Our Story
Founded in 2000, ISAIAH builds power across Minnesota through developing the leadership of everyday people to win a multiracial democracy, caring economy, and thriving planet.
The Early Years
Uniting Faith Groups 🙏
ISAIAH was founded in 2000 through the merger of three congregation-based community organizations: Great River Interfaith Partnership (GRIP) in St. Cloud, Interfaith Action in Minneapolis, and the St. Paul Ecumenical Alliance of Congregations (SPEAC). Each group had a strong tradition of grassroots organizing and a shared belief that bold, unified action was needed to confront racial and economic injustice across Minnesota.
Our early victories proved the power of ordinary people coming together to make a difference. In 2009, we helped pass the Cover All Kids bill, ensuring all children in Minnesota — regardless of immigration status — had access to affordable healthcare. The following year, we secured $6.6 billion for public transit through the Transportation Choices bill, helping to better connect Minnesotans to each other and creating thousands of living wage jobs in communities of color.
When a voter suppression amendment threatened to disenfranchise hundreds of thousands in 2012, ISAIAH members mobilized to defend democracy. In the wake of the foreclosure crisis, as predatory subprime lenders robbed over 100,000 Minnesotans of their homes, we partnered with Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman to pass what was then the strongest Homeowner Bill of Rights in the nation.
We’ve also built power and made critical change happen at the local level. In 2004, we played a pivotal role in the Domestic Violence Audit in St. Paul that resulted in major reforms in policing and victim support. That same year, we won a lasting community policing agreement in St. Cloud that continues to evolve to this day. Alongside coalition partners, we fought for — and won — paid sick time and higher wages for workers across the Twin Cities.
As ISAIAH grew throughout the 2010s, so did our impact and power throughout Minnesota. We built powerful coalitions with labor, faith, and community groups across the state, tackling issues from healthcare and housing to immigration, education, climate, and youth programming. Our deep commitment to grassroots, relational organizing continues to guide our organization today.
Our Evolution
Building a Bigger “We” 🎉
…And then came the 2016 presidential election, exposing deep fractures in American democracy, growing discontent with “politics as usual”, and the rise of white nationalism and authoritarian populism.
At the heart of our organizational culture is the belief that anything worth doing is worth evaluating. We regularly examine our community organizing strategies and tactics, asking ourselves tough questions. We maintain a curiosity about power — who holds it, where it comes from, and how to best build it, together. This commitment to reflection and learning fuels our evolution as an organization.
So when President Trump took office promising mass deportations, a Muslim ban, the repeal of the Affordable Care Act, and rollbacks on climate progress, we had to take stock. Did we have enough collective power to meet this moment? If not, who would we organize with — and what would we fight for, together? What old organizing models needed to be let go? What new ones had to be built?
One truth was undeniable: certain politicians were trying to divide us by race, place, and immigration status, hoping we’d be too fractured to stand up for a shared future. These divide-and-distract tactics threatened our communities at every level. In response, we decided to build a bigger “we” — inviting more people, from more places, into the political arena.
We’ve always organized across lines of difference, but in the past decade, we’ve deepened that commitment. We’re building a truly multiracial, multigenerational, multifaith, multigeographic base — not just because it’s the “right thing to do” — but because this is the kind of power it takes to win a thriving future for all Minnesotans.
Our growth has taken many forms. Following an Islamophobic attack on their mosque in 2017, a group of Muslim Minnesotans came together to build political power — founding our Muslim Coalition, which now includes members from over 40 Islamic centers across the state. We’ve deepened our organizing in Black communities through our Barbershop and Black Congregation Cooperative, galvanizing people around issues like voters’ rights, criminal justice reform, and resources for youth. Through our Rural Organizing Project, we’ve developed leaders across Greater Minnesota, ready to tackle issues like healthcare access, water quality, and more. Our Kids Count on Us coalition was formed to bring together childcare providers, workers, and parents to fight for affordable childcare and living wages, and in 2024, the Manufactured Home Resident Collective was created to fight corporate greed in parks across the state.
We Need More Tools
Starting Faith in Minnesota 🗳️
It was also in the wake of the 2016 election that ISAIAH leaders came together and decided to create Faith in Minnesota. We were proud of all ISAIAH had accomplished as an organization so far up to that point. But when it came to several of our boldest issue priorities, we kept running into roadblocks. As a nonpartisan organization, we could push for change — but we had no say in who called the shots.
We wanted a way to build independent political power and hold lawmakers accountable, no matter their political party. We wanted the full set of tools to advance our Values Agenda — including the power to elect values-aligned leaders ready to co-govern with us. Leaders committed to building a people-centered politics — not by saving us, but partnering with us.
In the words of Muslim Coalition leader Imam Asad Zaman, we needed a vehicle that would allow us to “hire the chefs, instead of just choose from the menu.”
That vehicle is Faith in Minnesota.
As the 501(c)(4) arm of ISAIAH, Faith in Minnesota allows us to organize and advocate directly in elections and political processes. It gives us the ability to live out our values in the electoral arena — and to build a Minnesota that is inclusive and just for every person.
Where We’re Going
Power Protects Us 💪
In 2023, the years we spent organizing, innovating, and building power paid off when Minnesotans won big in a legislative session later dubbed the “Minnesota Miracle.” But we know better — it wasn’t magic. It was the result of a decade of tireless work by us and our partners: organizing beyond election cycles, forging coalitions, and working in deep partnership with elected leaders like Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman.
Because Minnesotans showed up — in town halls, at the Capitol, and in our communities — we made history. We secured statewide paid family and medical leave, giving people the time they need to welcome new life or care for loved ones in their final moments. We passed a groundbreaking clean energy law that requires utility companies to go 100% carbon-free by 2040, protecting both our people and the planet. We restored voting rights to 55,000 formerly incarcerated Minnesotans, created automatic voter registration, and opened pre-registration to 16- and 17-year-olds — because democracy only works when everyone has a voice. We won game-changing public transit funding so we can better connect Minnesotans to each other and the places we love. And we achieved critical support for childcare, so our kids, families, and early educators can truly thrive.
And that’s not even all of it.
These victories will ripple across Minnesota for generations. But now, after the 2024 presidential election, we find ourselves again at another moral and political crossroads.
Will we give into a politics of division, fear, and cynicism — where everyday people fight over crumbs while billionaires get richer and richer? Or will we keep building a politics rooted in abundance, dignity, and love — where everyone belongs, especially those too often excluded, ignored, or scapegoated?
One thing is certain: It’s up to us. It’s time to organize.
Right now, many Minnesotans are facing real fears — of losing their healthcare, food assistance, or being snatched off the street by ICE. In times like these, it’s tempting to shut down or disappear into distraction. But here at ISAIAH, we believe that power protects — meaning building power is how we protect ourselves, our people, and our communities.
So in this moment and all the moments to come, we’ll keep doing what we do best: Organizing across race, place, and faith. Raising up leaders who shine as lighthouses in the storm. Building the future we all deserve — together.
