our collective impact

Collective liberation is possible when we commit to building new leadership and political power, especially where reproductive justice is most under attack.

Learn about the collective impact we made to advance reproductive justice in 2023-24. Read the report.

reproductive justice reaches beyond roe—and so do we

The reproductive justice frame work recognizes the deep intersectional ties between racial, gender, and economic justice – and their impact on people’s lives, choices and access when building their family. We are committed to supporting the voices of youth, BIPOC, and low income communities – and to breaking down the economic barriers that keep them from the table. Our programs are free to all participants, and our Collective Rising Interns are paid for their work.

The only antidote I know to rage and despair is our collective passion and determination. Together we are weaving a new tapestry of justice and freedom for all people.
Marlene Gerber Fried

honoring the visionary work of LONG-TIME DIRECTOR, marlene gerber fried.

In 2022 we launched The Marlene Fund: Supporting Activism, Building Movements. The fund was created to support Collective Power’s national expansion in honor of our long-time, accomplished, and beloved faculty director, Marlene Gerber Fried, who retired from teaching at the end of this academic year.

The need for programs that educate, train, and support young people in hostile, rural, and conservative areas as activists and leaders is even more acute today. The first phase of our national expansion has significantly increased access to our programs and work in geographic areas most in need of reproductive justice activists and leaders. 

The Marlene Fund is supporting the launch of our new Collective Rising Fellowship.  It will also allow us to expand our Collective Rising Internship program from 30 interns to 50 interns by 2026. 

Honoring 40+ years of advancing the movement.

We created a powerful tool – an interactive, educational timeline – showing the power of four decades of investment into the movement,  in the context of activism within the movements for reproductive health, rights, and justice.  

Visit the interactive timeline.

we worked with fellows to build up the reproductive justice movement across 5 census regions.

Thanks to The Marlene Fund, we have taken the first step in our national expansion: a pilot of the Collective Rising Fellows program. 

Building the reproductive justice movement means we must lift up the work and leadership of people deeply impacted by reproductive injustice and support them in sustaining that work in their own communities.  

A regional presence allows us to be part of and support the community, creating deeper roots, lifting up voices of local leaders, and being responsive to local needs. 

Our cohort of fellows are five incredible young activists, all of whom have been through our internship program. They are working across the country from Texas to Chicago (each in a different census region).

collective power alumni create change.

Without the support of Collective Power, I would not have had the ability to believe in myself as an organizer, student, and future abortion-providing physician. This program afforded me a chosen family that is as invested in using a reproductive justice framework to fight for their communities as much as I am. Because of Collective Power, I was able to be paid for an internship that allowed me to shadow abortion providers, sit in on state legislative hearings, and assist in documenting abortion stories in Massachusetts. I even got to meet with the CEO of the nonprofit (who was once an abortion provider) to discuss my future aspirations and receive career advice.
Jasmine Shabazz, now an M.D. Candidate at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine-Greenville
Collective Power was one of my first introductions to the Reproductive Justice movement. Every time I think about how much I’ve achieved, I always connect it to my beginning with this program! Collective Power introduced me to a community that I never knew existed, giving me relationships that I still hold strong today.
Lexis Dotson-Dufault, Resource Coordinator at Women Have Options (Ohio’s statewide abortion fund), an abortion storyteller with We Testify, and a campus organizer for abortion access with Advocates for Youth
Collective Power quite literally put me on the path that I am on today, both professionally and personally. I currently work at the non-profit where I interned back in 2019; the internship program is what gave me the connections and skills I needed. It was through Collective Power that I grew more confident in myself, was challenged, and began to solidify my values amongst a community of others looking to do the same.
Simran Singh Jain, Membership Coordinator with SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective