The Abundance Network is organizing a new generation of civic leaders to build a 21st-century government.
YIMBY for
We help you bring the Abundance Movement to your community.
We have forgotten what it means to participate in a democracy. Abundance chapters help citizens relearn citizenry and make government responsive to our collective needs.
The government is us; we are the government, you and I.”
Our Ideas
Abundance. These are the ideas that power our work.
Supply-side liberalism
When incumbents capture the policy process, they constrain the supply of key goods (e.g. housing, clean energy, transportation infrastructure, doctors, good schools). Our current political system exacerbates this by making it easy to say No to new supply and hard to say Yes.
State capacity
To fix our problems we need to improve our government's ability to get things done. Winning elections and passing legislation is a start, but real outcomes require effective government operations and implementation. We built the Golden Gate Bridge in 4 years. Today it takes a decade to build a bike lane.
Outcomes as North Star
Real world outcomes are very hard to achieve. We need to relentlessly pursue outcomes and not be satisfied with press releases, speeches, even elections and legislation. We can applaud intermediate milestones because the value chain of social change is long. But real world outcomes are what make the difference in people’s actual lives.
Enlightenment Values
Our society is big and complex. We all want to live secure and dignified lives, but people should be able to define flourishing broadly. To build a society that works for everyone, we need to embrace pluralism. We also need to approach public policy questions with humility & curiosity—hard problems are hard! Dogma won’t get us where we want to go.
Our Outcomes
Outcomes are our North Star.
We achieve them by partnering with political and policy entrepreneurs. Here’s what we’ve accomplished so far.
Organizations we’ve helped launch:
CA YIMBY
The most accomplished pro-housing advocacy org in the country. Passed 21 bills in California to help legalize ADUs, duplexes, lot splits, by-right permitting for multi-family units, and more.
Megafire Action
First advocacy org focused on ending the Megafire Crisis in the American West. Secured $40 million in new federal investments in wildfire science and technology & catalyzed an Interagency Agreement to Address Wildfire Risk and Protect Communities from Smoke.
KidSafe SF
Building a movement for safe streets and vibrant public space in San Francisco. Helped pass Prop J, ending a decades-long battle for a key piece of public infrastructure, JFK Promenade.
Campaigns & Policies we’ve supported:
Save Diablo Canyon Campaign
Kept 17% of California's zero-emission energy supply online.
Image Credit: Tracey Adams, cc-by-2.0
“Abundance Network members were critical to this campaign.”
SB 423
Important mixed-income housing streamlining bill in the CA legislature.
Image Credit: Credit goes here
“Abundance Network has been a key ally in our work to create more housing abundance in California.”
Our Partners
Rob Rivas
CA Assembly Speaker
“Abundance Network members have been strong allies in my work to make California a state that works for everyone.”
Buffy Wicks
CA Assembly Appropriations Chair
“Anyone can complain about government. Abundance Network members are working with us to improve it.”
London Breed
San Francisco Mayor
“Abundance Network has stepped up to help solve the problems that face our City by engaging and supporting the next generation of civic leaders.”
David Chiu
San Francisco City Attorney
“I’m on a journey with folks from Abundance Network to bridge the promise of government with how it can actually deliver to all communities—the gap between our values and our outcomes.”
Jay Bradshaw
Executive Officer of NorCal Carpenters Union
“We have fought shoulder to shoulder with Abundance to win real solutions to housing production coupled with robust labor standards. We share the same philosophy: 'Stand up, work hard, educate, mobilize and be a problem solver, not a problem finder!”
Jen Pahlka
Recoding America
“Abundance Network is doing some of the most important work in the country by creating an actual political power constituency behind the idea of state capacity.”
