Reclaiming Civic Life: The Story of We Are California

Across our communities, more and more people are feeling disconnected from politics and uncertain whether democracy can still deliver meaningful change. Many have lost faith in the government’s ability to improve their lives and see themselves simply as consumers of the future being given to them—a future that too often fails to address the needs of their families and communities.  

The 2024 presidential election reflected this trend in stark terms. Despite 1.9 million more eligible voters than in 2020, California saw more than 1.6 million fewer ballots cast—the steepest decline in the turnout percentage of eligible voters in any presidential election in the state in the last 80 years.

In response, a new coalition called We Are California has come together to meet the moment. Its work is rooted in the belief that increasing voting and civic engagement can fundamentally shift California’s political and economic landscape. Rather than allowing people to drift into disengagement, the coalition aims to create the conditions for them to become active participants in shaping their future.  

We recently spoke with Joseph Tomás McKellar, executive director of PICO California and a founding partner in the initiative, to learn more.

“Agency is the antidote to authoritarianism,” he told us.

The Origin Story

We Are California emerged after the 2024 election when leaders from some of the state’s most respected community-based organizations (full list below) recognized the urgent need for greater coordination, deeper organizing, and a shared space for strategy and action. At its core, We Are California is a space for collective learning. “None of us have figured this out on our own,” McKellar says. “We’re creating a container for shared learning—so we can evolve our practice, adapt to the times, and do organizing well, and at scale.”

One clear lesson was that organizing must grow—in reach, strategy, and sustainability—to meet the demands of this moment. As McKellar puts it, “The field of organizing is still too small—and still recovering from the pandemic. We’re competing in a world shaped by AI, social media, and deepening isolation.”

One of the most important shifts the coalition is working on is how to build and share leadership. “Too often, organizers are at the center of the universe—holding all the relationships,” McKellar explains. “But real growth happens when everyday people become the protagonists—leading block clubs, church groups, even virtual teams. Organizers need to work through others, not just act for them.”

Facilitating this shift requires intentional investment in organizing talent, structures that foster distributed leadership (or more “depth,” as McKellar describes it), and a different mindset about growth. “Depth and scale are often seen as opposites. But we believe depth is the path to scale.”

The coalition partners are also collaborating on ways to embed data and metrics into organizing. “We need to track who’s joining, who’s staying, who’s stepping into leadership. That’s how we build a stronger civil society.”

A Four-Part Strategy for Civic Belonging

At the heart of We Are California is a four-part strategy to help people feel more connected, more heard, and more engaged in civic life. “Given the current national threats of authoritarian consolidation, we have been pivoting our plans to move urgently over the next 12 months to scale power in California, and to model and catalyze organizing across the nation,” McKellar shared.  

The four strategies are:

1. Broaden the Coalition

“We need a much larger united front—made up not just of the ‘woke,’ but the still waking,” McKellar said. The coalition brings together long-standing justice groups with labor, business leaders, and others who may not agree on every issue but who share a belief that democracy and human dignity are at risk—and worth defending.

2. Advance Meaningful Campaigns 

We Are California is leading both defensive and proactive campaigns—“to protect families from the threats we’re seeing from the federal government,” and “to ensure California leads with a different kind of politics.” For instance, We Are California is supporting massive know your rights trainings and teach-ins for immigrant families. Meanwhile, on the proactive side, it is mobilizing communities to support actions that can address the affordability crisis in California.  

3. Shift the Narrative 

Through polling, messaging, and storytelling, the coalition is working to “shape attitudes and beliefs about who matters and who belongs in California.”  McKellar emphasized the need to reach people where they are—“tailoring messages to folks who may be unsure, skeptical, or even opposed to democracy as we know it.”

4. Strengthen Organizing Locally

“This is a bottom-up strategy,” McKellar explained. The coalition is investing in eight regional hubs in Los Angeles, Orange County, the Central Valley, San Diego, and other key areas. The focus of the hubs’ work: building long-term local coalitions that can align strategy, deepen relationships, and coordinate public action.  

“We intend to support power building organizations to diversify and scale the number of people organized for action, to aggregate our collective power, and to achieve the imperatives of disruption, delegitimization, and defections,” McKellar added.

Rapid Response & Civic Defense

We Are California is also supporting local partners to improve rapid-response systems—especially for immigrant communities facing fear and misinformation.

“Trust and reliability are essential,” McKellar noted. The coalition is working to build systems that can verify suspected immigration enforcement activity in real time, counter misinformation, and distinguish credible information from the confusion of Facebook and WhatsApp groups.

We Are California through its many partners (including 501(c)(4) organizations like California Calls Action Fund) is also educating voters in key congressional districts to defend access to Medi-Cal, California’s Medicaid health insurance program for individuals and families living on limited incomes.*

“Half of kids in L.A. County rely on Medi-Cal—one in three Californians overall,” McKellar says. “We are educating voters across the state about the nature of the threats to healthcare,” he added.  

A Message to Funders

We Are California is seeking to raise $3 million to support its core operations and infrastructure over the next two years. But McKellar said it is even more important to support the individual groups within the coalition, as they are the driving force for all the work that is happening on the ground.

“Funders should be working with organizations inside the We Are California tent—helping us build the united front and move our actions and campaigns.”

McKellar shared a deeper message about what this coalition is working toward:

“What we're really trying to do is create the conditions for Californians to better see one another—to answer the question of who matters, and who deserves a share of our collective prosperity. That requires a revolution not just of our politics and our economy, but of the human heart.”

*The Haas, Jr. Fund supports We Are California’s 501c(3) nonlobbying activities.