Caste in India: Hip hop fights for Dalit rights

Immigrant Families Together is a coalition of volunteers trying reunify parents and children that were separated due to the Donald Trump administration’s “Zero Tolerance” policy. They are paying for bonds, releasing immigrants, and driving them across state lines to be reunited with their children. Already, they’ve helped reunite a dozen families.

Little attention is given to black men who are victims of gun violence but survive and need help. An organization in California is mobilizing all gun-violence victims to voice their opinion on criminal justice reform and support for victims.

To promote the need to end intersex surgery, an organization launched a multi-pronged campaign that raised awareness about the potentially damaging impacts of the practice. The group used social media, created a petition, and held protests outside of a local hospital – all of which resulted in the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago issuing an apology and declaring that "they will no longer be performing intersex surgeries unless absolutely medically necessary moving forward." Throughout the world, similar awareness efforts have also garnered positive outcomes.

Once regarded as the region in Sao Paulo with the highest number of COVID-19 deaths, Brasilandia residents mobilized their community to create a volunteer solidarity network that encouraged people to stay at home. The effort started with just a handful of participants but grew to over 200 volunteers with each new addition joining an action plan team that utilized a different form of campaigning, such as music or art. Since the implementation of the network Brasilandia "went from 1st to 2nd highest number of COVID-19 related deaths in the city."

In Rochester, NY, the Center for Teen Empowerment, a nonprofit that trains youth in community organizing, personal development, and anti-violence, is working to bring kids off the street and into safety. The program, which started in Boston, is centered on four ideas: jobs (paying the youth hired as organizers), teamwork, agency (letting them build their own activist agendas), and peer influence. While hard to evaluate because of its situational, qualitative nature, city officials, including law enforcement, point to the program as a factor in the decrease in violence across the city.

Native individuals and members of groups like Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women have taken it into their own hands to find members of their communities who have gone missing. Recognizing that decades-old legislation often under-prioritizes tribal lands, indigenous populations have turned to grassroots efforts and social media to form their own search parties – and are seeing results.

The Young People’s Chorus of New York City uses music and dance to provide an emotional and creative outlet for children and teens from disparate communities. Through opera, dance, and chorus, this group creates connections between students who may never interact otherwise. The YPC now has a membership of 1,700 students and partnerships with famous composers, like Michael Torke, that produces original music. On top of everything else, the group also offers SAT tutoring, homework help, and guidance on applying to college.

The teenage girls of Thennamadevi are leaders in their community. They’re actively fighting against gender discrimination by organizing. They successfully lobbied politicians and brought streetlights, and sanitary napkins to their village. Across the country, similar girls clubs are being implemented, reflecting an international girls power movement.

In Detroit, Michigan, residents reduce the effects of gentrification through physical activity and shared storytelling. The non-profit Pedal to Porch encourages residents to bike to their neighbors’ homes and record their memories. The effort helps retain some of the identity in Detroit’s changing communities and establishes new connections for the city to grow. Founder Cornetta Lane notes, “communities are more likely to bounce back from social and natural disasters when they know each other.”

Under an administration that frequently spouts racist rhetoric and enforced divisive legislation such as the Muslim ban and the border wall, minority communities - particularly Islamic and Latino communities - are having to work harder than ever to combat the dichotomy of their neighborhoods. In Santa Ana, the Islamic Center has created a clever way to unite the varied demographics of the community: taco trucks - once the punch line of a derogatory quip from a Trump supporter - open during Ramadan to help foster cultural exchange and neighborly relations.