Dear John,
Last year, our network met one crisis after another, while adjusting our course to navigate drastically changed conditions.
While we entered 2025 knowing the Trump regime would inflict pain on our communities, the violent invasions of our cities, tearing apart of our civic institutions, and authoritarian power grabs have been far worse than we anticipated. Together with our partners, our network jumped in to counter these assaults: going door-to-door educating tens of thousands of small business employees and owners on their constitutional rights if ICE shows up, supporting lawsuits against racial profiling and warrantless raids, organizing mass mobilizations that put a spotlight on illegal gerrymandering efforts.
At the same time, we assessed how our work needed to shift. We brought together leaders of our affiliates to share learnings and plan together. We spoke with scholars like Maria Stephan and Tarso Ramos, read the work of Erica Chenoweth and Zoe Marks, and looked to historical examples like the civil rights movements and ACT-UP NY, exploring how people have successfully refused, resisted, and ridiculed authoritarians. We took all this analysis and pivoted our strategy.
The task of our movements right now is to halt the drive towards autocracy, and to dig in on our efforts to put our country on a path towards a multiracial feminist democracy that uplifts care, culture, and community. There are so many people and groups stepping into courageous and creative roles in this task. For us at PowerSwitch, our role is threefold: -
We must significantly increase the number of people prepared to defy the autocrats and build a civic participation renaissance. In 2025, our affiliates began or expanded over a dozen organizing and leadership development programs. This year, we’re gearing up to launch a new model for training and activating hundreds of regular folks at a time — equipping them to organize their neighborhoods, take nonviolent mass action, and lead strategic campaigns.
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We must pull cogs from the authoritarian machine: challenging the corporations powering it, insisting our elected and civic leaders refuse to cooperate, and making the stakes clear to those who are tuned out or conflicted. In 2025, we put a spotlight on corporate actors like Amazon and Tesla complicit in the power grab. This year, we’re driving targeted local campaigns responsive to the rapidly changing dynamics we face.
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We must counter doom and division with hopeful alternatives that meet people’s needs. Even amidst all the pain of 2025, our network demonstrated what’s possible when communities come together — from passing a green social housing ordinance in Chicago to raising the minimum wage for tourism workers in Los Angeles. This year, our focus will be on organizing around immediate everyday issues, while connecting these to the larger fight for our democracy.
2026 is already testing us, but people are ready and showing up for each other. As we dive into the necessary work demanded of us right now, I invite you to take a moment to explore our 2025 Year in Review and see the power and possibility that our network is building on for the year ahead. Amidst all this work, we are keeping one eye on our ultimate goal. We are not trying to walk back to an old system that failed far too many of us (and created conditions that were ripe for the authoritarians). We are building people power to lay a new road: one leading to a world where our communities are powerful, in control of our lives, and cherished by our institutions and each other.
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In solidarity, Lauren Jacobs Executive Director |
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2025 was a year marked by crisis and pain, but also strength, courage, and the power of everyday people showing up for each other. |
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In cities all across the US, our affiliates mobilized in defense of our communities, while bringing more and more people together to resist autocracy and build towards a future we all deserve. This year, we: - Directly engaged and organized over 88,000 people.
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Developed the leadership of 2,700 working people and community members.
- Played a leadership role in 78 coalitions made up over 2,000 organizations.
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From responding quickly to protect families and workers from ICE raids, to winning transformative solutions for our homes and jobs, our 21 affiliates spent last year organizing and fighting to make sure our communities can live in safety and dignity. Explore the map below to learn more about the critical work and wins of each of our affiliates. |
Autocrats rely on fear, violence, and compliance. Our network jumped into action to challenge brazen attacks on our democracy and to support brave people and communities responding on the ground. -
When ICE invaded Southern California, our affiliates and coalition partners sprang into action to support the families of people targeted and abducted, defend their legal rights, and challenge the unlawful actions carried out by ICE agents.
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As federal agents continued bringing fear and violence to our cities, affiliates from across our network developed outreach programs to educate workers, employers, and residents about their rights.
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Corporations are a key cog powering the authoritarian machine. We’re building the people power to make them reconsider their complicity and support healthy democracy. -
From Amazon to BlackRock, we’re mobilizing to spotlight the corporate actors attacking our freedoms for their own gain.
- As AI-driven management and surveillance tactics become more prominent in the workplace and beyond, we’re equipping working people with the tools and resources to protect their rights and have a say in how this tech is used.
- All across the country, our affiliates launched, expanded, and refined basebuilding and leadership development programs to grow our cadre of committed and effective grassroots leaders.
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Authoritarians peddle a story that the only way life gets better for some is to exclude others. Our network is demonstrating a better path: showing that when people come together to fight for a future that meets our collective needs, we all thrive. -
As the Trump regime slashed funding to critical programs at the federal level, our affiliates took important steps to secure public resources at the local level.
- We organized with workers and community partners to win landmark wage standards for people working in hospitality.
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From green social housing to community-stewarded land, our network won key milestones on the journey towards greater community control over our homes.
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This coming year will be difficult, and it will take all of us to resist the autocratic attacks on our communities. That’s why we’ll be launching a new project that will train hundreds of everyday folks to organize their neighborhoods, take nonviolent mass action, and lead strategic campaigns that challenge corporate complicity in the fascist power grab and build the infrastructure for a civic participation renaissance. Will you join us in growing and connecting powerful local organizing that’s defying the fascists and protecting our communities? |
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PowerSwitch Action
1305 Franklin St.
Suite 501
Oakland, CA 94612
United States |
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