Rewire recently asked its colleagues working to advance justice movements throughout the United States to share with our readers what is important to them and their communities as they close the door on 2014, and to explain what they are most hopeful for in the new year.

Indeed we have much to be thankful for, such as the progress being made to outlaw same-sex marriage bans across the country, tacos and beer, the defeat of “personhood” ballot measures in North Dakota and Colorado, and President Obama’s executive order on immigration; however, we also have a number of reasons to want to curl up in a ball and cry. But don’t. As R&B star Mary J. Blige once sang, “It’s not the time” to cry. We must see the fight we began in 2014 through to completion, Cherisse Scott of SisterReach explains. “That means us being steadfast and unashamed to believe that not only does God love women who have abortions, but that women deserve the right to health care, and that it is not a decision that should be made by a politician … Women should have reproductive autonomy, and that includes in every aspect of her life, including access to a safe abortion.”

Cherisse Scott, Founder and CEO of SisterReach

Cristina Aguilar, Executive Director of the Colorado Organization for Latina Opportunity and Reproductive Rights

Monica Simpson, Executive Director of the SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective

Executive Director Jessica González-Rojas and Colleagues at the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health