Also see the 501(c)(4) Community Change Action (nonprofit)

Community Change (formerly the Center for Community Change or CCC) is a left-of-center nonprofit that focuses on issues of poverty, race, housing policy, and the treatment of released prisoners.  It also promotes the interests of immigrants, including illegal immigrants. Its affiliated 501(c)(4), Community Change Action, lobbies for progressive policies like the $15 per hour minimum wage proposed by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), increasing taxes on the rich, and opposing the most affordable forms of energy.

Community Change and its affiliate seek a large expansion of entitlement programs, including those related to welfare, healthcare, childcare, public housing, food stamps, and public transportation. The group has also advocated for liberal immigration policies and has engaged in registration of voters disproportionately likely to support progressives and Democratic candidates.

Community Change Action runs a Super PAC, set up in March 2016, called Immigrant Voters Win.¹ The Super PAC raised more than $10 million for the 2016 presidential election, with the largest single donation of $3 million coming from George Soros.² Hedge fund manager and prominent Democratic donor James Simons kicked in another $500,000.  The Super PAC spent more than $3 million promoting the unsuccessful presidential candidacy of Hillary Clinton and hundreds of thousands more to benefit the campaigns of Senate candidates Michael Bennet (D-CO), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), and Patrick Murphy (D-FL).  Immigrant Voters Win spent additional funds opposing Republicans, including presidential candidates Donald Trump and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL).³

The group employs about 70 people who work on organizing its political and social campaigns.⁴

History and Activities

Community Change, formerly the Center for Community Change, was founded amidst the turbulence of 1968 to honor the memory of the late Sen. Robert F. Kennedy (D-N.Y.).  It describes its mission as “to build the power and capacity of low-income people, especially low-income people of color, to change their communities and public policies for the better.”⁵

One of the Center’s most influential projects is the Fair Immigration Reform Movement (FIRM).  Founded in 2004, FIRM advocates for blanket amnesty for those in the United States illegally and for dramatically increasing already-high legal immigration levels.  It opposes border security measures and claims violence by immigration enforcement agents is the larger threat to American security.⁶ FIRM rejects the idea that a large amount of low-skilled immigration reduces wages and advocates for “comprehensive immigration reform” that it believes will “[raise] the floor for all workers.”⁶ FIRM receives money from George Soros’s Open Society Foundations.⁷

After President Trump’s election, Community Change claimed it devoted substantial effort to criticizing American immigration enforcement, just as it did during the tenure of President Barack Obama.  They also targeted states’ immigration enforcement measures, frequently calling them racist. ⁸ and accusing them of hate.⁹

Additionally, the organization founded the Community Voters Project, also founded in 2004, the stated purpose of which is to register new voters. The project’s website particularly references the “Rising American Electorate—unmarried women, young people, and people of color,”¹⁰ which is thought by many left-of-center organizations and scholars to be the key to winning presidential elections.  The project, which claims to have as its goal for “everybody” to vote, mostly focuses on registering and turning out ethnic minorities and the poor in swing states each presidential election, and in states with competitive U.S. Senate races in both presidential and midterm years.¹⁰

2019 House Democrats Issues Conference

Dorian Warren, president of Community Change, participated in a discussion titled “Uniting Working Men and Women Behind a Democratic Agenda” during the 2019 House Democrats Issues Conference which took place in Washington D.C. and Leesburg, VA in April 2019. He was joined by Sabeel Rahman president of Demos, a staunchly liberal policy advocacy organization. ¹¹

Funding

The organization receives funding and sponsorships from other groups in the progressive network, including Democracy Alliance, the SEIU, AFL-CIO, Planned Parenthood Action Fund, and the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.¹² Each fall, Community Action hosts a ceremony at which it honors “Change Champions.”  Sponsored by deep-pocketed progressive interest groups, the event showcases activists who have fought for left-leaning political causes in their communities.

The Center’s list of donors includes many of the most prominent liberal organizations. Top donations to the non-profit included $3,000,000 from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, $2,350,000 from the Ford Foundation, and $1,750,000 from the Open Society Foundation. ¹³

The California Endowment, which gave $524,500; the Marguerite Casey Foundation, which gave $515,000; Fidelity Charitable Gift, which gave $505,100; and the National Immigration Law Center, which gave $316,000, were among the other organizations who donated to the Center. ¹³

According to its 2021 990 form, the organization reported $16,049,111 in revenue, $29,659,989 in expenses, and $32,237,987 in total assets. ¹⁴

