Thinking Big Gatherings

This project emerged from a joint project of The Action Lab and The Forge, to engage a group of experienced leaders of base-building organizations across the country (the Power Working Group or PWG)to contribute to evolving the social justice field’s capacity to realize our boldest ambitions. Though our organizations and movements have won important victories, we have not yet figured out how to build people power at the scale and depth necessary to realize our vision for a just society.

The PWG has met regularly since mid-2022 and has engaged a broad group of over 300 experienced organizers and social justice leaders across the country to grapple with the challenges confronting our movement, our democracy, and our organizations. Through in-depth interviews and numerous surveys with practitioners, we have captured what our movement is thinking about the Left and our power — and the role of our organizations in building power to win. In Spring 2024, we will publish major findings from this large scale project and share many promising interventions to evolve the practice and field of organizing. We will also organize various field conversations with The Forge and others to spark innovations to meet the various challenges identified in our extensive research.