Meet Adam.

He’s an organizer with SOCM, a grassroots group that empowers Tennesseans to fight for environmental, economic and social justice.

He’s one of more than 200 advocates Working Films has supported this year through our film campaigns in target states.

As 2015 comes to a close we’re asking you to donate so we can support even more activists next year.

Adam works in Kingston, the site of the largest coal ash spill in history. Earlier this year the same company responsible for the catastrophe wanted to expand the storage facility there – adding more toxic waste.

Community members and organizers like Adam were outraged. The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) and the company were trying to silence dissent by bypassing opportunities for public comment.

That’s where Working Films came in.

We worked with SOCM to bring a compilation of short films called Coal Ash Stories to Tennessee. Kingston was the first stop of a five city tour across the state.

Adam said, “It was the most people we’ve seen in a room to talk about these issues since the spill in 2008.”

The turnout and voices of concerned residents made a difference to the TDEC representatives that attended the screening. The event resulted in commitments from TDEC to ensure public input is a part of the process going forward.

Adam and other organizers tell us that our film campaigns are bringing their organizations into deeper working relationships with each other, helping them gain new members and supporters, and providing a platform for audiences to take meaningful action.

Now we’re asking for your support so that we can resource more organizers in states across the U.S. in 2016. Please donate today!

Happy New Year from the Working Films team!