Who We Are

PICO California is the largest faith-based community organizing network in the state. Through nine local federations organizing across 18 counties, we bring together hundreds of congregations and thousands of grassroots leaders to build power across race, faith, and class.

Our mission is to catalyze faith-based and spiritually centered people power in California to create systemic change so that all families can thrive.

Founded in 1994 and established as an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit in 2021, alongside the 501(c)(4) PICO California Action Fund, we organize congregations and spiritually rooted individuals to shape public life through leadership development, relationship building, and collective action.

Our Vision: A Moral Economy

We are working toward a Moral Economy for California, one where our systems reflect human dignity and shared responsibility.

That means expanding affordable housing, strengthening economic opportunity for working families, ensuring immigrants and refugees are welcomed and included, investing in schools and communities, reducing incarceration while increasing opportunities for people returning home, and building a government that effectively cares for all Californians.

Faith and spiritual traditions have long been at the heart of movements for justice in America. From abolition to civil rights to today’s struggles for racial and economic fairness, communities of faith have helped shape the moral imagination of our nation.

Congregations remain some of the last places where people gather across race, class, and ideology to pursue a vision larger than themselves. We organize in that tradition, forming leaders who connect shared values to public action.

Over three decades, PICO California has helped win significant advances for racial and economic justice. Our network has contributed to expanding tenant protections, reducing jail and prison populations, reforming public safety practices, and strengthening pathways for immigrant communities.

We build long-term power through leadership development, organizing, and deep relationships rooted in belonging. Our work creates pathways for historically underrepresented communities to participate meaningfully in public life.

Annual Reports

PICO California is led primarily by grassroots volunteers whose lives are directly impacted by inequity, including immigrants, low-wage workers, young people, and individuals navigating systems of incarceration or healthcare access.

We invest in forming leaders who bring lived experience, credibility, and moral clarity to public conversations. These leaders bridge communities and institutions, articulate shared interests across difference, and move systems toward transformation.

Organizing Power

We train and develop leaders in congregations, neighborhood groups, and communities across the state. Grassroots leaders shape campaigns, guide strategy, and drive decision making. Organizing is the foundation of everything we do.

Morally-Rooted Narrative Power

We elevate faith-informed moral narratives that center dignity, belonging, and shared responsibility. Through communications, storytelling, and public rituals, we shape how Californians understand justice and community.

Electoral Power

Public policy shapes daily life. Through nonpartisan education and outreach, we engage hundreds of thousands of voters each year to advance policies that promote racial and economic fairness. Electoral engagement grows directly from our organizing and leadership development work.

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