National network
50501
50 protests, 50 states, 1 movement. A volunteer-built, nonviolent movement defending democracy, with state and local groups organizing days of action and community.
find groups in your state
don't see your state? start with a national organization.
These national organizations have local chapters, hubs, or groups across the country. Click through to find the one closest to you, or to start one where you live.
National network
Authors Against Book Bans
A national network of writers, illustrators, and other creators fighting book bans and challenges. Members back local grassroots groups, speak at school board meetings, meet with legislators, and stand with librarians, educators, parents, and students defending the freedom to read.
National network
Black Voters Matter
Co-founded by LaTosha Brown and Cliff Albright, Black Voters Matter boosts voter registration and turnout in Black communities, mostly across the South, funds and trains local partner groups, and tours on its "Blackest Bus in America" to highlight voter suppression.
National network
Common Defense
Common Defense organizes veterans and engages the military community to transform our society by advocating for progressive policies that work for all of us.
National network
Democratic Socialists of America (DSA)
The largest socialist organization in the U.S. Local chapters organize tenants, workers, and neighbors to build an economy run for human need, not profit. Look up your chapter by zip code.
National network
Dream Defenders
Dream Defenders is a Black-led, feminist, socialist, abolitionist, and internationalist political formation fighting for a world without prisons, police, capitalism, and imperialism. We envision communities where safety is built through solidarity, care, and self-determination rather than through punishment and surveillance. Founded in 2012 in response to the killing of Trayvon Martin, the Dream Defenders has grown into a powerful force advocating for liberation, justice, and dignity for Black and marginalized people across the United States and beyond.
National network
Indivisible
A network of thousands of local groups that hold elected officials accountable and defend democracy. Use the group map to find one near you, including groups marked newcomer-friendly.
National network
NDN Collective
Rapid City-based and Indigenous-led, this collective backs Native communities through organizing, grants, and loans to Indigenous groups and entrepreneurs. Its campaigns include LANDBACK, which seeks the return of Lakota lands in the Black Hills, along with climate justice and education equity.
National network
Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ)
A national network organizing white people to fight racism and economic injustice as part of multiracial movements. Find a local chapter or join a regular online orientation.
National network
Sunrise Movement
A youth-led movement of local hubs working to stop the climate crisis and win a Green New Deal. No hub near you? Sunrise will help you start one.
National network
Third Act
Organizes older Americans to protect climate and democracy, through volunteer-led working groups by location and by affinity.
National network
Working Families Party
Building a multiracial party of working people. WFP recruits and elects progressive candidates and organizes between elections, with state parties in 18 states and volunteer actions everywhere.
★ Priority group
Detroit
482Forward
Parents, youth, and neighborhood groups across Detroit come together in this citywide education organizing network. They push for every Detroit child to get an excellent education regardless of race or income, and press school and city leaders for educational justice.
★ Priority group
Phoenix
Arizona Center for Empowerment
Arizona Center for Empowerment (ACE) is a 501(c)3 member-led social justice organization that develops and mobilizes undocumented working youth and adults, students, and LGBTQ individuals to strategically take ownership and responsibility to advance economic, social, and racial justice. By building power through leadership development, Citizenship, civic engagement, advocacy and education, we are creating a more inclusive and just standard of equality in the state of Arizona. Income equality, protection of public education, immigrant rights, and health care are just a few of ACE’s priorities in creating a better Arizona for all.
★ Priority group
Durham / statewide
Carolina Federation
The Carolina Federation is a statewide organization that brings local people together across race and the rural-urban divide to build political and electoral power in their own communities and across North Carolina.
★ Priority group
Statewide
Down Home North Carolina
Down Home North Carolina is building multiracial power in the small towns and rural places in North Carolina. It is our firm belief that progressive policies are essential for all communities, including those in the rural South. We are committed to challenging the existing narratives and power structures that do not serve the needs of poor and working-class individuals.
★ Priority group
Statewide
Faith in Florida
The mission of Faith in Florida (FIF) is to build a powerful, multicultural, nonpartisan network of congregation community organizations in Florida that will address systemic racial and economic issues that cause poverty for our families
★ Priority group
Statewide
GROWW
Based in Pierce County and active across western Wisconsin, GROWW brings dues-paying members together to run local-issue campaigns that push back on corporate power. A sister nonprofit focuses on leadership training and civic engagement.
★ Priority group
Bloomington / Southern Indiana
Hoosier Action
Hoosier Action is a community organization made-up of members from local chapters and across the state. We work to build an Indiana where regular people have a say in the decisions that affect their lives. We have hundreds of members from South Bend to Seymour and everywhere in between. We run campaigns, hold trainings, and develop local leadership in the areas where we work; changing hearts and minds (and winning!) along the way.
