People's Action Institute

People's Action Institute is the 501(c)(3) policy and research arm of People's Action, a national federation of 40 member-based grassroots power-building organizations across 30 states with more than a million members. The two entities — People's Action (the 501(c)(4) political arm) and People's Action Institute — share leadership, operate as an integrated unit, and are jointly headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.

Founding and history

People's Action was formed in 2016 through the merger of nine state and local grassroots organizing networks, structured around four predecessor formations: National People's Action (NPA), the Alliance for a Just Society, USAction together with the Campaign for America's Future, and the Center for Health, Environment and Justice. The oldest stream traces to NPA, founded in Chicago in 1972 by Gale Cincotta and Shel Trapp as a neighborhood advocacy organization. NPA's foundational campaigns drove passage of the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (1975) and the Community Reinvestment Act (1977); the 2016 merger brought these lineages together under unified brand and infrastructure.

AI accountability work

People's Action entered the AI-accountability terrain through two overlapping threads: a ratepayer-justice campaign targeting utility cost consequences of AI data center buildout, and co-organizing of the national "Dump Big Tech" protest wave in August 2026.

United Ratepayers is People's Action Institute's campaign coordinating 14 member organizations to organize utility customers in states where AI data center expansion is driving electricity rate increases. Actions have disrupted the annual gathering of energy-industry executives and packed public utility commission hearings demanding affordable, clean, reliable power — framing data-center-driven rate hikes as a community harm disproportionately falling on residential and low-income customers.

In August 2026, People's Action Institute co-organized the "Dump Big Tech" campaign alongside Make the Road, Food & Water Watch, and other national and local partners. The multi-city wave of coordinated actions targeted OpenAI, Palantir, and Google offices; data center construction sites in Oregon and West Virginia; and elected officials across at least five states during Congressional recess. Member organization PUSH Buffalo participated in actions denouncing data center development in Buffalo, New York. The campaign's three shared demands were stricter AI regulation, an end to federal Big Tech partnerships — specifically targeting OpenAI's Pentagon surveillance contract and Palantir's federal data systems — and enforceable energy and water usage caps for data centers.

Structure

The organization operates as a network model: People's Action Institute and People's Action share leadership and staff, with the 501(c)(3) / 501(c)(4) split determining which activities each entity conducts. Sulma Arias serves as executive director of both organizations — the first Latina immigrant to lead them — succeeding an earlier co-executive director structure. Member organizations retain significant autonomy within the federation, including the ability to join sub-campaigns like United Ratepayers and to affiliate with multi-org coalitions like Dump Big Tech independently.

The federation is funded by a mix of foundation grants and member-based fundraising. Documented institutional funders include the Ford Foundation, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the Marguerite Casey Foundation, and the Foundation to Promote Open Society.