A few weeks ago, our team came together for our annual LIFT Summit. Given the times we are living in — with the weight of threats to civil society, to the nonprofit sector, to the communities we love and serve, and to our very own families — you might expect that this gathering would be heavy. And yes, those feelings — fear, confusion, grief — were and are present. How could they not be? They are a natural response to actions increasingly designed to fracture us, to silence us, to exhaust our will to fight. That is, after all, the playbook: to sow despair and make us forget our agency.
Instead, what we experienced was something deeper. Something more potent. Something more real.
What rose to the surface was power rooted in purpose. The kind of power that defies cynicism and dares to build toward liberation. And there was love. Not the soft, sentimental kind — but love as a verb. Love that insists we see each other, protect each other, and fight like hell for each other. Most surprisingly, there was joy. Not because things are easy, but joy as a form of resistance — a tool for both personal empowerment and challenging oppressive systems. Power. Love. Joy. These are not just ideals — they are imperatives.
Like water to a seed, what we give our attention will grow. Drawing upon those important reminders, let’s refuse to water the weeds of hate, systemic violence, of fear. Instead, let us try to cultivate power, love, and joy as a strategy in our collective effort to prevent the passing of the recently passed and Trump-backed U.S. House budget bill that now heads to the U.S. Senate.
Here is what we want you to know– Within the month, the Senate plans to vote on the budget passed by the House that includes deep tax giveaways to the wealthy funded by cutting more than a trillion dollars from critical human needs. This budget will:
- Gut Medicaid funding, threatening health coverage for at least 13.7 million Americans and straining state budgets.
- Block families from the expanded Child Tax Credit, denying 17 million children in struggling households vital support because their parents won’t make enough to receive the credit. Additionally, 4.5 million U.S. citizen children living in mixed-status families would be stripped of this benefit — in a country where one in four children has an immigrant parent. During the pandemic, the child tax credit cut child poverty in half. This is a needed poverty alleviation intervention.
- Slash the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) by 30%, the deepest cut in its history, ripping away essential food assistance from millions already battling rising grocery prices.
- Cut funding for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, imposing harsher work requirements that reduce access without improving outcomes, and stripping away childcare subsidies — destabilizing millions of low-income families. I mean, work requirements with less childcare. Make it make sense.
This is on top of impending Head Start cuts, closures of regional offices, and delays in vital childcare funds that have caused closures across the country. As you may know, more than 25 years ago, LIFT was born from our founder’s experience volunteering in a Head Start program and grounded in the fact that children’s development is intrinsically tied to their family’s economic mobility. This is proven. These budgetary actions won’t just harm families economically – they directly impede parents’ ability to provide for their families and will hinder children’s future opportunity – in essence perpetuating the poverty cycle.
As we watch public officials vote for budgets they know will hurt LIFT communities, we also need to expose a far too familiar dynamic – the brilliance of communities going underinvested, undervalued, and unwitnessed. But, as Khadijah Williams, LIFT’s National Policy Director asserts, “brilliance, even unrecognized, still exists.” And again, the data and commonsense solutions are on our side. A 2024 data review by the Urban Institute showed that cash assistance improves mental health, reduces food insecurity, improves a child’s test scores, reduces family financial hardship, increases employment, and reduces income volatility.
Here is what you can do- as we stare down Trump’s draconian budget cuts and policies that strip our communities of dignity and resources, let’s act together to activate power, love and joy to unleash that brilliance:
- Make power moves– Please, please, please, call your U.S. Senator today. You can find their information on, senate.gov or you can call the U.S. Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and ask for the Senate member from your state. Calling their offices and requesting an e-mail or written response is a direct way to make your voice heard. So, make your voice heard. It takes five minutes, and it makes a difference!
- Stand for loving action– When you call, tell your Senator’s staff that investing in our families is investing in the brilliance we need for a thriving country, a stronger economy and a more prosperous future for everyone.
- Uphold joyful abundance- In this moment when the social services our members depend on to escape poverty are being demolished, I find myself being pulled into protective mode – fighting to preserve what remains. But what if what we have wasn’t enough to begin with? We need to continue demanding more for our communities so systems can be strengthened not decimated.
Now is the time to make our voices heard. So, let’s choose, in this moment, to fight not from a place of fear, but from a place of fierce love. Let’s summon a power that is rooted in purpose. Let’s cultivate joy – not because we are blind to the stakes, but because we are clear-eyed about what our communities deserve.
PS- As a gift from us to you, we hope this Summit playlist from the LIFT-DC team brings you some joy.
LIFT-CEO
Michelle Rhone-Collins