★ Priority group
Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement
Iowa CCI members create change through grassroots organizing, educating, and mobilizing on issues that impact our communities the most. Together, we work to put people and planet first by stopping factory farms and CO2 pipelines, ending racial profiling and anti-immigrant legislation, and winning bold action on climate change, safe and dignified housing, and clean water for everyone.
★ Priority group
ISAIAH / Faith in Minnesota
We like to think of ISAIAH as one big, multiracial house — not a cookie cutter house, but one that is dynamic, alive, and ever-evolving. ISAIAH members enter our “house” from various faith communities, Black barbershops, childcare centers, college campuses, rural places, city neighborhoods, manufactured home parks, and more. The different bases of ISAIAH leaders all actively choose to work together under one roof — not just because it sounds virtuous — but because we believe we’re stronger together. We spend time together in common areas — meetings, trainings, big events — and are always coordinating our efforts to build power for a multiracial democracy, caring economy, and thriving planet.
★ Priority group
Phoenix
LUCHA
Living United for Change in Arizona is a Phoenix-based membership group of low- and moderate-income families that leads worker campaigns like Arizona Fight for $15 and paid sick leave, and offers citizenship, English, and immigration document help.
★ Priority group
Maine People's Alliance
Maine's largest community action organization, with offices in Portland, Lewiston, and Bangor, campaigns on health care, affordable housing, universal home care, immigrant rights, and tax fairness, and runs projects for students, veterans, and faith communities.
★ Priority group
Las Vegas/ Reno
Make the Road Nevada
With offices in Las Vegas and Reno, this group organizes Latine, immigrant, LGBTQ+, and working-class Nevadans, combining community organizing with legal support, Know Your Rights resources, and policy advocacy on immigration, workers' rights, and education equity.
★ Priority group
Allentown / Philadelphia
Make the Road Pennsylvania
With organizing centers in Allentown, Reading, and Philadelphia, this largely Latinx membership group brings together Black and Brown working-class Pennsylvanians. Members run local and statewide campaigns on immigrant rights, education, climate, and voter engagement.
★ Priority group
Missouri Jobs with Justice
We envision a Missouri where: The economy and public infrastructure are strong and good jobs are plentiful The right of all workers to organize and collectively bargain is protected Opportunity exists for all regardless of race, identity, or immigration status All are assured economic security and a safe, healthy life from the cradle to the grave White supremacy is understood, challenged, and dismantled
★ Priority group
MOVE MO
Working behind the scenes, MOVE gives Missouri grassroots and movement groups strategic and technical support to plan and run integrated voter engagement, coordinating a volunteer-led nonpartisan program that helps ordinary Missourians take part in democracy.
★ Priority group
MOVE MO
Working behind the scenes, MOVE gives Missouri grassroots and movement groups strategic and technical support to plan and run integrated voter engagement, coordinating a volunteer-led nonpartisan program that helps ordinary Missourians take part in democracy.
★ Priority group
MO Worker Center
Low-wage workers of many races, from Missouri's cities and rural towns, make up this organization fighting racism and pushing for economic justice. Working out of Kansas City and St. Louis, it organizes door to door and online, including among Amazon workers and immigrants.
★ Priority group
Richmond / statewide
New Virginia Majority
New Virginia Majority (NVM) is led by a diverse and committed group of people who organize year-round for racial, economic, and environmental justice through political education, mass-scale voter outreach, mobilization, and intensive leadership development around dozens of issues.
★ Priority group
Northern Plains Resource Council
Founded by Montana ranch families, this Billings-based conservation and family agriculture group organizes ranchers, farmers, and other Montanans through local affiliates. It takes on coal, oil, and gas impacts and works to protect water, land, and family farms.
★ Priority group
Columbus / statewide
Ohio Organizing Collaborative
A statewide network linking unions, faith groups, student organizers, and neighborhood groups across Ohio, with offices from Youngstown to Cincinnati. Its work spans voter registration, criminal justice reform, environmental justice, caregiving, and an annual leadership training.
★ Priority group
Lancaster / statewide
PA Stands Up
Working-class Pennsylvanians in rural towns and cities organize through local chapters in Lancaster, Berks, the Lehigh Valley, and Northeast PA, running a statewide housing justice team, defending democracy, and electing candidates who stand with everyday people.
★ Priority group
Philadelphia / statewide
PA United
Through county chapters such as Allegheny, Erie, and Beaver County United, this political group recruits local movement candidates and organizes on renters' rights, health care workers' pay, clean rivers, and policing, mainly in western Pennsylvania.
★ Priority group
Philadelphia / statewide
POWER Interfaith
Over 50 congregations in Southeastern and Central Pennsylvania organize together through POWER for fair school funding, affordable utilities, climate justice, and voting rights, working across lines of race, income, and faith through four regional chapters.
