John,

One way to fight back against the tyrannical president and his billionaire allies is by building the bench of working-class candidates who will draw from their lived experiences to defend our rights, serve their communities, and demand a government that invests in people’s needs.

Each year, my team and I run the Rooted in Community Campaign School to train progressive community champions who want to be public servants so they can give back to their communities. Too often money can be a barrier to running for office, so we never charge participants to participate in the training program, which costs $400 per participant to put on.

This month, we just wrapped up our biggest Campaign School yet, with 19 participants. About two-thirds were women, more than half were Black, and more than a quarter were other people of color—and all are ready to fight for a progressive future in public office.

Over five weeks, we brought in current and former elected officials to help train future leaders on fundamentals like how to file the necessary paperwork to run for office, fundraising and campaign finance, running field programs to contact voters, and more. They talked about how they stay rooted in their progressive values and how to end state violence, create more equitable communities, and invest in people’s needs.

Already, two women from the program have filed to run for local office, and other participants are helping with their electoral campaigns and other local races.

Now, we’re gearing up for another program we run each year to support the next generation of changemakers: our Youth Civic Engagement Fellowship, which trains mostly BIPOC* young people who are already leaders in their communities on growing their community organizing skills while connecting them with other activists to bring about a more just world. Each participant also receives a stipend for completing the fellowship program.

Will you chip in today to support our ongoing Rooted in Community Campaign School and Youth Civic Engagement Fellowship, so we can build a government and society that works for the people rather than the billionaires?

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In the years I’ve served in Congress, it’s been clear that many of my colleagues aren’t fighting with urgency for the bold changes our communities need. Often it’s because they’re millionaires and they don’t understand how everyday people are struggling to get by. Some legislators vote to boost their stock portfolios at the expense of their constituents.

Now, with Elon Musk—the world’s richest man—taking over our government and stealing from the people, it’s more urgent than ever to have more people in power whose lived experiences help them better understand their communities’ needs. The American people deserve representatives who are actually in government to represent and serve their communities—like the future leaders who apply for our Campaign School.

In each session of this year’s Campaign School, current or former elected officials in state and local office joined us to answer questions and talk about how they stay rooted in their communities and in their progressive values. We talked about equity, the need to invest in communities, ending state violence, and standing up to the far-right.

The group from our latest Campaign School is grounding me in hope for the future, with a government that’s actually of, by, and for the people.

Please chip in to our Rooted in Community PAC if you can now to help build a government for the people—not the billionaires.

We will keep fighting back together, inside and outside of the halls of power.

In solidarity,

Rashida

*BIPOC means Black, Indigenous, and people of color

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Rashida Tlaib
Date: Wed, Mar 26, 2025
Subject: Training progressive candidates to fight fascism and serve their communities
To: [email protected]

John,

When I was first elected to Congress in 2018, I came in as part of a historic wave of women of color with various faith and economic backgrounds that have been under-represented in our government for too long.

Since then, billionaires have grown their influence over our government. Many government officials are millionaires or billionaires and don’t understand the needs of the communities they’re supposed to serve. Too many are delaying much-needed changes like universal healthcare and a universal basic income, while cutting funding for essential programs like Social Security, Medicaid, and SNAP nutrition benefits. They’re also taking away the constitutional rights of vulnerable communities.

One way to fight back against growing fascism is by urgently building the bench of progressive candidates—especially candidates with the lived experiences needed to represent and protect their marginalized and lower-income constituents.

This Women’s History Month, we wrapped up our free 2025 Campaign School with our biggest cohort yet: 19 people, two-thirds of whom were women. More than half of the participants in this year’s Campaign School were Black, and more than a quarter of the participants were Asian, Latinx, or Arab. Already, two women who participated have filed to run for local office, and others are helping with local campaigns.

If you can, please chip in today to power our training programs and build progressive power, including by equipping everyday people with the tools they need to stand up to rising authoritarianism and build the world that we deserve.

Over five weekly sessions, we covered fundamentals for running a grassroots campaign, including filing for office, fundraising for electoral campaigns, running field operations to connect with voters, recruiting volunteers, and getting endorsements. We brought in current and former elected officials who are rooted in their communities and standing up for human rights.

This year, we received a record number of applicants. Thanks to your support, our Campaign School was completely free to attend for each participant. Now we’re gearing up for our 2025 Youth Civic Engagement Fellowship to train young—primarily BIPOC*—activists and leaders in community organizing, including stipends for participants.

Will you donate today to power our ongoing Rooted in Community Campaign School and Youth Engagement Fellowship to train future candidates and leaders? Together we’ll keep growing our progressive power to build a society where all people can thrive, not just billionaires.