Introduction
When the news is relentlessly awful, we cope by looking for reasons to be optimistic. Call it hope scrolling. October has offered some good indicators that resistance to MAGA is alive: universities refusing to sell their academic freedom for federal funds, news outlets rejecting Pentagon reporting restrictions, airports refusing to air DHS propaganda blaming Democrats for the government shutdown. Then there was October 18, when an estimated 7 million people peacefully rallied across the country to say No Kings, no ICE in our communities, no fascism in our country.
States are also playing a critical role in checking MAGA power this year. In less than a week, voters will have a chance to elect more bulwarks against the regime’s campaign of destruction, pass policies that address some of the safety net gaps the Big Ugly Bill created—and offer a glimpse of a more stable and equitable future.
Read on for a few examples of how we’re working to protect our communities while building toward our vision of a future without poverty.
Program Pulse
Ordinary People are Already Feeling the Pain of HR1 and the Government Shutdown
Amid the chaos and political posturing of the government shutdown, it’s important to remember the real harm and anxiety safety net cuts are already causing for many Americans. Since the shutdown began on October 1, we have been keeping folks informed and engaged, sending weekly updates to our network of grassroots partners with guidance about how they can fight to protect affordable health care access and connecting the media to people who are feeling the pain of cuts to programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). We have sent health care stories from constituents in frontline Republican districts to Democratic leadership on the Hill, and we continue to collect stories from people who rely on Affordable Care Act (ACA) enhanced subsidies. This month we launched a series of Ideas Labs—participatory research spaces that center the experiences of directly impacted people—specifically focused on ACA subsidies. The first Ideas Lab session was held on October 9 in Michigan, and we are recruiting participants from Alabama, Colorado, Georgia, Louisiana, and North Carolina for more sessions. Through these conversations, we are not only ensuring that ordinary people are heard in this debate, we are also tapping into their energy and creativity to begin to shift the narrative about the kind of health care system we deserve.
Blocking Cuts and Building Power in Colorado
We are working to blunt the impact of HR1—the Big Ugly Bill—on low-income communities threatened by cuts to the programs that help keep families healthy and fed. In Colorado, for example, Community Change Action is supporting the Healthy School Meals for All Campaign to fight for every student in the state to receive free school meals. In less than a week, voters will have the opportunity to vote on two ballot measures that, if enacted, would provide free meals to all students and could help restore some of the SNAP funding that was cut by HR1. To buttress the efforts of grassroots leaders in the state, Community Change Action is supporting field planning and training, assisting with digital ads and phone calls to educate the public about what’s at stake in 2025 and to build momentum in key districts toward 2026. So far, the conversations we are having show a high level of support, with 85% of people we talk to supporting the measures. If the measures succeed, they could lay the groundwork for future revenue fights to protect the social safety net.
A Permanent Guaranteed Income in Cook County?
This month saw an exciting step forward for our efforts to build an economic freedom movement when Cook County, in Illinois, included $7.5 million for a permanent guaranteed income program in its 2026 budget proposal. If the Cook County budget passes, it would represent the first permanent county-level guaranteed income program in the country. Community Change Action and our partners Equity and Transformation and Workers Center for Racial Justice have been organizing Chicago and Cook County residents to push for direct cash policies. We launched the campaign in July with an organizing “blitz,” knocking on thousands of doors, holding hundreds of conversations with people who would benefit from a guaranteed income program, and inviting people to join our Guaranteed Income (GI) Union, which currently has more than 2,000 members. On October 15, three members of the GI Union spoke at a public budget hearing, urging Cook County commissioners to support the funding and inviting them to continue the conversation about how GI supports vulnerable people and local economies. We also drove more than 3,000 emails to commissioners urging them to preserve the line item funding for GI. To learn more about the ambitious organizing work in Chicago, read ChangeWire Fellow Nateya Taylor’s account of canvassing for the GI Blitz in We all Gon’ EAT: The Fight for a Permanent Guaranteed Income Program in Illinois.
Before You Go
- Read Community Change Co-President Dorian Warren’s account of life as a Black father in occupied D.C. in The Progressive
- Community Change Co-President Lorella Praeli is quoted in The Moral Monsters Among Us in The Bulwark, describing the impact of ICE presence in school zones.
- In Autism Doesn’t Need a Cure, Our Families Need Support, Community Change Director of Digital Strategy Lizzie Maldonado lays out the dangers of the administration’s unhinged approach to “fixing” autism.
