When 2025 came at us like a wrecking ball—with mass ICE kidnappings, National Guard threats, safety net destruction, and devastating fires—ACCE didn't wait to see what would happen. We moved immediately—into the streets, knocking on doors, putting ourselves on the line before the dust had even settled. This moment called for bravery, and we brought it. We met uncertainty with action, fear with courage, and chaos with the disciplined organizing our communities needed to survive and fight back.
This year demanded that we stretch in three directions at once: protect our communities from immediate harm, defeat Trump's authoritarian agenda, and build the future we deserve. And ACCE members across California showed up with courage.
We protected communities under siege: We hosted over 200 Immigrant & Tenant Know Your Rights workshops reaching 5,000+ people. We led LA's Rapid Response Network with 130+ trained responders across South Central. We defended tenants facing illegal intimidation, fraudulent charges, and unsafe conditions—from Oakland tenants organizing against landlords threatening to call ICE, to expanding LA's Tenant Anti-Harassment Ordinance enforcement. We organized in Bakersfield against Medicaid cuts, expanding into the Central Valley. We won eviction protections for LA fire survivors and helped raise nearly $1 million for grassroots relief.
We took the fight to the billionaire class: We launched the People Over Billionaires campaign, shut down Palantir offices and Thiel Capital with direct action, marched on billionaire row in San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego with hundreds of people, and our viral content reached over one million views. We built out campaigning infrastructure and launched our Mass Organizing Project to scale toward the 3.5% we need to turn back authoritarianism.
We fought for the future: We cut LA's rent cap from 8% to 4%—one of the biggest tenant victories in the country. We brought hundreds to Sacramento for AB 1157 to cut the state’s rent cap and are gearing up for the fight ahead. We launched new chapters, trained over 100 ACCE spokespeople, trained dozens of members to become volunteer organizers who are now leading their own communities campaigns, and seeded groundbreaking work on social housing, code enforcement, climate justice, and utility affordability.
This wasn't a year of easy wins. But it was a year of building power, testing new strategies, and proving that communities can organize at the scale this moment demands.
Read the full 2025 ACCE Impact Report to see how we're meeting this authoritarian moment with defiant, joyful, disciplined organizing—and preparing for even bolder campaigns in 2026.
When we fight, we win. And we're just getting started.
In solidarity,
Christina Livingston, Executive Director of ACCE Institute