Read our 2023 Annual Report
THANK YOU FOR READING!
And while our issues play a role in that conversation, our work in 2023 was not about flash; it was about walking alongside our partners on the long, deliberate journey to build power in our communities. Though some of our work last year was in preparation for the 2024 election, it was also in anticipation of what would come after. While some of that work was defensive, fighting against the backlash to victories won, some of it was preemptive, creating conditions that will make our communities free and safe. At Advancement Project, we are building the world that we know is possible.
The ways in which our movement’s power can be undermined became clear before the statewide elections in Virginia.
Weeks before an election in which all legislative seats were on the ballot, the Commonwealth announced that they had wrongfully removed 270 voters whose voting rights had been restored. Three weeks later, the Governor admitted that it was nearly 3,400 voters. We know this kind of alleged mistake disproportionately impacts people of color. Having worked on voting rights restoration in Virginia since 2001 and won victories to streamline the process, we moved quickly on behalf of our partner New Virginia Majority to team up with allies to investigate the state’s removal procedures.
Unfortunately, this so-called racial reckoning was quickly blunted by a false narrative about dramatic rises in violent crime. Perhaps the most visible symbol of this backlash came in the form of Cop City in Atlanta, a behemoth, $90 million police “training facility” that will occupy 85 acres of green space in the city. Organizers protesting its construction have experienced physical violence at the hands of the police, including the death of one activist, and, in some cases, charged criminally under racketeering and conspiracy laws.
While we supported local efforts in Atlanta to protect protesters, we also supported efforts to develop new public safety models that do not rely on harsh policing and punishments. Our Justice Project spent 2023 working alongside partners like Freedom Community Center in St. Louis to envision and implement community-based interventions for episodes of violence that occur in their community.
Our country has always made progress to a more just society because of the organizing and demands of young people, and today is no different. Our Opportunity to Learn program continues to build and support a national movement of young people demanding education justice: removing police from their schools and seeking investments in the public schools that they deserve.
By convening young people from across the country to build Police Free Schools campaign—holding space for them to dream together, learn from one another, and simply be in community with likeminded people—we continue to provide not only critical infrastructure for the movement to provide safe schools but also the next generation of advocates in the struggle for racial justice.
Doing the work, even when it gets hard, has always been our charge at Advancement Project. It will always rest at the core of who we are as an organization. We have the audacity to believe that we will all be free someday and that racism will no longer exist. Please continue reading to see how we made an impact in our communities in 2023!
In solidarity,Judith Browne Dianis
