Collective Action Center
Our mission is to cultivate courageous, collaborative leadership for climate and democratic futures. We bring people together to learn from one another, build shared power, and take meaningful action for the well-being of all living beings.
What we do
Root & Rise is a 6-month fellowship that nurtures early-career leaders who want to learn to navigate complexity, hold power with integrity, and drive systems change across climate, energy, and civic life.
The wave starts with you. Coming soon!
Goals
Strengthen values-based civic leadership:
Equip fellows with strategic, ethical, and systems-thinking capacities to sustain long-term social impact.Bridge local action with international ecosystems:
Integrate global expertise while amplifying local voices in regional and international arenas.Translate learning into real-world action:
Connect training to applied leadership projects and placements in climate, energy, and civic governance institutions.Build durable civic infrastructure:
Foster peer learning circles and a network that sustains collaboration beyond the program cycle.
CAC Board
Sameera Chukkapalli Holmes
Founding Board President
Liangyi Chang
Founding Board Treasurer
Jeremy Orr
Founding Board SecretaryCollective Action Center Announces Inaugural Root & Rise Fellows
April 22nd 2026
Earth Day feels like the right moment to introduce the people who give us the most hope!
Today, we are proud to welcome the inaugural cohort of the Root & Rise Fellowship, a group of early-career leaders from across the Asia-Pacific who are already doing the hard, necessary work of building climate and civic futures worth living in. They were not selected because they have all the answers. They were selected because they ask better questions, reflect honestly, and lead with integrity. Over the next six months, they will learn together, challenge one another, and develop the kind of grounded, sustained leadership that systems change actually requires. This is just the beginning.