Leadership

Dorian Warren is co-president of Community Change Action, co-president of Community Change, and co-chair of the Economic Security Project, a left-of-center initiative that advocates for the federal government to distribute unconditional payments through a universal basic income program. Previously, Warren taught at the University of Chicago, was the co-director of the Columbia University Program on Labor Law and Policy, and worked at MSNBC as a contributor, host, and executive producer of “Nerding Out.” Additionally, Warren sits on the boards of organizations including Working Partnerships USA, the Leadership Conference Education Fund, the National Employment Law Project, and The Nation. ¹⁵

Lorella Praeli is the co-president of Community Change Action and co-president of Community Change. Previously, she was the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)’s deputy national political director, national Latino vote director for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign, and director of advocacy and policy for United We Dream. Additionally, Praeli serves on the boards of the Edward W. Hazen Foundation, FWD.us, and the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy. ¹⁵

Deepak Bhargava was the former the executive director of Community Change. He also served on the advisory board of the George Soros’s Open Society Foundations. ^{13 13}

Board of Directors

There are representatives from various influential constituencies serving on the board of Community Change and Community Change Action, including Kelly Brown of the D5 Coalition, an organization focused on making philanthropy more “diverse, inclusive, and equitable”; Peter Colavito of the SEIU; Sam Fulwood of the Center for American Progress; Dorian Warren of the Roosevelt Institute; and several more current and former union bosses.^16 17

1. “Center for Community Change Action, Latino Victory Project, America’s Voice, and NV/CO/FL State Leaders Partner in Multi-Million Dollar “Families Fight Back” Voter Mobilization Campaign.” America’s Voice. March 11, 2016. Accessed May 3, 2017. http://americasvoice.org/press_releases/center-community-change-action-latino-victory-project-americas-voice-nvcofl-state-leaders-partner-multi-million-dollar-families-fight-back-voter-mobilization/.
2. “Immigrant Voters Win.” OpenSecrets.org Center for Responsive Politics. February 8, 2017. Accessed April 22, 2017. https://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/pacgave2.php?cycle=2016&cmte=C00612820.
3. “Independent Expenditures, Communication Costs and Coordinated Expenses as of April 3, 2017.” OpenSecrets.org Center for Responsive Politics. April 3, 2017. Accessed April 21, 2017. https://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/indexpend.php?cycle=2016&cmte=C00612820.
4. “Center for Community Change Staff.” Center for Community Change. Accessed May 12, 2017. https://www.communitychange.org/real-people/people/staff/.
5. “Center for Community Change.” Democracy Alliance. Accessed April 9, 2017. http://democracyalliance.org/organization/ccc/.
6. “About FIRM.” Fair Immigration Reform Movement. Accessed April 21, 2017. https://fairimmigration.org/about/.
7. “Center for Community Change/Fair Immigration Reform Movement.” Open Society Foundations. Accessed April 20, 2017. https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/about/programs/us-programs/grantees/center-community-change-fair-immigration-reform-movement.
8. “Kris Kobach: The Architect of Hate.” Fair Immigration Reform Movement. Accessed May 12, 2017. https://fairimmigration.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Kris-Kobach-Architect-of-Hate.pdf.
9. “Immigrants in Texas Rise Up Against Hate-Backed Bill.” Fair Immigration Reform Movement. May 4, 2017. Accessed May 8, 2017. https://fairimmigration.org/immigrants-in-texas-up-against-hate-backed-bill/.
10. “We Helped Register 250,000 in 2015-16.” Community Voters Project. Accessed April 23, 2017. http://www.communityvotersproject.org/about.
11. ”2019 Issues Conference (Brochure).” House Democrats. Accessed April 11, 2019. Available: https://www.influencewatch.org/app/uploads/2019/04/2019-Issues-Conference-Agenda-House-Democrats.pdf
12. “Change Champion Awards.” Center for Community Change. Accessed April 19, 2017. https://www.communitychange.org/awards/.
13. Schoffstall, Joe. “Donors of Anti-Trump ‘Resistance’ Group Revealed.” Washington Free Beacon. October 05, 2017. Accessed October 23, 2017. http://freebeacon.com/politics/donors-anti-trump-resistance-group-revealed/.
14. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990). Center for Community Change. Part I. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/520888113/202322269349301257/full
15. “People.” Community Change. Accessed February 26, 2024. https://communitychange.org/people/
16. “Center. Community. Change. 2015 Annual Report.” Center for Community Change. Accessed April 30, 2017. http://www.communitychange.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/CCC_Annual_Report_2015.pdf.
17. “Why D5.” D5. Accessed May 1, 2017. http://www.d5coalition.org/about/why-d5/.