From our founding, Alabama Arise has been strongly committed to member leadership. Directly impacted communities, our member groups and individuals guide and decide our policy agenda.
Over the years, the way we select this agenda has changed as our work has evolved and as times change. Now we are proposing another change.
The Arise board voted to adjust the way we select our legislative agenda starting this year. We will ask you, our members, to approve this new format at our Annual Meeting on Sept. 27.
What will change
We will ask members to adopt seven broad issue categories for the next four years (2026-29). Arise’s bylaws empower members to adopt multi-year priorities, and the first two categories are already permanent issues for Arise. The seven broad issue categories are:
- Adequate state budgets
- Tax reform
- Health equity
- Hunger relief
- Inclusive democracy
- Justice reform
- Worker power
These seven broad issue categories reflect two things. They summarize the specific issues that members have chosen consistently over the last three years. And they reflect the areas where staff capacity and funding resources have been focused in recent years.
The new process will allow members the opportunity to provide input and rank specific legislative proposals under each category. This ranking will be similar to last year’s voting when, for the first time, members ranked multiple bills under the current priorities.
What will stay the same
Member groups still can propose priority legislation under each category to be considered for inclusion in our agenda. And we still will ask member groups to present board-approved proposals to the membership at the Annual Meeting.
Member groups can propose priority legislation that does not fit one of the categories or propose an additional category of work during the next four years. Such proposals will be flagged as “provisional issues” as we assess our capacity and strategic approach more broadly. Arise staff will evaluate how the category may fit in with our other areas of work. Then staff will report back to membership about whether we think we can strategically undertake a new broad issue area.
Our organizing team will continue conducting summer listening sessions to get input from members and communities directly impacted by poverty. Please reach out to your regional organizer or me with questions or to set up a virtual or in-person listening session!