About Collective Power

Our History

Collective Power for Reproductive Justice

has been engaging young people in reproductive health, rights, and justice activism since 1981. At that time, Ronald Reagan had just been elected, anti-abortion influence was intensifying, and pro-choice activists were struggling with the right-wing backlash against the 1973 Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade. In those years of political retrenchment, Hampshire College’s third president, Adele Simmons, launched Collective Power – then known as the Civil Liberties and Public Policy Program – to work with students and other young constituencies and bring their energy and ideas into the reproductive rights movement.

Today, we are a growing, national reproductive justice organization, and our annual conference, summer internship program, and leadership building projects attract increasing numbers of participants from across the country. Collective Power continues to mobilize a broad diversity of young people, connecting with new allies and supporting and inspiring new generations of leadership.