Network Building
In moments of crisis, we instinctively reach for the tools closest at hand; new laws, better platforms, stricter oversight, louder campaigns. These responses matter. They can slow the damage or redirect attention. But they rarely last. The patchwork keeps tearing. The deeper problem is not that we lack ideas. It’s that our civic infrastructure no…
The experience of looking for work has always carried its share of frustration, but what millions of job seekers face today is something much different. The hiring process has been largely stripped of its human dimension, reduced to an endless loop of online forms, automated rejections, and silence. It is not just discouraging for individuals;…
Not long ago, I was invited to record a short video about the value of networks for a program named the Global Environmental Education Partnership (GEEP). The North American Association for Environmental Education (NAAEE) is the Secretariat for this program. They’ve been running a learning network for more than a decade, connecting leaders in environmental…
In every network, there are people sitting on treasures. It may not be flashy or well-publicized. It might not show up in a press release, a social post, or a white paper. But it’s there. It’s the deep, practical expertise that comes from lived experience, community fights, regulatory battles, and years of working through complex…
Social movements are experiencing a fundamental inversion. For decades, the bottleneck was information production. For most of my career, our campaigns and NGOs were desperate for more research capacity, writing skills, policy reviews, resources to process public information, and institutional knowledge. Access to those precious resources determined which voices could participate meaningfully in policy debates.…
Across the political spectrum, a strange paradox is unfolding. Many of us agree that some of our most powerful institutions are not serving the public well. We can all think of many examples of government agencies, media outlets, banks, tech companies and corporate monopolies. We’ve seen corruption, inefficiency, and gridlock. We’ve seen systems designed for…
At Netcentric Campaigns, we believe in the power of networks to drive lasting social change. Whether tackling issues like climate, democracy, or public health, our work centers on helping people connect, align, and act together – because wicked problems require collaborative solutions. That’s why we’re proud to work with board members who bring deep experience…
What if the greatest threat to our movements isn’t opposition, but disconnection? Imagine a society where the threads that bind us – trust, shared purpose, collective action – are fraying, not by chance, but by design. At Netcentric Campaigns, we’ve spent over two decades building networks that empower advocates to tackle the toughest challenges –…
In May 2025, a hard-hitting investigative report on fracking practices in Colorado exposed dangerous gaps in chemical disclosure and environmental oversight. But instead of letting the report fade into the background of a busy news cycle, a broad network of advocates—anchored by Halt the Harm Network (HHN) and supported by Netcentric Campaigns—transformed it into a…
The Erosion of Collective Sensemaking Every day, we scroll through conflicting headlines, overhear fragmented stories, and navigate conversations shaped by wildly different interpretations of the world. We’re not just disagreeing on solutions – we’re often not even seeing the same problems. There’s a word for this breakdown: the erosion of collective sensemaking. It’s not just…