As the year folds into its close, we find ourselves in a moment of reflection—a necessary pause to trace the contours of gratitude amidst the backdrop of an unjust world. Loss and injustice have shaped this year, as they always seem to, but so too has the incandescent determination of our community. Organizers, activists, and dreamers—working relentlessly on the frontlines of justice—continue to illuminate the way forward.
This is where we stand: in a circle of shared power, fortified by each other and the belief that a better world isn’t just possible—it’s already being built, in spaces like ours.
This year, we poured ourselves into that belief. We gathered, spoke, and dreamed. At the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco, Raquel Willis sat with our CEO Bia Vieira for a conversation that felt electric centered around justice and possibility.
We opened up new conversations about liberation, power, and possibility. Together with Mother Jones, we explored California’s Innovative Blueprint for Racial, Reproductive, & Gender Justice, hosting our reproductive justice grant partners and reporters for an intimate discussion about California’s evolving multiracial democracy and the powerful relationship between grassroots mobilization and storytelling.
We launched our feminist book club, the Subversive Pages Collective, featuring two amazing books. Jasmine Rashid, author of The Financial Activist Playbook joined Bia and California Domestic Workers Coalition Director Kimberly Alvarenga to explore the transformative potential of reclaiming our relationships with money. They showed us what it means to rewrite our collective narrative about finance—and how doing so can empower us to build a fairer, more just economy. Author and activist Renee Bracey Sherman shared her book Liberating Abortion and an urgent call to action: “We cannot do anything other than fight for abortion for everyone, at any time, for any reason, anywhere in this country.” Her words echoed throughout the room, compelling us to imagine a future where abortion access is liberated from stigma, criminalization, and inequality.
We also saw the profound, tangible fruits of collective work: three new laws, signed by the Governor of California, thanks to the tenacious efforts of our Solís Policy Institute fellows. These laws protect survivors, safeguard the rights of incarcerated pregnant people, and address the overdose crisis. That brings us to a staggering nearly 60 intersectional feminist laws passed in California, a legacy written by SPI fellows and alum.
And then there was Sonoma, where we convened the next wave of young leaders at our Summer Leadership Institute. Twenty-six fellows—brilliant, curious, hungry for change—reminded us that SLI isn’t just a program; it’s a sanctuary, a place where young people can pour into themselves and each other in ways that ripple outward.
After the election, Bia’s voice carried the hard truth over the airwaves on LAist 89.3: this country is cleaved apart—not just by policy but by access to the most fundamental rights. On the Tamarindo podcast, she spoke alongside Los Angeles City Council Member and WFC Board Member Eunisses Hernández about what the election means for women—the flashes of hope, the places we must dig in, and the work that calls to all of us if we are to build a feminist future, not just for Californians, but for everyone.
The future demands more from us: radical solidarity, stubborn hope, and the resources to fund liberation. But if this year has taught us anything, it’s this: together, we are the antidote to fear. Together, we are proof that another world is still possible.
Let’s keep building the future, together.