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On June 27, the Los Angeles City Council unanimously voted to divest $40 million from the city’s security investment portfolio with Wells Fargo. After four months of persistent public pressure from Divest LA, Indigenous Peoples, and supporters insisting upon the creation of new ethical banking standards and practices, the City of Los Angeles took a step forward - joining other major metropolitan cities across the United States by divesting from Wells Fargo, a financial institution known for its legacy of harming citizens, the environment, and people of color. CPD affiliate, ACCE, played a key role as part of the Divest LA coalition.
The initial divestment of $40 million is an important first step in untangling the business relationship between the City of Los Angeles and Wells Fargo. Wells Fargo's most recent notorious and unethical business practices include opening millions of fraudulent bank accounts, engaging in predatory lending practices, and financing destructive non-renewable energy projects, which includes funding a significant portion of Energy Transfer Partner's Dakota Access Pipeline. We believe that today’s unanimous vote by all Los Angeles city council members sends a clear message to Wall Street banks.
Divest LA is a coalition of over 30 progressive, indigenous, environmental, and ethical banking organizations. The coalition’s aim is to embolden Los Angeles city officials and residents to divest from corporations that act against the common good, and reinvest funds towards socially and environmentally conscious institutions. Participating organizations include: Revolution LA, Indigenous Peoples Collective, Red Earth Defense, AIM SoCal, Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE), Committee for Better Banks, Fight Climate Denial, Climate Hawks Vote, Rainforest Action Network, 350 SoCal, 350.org.
Did you know the Center for Popular Democracy is now one of the nation’s largest organizing networks with close to 50 partners and affiliates across 35 states? In the last 6 months, a number of fantastic organizations have joined our network to build a strong, resilient movement for progressive change rooted in communities of color and working families. From Pennsylvania to Puerto Rico, these incredible movers and shakers work on a variety of issues our communities continue to face from environmental justice to reproductive rights to mass incarceration and many more. These new affiliates include, The Center for Coalfield Justice in Southwestern PA, 215 People’s Alliance in Philadelphia, PA, Churches United for Fair Housing (CUFFH) in Brooklyn, NY, Hoosier Action in Indiana, Step Up Louisana, and Taller Salud from Puerto Rico.
With 20+ years in Southwestern PA, Center for Coalfield Justice (CCJ) is an environmental justice advocacy group fighting for the public health and our environment. Currently, they’re winning their campaign to protect streams in a state park from longwall coal mining, and continuously growing volunteer teams to aid their fight for economic and environmental justice in PA. CCJ was recently featured in The New Yorker!
215 People’s Alliance (215PA) is a multi-racial organizing effort fighting unaccountable big banks , unsubstantial public education, mass incarceration, and the gentrification and displacement plaguing their members in the southwestern area of the city. Their most current, Our City Our Schools, leads a coalition effort to bring back local control of Philadelphia schools. 215PA also focuses on issue and electoral organizing in the Philadelphia District Attorney race to win a mandate for far reaching reforms and stop over incarceration in Philadelphia.
Churches United for Fair Housing (CUFFH), a grassroots organization based in Brooklyn, NY that is fighting to preserve and create vibrant, inclusive communities that are truly affordable to working families in NYC using community organizing, youth engagement, and sophisticated social services. CUFFH provides Affordable Housing and Tenant Rights workshops, Financial Empowerment and Affordable Housing application assistance, and Tenant Organizing and referrals to legal services, as well as leading immigrant protection advocacy efforts and a Youth Organizing and Leadership program for youth 14-24.
Hoosier Action is a member-owned and led organization that brings Southern Indiana’s working families together to fight for healthcare, education, housing and other collective member interests. Currently, they’re running a mass canvass operations around Medicaid and Food Stamp defense, and building out teams around our political and issue work.
Step Up Louisiana is a multiracial and multigenerational membership group that organizes for economic and education justice through Neighborhood Organizing Committees while supporting members through Training and Leadership Development, and having clear political vision and electoral strategy. Step Up LA was key in coordinating with CPD’s network to force Uber CEO Travis Kalanick step down from Trump's advisory council.
