Beginning in January 2025, we welcomed both new and returning members into Power U’s Orientation Phase. This year, we continued expanding beyond students to include parents, teachers, and community residents, strengthening our intergenerational membership base.
We also introduced a new Membership Tier structure, ensuring a clear pathway for deeper engagement. To become Member Leaders—an essential step for those seeking elected positions—members were required to attend at least 80% of Orientation. Throughout this phase, members took part in activities and exercises that introduced core Power U topics: Making a Commitment, Research, How-to 1:1’s, Scriptmaking and Outreach, Story of Self, Racial Capitalism, and more.
On March 1st, we hosted our Annual Member Leader Signing Day 2025 at Charles Hadley Park in Allapattah. It was an afternoon filled with celebration, community, and powerful storytelling. Members, families, and neighbors came together to reflect on the challenges facing everyday working-class people and, more importantly, the collective actions we’re taking to create change.
We know that building a better future starts with leadership, and stronger leaders make stronger communities. On this special day, we honored members who are stepping up and deepening their commitment by becoming Member Leaders. Their journey toward building sustainable communities and collective power through social justice reached a pivotal milestone, marked by heartfelt testimonials on how Power U has shaped their lives and what inspired them to say yes to Power U.
Post signing day, our organization got to work—focused on deep internal development and strategic external action to build strong, effective campaigns that aim to improve the conditions of our people. We started by welcoming new members to our Campaign Committees and Teams.
Our organizing team and returning members began training new members on how to develop strong and strategic campaigns, from identifying a problem, cutting an issue, to coming up with powerful demands.
We also hit the streets! These emerging leaders were trained on door-to-door canvassing tactics, how to connect with our neighbors on the issues that matter most to them. We initially canvassed 200+ doors, gaining responses from over 100 residents from March to May; We participated in research actions, gathering, analyzing, and reflecting on the data and insights we’ve received. This investigative work allows us to better understand the conditions we’re organizing under and ensures that our strategy is grounded in the real, lived experiences of our people.
We know that without deep connection, research, and rootedness in our communities, we can’t chart an effective path forward. That’s why this phase has been all about laying the groundwork — building deeper connections in our neighborhoods — so that as we get ready to mobilize, we do so with clarity, purpose, and direction. The movement grows from within!
In March, we held our first General Membership Meeting with our new crew of members. We had powerful discussions about what it means when leadership truly reflects our communities—when working-class voices shape decisions and when we come together to build, strategize, and grow into a strong wave of community leaders.
Power U Members also elected another layer of leadership for the organization: committee co-chairs and the team leads. Committee co-chairs serve as liaisons for each of our committee campaigns, helping to create agendas and frequent roles and collaborating with the organizing staff on campaign actions. The team leads: Documentarian and Chief of Culture, work alongside our Communications Manager and Operations Manager to lead the narrative of the work members engage in over the year, as well as help continue to strengthen a culture of care in the organization. These roles involve conducting interviews, leading our centerings, photo/video capture, producing content to contribute to Power U’s legacy, and more. Check out the leadership roles here.
On June 12th, the Miami City Commission voted on the 287(g) task-force agreement—a dangerous collaboration between Miami Police and ICE that authorizes local officers to enforce federal immigration laws. This vote meant diverting scarce city resources to increase racial profiling, instilling fear and harassment in our communities, and tearing families apart through detention and deportation.
We stood with 250 community members in sweltering heat, waiting to speak out against 287(g). Yet Commissioners Carollo, Rosado, and Gabela betrayed us, forcing through this program that attacks the safety and dignity of half a million residents. Their vote proved that they have no interest in protecting our people.
Miami’s commissioners failed us. Faced with a rising tide of repression, they chose cowardice over courage. But while they turn their backs on us, the people of Miami—the workers, the students, the families who keep this city running—are rising up. We’ve shown what real leadership looks like, and we won’t back down.
On June 16th, we joined WeCount, a membership organization of immigrant workers and families fighting for better living and working conditions in South Florida, for a powerful rally and press conference in honor of International Domestic Workers’ Day, standing with the more than 60,000 domestic workers who help keep this county going.
We lifted up the voices of workers, celebrated their contributions, and called for the dignity, recognition, and protections they deserve.
On July 30th, we gathered outside the MDCPS School Board Administration building, as we have done annually for nearly a decade. This year, however, we felt the weight of a crisis that has been emerging for nearly 20 years deepen within our school district.
This crisis, sown by special interests and fueled by the rise of privatization, made the fight at hand crystal clear: The concerted effort to push charter school expansion in South Florida is coming at the expense of our public schools, and it will only get worse—unless everyday people step up.
We held a press conference outside the building where our members debuted our campaign demands, marking the beginning of our public fight. We made it clear that privately managed charter schools siphon our tax dollars with zero accountability—hiding their finances, inflating executive salaries, and pushing unvetted curricula—all using public funds. This poses an existential threat to our public school system and will be the primary, long-term focus of our organization’s work in public education.
On Saturday, December 13th, we hosted our annual Recruitment BBQ to introduce prospective members to our organization. Our office was filled with students, parents, teachers, and community residents all taking the first step toward becoming the leaders our communities need.
We heard from current members about pressing local issues working people and families face in Miami-Dade County, from rising rents to the privatization of education. Together, we learned that leaders aren’t born, but are made when everyday people take ownership of the change we need to see. Real change doesn’t happen by chance, it happens when we choose to step up and become the strong leaders our communities deserve.
We closed with a timely call to action: to step into leadership by joining our organization, and participating in the training sprint: a series of weekly training sessions that form part of our new membership process.
The Recruitment BBQ was a powerful first glimpse of the seeds we’re sowing. It showed us that when individuals make the choice to show up, to learn, and to transform, they don’t just strengthen themselves, they strengthen the entire community. This is the groundwork: A community that chooses to shift how we relate to one another, to lead with love, curiosity, and hope, every single day.
