The Work Ahead: Building the Movement We Need for This Moment

The times we are living in now call for us to do much more than defend what has already been built.  They demand that we imagine, organize, and fight for what comes next.

As I step into the role of Executive Director of Advancement Project, I find myself thinking not only about the challenges before us, but also about the possibilities of what it means to build a multiracial democracy when the very foundations of that democracy are being contested; what it takes to build lasting power in communities that have long been excluded from the decisions shaping their lives; and what kind  of movement infrastructure do we need to not simply withstand this moment, but emerge from it stronger.

These questions have shaped my work at Advancement Project since I joined in 2022 — first as the Deputy Executive Director and ultimately serving as Interim Executive Director — and they will continue to guide my leadership in this next chapter.

At Advancement Project, we have always understood that sustaining our democracy is about more than the act of voting. It’s about who has power, who gets to exercise it, whose voices shape public policy, and whether communities can meaningfully determine their own futures. Our work sits at the intersection of racial justice, democracy, and movement building. We are a national legal and racial justice organization, rooted in the belief that the people most affected by injustice must be at the center of informing and shaping the solutions. Our approach is grounded in the traditions of the civil rights movement, but also in the recognition that the challenges we face today require new strategies, new partnerships, and a willingness to continually evolve.

I have always believed that the role of an organization like ours is not to arrive in communities with all the answers. It is to listen, build alongside local partners, bring resources and expertise where they are needed, and help movements develop the power to win. We are the kind of organization that movements turn to when they need to build something new, test a bold strategy, or take on a challenge that others are unwilling to confront.

We are willing to work across and connect issues that are too often treated as separate: voting rights and state violence, immigrant justice and criminal justice, racial justice and the structures of governance that determine whose interests are served. These are interconnected struggles over power, self-determination, and the promise of a genuinely inclusive democracy.

As we approach the midterm elections, much of the national conversation will focus on outcomes: who wins, which policies advance, and what the results mean for the future of our democracy. These outcomes matter enormously, but I am equally interested in what this election will reveal about us.

I’m curious if we’ll see evidence that years of organizing, coalition building, and movement infrastructure have created durable power in communities across the country. Perhaps we’ll see if we’ve built the relationships and trust necessary to mobilize people not only in moments of crisis, but over the long term. This moment will test if our organizations are prepared to respond when the systems meant to protect democracy fail to do so.

We may learn more about the limits of our current strategies and determine exactly where we’ve built meaningful connections across racial, geographic, and issue-based divides, and where those connections remain fragile. As communities that have the resources, organizing infrastructure, legal support, and communications capacity to shape the political landscape may rise to the occasion, we may uncover which communities are still being asked to carry extraordinary burdens with too little support.

I am particularly interested in what this election will reveal about our capacity to respond to threats beyond the ballot box. What happens when communities face intimidation, voter suppression, challenges to election administration, or attempts to undermine the legitimacy of election results? How prepared are we to connect the immediate work of protecting voters with the longer-term work of building community power?

And perhaps most importantly, what will this election teach us about the gaps in our movement? Where are we still operating in silos? Where are we missing critical relationships, strategies, or infrastructure? What are the communities and voices we have not adequately centered? And what might become possible if we were willing to confront those gaps together?

I don’t believe there is a single blueprint for movement success. I believe our ability to ask difficult questions, learn from our experiences, and adapt our strategies will be essential to building a movement capable of meeting this moment together.

One of the things that has most shaped my leadership at Advancement Project is my conviction that lawyering, when rooted in movements, can be a powerful tool for transformative change.

Too often, legal advocacy is understood as a process of responding after some form of injustice has occurred: filing lawsuits, defending rights, and seeking remedies within existing systems. While that work is essential, movement lawyering asks us to think more expansively about the role of the law and the lawyers who wield it and ultimately, work with communities and movements to build power and determine how legal strategies can help reach this goal.

This can look like ensuring lawyers work alongside organizers, directly impacted communities, and local leaders from the beginning, rather than arriving only when a legal problem emerges. It means recognizing that legal strategies can help create space for organizing, protect the right to protest, challenge discriminatory systems, and defend the ability of communities to shape their own futures. It means understanding that a courtroom victory, while important, is not always sufficient to achieve lasting change. Instead, we can envision building movements where lawyers are accountable not simply to their cases, but to the communities and long-term campaigns those cases are meant to serve.

These visions are at the heart of Advancement Project’s work and the future I believe we must help build.

The threats facing our communities are urgent, and we cannot afford to underestimate them. In this election, movement lawyering will be critical to protect the democratic process and the people who make it possible, but our work can’t end when the polls close or the results are certified. We must also prepare to defend the right to organize, challenge the use of state power to silence dissent, protect immigrant communities, and confront the policies and structures that perpetuate racial exclusion.

We need to be able to defend voting rights while also imagining more representative systems of governance. We need to challenge racialized state violence while building new forms of community safety and self-determination. We need to confront policies that exclude immigrant communities while advancing a vision of belonging that reflects the multiracial reality of our country. This is the kind of expansive, interconnected work that I believe Advancement Project is uniquely positioned to move forward.

It will require us to think beyond traditional organizational boundaries and beyond the timelines of individual campaigns. It will require deeper investment in Black-led organizations and other community-rooted groups that are already doing the work, often with far fewer resources than what the scale of their responsibilities truly calls for. It will require philanthropy to support the infrastructure of movements, not simply individual projects or short-term wins. At the same time, it will require organizations like ours to be honest about where we add value, where we need to change, and where we should make room for others to lead.

As Executive Director, I see my role as helping Advancement Project meet this moment with clarity, courage, and a willingness to evolve. That means building on the extraordinary expertise and commitment of our staff, strengthening our partnerships, and creating the conditions for our organization to take thoughtful risks and pursue ambitious strategies.

I know that leadership in this moment is not about having every answer, but about creating the space, relationships, and shared purpose necessary to find them together.