Dear John,

The persistence of members like you has won material improvements in the lives of Alabamians with low incomes. Your relentlessness to achieve a more equitable Alabama, even when progress feels slow, is what has made Arise’s 35 years of work a success. We saw major progress just this year. After decades of your advocacy to untax groceries and make it easier for working families to make ends meet, our legislators listened and reduced the state grocery tax by half.

Thank you for your interest and support of Arise. Will you send your first gift today and join us as a member to strengthen our collective voice and help us keep up the drumbeat for a better Alabama?

Carol Gundlach has been with Arise since day one – first as a co-founder of Arise, then as a leader on our board of directors, and now on staff as a senior policy analyst. She’s seen all of our hard-fought wins, such as protecting renters through the Landlord-Tenant Act, creating state trust funds for affordable housing and public transportation, and ending the lifetime ban on food assistance benefits for people with a past felony drug conviction. Carol says that through it all, our greatest strength has always been members like you:

“We learned early on that only having our facts straight did not mean we were going to win. Power in politics can come from money or from people, and our power is people. Even in the early days, we could turn out dozens of members to committee meetings. So as our coalition grows, so does our power at the Legislature. And it’s paying off for the people of Alabama.”

Giving a gift to Arise will put power in the hands of Alabamians struggling to make ends meet. Can you give a year-end gift today?

Our growing membership also is advancing our work to ensure affordable health coverage for every Alabamian. Cover Alabama is the Medicaid expansion coalition that we helped launch with 40 members in 2020. Today, it has grown to more than 130 members, including grassroots groups and social justice organizations. We have found that when people learn expanding Medicaid would put health care in reach for their friends and neighbors who can’t afford insurance, they support it. On a mission to reach people we never could before, Cover Alabama has launched billboards, radio, TV and digital ads to complement our community organizing.

Debbie Smith joined Arise’s staff six years ago as an organizer and became our Cover Alabama campaign director in 2022. She is proud of the growth she’s witnessed in Arise and the coalition membership. Debbie remarks how it has shifted the conversation around expanding Medicaid:

“There’s been a real softening of how legislators perceive Medicaid expansion and closing the coverage gap. They are finally getting in line with what people want. The persistence of Arise and Cover Alabama members is what got us here. Our members have not been willing to give up on getting people the health care they deserve. They have unmatched energy and passion.”

It’s crucial that we continue this growth. Will you donate to Alabama Arise today to develop our collective power and expand Medicaid?

To create our shared vision of a world where everyone has the resources they need to reach their full potential, we must work together to ensure that the people who are most impacted by systemic injustice lead our advocacy and policy work. Together, we are working to grow our coalition to include more people of color, young people, and people with low incomes.

I know the grocery tax reduction and the Cover Alabama campaign are only the beginning of what Arise is building. As a father and grandfather, a Baptist minister and an NAACP committee chairman, I see firsthand how our systems are designed to trap people in poverty. To change that, we must build our power to ensure that we protect and expand our voting rights, that we reform our criminal justice system and that the people of Alabama get the resources they need not just to survive, but to thrive.

We need you on board with our power-building mission to build a better Alabama. Will you give a gift to Arise before the end of the year?

With gratitude,

Clyde Jones, Board President

PS - We need your support before the end of 2023 to ensure our collective voice and people power is strong heading into 2024 and beyond. Will you give to Alabama Arise today?