Finally, Taller Salud functions in Puerto Rico with 37 years of experience as the only feminist organization on the island dedicated to the promotion of health as a powerful tool to transform the lives of the girls and women they work with, in order to bring about integral health, and the development of their communities. Taller Salud is based in Loíza, Puerto Rico, a 30,000 inhabitants town 20 miles East from San Juan with 48% of its population living under the poverty line.
On July 4, CPD, the National Partnership for New Americans (NPNA), Citi Community Development, and Cities for Citizenship (C4C) released a new report that shows the surging interest in citizenship across the country and demonstrates how naturalization can benefit cities, as this national campaign seeks to accelerate the pace of citizenship applications over the coming year. The report was featured in CityLab, Next City, and El Dario.
The report looks at the impact of the Cities for Citizenship program, which helps cities invest in programs designed to encourage citizenship and let green card holders overcome hurdles to naturalization. The C4C program contributed to the national uptick in naturalization applications in 2016, which saw a record 970,000 applications for citizenship - a 24 percent increase over 2015. The number of cities joining the program has also skyrocketed, with 18 new city and county partners since the start of 2016, nearly doubling the total number of cities involved. C4C’s network of municipal partners grew by 46 percent in just the first six months of 2017.
The Cities for Citizenship program now spans 38 cities across the country. The new additions include Mayors from small towns and states deep in the heartland, underlining that citizenship is an issue that bridges the partisan gap.
Each year Local Progress (LP) convenes members from across the country together to celebrate local progressive victories and plan for the year ahead. This year, more than ever, the coordination of elected officials is critical to protecting our most vulnerable communities in this political climate led by a hostile administration.
Starting tomorrow, nearly 200 LP members will convene in in Austin to share best practices in municipal policy, discuss strategies to build power locally and network coordinated responses from our cities. We are excited to report that the network of progressives continues to grow with over well over 50% attendees this year being new to the year convening. Our membership continues to get more diverse, with nearly 50% of our attendees being women and 50% being people of color.
Are you interested in running for office? We can help you! Check out this incredible video featuring dozens of Local Progress members and learn how you can start serving your local municipality.
Local Progress members will be working to lay out a campaign agendas around everything from protecting our immigrant communities, police reform & just policing, infrastructure, economic justice and more. In addition to designing plans on how to fight back against all of the national work, members will be joining the resistance against Governor Abbott who just signed one of the most anti-immigrant bills in the country and just called a special session to do pass an especially egregious attack on the working people of Texas.
It is in this room that Local Progress members will work together to get creative around working with community partners the most impacted communities to both fight back against a hostile administration, as well as lead trans-local policies, and shape the state and national discourse on a variety of issues.
"This is an amazing accomplishment. One more for Fed Up! The results Fed Up has achieved were impossible to imagine four years ago." - Larry Mishel, President of the Economic Policy Institute
When the Federal Reserve raises rates and slows down job growth and wage growth and sacrifices opportunities for Black and Brown communities, its primary justification is the 2% inflation target. But what if the Fed reconsidered that target? It's a radical idea, one that Janet Yellen and the Federal Reserve have consistently shot down. But that was before Fed Up organized prominent economists in the ivory tower and Black and Brown workers in the streets to challenge the underlying logic of Fed decisions.
Fed Up's campaign success was highlighted in Bloomberg, The Wall Street Journal,The Atlantic, Buzzfeed, and many more. You can see the full press round up below.
According to Business Insider, this is a major shift that will have massive economic benefits for working families "and one that will have significant long-term implications for Fed policy. A higher inflation target would mean the central bank can provide additional stimulus to the economy in a downturn, potentially helping to prevent slumps that are as deep as the Great Recession, which wiped out 9 million jobs and left financial and social scars many Americans are still nursing."
We began pulling together the groundswell by organizing 22 prominent economists - including Nobel prize winners, former Fed officials, and former Obama administration economists - to sign a letter calling on the Federal Reserve to reconsider it's 2% inflation target. The broad consensus from a range of some of the most qualified economists in the world - many of whom are former colleagues of members of the Federal Reserve - captured the press's attention on Friday, June 9. We capitalized on the press cycle by continuing to promote the letter on social media under the hashtag #Rethink2percent and a broader range of high profile economists - like Paul Krugman - joined the discussion and voiced their support throughout the weekend.
