Last month, 113,735 schoolchildren in Philadelphia won new rights thanks to two years of dedicated organizing by parents. Students in the School District of Philadelphia are now guaranteed daily recess, breaks to use the bathroom and to move their bodies, and access to drinking water. This first-ever student wellness policy also prohibits silent lunches and the use of collective punishment.

Lift Every Voice Philly is the grassroots, Black-led, multiracial parent organization responsible for winning this victory for children’s wellness. They started by listening to hundreds of parents and students share their concerns and hopes. Those conversations led them to create The Campaign for Joy in Schools, which outlined a list of specific policy changes they wanted to make. Then, they put pressure on City Council and the School District of Philadelphia, showing up with focus and determination.

By banding together and exercising their collective power, Lift Every Voice Philly won policy changes that make school safer, more dignified, and more joyful for over 100,000 students currently enrolled, as well as for all students enrolling in the future.

Read more in this edition of our email newsletter.

In Zulene Mayfield’s neighborhood in Chester, 27% of children have asthma, a rate four times the national average. The culprit is a polluting trash incinerator run by Reworld (formerly Covanta) that operates right across the street from the residential neighborhood. On one nearby block, every single household has lost someone to cancer.

To fight back, Zulene and other people affected by the pollution formed Chester Residents Concerned for Quality Living in 1992. Since then, they have organized to hold Reworld accountable for the devastating harm they have caused in their community.

Bread & Roses honored Zulene at the 2025 Tribute to Change, awarding her the Paul Robeson Lifetime Achievement Award for her determination and courage in the face of persistent environmental racism.

Read more in this edition of our email newsletter.

The movement for gender justice has always been powered by ordinary people coming together across difference to care for one another and demand something better. From the legacies of Stonewall and the Jane Collective to today’s ongoing fight for abortion access and trans rights, that shared commitment continues to move us toward liberation.

At a time when the Trump administration is escalating attacks on the rights of women, LGBTQIA+ people, and especially the trans community, local organizing matters more than ever.

That’s why I’m excited to share that Bread & Roses awarded $150,000 in grants to 15 grassroots groups across the Philadelphia region through our Gender Justice Organizing Fund.

These groups are organizing to build political power, resist harmful laws and policies, and protect their communities. Moving resources directly to grassroots leaders fighting for systemic change isn’t just important—it’s critical.

Here’s a glimpse of the work your giving makes possible:

• Centro Integral de la Mujer Madre Tierra is organizing to expand access to emergency shelter and housing for domestic violence survivors.
• Girls Justice League trains young women and girls ages 14–24 through weekend and summer political education programs, building the next generation of changemakers.
• ACT UP Philadelphia has been fighting the HIV/AIDS crisis since the 1980s. Today, they are organizing community members navigating the loss of federal funding for life-saving medications and rising insurance costs.

Read more in this edition of our email newsletter.

Across five decades, Bread & Roses Community Fund has moved money to grassroots groups organizing in the Philadelphia region. Together, we stand with social justice movements, providing resources they need to act boldly today, and hold strong for the future. Over the years, this commitment has given us a front-row seat to the power of people coming together to demand change.

From the civil rights movement to mobilizing for climate justice in historically marginalized communities, we’ve seen what happens when everyday people build power—and win.

If you made a year-end gift to Bread & Roses, or donated at any time, once again—thank you. As you know, every dollar supports community organizing and the work it takes to keep our local movements strong. Together, we turn our shared resources into action that fuels change where it’s needed most.

Read more in this edition of our email newsletter.

As our country enters the latest phase of escalating state-sponsored violence, the radical vision of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.—and the organizers who stood alongside him—feels urgently relevant. Dr. King’s politics have too often been stripped of their depth and reduced to soundbites. The holiday in his name is an opportunity to dig deeper and recommit to action for justice.

Bread & Roses Community Fund moves money to grassroots groups organizing for liberation. Those groups build power and fight back to create the world we want to live in. They keep the flame alive.

