Please join Bread & Roses Community Fund for a town hall, Solidarity in Action: Showing Up for Immigrant Rights, on Thursday, May 21, from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 pm. at the Friends Center (1501 Cherry Street).
 
You’ll hear from Bread & Roses grantees who are organizing on the frontlines in the fight against ICE. You’ll connect with friends and neighbors to talk about what solidarity looks like right now. And you’ll find ways to take meaningful action. If you’re looking for a way to stay engaged and be in community, I hope you’ll join us.
 
Registration is required. Food will be provided. Children are welcome, and childcare will be provided if requested with registration.

You probably saw that Philadelphia City Council recently passed “ICE Out” legislation—and that Mayor Cherelle Parker signed six out of seven bills into law, affirming some of the strictest restrictions on ICE operations in the country. This victory is the result of persistent organizing by a coalition of groups from across the Philadelphia region. On May 21, you’ll hear directly from some of the key changemakers in this movement:

• Asian Americans United
• CAIR-Philadelphia
• El Comite de Apoyo a Los Trabajadores Agricolas—The Farmworker Support Committee
• Free Migration Project
• Juntos
• New Sanctuary Movement
• NO ICE Philly
• Woori Center

Despite this encouraging news, the fight is far from over. Even as federal tactics are shifting, local solidarity with immigrants is crucial and makes a difference in what happens next. Our neighbors and loved ones need all of us to show up, stay informed, and take action together.

Don’t forget to register today. We look forward to seeing you May 21 at the Friends Center for this incredible night!

Since 1982, people seeking abortion care in Pennsylvania have been unable to use Medicaid to cover the cost. But thanks to decades of organizing, that unjust law was ruled unconstitutional on April 20.

This victory allowing Medicaid to be used for abortion care is the result of steady pressure from a broad coalition including Abortion Liberation Fund of Pennsylvania, Women’s Law Project, Planned Parenthood Southeastern Pennsylvania, and other abortion providers, organizers, and allies.

Because of movements, the tide is turning towards reproductive freedom. Over 30 years, the state of Pennsylvania paid a total of $134 million to Real Alternatives, a network of crisis pregnancy centers that coerced people seeking abortions into not having abortions. This contract was finally cancelled in 2023 after organizing campaigns raised awareness about this misuse of public funds. And now, because of the April 20 victory, public funding will be used to cover abortion care for people on Medicaid across the state.

Read more in this edition of our email newsletter.

Fear is a powerful tool. People who are afraid are more compliant, less likely to speak up. Today’s ICE patrols are a real threat to immigrants’ safety and livelihoods. But across the country, people are fighting back against ICE’s campaign of fear. In the past few weeks, Philadelphia clergy members have used civil disobedience, physically blocking garage exits to prevent ICE from going out into the city.

This week, thanks to the hard work of a coalition of movement organizations, Philadelphia City Council unanimously passed an “ICE Out” package of seven bills on Monday. Next week, it will head to Mayor Parker.

The ICE Out bills limit ICE’s powers across several fronts, including:

• Prohibiting ICE agents from using unmarked vehicles or wearing face coverings and requiring them to show a badge.
• Preventing the City, including local police, from collaborating with ICE.
• Creating a new protected class for immigration and citizenship status in the City’s Fair Practices Ordinance.

Read more in this edition of our email newsletter.

In a huge win for grassroots organizing, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled on March 26 that mandatory life sentences without parole for second-degree murder—also known as Death by Incarceration—are unconstitutional. Before this ruling, people who were convicted of any involvement in a crime that led to a death, regardless of their individual culpability, received the same sentence as the person convicted of murder.

This victory in the long struggle to dismantle Death by Incarceration was led by Amistad Law Project and Abolitionist Law Center, alongside a coalition of other movement organizations.

Kris Henderson, co-executive director of Amistad Law Project, told Bread & Roses: “This win is the result of decades of movement building by grassroots organizations both inside and outside prisons walls, like the Coalition to Abolish Death By Incarceration. Incarcerated people have mounted legal arguments in law libraries and mobilized their families and communities out here for their liberation. This win could lead to over 1,000 people who were sentenced to die in prison coming home, and they will be an enormous gift to our communities.”

Read more in this edition of our email newsletter.

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.