Then on Monday our coalition rode the momentum generated in the Ivory Tower and took it to the streets with three coordinated actions at Federal Reserve Banks in New York City, Washington DC, and Philadelphia which generated local TV coverage on Univision, ABC in Philadelphia, NY1, and Nuestra Tele Noticias (NTN). This was the first time we were able to break into local TV coverage on monetary policy issues!
New York Communities for Change and Make the Road New York lead a march around the New York Federal Reserve with large inflatable "2" balloons representing the 2% inflation target and #GovernmentSachs banners. Latino workers questioned why 4 of the 9 members of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) setting interest rates - including New York Federal Reserve President William Dudley - were from Goldman Sachs and why they set the arbitrary target of 2% to decide whether or not the economy should create more jobs and higher wages. See Getty Images here.
At the same time, in Philadelphia, One PA, led a rally addressed to Philadelphia Federal Reserve President Patrick Harker, another voting member of the FOMC who is a Goldman Sachs alum. Protestors told President Harker that when he raises rates, based on the outdated 2% target, Black communities who are still struggling suffer the most. One PA dumped pink slips at his door representing those who would be most hurt by his arbitrary decisions. Check out this clip from ABC in Philadelphia!
Finally, in Washington DC, members of SPACEs DC held a ralley outside the Board of Govenors building and asked the Fed to "Show us your math." They handed out the economist letter to Fed staffers on their lunch break and challenged them through powerful testimony to justify how the Fed could make decisions affecting the lives of workers based on a benchmark that didn't make sense. Check out this clip from Univision!
All that pressure - from former colleagues, administration officials, workers, Black and Brown communities, in national papers like the Wall Street Journal, all over Twitter, and even on local TV, - built towards a press conference that Janet Yellen held on Wednesday, June 14. When NPR's Marketplace asked her about our letter and the rationale behind the 2% inflation target Chair Yellen responded, "This is one of our most critical decisions and one we're attentive to evidence and outside thinking. It's one that we will be reconsidering at some future time."
That is how Janet Yellen is starting to warm to a policy the Fed once regarded as radical.
Although the Federal Reserve decided to hike rates last week, Chair Yellen's policy shift is a potentially much a more consequential decision for working families across the country.
In Solidarity, Shawn Sebastian Co-Director, Fed Up Campaign
This week New York City became the largest city in the country to restore a fair workweek for fast food and retail workers. Joining cities and states across the country, tens of thousands of New Yorkers working in fast food and retail will have balanced and flexible workweeks they can count on.
Fast food and retail workers along with SEIU 32BJ, Fast Food Forward, RWDSU and Retail Action Project drove the campaign that moved the City Council and Mayor DeBlasio to act swiftly to make a fair workweek law in New York City. More than 3,000 fast-food workers and their allies signed a petition and many workers went on strike calling on corporate chains to provide a fair workweek. CPD’s Fair Workweek Initiative and A Better Balance actively supported the coalition with policy, communications, research and campaigning expertise.
These commonsense standards provide working parents and students with more flexibility, balance and voice in their work hours by ensuring adequate notice of their work schedule, enough time between shifts to ensure a healthy rest, and more opportunity to access full-time hours. Fast food workers will now also have the right to contribute to a non-profit worker organization through payroll contributions - a major break-through law that gives fast food workers a new pathway for a voice at work.
New York City is the fourth city in the country to pass comprehensive fair workweek protections, following Seattle, San Francisco, and Emeryville, California. Washington, DC and San Jose, California, have also passed new work hours laws in the past year. These victories have turned jobs marked by uncertainty and instability into good jobs that offer economic empowerment. Now hundreds of thousands of working people across the country have the chance to work with stability and respect. It’s clear that the movement for a fair workweek is catching fire and we only expect it to grow.
On May 7, Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed a new law (SB4), essentially allowing police to ask for immigration papers of anyone they suspect of being undocumented. Governor Abbott signed the law live on Facebook, without taking any questions from the press. At the same time, the Texas Attorney General sued Austin Councilmember, and Local Progress Board member Greg Casar and his colleagues for questioning the constitutionality of this immoral and unethical law. Read Greg's steadfast response in The New York Times. CPD affiliates, Texas Organizing Project and Workers Defense Project, have been leading the fight against SB4. Local Progress has been working to support Greg as he convenes community allies, grassroots organizations, state and legislative leaders as they launch a summer of resistance, to prevent the bill from going into effect on September 1, 2017.
