Leaders Igniting Transformation (LIT) Action Fund is a student-led left-of-center advocacy group that claims “the future is young, black, brown, and LIT” ¹  while advocating for building “political power for young people of color.” ¹ LIT Action Fund advocates left-of-center policies, claiming  their work is centered around “racial, gender, economic and LGBTQ+ justice.”  ¹

Issues

Leaders Igniting Transformation (LIT) Action Fund claims to advocate on issues-based organizing, leadership development training, and encouraging civic engagement of young members of ethnic minority groups. ²

LIT Action Fund’s Freedom to Thrive campaign advocates for reforms within the Milwaukke public school system such as removing metal detectors and school resource officers from school campuses, ending all suspensions and expulsions, ending arrests and citations for misdemeanor crimes, ending the use of restraints, and ending truancy prosecutions. The group also calls for implementing “restorative justice” programs, an “inclusive school code,” and changes to the publishing of disciplinary data. ³

The group’s Dare to Divest campaign advocates for reforms within the public university system by creating programs to ensure “intersectional justice” for “BIPOC communities” as well as an end to “policing and criminalization” of minority groups through college campuses divesting financial resources from police activities. ⁴

As of 2024, LIT Action Fund has worked with Center for Popular Democracy (CPD),  including co-authoring a report entitled From Failure to Freedom: Dismantling Milwaukee’s School-to-Prison Pipeline with the Youth Power Agenda. ⁵

Financials

The Leaders Igniting Transformation (LIT) Action Fund had revenues of $3,399,027 and assets of $1,074,986 in 2022. Expenses for LIT Action Fund totaled $3,456,236, with 85 employees. ⁶ Donations for Leaders Igniting Transformation Action Fund are collected through ActBlue Civics. ⁷

In 2023, Open Society Foundations (OF) donated $900,000 to LIT Action Fund to support “…the grantee’s social welfare activities.” ^{8 9}

In 2022, LIT Action Fund received donations from several left of center organizations including $725,000 from America Votes, ^{6 10} $218,250 from environmental advocacy group Clean and Prosperous America, ^{6 11 12} and $175,500 from Tides Advocacy. ^{6 13}

People

Amanda Avalos is the co-executive director at Leaders Igniting Transformation (LIT) Action Fund. Prior to her work at LIT, Avalos was a canvassing leader for the Center for Popular Democracy, as well as the Vice Chair Commissioner for the Milwaukee Fire and Police Commission. ¹⁴

1. “The Future Is Young, Black, Brown, and Lit!: Wisconsin.” Leaders Igniting Transformation, October 21, 2024. https://litwi.org/.
2. “Our Work: Leaders Igniting Transformation.” Leaders Igniting Transformation, October 1, 2024. https://litwi.org/our-work/.
3. “Freedom to Thrive.” Leaders Igniting Transformation, October 2, 2024. https://litwi.org/our-work/issue-based-organizing/freedom-to-thrive/.
4. Dare to Divest.” Leaders Igniting Transformation, October 2, 2024. https://litwi.org/our-work/issue-based-organizing/dare-to-divest/.
5. “Blog.” Center for Popular Democracy, December 20, 2018. https://www.populardemocracy.org/blog/leaders-igniting-transformation-lit-joins-cpd-network.
6. “Leaders Igniting Transformation Action Fund.” Cause IQ. Accessed October 21, 2024. https://www.causeiq.com/organizations/leaders-igniting-transformation-action-fund,823166802/
7. “I Just Gave to Lit Action.” ActBlue. Accessed October 21, 2024. https://secure.actblue.com/donate/litmke.
8. “Grants and Fellowships from the Open Society Foundations.” Open Society Foundations. Accessed September 30, 2024. https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/grants.
9. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990-PF; multiple). Foundation to Promote Open Society. 2008-2018. Part I. Line 26.
10. “America Votes.” Cause IQ. Accessed October 21, 2024. https://www.causeiq.com/organizations/america-votes,264568349/.
11. “2020 Election Impact.” Clean and Prosperous America, September 8, 2021. https://cleanprosperousamerica.org/youth-community-oriented-campaign/our-impact/.
12.  “Clean and Prosperous America.” Cause IQ. Accessed October 21, 2024. https://www.causeiq.com/organizations/clean-and-prosperous-america,843565108/.
13. Ludwig, Hayden. “Unearthing The Tides Nexus.” Washington, D.C.: Capital Research Center, 2021.
14. Amanda Avalos – Co-Executive director – leaders igniting … Accessed October 21, 2024. https://www.linkedin.com/in/amandaaavalos.