OUR WORK: DEFEND AND REBUILD
Branch4 works to defend and rebuild the administrative branch of government by organizing with federal workers and partnering with communities to strengthen democracy from the inside out. Across our programs, we support worker-led organizing, policy innovation, and cross-sector coordination to protect public services, advance civil and human rights, and reimagine what a just, accountable government can be.
Our work spans three interconnected strategies: building power among federal workers, co-creating a vision for democratic governance, and coordinating efforts across the federal worker ecosystem.
Unionism for the Common Good
Federal workers that go into civil service are generally driven by a deep commitment to the public and the communities they serve. As attacks on their jobs are increasingly intertwined with attacks on the public mandates of their agencies, a growing movement within the federal sector for unionism for the common is emerging. Unionism for the common good involves partnering deeply with communities and social movements to exercise the power of labor for the benefit of all working people in the United States. In this moment of crisis, federal unionists for the common good have come together with communities to defend their agencies and the services they provide, as well as begin the hard work of envisioning and planning how to reconstruct a much damaged administrative branch in the future. Branch4 supports these efforts through:
Government for the People (G4P): A platform for federal workers to apply their expertise toward building a more effective, equitable, and democratic federal government that better serves the people.
Federal Unionists Network (FUN): A network organizing 17,000+ federal workers to build a powerful labor movement at the heart of a thriving democracy. Through bottom-up union organizing, education, and mutual support, FUN empowers workers to defend public services and drive a more just, equitable, and accountable government—from the inside out.
Federal Workers for Democracy
Federal workers are a key pillar in society for the defense of democracy, equity and rights. Around the globe when countries have faced anti-democratic threats federal workers have moved into action to protect their institutions and democratic values. For the first time, federal workers in the United States are finding themselves in this position. Branch4 supports these efforts through:
Democracy Renewal Group: A community of global democracy and peacebuilding experts using their experience to protect and strengthen a democracy that works for all Americans.
Fed Collective: A collaborative of federal worker organizations and allies that seek to (1) protect the public from immediate harm resulting from attacks on our agencies; and (2) create and enact a shared positive vision of a civil service and federal government that serves all.
RISE: A leadership development program for early and mid-career civil servants pushed out of government to create community, inspire commitment to return to service, and develop leadership skills in equitable and democratic governance in partnership with impactedcommunities and civil society.
Race and Democracy
The Race and Democracy program supports current and former civil rights workers across the federal government to serve as truth tellers and experts. Truth tellers who step up with courage about race in our country are an essential bulwark and counter the dangerous and distorted narrative being created around race and equity in government. The program will build deep and transformative partnerships between federal worker efforts and the civil rights community, unionists, on-the-ground organizers, and faith groups to grow the intensifying push back and advance a more robust vision of civil rights and racial equity for the future. The program includes:
Civil Rights
Civil rights workers across the government are facing pressure to cease their work towards racial, gender and disability justice and focus on weaponizing the office against DEI programs, fair housing and more. Branch4 is bringing together former and current federal workers to collectively address this challenge.
Fair Housing
Fair housing efforts have been victim to the growing political attacks on racial and other forms of equity. Civil rights workers have blown the whistle (link to whistle blower report and put that on the featured page) on the illegal dismantling of the US Housing and Urban Development’s Fair Housing Office. Through congressional hearings, media, organizing and truth telling they are fighting to reverse the damage and protect fair housing for all people in the United States.
