From our Executive Director
“People directly impacted by a problem are best positioned to offer the solutions to that problem and will fight to actualize the transformation.”
The Network
Supported by the Nellie Mae Education Foundation. Research by the Equity Research Institute at USC.
Who Are Community Organizers?
This is What Organizing Looks Like
Community organizing is not a moment — it’s a method. It’s the sustained, strategic work of building people’s capacity to come together, exercise power, and transform the conditions of their lives. It’s distinct from activism, from protest, from charity. And it has deep roots in this country’s history of people-powered change.
“An activist is somebody who lifts their voice up around what they care about. But an organizer finds out what the people care about and helps them build strategy and power to win.”
What are Community Organizers?
Power Starts in the Community
CJSF partners are building the leadership and civic power of young people, caregivers, and educators so communities can shape the systems that shape their lives. This work is intentional, intergenerational, and built for the long haul.
In the community
Civic skills that stick
From one-day workshops to multi-month fellowships — partners are teaching youth and adults how to speak up, organize, and lead.
For the long haul
Campaigns built to win
Far from spontaneous victories, winning real change is the culmination of sustained campaigns[2] — intentionally designed to build and consolidate community power over time.
Across generations
Power that carries forward
Youth members become staff. Children grow up inside the work and carry it forward. When communities stay in the movement across generations, the power compounds in ways no single campaign can. Supported by the Nellie Mae Education Foundation. Research by the Equity Research Institute at USC.
“Building power starts on the ground, in communities, with folks that are organizing in communities. For me, power is the ability of people, organized people, to shift the conditions.”
Partner Spotlight • Los Angeles
Black Student Achievement Plan
Students Deserve and coalition partners organized for years to reduce LAUSD’s school police budget — and won. That sustained, strategic work unlocked over $175M now flowing to mental health services, restorative justice, and affirming spaces for Black, undocumented, and LGBTQ+ youth.
No One Wins Alone
CJSF partners are forging alliances across movements, sectors, and geographies — connecting local organizing to statewide and national change. These relationships take time, trust, and resources to build. And they’re worth it.
What kind of coalition are we talking about?
Rooted & Sustained
Civic skills that stick
Not all coalition work is about a single fight. The most durable change comes from relationships built over time — ongoing spaces to share strategies, deepen trust, and grow collective power across movements, geographies, and generations.
Organizers with organizers
A stronger field together
Partners share toolkits, run joint campaigns, and convene nationally to build power across issue areas and state lines.
Beyond the organizing world
Coalitions that cross sectors
From hospitals to school boards to elected officials — CJSF partners build relationships across sectors to make community-driven visions a reality.
“By creating mechanisms and pathways for communities most affected by systems to address solutions in those systems, we are creating both pathways for systemic change, but also empowering a community to understand its own power as people power.”
Partner Spotlight • Chicago
Whole School Safety Framework
COFI, Brighton Park Neighborhood Council, and Communities United spent years building relationships with district staff, students, families, and elected officials. The result: a board-approved framework rooted in healing, trust, and community-defined safety — not policing.
Building Community
When the System Falls Short, Organizers Show Up
CJSF partners don’t just fight for policy change — they take care of people. Food, legal support, mental health services, shelter. Community organizers have become the safety net that government was supposed to be.
South Central LA
Campaigns built to win
A high school, a free legal clinic, a community garden growing food for neighbors — YJC meets young people where they are, with what they need.
New York City
Power that carries forward
Free legal help for immigrants and workers — deportation, asylum, wage theft. DRUM shows up so no one faces the system alone.
“What I appreciate about this space is that we recognize the totality of how our people show up and really struggle… we are committed to having a vision of what it means to make sure that our solutions get to address the totality of what it means to be Black, queer, trans, experiencing houselessness.”
Stand Up for the Movement
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Invest in What Holds Us Together
The movement is only as strong as the relationships holding it together. Coalitions, convenings, and cross-sector partnerships can’t sustain themselves without real investment.
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Stay Past the Win
Victories need defending and implementing. The organizing doesn’t stop when the policy passes.
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Fund for the Long Term
Measuring success by single campaign wins misses the point. Sustained, unrestricted funding is what allows organizers to implement, protect, and build.
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Follow Community Leadership
Communities know what they need and what will work. The role of allies and funders is to resource and amplify — not direct.
Funder Roadmap
How can funders embrace approaches to grantmaking that support community agency, co-governance models, and system transformation?
See Figure 4 on Page 48 of the report for the Funder Roadmap checklist.
Tools and Resources From the Field
CJSF partners don’t just organize — they document, research, and share what’s working. Dig into the resources they’ve built.
- Coalition-building toolkit for youth organizers
GSA Network - Building narrative power
Dignity in Schools Campaign - Resource library
Advancement Project - Data for public good — resource library
Twin Cities Innovation Alliance - The Freedom Papers
Dream Defenders
See Our Impact
Read the full report — including methodology, complete case studies, partner program breakdowns, and the full resource list.