Freedom to Thrive (Formerly Enlace) works to create a world where safety means investment in people & planet and to end the punishment-based criminal and immigration systems.

We are building a powerful Black and Brown network, centering youth, nonbinary, and femme leadership. We engage our network in our Prison Industry Divestment Campaign and the Freedom Cities & Freedom Campuses Movement to address criminalization and incarceration.

Our Institute builds leadership of directly impacted people to develop campaigns addressing the root causes of oppression to bring about transformation and collective liberation. Our approach to leadership development centers healing justice and political education in service of supporting empowered individuals capable of advancing a collective vision for social justice through mobilization and action. The Umoja program supports the leadership of black youth and provides on the field organizing experience with campaigns combating criminalization. Our We Rise training program supports femme and non-binary organizers of color to deepen their campaigning skills and build healing justice and wellness practices that sustain personal resiliency.

Freedom to Thrive was founded in 1998 by visionary organizations in North America and Asia to support women of color led grassroots organizations to campaign against transnational corporations. After game changing victories like the International Sara Lee Campaign, which proved under-resourced grassroots groups could win demands for workers against multinational corporations, we developed strategic frameworks that became the Integrated Organizing Approach (IOA) Methodology. Our Institute launched shortly after, to train frontline leaders in the IOA frameworks in order to build intersectional campaigns that address root causes of state and corporate violence.

Image credit: Jake Ratner