Transforming Tomorrow: Leading Solutions at the Intersection of Reproductive Justice and Climate Change

Welcome to the finale of our three-part mini-series highlighting Groundswell’s long-term grantee organizations that have been instrumental in advancing reproductive justice solutions. You can check out the first (May 2024) and second (August 2024) editions of Transforming Tomorrow.

In this final edition, we spotlight Florida Rising Together, a Catalyst Fund grantee passionately committed to advancing economic and racial justice across Florida. By empowering historically marginalized communities, along with its c4 arm Florida Rising (formerly The New Florida Majority), funded by Groundswell Action Fund since 2017, they’re building a movement for real change.

As the devastating impact of Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton continues to ripple across Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee, causing injuries, loss of life, displacement, power outages, and widespread flooding, we want to shine a light on Florida Rising Together. Their work in supporting vulnerable communities during these trying times has been nothing short of essential.

Climate change disproportionately impacts the reproductive rights, health, and overall well-being of marginalized communities, particularly women, people of color, and LGBTQIA+ individuals. Both the Reproductive Justice and Climate Justice Movements seek to address systemic inequities, and their intersection highlights how environmental degradation and policy decisions affect people’s ability to exercise bodily autonomy, access healthcare, and live in safe and healthy environments.

Because of that intersection, philanthropy must invest in organizations that are addressing the systemic challenges that disproportionately impact Black, Indigenous, people of color, women, and LGBTQIA+ communities. These issues, ranging from inadequate access to quality reproductive care to a lack of investment in a green economy, are deeply intertwined, and the solutions must come from the communities experiencing these challenges firsthand.

Led by women of color (WOC), Florida Rising Together is at the frontlines of this work. From helping families avoid eviction during emergencies, collaborating with Organizing Resilience to create language-inclusive Hurricane Preparedness Checklists, to fiercely resisting legislation that seeks to control women’s and femmes’ bodies while stripping away critical resources, they are driving change where it’s needed most.

Despite their pivotal role in fostering civic engagement and grassroots organizing, organizations like Florida Rising Together and Florida Rising are often marginalized in terms of mainstream funding.

As Groundswell Action Fund’s Executive Director, Quanita Toffie, says, “Florida is ground zero for what is known among organizers and philanthropists as ‘boom-and-bust’ funding—meaning money flows in during big election cycles and dries up immediately after. Yet organizing is a 24/7 operation.”*

As we face the growing impacts of the climate crisis and battle extreme anti-LGBTQIA+ and anti-abortion legislation, both in Florida and nationwide, we urge the philanthropic community to make long-term investments in people of color-led movements. These leaders have the trust and deep cultural ties necessary to mobilize communities hit hardest by reproductive, racial, climate, and gender injustices—not just during election cycles but far beyond them.

Groundswell Action Fund’s Program Director Victoria Cepeida-Majarro spoke to Florida Rising’s Development Manager Natasha Murcia, and Development Director Kenneth Jones to learn more about the crucial work they are leading in Florida. Below is the summary.

Q: What is important for donors and funders to know about investing in Florida?

A: It’s crucial for donors to understand the significance of investing in Florida year-round. We view Florida as a testing ground for policies like abortion access, which we worked on tirelessly throughout 2023. As we see it, any legislation that passes here sets a precedent. If conservative politicians and governors see harmful policies succeed in Florida, they will attempt to replicate them in other states, potentially spreading them nationwide. That’s why our primary focus is stopping these initiatives early.

In 2023, we partnered with Floridians Protecting Freedom, which has been central to our reproductive justice efforts. Nearly one million people signed the petition to get abortion access back on the ballot. Together, we raised about $16 million to launch this initiative and set up eight petition collection hubs across Florida.

We recently celebrated a significant milestone: the Florida Supreme Court approved getting abortion back on the ballot in November. We’re rallying around the Yes on 4 Amendment to solidify support. This November, voters can vote on this amendment, which limits government interference in personal reproductive decisions.

Q: Did you all engage in any policy work in 2023?

A: Yes, policy work has been a major focus. The campaign for energy democracy, for example, targeted Florida Power and Light company’s monopoly on the state–there was a Supreme Court decision on public interest here. Preemption was the central legislative strategy we dealt with—when a higher level of government overrides or limits the power of local governments on specific issues. In 2023, we saw preemption ramp up, undermining local housing and climate policy regulations.

Q: What major struggle or roadblock have you faced during the past year that is important for donors and funders to understand?

A: The biggest challenge we face is the constant pushback from Florida legislators. We’ve had to rethink our strategy to address this, focusing even more on power-building and infrastructure. For instance, due to new restrictions on voter registration in 2023, we had to adapt how we collect voter registration cards and get people registered to vote. Florida Rising was one of the few nonprofit organizations that developed a solution that allowed us to continue collecting voter registration cards despite these restrictions.

We are fundamentally a power-building organization. We’re committed to building power within our communities and strengthening our organizational capacity to advocate effectively on behalf of our members. For us, Groundswell is positioned to play a dual role in leadership development and recruiting people into this work.

* In 2021, Florida Rising Together (c3) and Florida Rising (c4) were born from the merger of Organize Florida and New Florida Majority, two grassroots power-building organizations aimed at amplifying the political voice of communities of color and fostering multi-racial unity across the state.

As an intermediary, Groundswell is a leader in strategically moving resources to grassroots organizations within the Reproductive Justice Movement and other major social movements across the U.S. We act as a bridge between donors, foundations, and grassroots organizations, bringing alignment around issues.

Thank you for following along with our three-part mini-series, where we’ve spotlighted Groundswell’s long-term grantee organizations driving impactful reproductive justice solutions. We hope you’ve been inspired by their incredible work. Be sure to stay tuned for our next series, where we’ll highlight the vital efforts of our trans-led grantee organizations in defending and advancing bodily autonomy.