We are excited, and a bit nervous, to announce that we will be joining our parent organization, Movement Alliance Project (MAP), in a strategic planning break. Starting on February 22nd, we will be pausing our online activity to join the MAP team in a period of study, reflection and planning. Our goal is to leave the period with a solid framework for our next years to come.
We launched Philly We Rise in 2017, following Trump’s presidential win. We aimed to be a resource for the many people who were new to activism and were searching for ways to combat his administration’s destructive policies around immigration, queer and trans rights, workers’ rights, healthcare and climate. We worked to connect individuals with the local organizations that had been leading these fights for years, and encouraged our community to work towards a larger vision of justice and liberation for our city and nation.
This year marked a close to that chapter, an end to Trump’s presidency. While our platform has always been about more than one person or one president, this is a fitting moment for pause and reflection. We will be using this time to look back on our last four years, assess where we’ve been successful at supporting the Philadelphia social justice movement, and figure out how we can strengthen and improve all that we do.
During the break, we will not be updating our social media or website with event listings, calls to action or protest documentation. As the MAP team has joked, “no tweeting, no meeting!” Instead, we will use this time to study social justice movements of the past, reflect on our past work, and plan for what’s next.
We will begin ramping our work back up in the Spring.
We are immensely grateful to all of you for your support through the years and during this time of pause and reflection. We can’t wait to return with a strong vision and clear plan for the future!
In solidarity and gratitude,
All of us at Philly We Rise and MAP; Mariam, Bryan, Helyx, Clarise, Hannah, Jenessa, Shari, Sophie, Zoraida, Jacob and Devren