End of Year Newsletter • December 2025

 

 

 

 

From left to right: Dr. Treva Gear, Charlotte Garnes, Tonia Gibbons, and Kelley Saxon. 

The beauty of the Black Southern Women’s Collaborative is that we don’t just build power, we plant seeds. Real community work means tending the soil, nurturing the roots, and creating space for our people to grow, thrive, and bloom.

 

BSWC is proud to uplift the work of Concerned Citizens for Cook County, South Georgia Public Action Alliance, and ReNforce. These partners continue to show up with deep care, supporting unhoused neighbors, providing storm-relief resources, and standing alongside community members as they return from incarceration. 

 

During Hurricane Helene, BSWC Executive Lead Phyllis Hill partnered with a national storm relief organization, Organizing Resilience, by traveling to Valdosta to work with the South Georgia Public Action Alliance. Through this partnership, over $50,000 in immediate financial relief was distributed to various churches and denominations across Georgia for those impacted by Hurricane Helene. Additionally, $40,000 was provided to GCV to distribute as utility assistance to Georgians affected by the hurricane. There, she witnessed communities grappling with extreme hardship: deep poverty, homelessness, and families forced to live in hotels for over a year due to persistent storm damage.  Phyllis's goal was to listen and understand what was still needed. What she found was a deeply underserved community, decimated by two hurricanes and largely ignored.

 

Through her partnership with Organizing Resilience, residents are now being seen, acknowledged, and affirmed.  For people in Valdosta, this work is about the fundamental elements of life: their homes, their jobs, their safety, and the crucial strain on their wallets from rising bills. They were engaged at every level, even creating their own messaging campaign, “Bills Too Damn High.” In this past election, they weren’t voting for a party; they were voting to change the conditions of their lives.

 

Ground-level organizing does more than just fill critical gaps; it directly serves those who are historically overlooked, unheard, and unseen. The work of Phyllis and these partners reflects the heart of Southern community care: consistent, loving, and rooted in dignity and respect. As a strategic partner with Organize Resilience, Phyllis understands that providing mutual aid and community care are the entry points to supporting impoverished communities. From this foundation, we are building power to address systemic challenges that extend far beyond hurricane readiness, including the unhoused and mental health crises.

 
 

The Black Southern Women’s Collaborative has officially elevated its presence, introducing new social media platforms, a redesigned website, and a newsletter where stories of Southern life and Black women building power take center stage. As the Collaborative continues to grow, these new platforms are essential tools for amplifying our work and telling our story with the beauty and intention it deserves. 

 

The new year will also bring the release of our BSWC introduction video, a powerful look into the Collaborative and the Black Southern women who are sowing seeds in their communities and building power on the ground.

 

We invite funders, partners, and community members to join us on our new journey.  Follow our platforms, explore our work, and share our content to help uplift the voices and stories that shape the South.

 

Our E.L.L.A. program will be fully operational next year, with additional coaches joining the team to strengthen local leadership, support community organizers, and advance our shared priorities. The Collaborative celebrates E.L.L.A.’s wins this year and the powerful work carried out on the ground. See below for this year’s wins.

MAC is demonstrating significant growth, now operating with a fully functional organizing dashboard to track participant development. Organizers have led two public meetings, including the initial session on the Chickasaw shutdown (November 11th). Following a public outcry, the school board has scheduled more community meetings on the school consolidation plan, though MAC is still actively awaiting further movement. The MAC team has also begun precinct mapping by finalizing the top HD-97 precincts and assigning volunteer captains, and they launched a region-wide plan that successfully brought 75 new members on board in Shelby County.

 

The second public meeting, held on December 6th, was the We the People Power Assembly, where MAC and its partners hosted more than 60 Memphis residents. Attendees gathered to raise concerns and confront the potential environmental and infrastructural impact of data centers in their community. From community health to local finances to rising utility bills, community leaders and residents made it clear that these centers pose a harmful burden on their neighborhoods. The assembly included their trusted partner Rep. Justin J. Pearson, who spoke powerfully on how environmental racism is currently impacting their communities. 

