Good News for May 16, 2025
Celebrating our Collective Effort
As we watch the current administration undermine basic human rights and democratic norms, it’s hard not to feel powerless. But your quiet, steady actions with AoCC this year already prove that collective care has power, even through tough times.
Together, in just four months, you’ve taken 29,419 civic actions. That’s thousands of emails, calls, and steps toward justice that keep breathing life into our democracy and communities.
Your generosity has also been extraordinary. This year alone, our subscribers have donated nearly $50,000 to support vulnerable people and bold community projects:
- Over $21,000 to families displaced by fires in Los Angeles.
- Nearly $10,000 to help a Venezuelan family seeking safety.
- Over $5,800 to grassroots reproductive justice groups.
- More than $8,300 to help over 200 people get IDs and access their right to vote.
- And more than $4,500 to plant a literal orchard of nourishment and community.
In our Earth Day Climate Justice Edition, 634 people signed our petition calling on the EPA to replace toxic lead pipes and fund environmental safety. That’s solidarity. And hundreds more dove into our quizzes to deepen their knowledge of climate and reproductive justice.
You may not see headlines about this kind of quiet resistance, but we do. It’s in every action you take, every shared dollar, every new subscriber deciding to use their voice for good. While cruelty shouts from the news, your compassion hums steadily forward. Thank you for choosing your conscience and for staying in this with us on this journey toward a better future. We’re making progress together.
More Good News
Want to know what else is going right these days? Take a break from the doom to see evidence of goodness and hope.
- Dauphin County, PA wipes out $65M of debt in prison-related fees for formerly incarcerated people, removing a barrier to successful re-entry.
- Chattanooga, TN becomes the first National Park City in the U.S.
- Chicago currently sources about 70% of power for its municipal operations from solar energy.
- The Black Women’s Health Imperative and several partners launch the Opill Access Fund, supplying eligible people with a free three-month supply of the first daily over-the-counter birth control pill available in the U.S.
- The Old Growth Forest Network recognizes 32 acres of old-growth forest within the Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge, containing trees estimated to be 300 years old.
- Paul Tazewell wins the best costume design Oscar for his work on Wicked, becoming the first Black man to win in that category.
- Public figures sell their Tesla vehicles in protest of the company owner’s unconstitutional meddling in federal agencies.
- Lake Champlain’s trout population returns to historic numbers.
- Cognitive scientists find that stark, straightforward visual representations of harm to the planet can break through climate apathy.
- Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum stands up for Mexico’s sovereignty in response to the U.S. president’s attempts to assert influence over our neighboring country.
- Sierra Leone has reduced maternal death rates by almost 75% since 2000.
- For over 100 years Australia’s electorate has utilized ranked-choice voting to elect their members of Parliament.
Support the good news list
We’ve noticed our support slipping a little at a time that we need it most. Although we usually ask you to support other organizations financially, we’d like help hiring experts to advise us on online security and marketing to engage more Americans. Even $1 per month would help us reach our 2025 goals. Want to help? Here’s how to become an AoCC patron.
I’m so proud of you and us, showing up for our nation and neighbors at this difficult time. Let’s keep carrying on together!
Gratefully,
— Jen Hofmann and the AoCC team
P.S. Have you heard about our upcoming AoCC Book Club?
Thank you for every Good News report and list!