Election night was a body blow to our country, our movement and our values. Foundational commitments to opportunity, democracy, equity and fairness are in deep danger – and our communities are fearful about what is to come. We have already seen alarming spikes in hate crimes and racist attacks.

Like many people in this country and around the world, we’ve been grappling with what to say at such an extraordinary time in our history. Indeed, words cannot fully capture our pain, our fears, and our anger.

But this pain and grief sadly isn’t new. Immigrants have been resilient as Congress fails to fix our broken immigration system that rips thousands of families apart each year. Our Muslim brothers and sisters have been targeted and spied upon by our government for a generation. Our LGBTQ family continues to experience intense discrimination and persecution despite major advances in a short period of time. Black communities have stood firm in the face of state-sponsored violence for centuries.

We’re not here to tell you to be resilient. Our communities prove day in and day out that we’re resilient. But, we’re with you, and we're preparing to fight.

We must organize at a larger scale and more boldly than ever before. We must organize to bend the arc of history toward justice.

Last week, most of the Executive Directors of CPD’s network of 43 partners in 30 states gathered in Washington, D.C. for a three-day meeting to strategize about our collective path forward. Originally intended to serve as a stepping off point for moving an ambitious, coordinated set of federal demands, the meeting pivoted to provide space to process the moment we are in, share the pressing concerns of our constituencies, and brainstorm together what our shared priorities will be in the coming months and years.

Protecting the safety of our communities is paramount: of immigrants facing an uncertain future, of Black communities bracing for an increased level of both state-sponsored and individual violence, of Muslim communities facing a heightened level of surveillance and attack, of LGBTQ individuals who fear a rolling back of rights recently won.

We will protect our communities at the same time that we drive mass new organizing efforts to mobilize those most at risk to be at the forefront of a movement that makes clear this is our country.

We are also gearing up to resist the new order at every turn – to fight against the taking away of health insurance for millions who only recently won it; attacks on our social safety net – from food stamps to childcare subsidies; a new level of corporate influence in our lives and institutions; and a rollback of basic standards for workers on the job. Our partners, and their members, are energized and ready to take on this fight - in a more coordinated, more creative way than we have ever had to do before.

At the same time, we will not forget that we won real, high-impact victories at the local level – proving that our model of change, which works from the ground up, will become even more crucial in the next few years. Indeed, despite an ugly and terrifying Presidential election, at a local and state level we won game-changing victories that will improve the lives of millions of working families.

Thus, while we and our partners take a moment to regroup and to mourn this moment in our national history, we emerge ready to fight smarter, harder, and in a more coordinated way across the country. Our organizing works. We build community, and we build power. We increase opportunity, equity, and fairness. We re-vitalize our democracy, and we create opportunities for a new generation of dynamic leaders.

We will look to each of you in the coming months and years, to lend your support, energy, commitment, and creativity to our revitalized movement for change.