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Non-profit

Make the Road Action (MRA)

Website:

www.maketheroadaction.org/
Location:

BROOKLYN, NY
Tax ID:

27-1408443
Tax-Exempt Status:

501(c)(4)

Budget (2022):

Revenue: $5,964,350
Expenses: $5,181,541
Assets: $5,831,515
Type:

Activist Group
Formation:

2019
Executive Director:

Theo Oshiro
Budget (2023):

Revenue: $4,334,484
Expenses: $3,320,170
Assets: $4,222,833 44

References

  1. “Make the Road Action Fund Inc.” ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer. Accessed June 27, 2025. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/271408443.

Contact InfluenceWatch with suggested edits or tips for additional profiles.

Make the Road Action (MRA) is a left-of-center organization that works to elect more left-leaning Democratic Party candidates and advance left-of-center policies, especially in the areas of immigration and labor policy. It operates voter registration and get-out-the-vote efforts focusing largely on Hispanic communities in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Nevada. 1

MRA was created by the labor union-affiliated community organizing group Make the Road New York (MRNY). MRA and MRNY also have close ties to the Center for Popular Democracy Action Fund and Center for Popular Democracy, as well as the New York City-based radical-left political party Working Families Party and its Working Families Power advocacy group. 2 3

Policy Positions

Make the Road Action engages in left-of-center activism and voter engagement in several areas, especially immigration, education, criminal justice, and labor policy. 1

MRA opposes the enforcement of United States immigration laws both at the border and within the United States. 4 The group also supports granting citizenship to all illegal immigrants currently living in the United States and eliminating Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). MRA also supports reducing or ending the incarceration of illegal immigrants and criminals from ethnic minority backgrounds. 5

MRA supports the labor union-led campaign to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour and build more taxpayer-funded low-income housing. The group also promotes increasing the influence of labor unions. MRA has also called for increases in taxpayer funding for public schools, accompanied by a reduction in the use of disciplinary measures in schools. 5

Anti-Trump Activism

Make the Road Action has been active in organizing opposition to the campaigns and policies of President Donald Trump. 6 7

In May 2025, Make the Road Action was involved in organizing a “Stand Up, Fight Back” rally in New York City after Newark Mayor and then-New Jersey gubernatorial candidate Ras Baraka (D) was arrested for trespassing at a New Jersey detention facility used by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). 8 9

Connections to ACORN Legacy Organizations

Make the Road Action is part of a closely-knit group of Brooklyn-based organizations that are in many cases directly descended from the now-defunct and scandal-plagued Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN). Many of these organizations work to push the Democratic Party further to the left both in New York and at the national level through policy advocacy and support for more left-leaning candidates. They also tend to have strong ties to labor unions, the Ford Foundation, and the Tides Foundation, among other major left-of-center funders. 2 10

These groups include MRA’s parent organization Make the Road New York and the Center for Popular Democracy, the Center for Popular Democracy Action Fund, 11 the Working Families Party (WFP), Working Families Power, 12 New York Communities for Change (NYCC), the New York Communities Organizing Fund (NYCOFI), 13 and the Mutual Housing Association of New York (MHANY). 14 15 16

Working Families Party

MRA is closely tied to the far-left Working Families Party (WFP), a New York City-based political party that was praised by U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) in 2016 as “the closest thing there is to a political party that believes in my vision of democratic socialism.” 17 WFP co-founder Dan Cantor was a long-time ACORN activist, having begun working for ACORN upon graduating from Wesleyan University in 1977. 12

In 2016, then-MRA executive director Javier Valdes was one of two delegates from New York to WFP’s national convention. 2 Valdes is now the U.S. director of civic engagement and government at the Ford Foundation. 10

In 2022, MRA supported the Working Families Party’s successful efforts to elect Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) to the U.S. Congress from New York’s 16th District, and to ensure that the WFP received enough votes to retain its ballot access in New York. 3 Bowman, who was censured by the House of Representatives in 2023 for setting off a fire alarm in a House office building to delay a vote on budget legislation, was supported by the WFP and MHANY for reelection in 2024 but lost in the 2024 Democratic primary. 14 15 16

