By Megan Sayles
AFRO Staff Writer
msayles@afro.com
Tides Advocacy, a California-based nonprofit dedicated to advancing social justice movements, hosted Beyond Impact 2025 in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor on Sept. 17 to 19. The convening assembled organizers, community leaders and advocates to exchange ideas, share resources and align strategies for change.
During the three-day conference, panel conversations and breakout sessions tackled issues, like voting rights, public safety, coalition building and organizer well-being. The goal of Beyond Impact 2025 was to strengthen the infrastructure of social movements by equipping attendees with the tools, networks and vision to defend democracy and create sustainable, community-centered equity.
“We are all together to protect this democracy,” said Jones. “We are the people, and we have the power to organize more people and build our bases to protect our democracy.”
Fighting for fair representation in redistricting maps
Across the country, a number of states are undergoing redistricting,with battles over who gets represented and how districts are drawn. In Texas, for example, Republican lawmakers have created a new map that seeks to seize five Democratic seats. It also dilutes Black voting power by consolidating much of Houston’s Black population into a single district.
The redistricting in Texas was also pushed by the 47th president.
“Trump and his allies are using redistricting to entrench minority rule and usher in autocracy. Our choice is clear,” said Jones. “We can hope our courts will save us, or we can build bases strong enough to win fairness on our own terms.”
During a panel at Beyond Impact, legal, voting and census experts examined how organizers can defend against gerrymandering in their communities.
April England-Albright, legal director and chief of staff for Black Voters Matter, explained that legal teams must work hand-in-hand with organizations and people who are being impacted by redistricting efforts. This helps to strengthen lawsuits against new maps.
“Litigation outside of organizing does not work. It just doesn’t,” said England-Albright. “We have to acknowledge that the cases that win are cases that are fed and fueled by the community. You have to have those two components together.”
Meeta Anand, senior director of census and data equity at The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, stressed the importance of accurate census data to secure fair representation.
She explained that undercounts, especially in Black, Latino and other marginalized communities, can lead to diminished political power, less access to resources and fewer congressional seats.
She emphasized that local engagement and participation in the census is critical to protecting communities’ voices in redistricting, but the government must ensure that participants’ data is protected.
“It’s important that you show up in the data because what the government has created right now is a situation where you’re in a rock or a hard place,” said Anand. “You either show up in the data and then you’re not showing up for your community, yourself or representation, or you’re showing up in the data and putting yourself at risk.”
Grassroots power and Black autonomy in Baltimore
Beyond Impact also featured a special session on Baltimore’s history of organizing, racial equity and community-led solutions. The panel brought together local leaders in working at the intersection of economic empowerment, criminal justice and civic engagement, who reflected on lessons from the in-custody death of 25-year Freddie Gray in 2015.
In the aftermath of Gray’s killing, Baltimore was thrust into the national spotlight, highlighting longstanding issues of police violence against African Americans in the city.
Dayvon Love, public policy director for Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle (LBS), said that Gray’s death and the community’s subsequent response were part of a broader struggle for Black liberation.
“When Freddie Gray was killed and the uprising happened, I understood it as a part of the continuum of Black resistance to White supremacy,” said Love.
“If you know about what has been happening in the community, you weren’t shocked or surprised,” he continued. “The question became, ‘How are we going to use the momentum to make a change?’”
Quiana Johnson, founder of Life After Release in Prince George’s County, Md. said Baltimore’s response to the death of Gray helped her county to recognize the power of grassroots organizing and apply those lessons locally.
She also highlighted ongoing work to support women and families impacted by incarceration through programs that address legal empowerment, employment and childcare access— demonstrating how community-led organizing can build long-term resilience and opportunities.
“Because Baltimore was rising up, we started to demand some things too. The police accountability that came out of Baltimore’s movement is something else that Prince George’s County has taken,” said Johnson. “Our advocates and our people on the ground have been holding police officers accountable.”