Among the defendants named in the lawsuit is Sheriff Sally Hernandez of Travis County, which includes the state capitol, Austin, who said this year she would not voluntarily comply with federal requests to detain people solely on the basis of their immigration status, Austin Mayor Steve Adler, the city’s interim city manager, all of Austin’s City Council members, and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, a civil rights organization.
Local Progress has been working to support Greg as he works to convene community allies, grassroots organizations, and state legislative leaders as they launch a summer of resistance, to prevent the bill from going into effect on September 1, 2017. They held a press conference on May 16, with over 100 people and elected officials from the state’s largest cities, including Local Progress members and Austin City Councilmembers Delia Garza and Ann Kitchen, Commissioner David Stout from El Paso, Houston Councilmember Robert Gallegos, Councilmember Ray Saldaña from San Antonio. They announced their intention to file a lawsuit and encouraged cities across the state to join with them.
On May 17, Greg Casar was featured in the NY Times with an Op Ed talking about how Texans are fighting back against this unconstitutional and immoral state law. CPD’s communications team worked with Greg to place an op-ed in the New York Times. You can read the article here. Please take a moment to share it on social media with the hashtag #SB4ishate.
On May 22, the Fed Up Coalition met with the Chair and Vice-Chair of the Federal Reserve, Janet Yellen and Stanley Fischer, two of the most powerful economic policy makers in the country. Members from TOP, MORE, NYCC, MRNY, SPACEs, OnePA, Action NC, and NOC, came together to tell the Fed that the economic recovery was incomplete, and that the Fed was under threat from the Trump administration.
Paola Angel of MRNY, let Yellen know that, despite our disagreements, we recognized Yellen's massive contributions towards creating jobs and lifting us out of the depths of the great recession. She said, "your pursuit of full employment, and attention to racial and economic inequality has made it easier for me to pay the rent and and put food on my table. I live a more dignified life because of the work that you have done." Rod Adams from NOC delivered 20,000 petition signatures asking Chair Yellen to stay as Chairperson and not leaving her job for a Trump appointee.
The coalition also pushed Chair Yellen on diversity in the Federal Reserve's governance and leadership, and demanded that the Fed re-examine the arbitrary 2% inflation target that is used to justify slowing the economy down. Chair Yellen seemed to be very moved and impacted by our members' messages, and it is rare that anyone -- let alone low-income people of color -- get such access to impact the thinking of the powerful Chair of the Federal Reserve. Next, we will be working on actions in DC, Philadelphia, and New York to fight against possible interest rate hikes in June that could potentially slow down employment and worker power in our communities! You can receive regular updates from the Fed Up campaign by liking them on Facebook here.
This year on May 1, CPD affiliates and partners from Washington, DC to Salem, OR, filled the streets with actions and demonstrations in honor of May Day. Immigrants, workers, and allies mobilized in large numbers to support CPD’s latest campaign against the Corporate Backers of Hate - a campaign that targets nine of the country’s largest corporations that stand to profit from Trump’s hateful agenda and most egregiously prioritize profits over people. Almost all of our partner organizations took part in May Day with ten actions targeting specific corporations in various cities and states, with a particular focus on Wells Fargo and JP Morgan Chase - because of their financial ties to immigrant detention centers and private prison companies. Read press from the day's events in The Washington Post, The New York Times, and U.S. News. You can see highlights from the actions on our blog!
May Day Actions and Events
Washington, DC – CPD partner, CASA in Action, together with local allies, led a May Day march and rally in the nation’s capital, with thousands of protesters marching from Dupont Circle to end up rallying in front of the White House.
Press clips: May Day protest: 'I support immigrants. But closing businesses is really tough.' The Washington Post, May 1, 2017
Minnesota – CPD partners, CTUL, NOC and TAMN were part of a broad coalition that organized several days of May Day events, including “A Day Without Immigrants” action and protests at Home Depot, and the Franklin Street Bakery in support of the Fight for $15 (minimum wage).