NYCC, NYCOFI and MHANY

The Working Families Party, the labor organizing group New York Communities for Change (NYCC), its affiliated advocacy organization New York Communities Organizing Fund (NYCOFI), and the former ACORN real estate subsidiary Mutual Housing Association of New York (MHANY) all worked out of offices on the same floor of a Brooklyn office building for many years. 18 19

During the Bill de Blasio administration in New York City, MRNY and NYCC worked for the Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union (RWDSU), a member of the United Food and Commercial Workers, in a controversial effort to unionize the city’s carwash workers. 20 By September 2020, workers at 11 NYC carwashes voted to join the RWDSU. 21  

MRNY regularly receives funding from NYCOFI, including $45,000 in both 2023 and 2021, $30,000 in 2020, and $20,000 in 2018. 13

Ties to the Center for Popular Democracy

Make the Road Action and its parent Make the Road New York have had multiple leaders in common with the left-of-center voter mobilization and policy development group Center for Popular Democracy and its Center for Popular Democracy Action Fund over the years. In 2016, the CPD’s website referred to MRNY as “our sister organization.” 11

MRNY was co-founded by Andrew Friedman, who went on to become CPD’s co-director while remaining a member of MRNY’s board of directors. At different points, Ana Maria Archila also led both MRNY and CPD. 11

MRA executive director Theo Oshiro is a former board member of the CPD Action Fund. 22

State Initiatives

For information about specific state-level initiatives outside New York, see Make the Road Pennsylvania, Make the Road New Jersey, Make the Road Connecticut, and Make the Road Nevada.

Make the Road Action claims to be a “leading voice” for immigrants and ethnic minority voters in its home state of New York. The group runs initiatives that promote left-of-center policies to voters, especially in New York City. MRA also touts its “long track record” of supporting far-left Democratic candidates in the state as opposed to more moderate, center-left officials. 23

In 2020, the Long Island Community Foundation published an analysis of the successful campaign to pass New York’s “Green Light Law” giving driver’s licenses to undocumented immigrants. The analysis credited MRA with playing a significant role in the campaign, saying: 24

Make the Road Action drove consistent direct actions and other hard-hitting tactics that put intensive public pressure on legislators throughout the campaign. It had also established immigrant organizing as a critical force in key elections in 2018 (and previously) and had successfully made support for immigrant rights a criteria for progressive support of candidates. Make the Road Action’s ability to demonstrate the electoral consequences of lack of support from vulnerable legislators was a necessity – without the flexibility to hit directly and hard from the c4 side, advocates doubt or strongly question whether they would have been able to move either the Senate or the Assembly to a winning majority. 24

MRA works closely with the Movement Voter Project (MVP), a clearinghouse for Democratic donors to contribute to Democratic Party-aligned political groups. MRA is a key partner in MVP’s 2026 strategy to gain a Democratic Party majority in the U.S. House of Representatives. The Movement Voter Project identifies MRA state affiliates as key partners in New York and Pennsylvania, and as the only listed state partner in New Jersey. 25

Candidate Endorsements

In January 2024, members of Make the Road Action were present at the re-election campaign kick-off rally for then-U.S. Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY). A post made by the group’s account on X (previously Twitter) stated, “We are ready to re-elect him!” 16

Leadership

Theo Oshiro is the executive director of Make the Road Action. 3 He was previously a board member for the Center for Popular Democracy Action Fund as of 2022. 22

MRA’s board members include Christina Jimenez Moreta, founder of left-of-center immigration advocacy group United We Dream and a former MRNY community organizer; 26 former New York City councilmember Julissa Ferreras-Copeland (D); Make the Road Pennsylvania executive director Maegan Llerena; former MRA executive director Daniel Altschuler, the managing director of the Freedom Together Foundation; 27 MRNY co-founder Andrew Friedman;, Lucia Gomez Jimenez, former political director of the New York City Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO; 28 Michael Rabonowitz-Gold, Democratic public affairs consultant and former deputy political director for the New York Hotel Trades Council and New York State political director for UNITE HERE; 29 and Sarah Johnson, former executive director of Local Progress, former managing director of Working Families Organization (now Working Families Power), and former elections director for the Working Families Party. 30

