How Posner became a home for mutual aid amid the erosion of U.S. foreign aid

Disbelief. Confusion. Devastation. These were just some of the emotions that swept through communities around the world as stop-work orders spread and USAID funding came to an abrupt end. On February 4, 2025, the Trump administration sent a message to thousands of USAID workers stationed across the country and around the globe, halting work and ending more than $34 million in contracts and grants in Colorado alone. The message concluded with an unsigned line: “Thank you for your service.”

People affected by this began reaching out to one another almost immediately, offering support and trying to make sense of a sudden, tectonic shift. Through Signal chats, text messages, and social media posts, a Colorado community began to emerge. What initially felt like a lonely, solitary experience quickly took shape as something shared, and at the first gathering in February 2025, around 75 people gathered at the Posner Center for the very first “Sad Hour.” Since that first day, the group has continued organizing, supporting, and advocating, becoming the eponymously named “Tuesday Group.” Growing to one of the largest organized groups of foreign service workers in the country.

As the name of that first gathering suggests, the group served as a space to grieve—but also to begin shaping what came next. At that first Tuesday gathering, people quickly moved from grief to action, identifying what they needed most as a newly displaced international workforce—including the arduous work of looking for work. Since then, the Tuesday Group has served as a vital support system, particularly for career professionals who had not searched for a job in decades and were suddenly dusting off their résumés and reimagining their futures. The group has hosted a range of career-focused sessions, including résumé writing in the age of AI, interview preparation, and networking—alongside the steady presence of community and mutual support.

In conversations with Tuesday Group members, I’ve been struck by how deeply this sense of community has carried people through an extraordinarily difficult time. Jan Cartwright recalls scrolling LinkedIn after learning her work had ended, when she came across a post about the first Tuesday Group gathering. “I worked remotely for USAID for years,” she said, “and I never knew this community existed.” For many, it wasn’t only about finding resources or job leads—it was about finding others who truly understood what they were going through.

Susan Abbott, longtime Posner Center member, Tuesday Group co-founder and Posner Center Board member, reflected on the importance of simply having a place to gather. “The Posner Center provided a refuge for people who needed to find their people,” she said. “By opening its doors, the Posner Center fulfilled an important part of its mission—giving people a place to come together, to gather, and to make sense of what was happening.” Cartwright added, “We couldn’t have built this without the Posner Center.”

Described by Colorado Public Radio as a support group built on “grief and grit,” and self-described as being “rooted in purpose,”  the Tuesday Group transformed a moment of deep loss into one of resilience, creativity, and collective care. What began as a single Sad Hour has grown into a vibrant community—demonstrating the power of showing up for one another when it matters most.

The Tuesday Group has not stopped at helping one another find employment. As they put it, “Even if our jobs ended, the values that brought us to this work didn’t disappear. Our commitment to health, peace, equity, and human rights is as strong as ever.”

And that’s the thing about people who do this work: they continue to serve. That email from one year ago, ending with “Thank you for your service,” may have felt like a moment of finality—but the people who received it picked themselves up and kept going, serving their communities, their causes, and their values.

The Posner Center strives to be a place where ideas grow and work makes an impact—thanks in no small part to the people who call this community home. We are honored to serve as a gathering place for the Tuesday Group and look forward to supporting this remarkable community in the year ahead.

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