To make change, MOVE

MOVE stands for the AFT's "Mobilize, Organize, Vote, Empower" program-a whopping $3 million in grants to 70 locals and state federations to take on new challenges and exercise their activist muscles. As AFT Vice President and AFT Massachusetts President Jessica Tang noted in Sunday morning's session, "that kind of capacity-building isn't optional-it's essential."

The AFT's Kelly Nedrow, assistant to the president for strategic priorities who helms the program, noted, "MOVE grants aren't about writing checks for one-off rallies or isolated events; they are designed to build permanent, sustainable organizing capacity at our worksites and in our communities."

Nedrow was joined by Tang and other AFT leaders who are already deploying their grants in their locals. Tang described how a MOVE grant enabled her state federation to empower four locals impacted by federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement terror campaigns. The Boston and Chelsea teachers unions organized school safety teams to protect families. The Salem Teachers Union recruited school safety captains in every building to enforce stronger district safety policies that they had successfully advocated for. And the Lynn Teachers Union deepened community partnerships to successfully protect one of its own beloved paraprofessionals from deportation.

Tang noted, "Ultimately, over 1,000 members participated, moving our folks up the engagement ladder to become true activists and leaders."

Jill Dumesnil, president of the United Academics-AAUP/AFT at the University of Alaska, told delegates, "For more than 20 years, faculty had been asking for a seat on the [University of Alaska] Board of Regents." The union's MOVE grant fueled member activism and lobbying on the issue, and in May the Alaska Legislature approved a bill to add a faculty member to the board.

Baltimore Teachers Union President Diamonté Brown described the BTU's two-pronged MOVE-funded efforts. First, the BTU is building toward massive action for May Day 2028 (International Workers' Day) by beginning now. On May 1, 2026, the union coordinated school and worksite walk-ins that engaged over 7,000 members. Second, the union is working in coalition with other public sector unions to repeal a decades-old Maryland state law prohibiting public school employees and library workers from striking.

Alejandra Lopez, president of the San Antonio Alliance of Teachers and Support Personnel, described the wide-ranging work the Alliance is doing with its MOVE grant: A February "Together We Thrive Community Summit" and book giveaway, Know Your Rights community walks and trainings with practical information to prepare people for ICE actions, and a get-out-the-vote effort for their own Executive Vice President Adrian Reyna who is also a San Antonio Independent School District leader teacher. In May, Reyna won his primary and now has a strong shot to win a Texas House seat in the city's traditionally blue Westside district.

Nedrow mentioned even more examples of MOVE in action: In Southwest Ohio, three separate locals are breaking down silos to master database tracking together. In Montana, members leveraged emergency flood relief into a powerful internal organizing campaign that crushed a hostile decertification effort. In Syracuse, N.Y., the MOVE grant funded community-facing partnerships, like co-building an inclusive, adaptive playground, to show that our unions are the absolute bedrock of neighbor-to-neighbor support.

"This is how we build the permanent power needed to defend our schools, healthcare and democracy," said Nedrow.

[Christina Bartolomeo/Photo credit: Pamela Wolfe]