January Update from the CEO
We begin 2026, reminded that we live under a government willing to disappear, detain, and kill with impunity. We see this now in the expanding ICE raids, detention, kidnapping, and execution of people in our communities. The murders of Silverio Villegas González, Keith Porter, Renee Good, Alex Pretti, and others we are still learning about are a result of accelerating violence inflicted by ICE. They are not isolated tragedies. They are part of a broader pattern of dehumanization, disposability, and state-sanctioned harm that our movements are confronting every day.
An estimated 50,000 people marched in downtown Minneapolis last Saturday in -15 degree weather. Peacefule protesters demanded ICE out of Minnesota and an end to the federal occupation. Image courtesy of a Groundswell staff person who lives in Minneapolis.
That logic does not operate in the abstract. Reports that ICE agents used misogynistic, homophobic slurs in the aftermath of Renee Good’s killing make clear that white supremacist violence is not only racialized and militarized, but it is also deeply sexist, homophobic, and transphobic. In Minneapolis, the most recent killing of Alex Pretti—a 37-year-old ICU nurse who, according to eyewitness accounts, was trying to help a woman up and ensure she was okay when agents sprayed pepper spray and shoved protesters—underscores how that violence extends even to basic acts of care and protection. Pretti’s final words, “Are you okay,” as he sought to check on someone injured in the same encounter, stand in stark contrast to the dehumanizing rhetoric used to justify his death. This reveals a cruel inversion at the heart of state violence: there is a version of healthy masculinity grounded in care, protection, and accountability that is also punishable by death under a system where patriarchy, bodily control, and dominance reign supreme.
These losses sharpen what is already clear: this moment demands moral clarity, material solidarity, and disciplined action rooted in care for the people most targeted by state violence and oppression.
It is from this reality – where occupation shows up in our neighborhoods, workplaces, and civic life – that Groundswell enters its next chapter. We understand the urgency of this moment and the discipline required to meet it. Our approach is rooted in three interlocking commitments that guide how we show up alongside movements this year: to fortify what must endure, resist what must be stopped, and build the new worlds our communities deserve.
This is not a theoretical framework. It is a practical response to the challenges that movement leaders are facing on the ground. Across the country, organizations are being asked to do more with fewer resources while facing escalating attacks on bodily autonomy, civic engagement, and community infrastructure. In response, we are narrowing and deepening our investments in movement partners by two to five times per grant–prioritizing organizations that are doing one or more of these things at the same time: defending hard-won rights to bodily autonomy, building durable power, and prototyping new ways of caring for and governing our communities.
Beginning in 2026, Groundswell is concentrating resources on a cohort of deeply aligned partners at the intersection of bodily autonomy, democracy, and new world-building. We are also concentrating resources geographically. We are focusing funding in priority states and regions where the stakes are highest and where long-term organizing and base-building can shift what is possible. This includes frontline states in the South, Southwest, Midwest, and U.S. Territories. These decisions are about aligning our resources with real impact and our actual capacity.
Importantly, 2026 is also a year for learning. This year, we are using the opportunity to refine our model by making deeper investments, building communities of practice with movement partners and donors, and learning directly from the field about what strengthens resilience and power over time. This learning will inform how we scale in the years ahead, ensuring that Groundswell remains a trusted intermediary capable of meeting movements where they are while preparing for what comes next.
In a moment of occupation and impunity, this work demands both courage and care. We are grateful to begin 2026 alongside partners who are fortifying what sustains us, resisting what threatens our collective freedom, and building the new worlds that make liberation real. Thank you for being part of this work and for being shoulder-to-shoulder with movements in a time that requires nothing less.