Funding

Make the Road Action receives significant funding from major left-of-center foundations and other donors. 31 31

It receives annual funding from its parent group, Make the Road New York, including $165,000 in 2023; $220,940 in 2022; $110,000 in 2021; $130,000 in 2020; and $185,000 in 2019. 32

The left-of-center lobbying and advocacy organization Sixteen Thirty Fund gave $289,000 to MRA in 2023 and $120,000 in 2022. 31

The Movement Voter PAC has been a significant funder of MRA, donating $647,000 during the 2023-24 federal election cycle. 33 Other PAC donors in the 2024 election cycle included AI PA Votes, Workers Vote, Popular Democracy PAC, and the Straight Ahead Organization. 33

Undisclosed donors used the left-of-center pass-through funder Tides Foundation to give $75,000 to MRA in 2023, as well as $106,366 to its Make the Road Pennsylvania affiliate. 34 Its Tides Advocacy affiliate has also made significant donations to MRA, including $45,000 in 2023; $539,400 in 2022; $46,400 in 2021; $329,000 in 2020; and $10,469 in 2019. 35

The Open Society Policy Center founded by Democratic megadonor George Soros gave $550,000 to MRA in 2023; $100,000 in 2022; and $200,000 in 2021. 36

MRNY regularly receives funding from the New York Communities Organizing Fund, including $45,000 in both 2023 and 2021, $30,000 in 2020, and $20,000 in 2018. 13

Left-of-center grantmaker Center for Community Change Action has been a regular funder since MRA was founded in 2018, giving $15,000 in 2023; $40,000 in 2022; $335,000 in 2021; $85,000 in 2020; $85,000 in 2019; and $20,500 in 2018. 37

Between 2023 and 2024, the Ford Foundation donated a total of $420,000 to state affiliate Make the Road New Jersey “to take action against systems of oppression and exploitation.” 38

In 2021, the David Rockefeller Fund donated $50,000 to MRA. 39

Loss of Nonprofit Tax Status

The Internal Revenue Service revoked Make the Road Action’s 501(c)(4) nonprofit status in May 2012 after MRA failed to file its required Form 990 annual reports for three consecutive years. 40 41 When asked by a reporter from Crain’s New York Business in July 2019, MRA’s leadership claimed to have only become aware of the issue the previous month. However, Crain’s uncovered a filing from 2015 in which MRA referenced “an application pending with the Internal Revenue Service for recognition of tax-exempt status under Section 501(c)(4).” 40

MRA retroactively filed its 2010 tax return with the IRS in August 2019, and in December 2019, MRA received a new IRS determination letter confirming its 501(c)(4) nonprofit status. 42 43 MRA then retroactively filed its 2017 report to the IRS in April 2020, its 2016 report in September 2020, its 2013 and 2015 reports in October 2020, and its 2014 report in February 2021. 43

As of 2025, the IRS website still has no record of MRA having filed annual reports for tax years 2011 or 2012. 43

