Ohio special election: A win for our movement 🎉

After Ohioans, including Bend the Arc members, gathered enough signatures to get abortion access on the ballot in November, extremist GOP lawmakers scheduled a special election to make it harder for ballot measures to pass.

Bend the Arc: Jewish Action Ohio leaders once again mobilized to get out the vote and they won! Voters turned out in record numbers yesterday to defend voting rights and abortion access.

There’s still more to do in our fight for reproductive justice — the right to have children in safe communities and without fear — starting with the election in November. Leaders from Bend the Arc are already back to work, making plans to get out the vote and ensure success in the next election.

Budgets are moral documents: How we’re fighting for better budgets around the country

As Congress finalizes next year’s budget, 12 Bend the Arc chapters urged their members of Congress to invest in a future with safety for all of us.

Leaders from Bend the Arc: Jewish Action Champaign-Urbana also met with Sen. Durbin (D-IL) in July to raise these issues in person!

We’re fighting to #StopCopCity: “Imagine if this $90 million went right into the community instead”

A coalition of local, statewide, and regional organizations and individuals has come together to place Cop City’s future in voters’ hands. Bend the Arc: Jewish Action Atlanta leaders, along with Bend the Arc members from around the country, are helping make sure the referendum gets enough signatures to qualify for the ballot.

Check out this NEW video to learn more and get involved in efforts to collect signatures before Monday’s deadline:

Watch the video & share it with your networks on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, or Twitter.

The People’s Response Act: A pathway to health-centered community safety

Leaders from Bend the Arc: Jewish Action Maryland were proud to stand beside Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO1) last month as she re-introduced the People’s Response Act. This ambitious and achievable legislation would deliver community safety through the health-centered programs our communities need, rather than through harmful, racist systems of policing. 

Learn more about the People’s Response Act on the campaign website and by watching the press conference.

Bend the Arc at the the 22nd Century Conference: Forging a people-powered democracy

Bend the Arc showed up powerfully at last month’s 22nd Century Conference in Minneapolis, which brought together 600+ activists committed to blocking the rise of the authoritarian right and advancing our vision for a thriving future.

Antisemitism and anti-Black racism are intertwined drivers of rising authoritarianism, making Bend the Arc's presence and leadership vital to the conversations. Our Board Chair Ginna Green emceed two plenaries, and Bend the Arc staff Graie Hagans and Enzi Tanner co-led three workshop sessions focused on fighting antisemitism and its weaponization, and how solidarity-based narrative strategies can strengthen our organizing. We also brought together a multiracial Jewish contingent rooted in Black leadership that will be reconvening post-conference to continue strategizing together.

Thank you for reading these stories and being with us in this work.

Whether you show up by taking action in the streets, organizing with your local chapter, contacting your elected officials, donating to power our movement, or following along with us from wherever you are — this work takes all of us. We are so glad you are here.

In solidarity,
The Bend the Arc team