Arise for Social Justice: 40 Years of Bold, Grassroots Resistance

Founded in 1985 by women on welfare, Arise for Social Justice has spent four decades growing from a welfare rights group into a powerful, member-led force organizing poor and low-income people to confront oppression in all its forms. From our home in Springfield’s inner city—where inequity is most concentrated and most deeply felt—we take on the urgent issues that disproportionately impact poor communities: housing instability, criminalization, environmental injustice, and systemic racism.

Today, Arise remains rooted in community and led by those most affected. We educate, organize, and advocate to protect and expand the rights of poor and working-class people. Our work is intersectional because our lives are. We fight for housing as a human right, demand accountability from law enforcement, expose environmental racism, and challenge policies that uphold white supremacy and economic exploitation.

Our mission is simple yet radical: to educate, organize, and unite low-income people to understand and claim our rights; to build collective power and push for structural change; and to ensure that those most impacted are leading the fight. We believe in meeting people where they are—emotionally, materially, politically—and walking alongside them as they move from crisis to clarity, from surviving to thriving.

At Arise, social justice isn’t just a cause. It’s a way of life. And the work continues until all of us are free.