References

  1. Make the Road Action. Accessed June 27, 2025. https://www.maketheroadaction.org/
  2. Nahmias, Laura. “New York’s Working Families Party instructs delegates to vote for Clinton.” Politico PRO. July 21, 2016. http://www.politico.com/states/new-york/albany/story/2016/07/new-yorks-working-families-party-instructs-delegates-to-vote-for-clinton-104106
  3. Make the road action team. Accessed June 27, 2025. https://www.maketheroadaction.org/team_english.
  4. “Biden’s Border Executive Order Is Unnecessarily Cruel for Political Gain.” Make the Road Action, June 4, 2024. https://www.maketheroadaction.org/biden_s_border_executive_order_is_unnecessarily_cruel_for_political_gain.
  5. “Issues.” Make the Road Action. Accessed June 27, 2025 https://www.maketheroadaction.org/issues
  6. “Make the Road Action.” Facebook. Accessed June 27, 2025. https://www.facebook.com/maketheroadaction/posts/pfbid029JshwsRWUQVAnv75nrtPRZGGuk526K9A4ZYtfgN3uRhPZR1ETCJuvGp3Po85zK5dl.
  7. “Make the Road Action.” Facebook. Accessed June 27, 2025. https://www.facebook.com/maketheroadaction/posts/pfbid0kKRHuJ7K5ozjqtEBE85WAqyBvTfiFxTg4ZdPr6HAXZMvUoFRuRkCHPM1wUE1cWsrl.
  8. “‘JOIN US Tomorrow at 2pm at Foley Square to Express Your Outrage over ICE’s Arrest of Newark Mayor Ras Baraka. We Must Resist the Administration’s Mass Deportation Agenda!’” Make the Road Action on Facebook, May 9, 2025. https://www.facebook.com/maketheroadaction/posts/pfbid0e8tA9wKDFBHCnL7MrHKBvAZxp7pauS6LHBNmMK41oU233MuoPkBWjzsWyiyMtBotl.
  9. McFadden, Alyce, Luis Ferre-Sadurni, and Tracey Tully. “Newark Mayor Ras Baraka Arrested at Protest Outside ICE Detention Center.” The New York Times, May 9, 2025. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/09/nyregion/newark-ice-protest-arrest-ras-baraka.html.
  10. “Javier H. Valdés.” Ford Foundation. Accessed June 27, 2025. https://www.fordfoundation.org/about/people/javier-h-valdes/.
  11. “Staff.” The Center for Popular Democracy (accessed via Wayback Machine), October 28, 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20161104034228/https://populardemocracy.org/about-us/staff#andrew.
  12. Meyerson, Harold. “Dan Cantor’s Machine.” The American Prospect. January 6, 2014. http://prospect.org/article/dan-cantors-machine
  13. “New York Communities Organizing Fund Inc.” ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer. Accessed June 27, 2025. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/272332649.
  14. Guo, Kayla. “House Censures Jamaal Bowman for False Fire Alarm (Published 2023).” The New York Times, December 7, 2023. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/07/us/politics/jamaal-bowman-censure-fire-alarm.html.
  15. “Jamaal Bowman.” Ballotpedia. Accessed June 27, 2025. https://ballotpedia.org/Jamaal_Bowman.
  16. Make the Road Action (@MaketheRoadAct). “Our members are EXCITED to join Rep. @JamaalBowmanNY for his campaign kick-off rally & canvass. As our member Doris said to Rep. Bowman: “I may not be able to vote, but I know many ppl who can vote for you and I’ll make sure they do vote for you.” We are ready to re-elect him!” Twitter, January 24, 2024. https://twitter.com/MaketheRoadAct/status/1750331245005766682
  17. Bredderman, Will. “Bernie Sanders Calls the Working Families Party ‘the Closest Thing’ to Socialism.” Observer. November 05, 2016. http://observer.com/2016/11/bernie-sanders-calls-the-working-families-party-the-closest-thing-to-socialism/
  18.  Ciaramella, CJ. “It’s Alive!” The Washington Free Beacon. August 28, 2012. http://freebeacon.com/politics/its-alive/
  19. These organizations occupied the 11th floor of 1 Metrotech Center North in Brooklyn, New York. See New York Communities for Change, Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990), 2016, Block C and “FEC Disclosure Form 3X for NEW YORK STATE COMMITTEE OF THE WORKING FAMILIES PARTY.” Federal Election Commission. March 20, 2018.. http://docquery.fec.gov/cgi-bin/forms/C00350991/1215332/.
  20. “Survival Services.” Make the Road New York, 2018. https://maketheroadny.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/MRNY-2017-Services-Brochure-e-version.pdf.
  21.  “SLS Car Wash Workers Latest to Vote to Join RWDSU/UFCW.” The United Food & Commercial Workers International Union, September 8, 2020. https://www.ufcw.org/sls-car-wash-workers-latest-to-vote-to-join-rwdsu/.
  22. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990). Center for Popular Democracy Action Fund. 2022. Part I. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/453860271/202343179349307894/IRS990
  23. “New York.” Make the Road Action. Accessed June 27, 2025. https://www.maketheroadaction.org/new_york
  24. Sandow, Darren, and Karen Scharff. “Big Apple Turnover.” Long Island Community Foundation, December 2020. https://licf.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Big-Apple-Turnover.pdf.
  25. “2026 U.S. House Strategy.” Movement Voter Project. Accessed June 27, 2025. https://movement.vote/house/.
  26. Cristina Jimenez Moreta LinkedIn profile. www.linkedin.com. https://www.linkedin.com/in/cristina-jiménez-moreta-13b3b4202/.
  27. Altschuler, Daniel. “Profile: Daniel Altschuler.” Linkedin, 2025. https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-altschuler-10919a56/.
  28. “Lucia Gomez.” ALIGN, May 19, 2021. https://alignny.org/staff-board/lucia-gomez/.
  29. Rabinowitz-Gold, Michael. “Michael Rabinowitz-Gold.” LinkedIn. Accessed June 27, 2025. https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-rabinowitz-gold-287aa91.
  30. “Sarah Johnson.” New America. Accessed July 23, 2025. https://www.newamerica.org/our-people/sarah-johnson/.
  31. “Sixteen Thirty Fund.” ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer. Accessed June 27, 2025. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/264486735.
  32. “Make the Road New York.” ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer. Accessed June 27, 2025. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/113344389.
  33. “Individual Contributions.” Federal Election Commission, 2024. https://www.fec.gov/data/individual-contributions/?committee_id=C00689745&contributor_name=movement%2Bvoter%2Bpac&two_year_transaction_period=2024.
  34. “Tides Foundation.” ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer. Accessed June 27, 2025. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/510198509.
  35. “Tides Advocacy.” ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer. Accessed June 27, 2025. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/943153687.
  36. “Open Society Policy Center Inc.” ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer. Accessed June 27, 2025. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/522028955.
  37. “Center for Community Change Action.” ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer. Accessed June 27, 2025. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/270061100.
  38. “147805 – Make the Road States.” Ford Foundation, September 26, 2024. https://www.fordfoundation.org/work/our-grants/awarded-grants/grants-database/make-the-road-states-147805/.
  39. “The David Rockefeller Fund Inc.” ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer. Accessed June 27, 2025. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/133533359.
  40. Bredderman, Will. “Influential Nonprofit Operated for Years after IRS Revoked Tax Status.” Crain’s New York Business, July 8, 2019. https://www.crainsnewyork.com/politics/influential-nonprofit-operated-years-after-irs-revoked-tax-status.
  41. “Auto-Revocation List – EIN 27-1408443.” Internal Revenue Service. Accessed June 27, 2025. https://apps.irs.gov/app/eos/.
  42. “Final Determination Letter.” Internal Revenue Service, December 12, 2019. https://apps.irs.gov/pub/epostcard/dl/FinalLetter_27-1408443_MAKETHEROADACTIONINC_07022019_01.tif.
  43. “Tax Exempt Organization Search – EIN 27-1408443.” Internal Revenue Service. Accessed June 27, 2025. https://apps.irs.gov/app/eos/.
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Nonprofit Information