 

Faith in Florida has done a great job of organizing Floridians and they now have dashboard where they keep track of their leaders. Teams have been built in Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, Pasco, and Pinellas counties. A robust plan has also been created to connect local, state, and federal issues and campaigns, with a focus on the Florida gubernatorial race and an upcoming amendment that will impact property taxes.  In addition, Faith in Florida hosted eight public actions: Miami-Dade (2), Broward County (1), Palm Beach County (2), Indian River County (1), Pinellas County (1), and Pasco County (1).

 

Also in Florida, the Black Men 2 Men Alliance was birthed out of barbershops, parks, and even cigar bars, all places where Black men gathered to speak truth, share struggles, and dream out loud. Inspired by Faith in Florida’s Executive Director, Pastor Rhonda Thomas, the Alliance created spaces where Black men could be heard, healed, and mobilized.

 

That momentum came to life on August 16, 2025, when 175 Black men gathered at The Historic New Mount Olive Baptist Church in Fort Lauderdale. For the first time, statewide conversations transformed into collective action. Civic leaders like State Senator Rosalind Osgood and Public Defender Gordon Weekes joined the gathering, underscoring that the voices of Black men not only matter, they belong in every decision-making space. Faith in Florida recognized the value of listening to Black men because they deserve to be heard on the full range of issues that shape our lives.

 

The Power Coalition for Equity and Justice is celebrating 10 years of transformative work! For a decade, they have engaged in tireless mobilization, securing continuous wins that are  transforming the state of Louisiana.Through our continued investment in Power Coalition, 2026 and beyond will mark a new phase of impact in Louisiana. After years of powerful mobilization that helped secure major wins at both the state and Supreme Court levels, Power Coalition is deepening its commitment to relational organizing. Their organizing department will expand its reach from Shreveport to Baton Rouge to New Orleans, driving local victories that build toward lasting, statewide power for Louisiana. 

 

This year, One Voice Mississippi achieved several powerful victories for communities across the state. The organization helped prevent a harmful school voucher bill in 2024, protected public education, and supported more than 200 residents in expunging criminal records, opening doors to new employment opportunities, and restoring their right to vote. 

 

One Voice also played a pivotal role in establishing a new Community School within the Jackson Public School District. They acquired an old school building in Jackson to develop a resilience hub. In partnership with the Guatemalan consulate, the team supported immigrant families by providing 1,000 passports to Guatemalan citizens. These accomplishments reflect One Voice Mississippi’s ongoing commitment to equity, access, and community empowerment.

 

 

Great things are on the horizon for the Black Southern Women’s Collaborative in 2026. BSWC is preparing to invest $1 million into Southern communities, strengthening local organizing and deepening our roots across the region.

 

As we move toward the 2026 midterms, this is not just about an election or encouraging more citizens to vote. This is about seizing a pivotal moment for everyday people to build power and make a difference in their communities. It’s about working with elected officials who already understand what the people want and need, and negotiating with them to strengthen communities of power. We are building power now to ensure Southern communities are ready to take action from day one.

 

BSWC is also launching the SistaRoot Program, a new leadership pipeline designed for women leaders in Southern states who are not yet part of the Collaborative. Through this effort, we aim to build relationships and spark organizing in Texas, the Carolinas, Arkansas, and beyond as we plant new seeds of power across the region. As we say for this program, “SistaRoot doesn’t just strengthen the bench, it strengthens the South’s entire grassroots organizing infrastructure.”

 

 

Kicking off in February 2026, the Black Southern Women’s Collaborative is launching its Advisory Board featuring seven Black Southern women from Texas, North Carolina, Maryland, and beyond. These women leaders bring a wealth of wisdom and lived experience, representing a dynamic spectrum: justice practitioners, Womanist theologians, formerly incarcerated women, single mothers, and LGBTQIA+ community members, and resource builders who can "get a bag" and those in need of one. Each member embodies BSWC’s values of community care, accountability, integrity, and collective power. The Advisory Board will guide BSWC’s establishment as an independent 501 (c)(3), shape our regional strategy, and offer spiritual insight into the pursuit of justice in the South.