Last week, Enlace, Black Alliance for Just Immigration, Ella Baker Center and Million Hoodies brought together 40 powerful organizers from across the country to further develop the #FreedomCities vision and seed Freedom Cities and Freedom Campus campaigns across the country. We continued to develop what our movement of Black, youth, faith, immigrant, Latinx, Muslim, pro-Palestine, anti-war, Asian, student and low-wage worker communities will do together, to transform our local communities and to transform the country through our national network. We walked away with 7 cities ready to take action to become Freedom Cities, and even more ready to take the first step towards Freedom Cities by using a Freedom Cities analysis in May Day and by joining the Night Out for Safety & Liberation. Themes that emerged throughout the day-long convening centered around divesting resources from harm, and investing in liberation. Together, we got clearer on how our organizing must change to accomplish this, to create a movement that is led by and inclusive of many impacted communities. We discussed how abolishing policing and prisons, and reclaiming peacemaking fits within all our struggles. We shared how Prison Divestment is a pillar of the Freedom Cities movement, and how all divest-invest campaigns that are led by the people most impacted and lead to community control of resources can fit within Freedom Cities.
Freedom Cities organizing principles

We also walked away from the day with a recommitment to language justice. The Freedom Cities website is now up in Spanish, and we’ll be translating the toolkit soon. If you can help us translate materials into more languages or if you have a campaign that meets the definitions of Freedom Cities, please reach out to us.
Freedom Cities Toolkit
This toolkit is a starting place for the Freedom Cities movement to collectively answer the question: As we demand an end to the municipal policies and practices that harm us, what vision are we offering in its place that unites and builds the leadership of all marginalized communities? Download the toolkit