Alliance for a Just Society

The Alliance for a Just Society (AJS), formerly the Northwest Federation of Community Organizations, is a policy advocacy research network and nationwide organizing coalition. The network consists of 15 social and economic equality organizations. As of 2016, the group is a legacy partner of the People’s Action Institute and its campaigns.

The group became part of the People’s Action Institute, a merger between Alliance for a Just Society, National People’s Action, and the USAction Education Fund in 2016 in hopes of expanding the left-of-center organizing groups’ advocacy reach.

The group currently runs campaigns targeted at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) in an effort to promote policies that will ensure a right to housing, government-run healthcare, left-of-center environmentalist advocacy, and greater regulations on business.

History

Northwest Federation of Community Organizations

Northwest Federation of Community Organizations (NWFCO) was founded in 1993 in an effort to launch regional left-wing advocacy campaigns. The NWFCO was founded through the joining of four state organizations: the Idaho Community Action Network (ICAN), Montana People’s Action (MPA), Oregon Action (OA), and Washington Citizen Action (WCA). The organization primarily focused on training state organizers and providing regional support for statewide policy advocacy campaigns. ¹

The group’s programs included leadership and staff training and supporting volunteers and organization leaders with analytical reasoning. ²

Pre-Merger Activities

NWFCO was renamed Alliance for a Just Society and focused its policy campaigns on expanding individual access to taxpayer-funded government-run health care and mandating higher minimum wages. ³

It held summits that displayed and discussed research regarding what AJS considered the failure of non-profit hospitals to provide community benefits, and efforts to expand health coverage for children and their parents through CHIP and Medicaid expansion. Moreover, they often pursued campaigns that targeted solutions to expand government healthcare for uninsured individuals. ²

Present Activities Currently, the Alliance for a Just Society as a part of the People’s Action Institute are working on a number of campaigns.

Housing

Alliance for a Just Society  organizes and promotes campaigns demanding a government-provided housing guarantee and increased spending by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development. ⁴

Government-Run Healthcare

ASJ and the partner organizations at People’s Action Institute are campaigning for a government-run “Medicare for all” healthcare system with no distinction about whether one has to be a citizen or not to receive benefits, a negotiation for lower prices with drug companies, Medicaid expansion, and a increased spending on the Indian Health Service and Native Hawaiian health system. ⁵ This would cost approximately $32.6 trillion between 2022 and 2031. ⁶

Environmentalism

ASJ campaigns against resource extraction claiming it injures minority communities. ⁷

Financial Regulation

This campaign seeks to remove abolish short-term loans and provided taxpayer-funded college debt relief. ⁸

Criminal Justice

ASJ supports a campaign to reduce investments in the prison system, to institute “restorative justice” as an alternative to punishment, and anti-recidivism efforts. ⁹

Leadership

LeAnn Hall is the executive director of ASJ, serving in the position 1993. Prior to working at ASJ, she was a co-founder of People’s Action, the lobbying arm of community organizing group People’s Action Institute, as well as the board treasurer for racial identity-policy advocacy group Race Forward. In addition, she previously served as director of the Idaho Community Action Network (ICAN). ¹⁰