In this month’s issue, we are happy to share several celebratory and newsworthy updates from our partners and colleagues at Alabama Arise, In Our Own Voice: National Black Women’s Reproductive Justice Agenda, Missouri Jobs with Justice, Ohio Organizing Collaborative, United Vision for Idaho, and Vot-ER.

Earlier this month, after 450 individual members and partners of Alabama Arise gathered, Arise voted and released their 2025 priorities.

In a press release, Robyn Hyden (Executive Director) shared, “Alabama Arise believes in dignity, equity and justice for everyone. Our 2025 legislative priorities would empower Alabamians of every race, income and background to reach their full potential. And they reflect our members’ commitment to building a healthier, more just and more inclusive Alabama for all.” 

Priorities of their membership include:

In Our Own Voice recently celebrated its 10th year anniversary on October 13th! Over the course of ten years, IOOV has spoken with countless decision makers, met with hundreds of RJ stakeholders, and has fostered the next generations of RJ leaders. In their own words, “We have been bold, sometimes fiery, and we have stood for justice and equity”. Congratulations to the entire team and network on ten phenomenal years!

Earlier this month, Rx staff were delighted to connect with Dr. Regina Davis Moss, CEO and President of IOOV, at Smith College. Davis Moss joined forces with Marcela Howell, founder of IOOV, and Sapna Khatri, Director of the Reproductive Justice Unit in Massachusetts’ Attorney General’s office, to speak on a panel, “From the Margins to the Center: How Black Women Advance Reproductive Justice Policy”. Davis Moss, Howell, and Khatri covered a wide range of topics all centered on policy advocacy and reproductive justice.

One point, made by Davis Moss, reminded us of our interview with her a month ago – namely that reproductive freedom is not reproductive justice. Davis Moss reminded attendees that we need a much more expansive framework than freedom in order to secure health equity and justice for Black women, girls, and gender-expansive people – and that framework is reproductive justice.

In celebration of the 10th anniversary of In Our Own Voice: Black Women’s Reproductive Justice Policy Agenda, the event at Smith also featured IOOV’s traveling Black Reproductive Justice “HERstory” exhibit, showcasing the history, stories and continuing impact of the foremothers of the Black reproductive justice movement. In all, it was a great event that celebrated the work of the founding mothers and advocates who came before us, as well as the future leaders set to take the helm of reproductive justice advocacy and organizing in the years ahead!

The MO JwJ team recently celebrated 25 years of fighting for workers in Missouri! Their month of celebration included the “Springfield solidarity squad” gathering in-person with close partner organizations like Action St. Louis, Abortion Action Missouri, Missouri Workers Center, People’s Action, Missouri Rural Crisis Center, and more, to collectively honor the past 25 years.

This powerful, short video showcases several longtime MO JwJ leaders who share why they joined the organization and what their membership means to them. Congratulations to the entire MO JwJ team!

Following a successful conference in May to shed light on health care disparities for Black women in Ohio, the OOC, in partnership with Policy Matters Ohio, recently released findings from conversations with over 500 Black women on the topic of healthcare.

Their research reveals startling disparities in health, including higher rates of maternal mortality and limited access to quality healthcare. Importantly, it also offers several health care policies and interventions to design a more equitable health care system in Ohio, including things like funding Black-led public health and birthing programs, declaring racism as a public health crisis, and continuing investments in programs addressing the social determinants of health.

UVI is at the forefront of transforming America’s politically divisive landscape by addressing the root causes of extremism and connecting people across social and political division through their innovative, technology-enhanced model of Authentic Relational Organizing (ARO). UVI actively engages people with opposing views, creating a unique space for transformative dialogue and understanding between ordinary folks who would otherwise be divided. This ARO approach not only bridges interpersonal divides but also offers crucial off-ramps for people with entrenched ideologies, fostering a more inclusive and empathetic pro-democracy movement at scale.

As a part of their ongoing ARO work, UVI recently released a self-guided online training on “How to Have Authentic Relational Conversations”, available online for anyone who is interested in how we can continue to meaningfully engage people with opposing and extremist views. 

After watching their welcome video, you can register for the self-guided online training below to access the self-paced training and learn directly from UVI about how to create a more open dialogue between yourself and your family, friends, or neighbors.

Vot-ER has been busy transforming routine healthcare visits into opportunities for civic empowerment through their nonpartisan and HIPAA compliant voter registration tools and programs like their civic health fellowship. 

Just this month, two former secretaries of state and a doctor penned an op-ed for USA Today proclaiming that “Registering voters at medical facilities would be a good Rx for democracy“.

In their piece, Trey Grayson, Miles Rapoport and Dr. Ali Raja write, “Public health issues ‒ from air quality and public safety to opioid use prevention and housing stability ‒ profoundly influence our daily lives. If the policies impacting health are shaped without the voices of health care professionals and patients, we risk undermining the very foundation of public health and community well-being.” 

Vot-ER’s work was highlighted in the op-ed not only for their widespread national impact, as they’ve helped over 700 medical facilities empower patients to address the root causes of their health by voting, but as a powerful remedy for creating a more engaged, representative and health-conscious democracy.