ITR is a multiracial, multicultural, intergenerational alliance of alliances representing over 200 organizations and affiliates in over 50 states, provinces, territories and Native lands on Turtle Island; and is led by women, gender non-conforming people, people of color, Black and Indigenous Peoples. It is an outcome of years of organizing and relationship building across the membership of Climate Justice Alliance, Grassroots Global Justice Alliance, Indigenous Environmental Network and Right to the City Alliance. Our four alliances are led by communities on the frontlines fighting for racial, housing and climate justice, and Indigenous sovereignty.

Our work centers the leadership and power of frontline communities—especially women, gender non-conforming people, Indigenous Peoples, and Black, Latinx, Asian, Arab, Immigrant and Muslim communities. We support cross-alliance member convenings; show up in rapid response at strategic direct actions; develop narrative power through aligning many voices in support of struggles across issues; and elevate the leadership of the radical grassroots organizing sector in United Front spaces in order to build the Bigger We.

Our Principles

• Rooted in frontline community wisdom, place-based solutions, translocal organizing and deep democracy;
• Toward regenerative economies and healthy communities driven by the inherent rights of Nature—Mother Earth, grassroots feminism, and political transformation;
• Against the violence of the extractive economy, colonization, white supremacy and patriarchy.

The communities represented by the It Takes Roots alliances—often near toxic, polluting industries such as oil refineries, fracking wells, coal mines, power plants, and pipelines; rails, ports, and other major transportation corridors; landfills and incinerators; and industrial agriculture—are experimenting with broader strategies to defend the earth, build place-based power, and advance transition toward healthy, just, regenerative economies and communities.