This research examines social justice leaders' community activism in response to three local and national political contexts. Grounded in literature that advances ecological models of school leadership, we analyzed how seven urban school leaders conceptualized community activism as linked to school outcomes, and how leaders conducted activism work. Findings demonstrate that various political contexts at local and national levels catalyzed and motivated participants' community activism, but participants' primary purpose for activism was to promote student equity within their school buildings. This reflects ecological models in which schools and communities are conceptualized as interconnected with a reciprocal relationship of impact. Our examination of motivations related to political contexts provides insights into how these contexts impact schools and school leaders. This piece also contributes to the growing body of literature around socially-just leadership, particularly to the limited subset of literature on leaders' out-of-school justice work. Finally, among other implications and directions for future research, we conclude that community activism should form a crucial component of socially-just school leadership and taken up in the research as such.