★ Priority group
Statewide
Siembra NC
Siembra NC is a grassroots basebuilding organization focused on defending our communities from abusive employers, landlords, ICE and bad políticos. Our strategy is to achieve el buen vivir and dignity for our communities by recruiting thousands of Latinos who are “on the sidelines” to fight to win a true multiracial democracy.
★ Priority group
Undivided
Churches, clergy, and residents work through this faith-rooted community organizing group to move people into action for healing and justice. Based in Cincinnati and expanding to Seattle, it offers leadership training and runs local justice campaigns.
★ Priority group
Undivided
Churches, clergy, and residents work through this faith-rooted community organizing group to move people into action for healing and justice. Based in Cincinnati and expanding to Seattle, it offers leadership training and runs local justice campaigns.
★ Priority group
Unidos MN
With offices in Minneapolis, St. Cloud, Mankato and Worthington, Unidos MN organizes working families and mixed-status Latino community members across Minnesota on immigration and environmental justice, education justice and civic engagement.
★ Priority group
Charlottesville / statewide
Virginia Organizing
Through local chapters from Lee County to Petersburg, members across Virginia set their own priorities and carry them to county boards, the General Assembly, and Congress. Campaigns have covered health care, affordable housing, Ban the Box, and restoring voting rights.
★ Priority group
Western Colorado Alliance for Community Action
Headquartered in Grand Junction and formerly called Western Colorado Congress, the Alliance brings Western Slope residents together around family farms and local food, clean energy, affordable housing and public transit, and grassroots democracy.
★ Priority group
We the People Michigan Action Fund
Working-class and BIPOC Michiganders build their own volunteer-led campaigns through this statewide group, from Detroit to Bay City. The work follows The People's Agenda, a platform written with residents in 2018, and includes immigrant justice organizing.
Know a group we're missing? Add it to the directory.
how do I pick the right group?
- Meets regularly, at least monthly, in person or online.
- Is led by the people most affected by the issue it works on.
- Has a way in for newcomers, like an orientation or a one-on-one.
- Asks you to do something, not just donate.
- Has won something, or knows what it's fighting to win.
You don't have to find the perfect fit. Pick the one closest to your heart or your home and go twice before you decide.
your first-meeting checklist
- Bring a friend if that makes it easier.
- Say why you came. One sentence is enough.
- Write down the name of one person you met.
- Say yes to one small task.
- Go back a second time.
why join an organization instead of just showing up to protests?
Protests show how many people care. Organizations turn that care into power that lasts. A good organization keeps you connected after the crowd goes home, trains you to lead, and wins concrete changes like tenant protections, fair wages, and clean air.
what is a base-building organization?
A base-building organization grows its power by recruiting, training, and organizing a large membership of everyday people over many years. Members set the agenda, build leadership, and take collective action on shared problems. Examples include tenant unions, labor unions, faith-based organizing groups, and community organizations rooted in a neighborhood or identity.
what happens at a first organizing meeting?
Usually someone welcomes you, people share names and why they came, and the group works through an agenda: updates, a plan, and asks for who will take on what. You can just listen the first time. Most groups will follow up for a one-on-one conversation.
not ready for a group yet?
Meet your neighborsquestions people ask
How much time does organizing take?
As little as one hour a month to start. Most groups have roles for every level of time and energy.
What if I'm shy or anxious around new people?
You're not alone. Many groups have behind-the-scenes roles like making calls, designing flyers, cooking, or tracking data. Bring a friend.
What if there's no group near me?
Look up your nearest union hall, tenant group, or faith-based organizing network. Or start a neighbor group using our toolkit. Many organizations began that way.
Do I have to pay dues?
Some groups ask for small dues, often on a sliding scale. Many are free.
common questions
How do I get involved in community organizing?
Start close to home. Learn the names of a few neighbors, then join a local organizing group that meets regularly and trains new members. Go to one meeting, say yes to one small task, and keep showing up. Our directory can help you find a group in your state.
How do I find activist groups near me?
Choose your state at the top of this page to see long-term organizing groups that work there, with priority groups listed first. If none are close by, national groups like Indivisible, DSA, Sunrise Movement, and Showing Up for Racial Justice have local chapters in most states.
What is a base-building organization?
A base-building organization grows its membership over years, trains everyday people to lead, and wins changes through collective action. Unlike a one-time protest or campaign, it keeps going between elections.
What is the difference between mutual aid and organizing?
Mutual aid meets people's needs right now, like groceries, rides, or rent. Organizing changes the conditions that create those needs, like wages, housing policy, or who holds power. Strong villages do both.
Is voting enough?
Voting matters, but it is just the first step. What happens between elections depends on organized people who keep showing up, pressing officials, and taking care of each other.