We also extend our heartfelt appreciation to America Ramirez, Rhea Johnson, and Brizai Gomez Cortes for their thoughtful revisions and careful review, which helped refine and strengthen the final version of this toolkit.
Contributor Spotlight: Rebecca Vigil
Rebecca Vigil served as a consultant and played a central role in refining and finalizing this resource. Rebecca is a Colorado native with deep ancestral ties to the Four Corners region, bringing a strengths-based, integrative approach to the intersection of public health, policy, social justice, and ecology. Her work spans the full lifecycle of advocacy, from grassroots environmental and energy justice organizing to helping draft, enact, and implement legislation. She remains grounded in reciprocal relationships with the natural world and the communities she serves, centering collective care and well-being.
This toolkit is intended to support collaboration, learning, and equitable access to resources, while honoring the contributions of the individuals and organizations whose work made it possible.
This toolkit includes references to and adaptations of materials, frameworks, and tools that have been developed by other authors and organizations. We acknowledge and appreciate the original creators whose work informed the development of this resource. All adapted content is used in accordance with principles of fair use for educational, nonprofit, community-building, and informational purposes.
Where possible, original sources and contributors have been credited. Users are welcome to use, share, and adapt these tools for noncommercial and community-serving purposes. If you adapt or build upon these materials, please make reasonable attempts to honor the intended objectives and provide appropriate credit to both the original sources and Provecho Collective.