If you are ready to deepen your commitment, consider joining the Racial & Economic Justice Giving Project, launching February 10. Members engage in political education, build skills in fundraising and grantmaking, and move money to strengthen local movements for change.

Membership in every Giving Project is intentionally diverse. At least half of the members are people of color. Each Giving Project brings participants together across race, class, gender, and generations. Click here to learn more, view the schedule, and complete an interest form.

Read more in this edition of our email newsletter.

As housing costs have risen far faster than incomes for Philadelphia’s poorest residents, Bread & Roses grantees—Philly Thrive, Philadelphia Coalition for Affordable Communities, Make the Road PA, and POWER Interfaith—made the case that the city’s housing funds must measurably benefit the people most impacted. In December, City Council unanimously agreed, passing Philadelphia’s Housing Opportunities Made Easy (H.O.M.E.) Plan with an amendment that directs even more resources to low-income homeowners and renters. 

This victory didn’t happen overnight. Grassroots groups educated neighbors and Councilmembers about housing cost-burden in every district, hosted letter-writing events, published op-eds, built champions inside City Hall, and mobilized community members to show up in force ahead of the vote. The final H.O.M.E. legislation includes funding for home repairs, rental assistance, and accessibility improvements for people with disabilities.

Read more in this edition of our email newsletter.

Artists for Immigrant Rights (AIR) started with a desire to do something, and an idea: organize a photo sale to support grassroots groups mobilizing immigrant communities for action. That idea blossomed into something much bigger. In November, their second photo sale, held at Bread & Roses, inspired donations and matching funds that quadrupled their impact—and sparked momentum that is still going today.

Thanks to this groundswell of support from more than 200 people, Bread & Roses made $100,000 in rapid response grants to ten organizations who are fighting attacks on immigrants and building community power:

• Asian Americans United
• CAIR-Philadelphia
• Comité de Apoyo a los Trabajadores Agrícolas
• Free Migration Project
• Juntos
• Movement of Immigrant Leaders in Pennsylvania
• New Sanctuary Movement of Philadelphia
• No ICE Philly
• VietLead
• Woori Center

Read more in this edition of our email newsletter.

The longest federal government shutdown ever ended on November 12, releasing Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits that the Trump administration had shockingly withheld from 42 million Americans. Funding for the food assistance program is now set to last through September 2026, but for many, the crisis of food security remains.

SNAP’s new work requirements are another barrier, as is the administration’s insistence even after the end of the shutdown that they will “completely deconstruct” the program. Alongside funding cuts, mass layoffs at the Department of Agriculture (USDA), tariffs, and ICE raids decimating farmers and food chains in the country, this means that unreliable access to food is an increasing threat to the wellbeing of millions of Americans.

But we’re seeing that when institutions fail people, grassroots community organizing is the reliable force that delivers. Neighborhood Land Power Project, a Bread & Roses grantee, organizes for neighborhood-rooted food and land systems in West Philadelphia, emphasizing the importance of sustainable farms and food security.

Grantee Reinhard Street Community Farm & Kitchen mobilizes folks to reactivate neglected land and transform those spaces into community resources that build power and literally nourish residents in southwest Philadelphia.

Fellow grantees Asian Americans United, KITHS Integrated and Targeted Human Services, and Children First PA have recently organized campaigns centered on food justice, from food distribution to urging City Hall to retain the soda tax for funding Pre-K services.

Learn more in this weeks email newsletter.

Over 100 people came out on November 6 to the Artists for Immigrant Rights photo sale at Bread & Roses! So far, Bread & Roses has raised more than $38,000 to move right away toward immigrant rights organizing.

Erika Guadalupe Nuñez, executive director of Juntos, the Latine community organizing group shared the community-run rapid response hotline for folks who witness an ICE raid or pick-up: 814-205-3293; please put it in your contacts and share with friends and neighbors.

Learn more in this edition of our email newsletter.