  • Accounting Period: December - November
  • Tax Exemption Received: December 1, 2019

    • Available Filings

    Period Form Type Total revenue Total functional expenses Total assets (EOY) Total liabilities (EOY) Unrelated business income? Total contributions Program service revenue Investment income Comp. of current officers, directors, etc. Form 990
    2022 Dec Form 990 $5,964,350 $5,181,541 $5,831,515 $2,525,663 N $5,878,328 $39,000 $1,213 $116,373 PDF
    2021 Dec Form 990 $2,269,996 $1,575,957 $3,871,017 $860,976 N $2,255,495 $14,352 $149 $48,679 PDF
    2020 Dec Form 990 $5,101,215 $2,685,461 $3,543,048 $1,227,046 N $5,032,565 $68,650 $0 $60,132
    2019 Dec Form 990 $906,388 $1,104,799 $500,667 $491,256 N $883,788 $22,600 $0 $30,416
    2018 Dec Form 990 $1,958,884 $1,910,244 $510,915 $303,093 N $170,207 $1,788,527 $0 $0 PDF
    2010 Dec Form 990EZ $30,469 $20,321 $10,148 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 PDF
    2009 Dec Form 990EZ $0 $0 $1 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 PDF

    Additional Filings (PDFs)

    Make the Road Action (MRA)

    449 TROUTMAN STREET SUITE C
    BROOKLYN, NY 11237