relocation and reopening fund

Revolutionary Grounds Books and Coffee has been an important part of Tucson's progressive political and activist communities for the last ten years. RG has offered literature that covers the spectrum of left politics, specifically focusing on works by people of traditionally marginalized communities. We also have a strong selection of children's books in English and Spanish, the type of books that other stores might file under "diverse", but we call quality storytelling that represents us and our communities. We have been a gathering space for the community. Many of the largest movements and actions of the last ten years have been planned in our space, from the fight for Ethnic Studies to Occupy Tucson, to the Tucson Water Protectors, to SlutWalk and Take Back the Night to portions of the RedForEd rallies.  We are committed to continuing to provide this space to our communities, but that plan is under threat.  Gentrification is hitting areas like 4th Avenue in Tucson, Arizona pretty hard, pushing out long-term tenants and businesses. This area has long been a special place for many, with single location locally owned and operated business and long term residents working together to create a welcoming and inviting community. The recently approved plans to build luxury condos with large retail ground floor spaces on the Avenue is changing all of that. While change can been good this particular change is forcing out smaller places like ours that do not own our buildings.  Our rent has gotten too high and we find ourselves forced to find a way to rebuild elsewhere. We have always been a shoestring operation with our greatest focus being on supporting our community. Moving is expensive, as is building, or updating, a commercial kitchen, putting in shelves, and re-building inventory. We feel that RG offers a lot of value to the community; it has been a gathering space, a safe zone, an educational center, and so much more. This fund will help us continue to be all of that. We are committed to reopening, but we need your help to do it.

Some of the groups that have used our space over the years include
SAAF
No More Deaths
Pan Left
UNIDOS
Femme Pirates
Angel Wings Transgender Support Network
Tucson Latina Professionals
Tucson Water Protectors
Burnt Out but Not Unscrewed Improv
Third Story Theater
Jewish Voices for Peace
The Green Party of Pima County
Tucson Progressive Democrats
Red For Ed
and many more


$40,000 may seem like a lot but the cost of moving alone is in the 1000's along with the costs of hiring an architect (required) to draw up kitchen plans, bringing a commercial space to code for 2018, and rebuilding inventory all while trying to get our customers to find and return to us. Please give what you can.

Please follow up for further updates