Founded in 2011 by Van Jones, Natalie Foster, and Billy Wimsatt, Rebuild The Dream is fighting for an economy that works for everyone — an America that delivers on its promise of opportunity for all.
Our history of advocating to federal administrations of either party in how to properly implement legislation, and our willingness to work in purple states, is essential for ensuring that the government continues to serve the people. We build power at the state level in partnership with Dream.Org Empathy Network leaders–the largest body of directly impacted grassroots activists in the nation–and our network of environmental justice groups to position ourselves to be successful in our campaigns. We cultivate these partners into compelling advocates, and leverage their experiences to educate and pressure state and federal lawmakers to act.
Through humanizing the harm that current policies cause on communities, we build support for legislative solutions to fix them. Our unique, people-centered advocacy builds empathy and awareness, which has been critical for securing long term legislative changes that permanently shrink the size of the prison system and uplift clean energy policies.
Our current priorities include:
- Defending Climate Equity and Justice Reform on the Hill: Using fly-ins, lobby days, and in person meetings in DC, Rebuild the Dream empowers community advocates to meet with elected officials to represent the demands of their local communities
- Uplifting criminal justice and climate reform priorities to key party leaders at the Republican National Convention and Democratic National Convention
- Defense of the Inflation Reduction Act: We are pushing for continued proper implementation of the Inflation Reduction Act, including holding Congress accountable to authorizing the needed levels of funding and protecting it from political attacks during the budget process.
- Permitting Reform: This work is driving towards legislation to accelerate and streamline approvals for green energy projects while still defending equity and promoting community engagement.
- Passage of the EQUAL Act: In 2021, the EQUAL Act was introduced into Congress, and successfully passed the House of Representatives with an overwhelming show of bipartisan support. The bill would create 1:1 penalties for crack and powder cocaine, bringing thousands home from prison and shortening future sentences. Despite extensive efforts working in coalition with national organizations and directly impacted leaders to move the EQUAL Act through the legislative process, we regret that Senate leadership has continued to fail to answer the call for the Act’s passage. We are prepared to use all of our influence to push this change over the finish line.
- Passage of the Bureau of Prison Oversight legislation: We will push to remove Section 219 from appropriation language which would accelerate the construction of a $500+ million prison in Letcher County
- State level clean energy reform: We work to pass state policies that promote the increased use of clean energy, promotion of green jobs, and other policies that address the climate crisis. We are seeking to launch our first campaigns during the 2025 legislative session.
- Partnering with Empathy Network Leaders to pass state level reforms and defeat regressive legislation in the following priority states in 2024:
- Arizona
- Kentucky
- Mississippi
- Missouri