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What We Do

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We invite Minnesotans across race, class, gender, faith, and place to step into their power as protagonists who can transform their communities and the systems that shape their lives.

ISAIAH is a community organizing group, which means our work isn’t about speaking on behalf of others — it’s about developing the leadership of everyday people and whole communities to speak for themselves. We believe lasting change happens when people recognize their agency, organize collectively, and act strategically.

Crowd of people protesting in front of the Minnesota State Capitol building holding signs that read "All In for Our Littlest Minnesotans" during a sunny day.

By connecting lived experience to collective action and systemic change, we are creating a statewide, multiracial, multifaith movement that reshapes public systems and politics in general.

Our vision is a multiracial democracy, a caring economy, and a thriving planet where every Minnesotan has voice, dignity, and opportunity. In order to get there, we are creating a new civic culture — one where democracy is owned and practiced by the people, not something done to us.

This is not charity.

This is people realizing their power, coming together, and reshaping our collective future.

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We develop leaders.

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Through one-on-one conversations, community organizing trainings, and leadership pathways, individuals discover their agency and grow into leaders who can develop other leaders.

We build collective vehicles.

Group of diverse people holding signs and banners that read 'We Make Minnesota Better Off Together' and 'Barbershop & Black Congregation Cooperative,' with some raising fists, standing outdoors in front of trees and storefronts during daytime.

We organize groups of people — faith congregations, barbershops, mosques, childcare centers, manufactured home parks, and community networks — into durable vehicles for collective action.

We create shared agendas.

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We help leaders surface issues that matter most in their communities and turn them into campaigns that link personal experiences to systemic change. Through conventions and organization-wide gatherings, we bring ISAIAH’s diverse constituencies together around a shared agenda for Minnesota.

Learn More

We engage with public officials.

Two Black ISAIAH leaders and two state legislators smiling and posing together at an indoor event with large windows and other attendees in the background.

We build strong, long-term relationships with public officials based on trust, accountability, and shared leadership. Through these partnerships, we can work side by side to design and advance policies that improve the lives of Minnesotans.

We shift narratives.

A large group of diverse people participating in a protest or march, holding a banner that reads "Greater Than Fear" with a Minnesota outline and stars, and additional signs supporting love and unity.

We use — and train others in — a research-backed Race Class Gender Narrative strategy that pushes back against divide-and-conquer tactics and brings Minnesotans together across differences to build momentum for collective solutions.