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Trump and his allies in local governments have been fighting to defund everything from health care to education — fights we’ve been covering at Truthout for as long as they’ve existed. But we can’t just work to protect existing public goods; we need to fuel the push for more.

We’re launching this series to shine a light on the visionary organizing to win control over public funding and public goods, while shifting the balance of power away from the ultrawealthy toward the rest of us.

In California, volunteers are canvassing for Proposition 40, an upcoming ballot initiative to tax billionaire wealth to fund health care, food assistance and education. Whether or not it passes, the citizen-led ballot initiative will serve as a model for future efforts to tax the ultra-rich.

After a 12-year-long grassroots push by advocacy groups and activists, the state of New Mexico in 2025 made headlines for being the first in the nation to enact free universal child care. Now the challenge is to make sure teachers are paid a living wage.