COLOR Action Fund (COLOR AF) is building a political pipeline rooted in reproductive justice, cultural truth, and collective liberation. Our community can’t wait for political change to come from the halls of power. While “bench-building” has been a tool of political progress for many people, we rarely see our conditions in our community change after just an election. Instead, the Reproductive Justice (RJ) Academy is dedicated to planting seeds in a political ecosystem that infuses our values into all political roles, not just elected officials.
“The RJ Academy pushed me to be better, to want more, and to fight for it in whatever way that meant to me and my peers. In every session, I saw people who have dedicated their lives to the community. That humanity in this. The political environment is what makes us hold our heads high, even when the Institutions around us have failed us time and time again.”
– 2025 RJ Academy Participant
Our inaugural cohort launched in 2025, with 15 RJ Academy participants who committed to 81 hours of programming with the COLOR AF team and 21 community partner organizations. Over several months in RJ Academy, our young, Latine progressive political workers, organizers, and community leaders from across Colorado explored the intersections of our state’s most urgent issues and created something extraordinary: “10 Laws of RJ” that embody our generation’s demands for justice, equity, and liberation.
100% of program participants believe that RJ Academy connected their personal values to broader social and political change
100% of program participants believe RJ Academy had a lasting impact on their leadership journey.
100% of program participants believe RJ Academy can strengthen progressive political movements.
From Base to Bench. Building Power That Lasts.
For decades, conservative forces have invested heavily in political pipelines, training candidates, operatives, messengers, and decision-makers to advance exclusion, control, and harm. Progressive movements have too often been forced into a reactive posture. RJ Academy exists to close that gap, and is designed for Latine leaders who:
- Are already engaged in organizing, policy, campaigns, or political work
- Are prepared to operate inside political systems without abandoning their values
- Understand that leadership requires accountability, discipline, and collective responsibility
What Participants Experience
“What was most impactful for me was hearing from members of the community who were doing direct service work. They are the ones who see what is actually happening in the communities they serve and what their needs are.”
– 2025 RJ Academy Participant
RJ Academy is immersive, relational, and rooted in place. Every session connects values to lived experience to political strategy. Participants engage in:
- A multi-day in-person retreat focused on trust, political grounding, and shared values
- In-person sessions connecting reproductive justice to healthcare, immigration, abolition, education, labor, housing, and environmental justice
- Virtual sessions on organizing, communications, policy, lobbying, and legislating
- Direct engagement with clinics, unions, immigrant justice spaces, policy hubs, and community organizations across Colorado
- Collective political reflection and creation, including shared frameworks for reproductive justice governance