Through local organizing, we’re sparking national transformation rooted in abundance, common good, freedom, and joy.
Our Mission
PowerSwitch Action is a national community of leaders, organizers, and strategists forging multiracial feminist democracy and economies in our cities and towns.
Our network of 21 grassroots affiliates weaves strategic alliances and alignments amongst labor, neighborhood, housing, racial justice, faith, ethnic-based, and environmental organizations.
Together, we’re building people power and people’s institutions. We win innovative public policy and rein in greedy corporations to realize our collective freedom and liberation.
Our Vision
We believe that everyday people can transform the economy, government, and public goods in our communities.
Our work is grounded in breaking the interlocking chains of oppression — economic exploitation, white supremacy, gender violence — and replacing them with systems built for human dignity and authentic democracy.
When we envision what freedom means for our communities, we see a world where:
- Housing is a right and land is commonly-owned, stewarded and protected.
Our economy and the rules for how goods are produced, services delivered, and wealth produced are governed democratically. - Public safety means housing, healthcare, education, community centers, and all the things that truly keep us safe.
- We embrace a feminism that recognizes care work, values quiet leadership, and holds space for everyone to share their wisdom.
Our Long Term Agenda
Reaching our vision requires changing the way we organize. Between 2017 and 2021, the leaders of our network came together to understand the conditions in which we are operating, imagine what a people- and planet-centered economy looks like, and find strategies to get us there over the next decades.
Through this process, we developed a long term agenda guided by four interwoven core strategies:
How We Operate
Power building rooted in cities and towns
We weave grassroots alliances that change the power dynamics in our local communities, and build the organized people power to take on bigger fights. By showing the promise of multiracial feminist democracies locally, we can spark transformation at the state and national level.
Taking back our cities from corporations
Corporate profit-hoarding is a primary driver of poverty and racial and gender injustice in America. We wage strategic campaigns that bring corporations to heel and protect working people, our communities, and our planet.
Deep leadership development
We develop new leaders who reflect the vision and diversity of our communities. We believe building power starts at home, so we invest in deep leadership development, including coaching and retreats for leaders in our organizations to find sustainable ways to stand in their power.
Strategic research & communications
We conduct strategic research to root our strategies in critical inquiry, data, and analysis. Through multi-faceted communications, we shine a spotlight on corporate malfeasance and show what’s possible when communities come together and win innovative solutions.
Playing to win
We’re not here just to reduce harm in a system that treats people — especially Black and Brown people, women, and immigrants — as disposable. We seek an economy and democracy where working people, BIPOC folks, and gender-oppressed people hold governing power — because that’s how all of us get free.