Press clips: On May Day, Protestors Take to the Streets Nationwide The New York Times, May 1, 2017
Pennsylvania – CPD partners, Make the Road PA (MRPA), One PA, and CASA worked together with other allies to organize community and student protests all over the state, converging for a rally in the state capital, Harrisburg. In Reading, PA, at a march organized by MRPA, several hundred people protested against ‘287g’, a federal program which would let the sheriff's office partner with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). MRPA also helped organize more than 120 businesses to close their doors on May Day in support of immigrants and workers’ rights.
Press clips: Immigrants and advocates join nationwide rallies to protest Trump immigration policies PennLive, May 1, 2017
Hundreds in Reading take to streets for May Day protest WFMZ, May 1, 2017
Phoenix, AZ – CPD partner, LUCHA, together with local allies, organized a march from the Arizona State Capitol to the Fourth Avenue Jail in support of immigrants and workers’ rights, and to demand an end to the collaboration between federal ICE agents and the county jail.
Press clips: Hundreds Take to the Streets in Phoenix May Day March U.S.News, May 2, 2017
Detroit, MI – CPD partner, Good Jobs Now (GJN) organized student walk-outs in five high schools and one middle school in primarily black neighborhoods of Detroit that have been devastated by the lack of resources for public education. Organizers of the walk-outs reported that as many as a thousand students walked out of school and participated in rallies to protest against school closures.
Corporate Backers of Hate Actions and Events
New York City, NY – CPD partners, Make the Road New York (MRNY), New York Communities for Change (NYCC), and other local allies kicked off May Day with an early morning action targeting corporate backers of hate Wells Fargo and JP Morgan Chase. Thousands of protesters carried a banner which read, “Their profits, our pain,” as well as large photos of immigrant family members. They marched to Wells Fargo and then to JP Morgan’s Park Ave headquarters, where a dozen people participated in civil disobedience and were consequently arrested.
Press clips: Dozens of protesters arrested during May Day rallies in Manhattan New York Daily News, May 2, 2016
May Day March in NYC to Call Out Trump Agenda New York 1, May 1, 2017
Charlotte, NC – CPD partner, Action NC held a rally outside of Bank of America to protest Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and other corporations that are complicit with Trump’s anti-immigrant agenda. Bank of America locked its doors before the protesters could get inside, to deliver a letter demanding that Bank of America distance itself from elected officials who support Trump’s immigration policies.
Press clips: Protesters backing undocumented immigrants locked out of Bank of America HQ Charlotte Observer, May 1, 2017
Aurora, CO – CPD partner, UNE/FRESC along with Good Jobs, Strong Communities, and otherl allies, organized a vigil to honor immigrants currently detained at the Aurora Detention Center. Felicia Griffin, Director of FRESC, spoke at the event to denounce Wells Fargo and JP Morgan Chase’s financial ties to the GEO Group and other companies that run private immigration detention centers (including the Aurora Detention Center). This May Day event also included a rally to demand that Colorado companies remove their bid for the US-Mexico border wall project. Due to this public pressure, PCL, a major CO construction company, announced that it would not bid for Trump’s proposed border wall project.
Press clips: May Day Actions Target For-Profit Detention Center Public News Service, May 1, 2017
Suffolk County, NY – members of MRNY in Long Island kicked off their May Day march by delivering a letter to JP Morgan Chase, demanding that it distance itself from Trump’s anti-immigrant agenda. Rosalba, a member of MRNY, spoke at the rally about her 53-year-old son who has a diagnosed mental health condition, was recently detained, and is now facing deportation.
Elizabeth, NJ – Make the Road New Jersey (MRNJ) organized a banner walk from Wells Fargo to JP Morgan Chase. MRNJ members carried hand-painted banners and passed out flyers in front of both locations.
San Jose, CA – Working Partnerships USA (WPUSA), together with a broad local coalition, organized a day-long demonstration followed by a march. The theme of the day was Breaking Walls, Building Bridges, and symbolic walls visually highlighted the role of corporate backers of hate in creating walls of bigotry and economic inequality.
Phoenix, AZ – The May Day march in Phoenix (described above) included a rally in front of Wells Fargo.
Washington, DC – the May Day march in Washington (described above) included a stop at a local Wells Fargo bank and JP Morgan Private Bank’s global office, where activists delivered a demand letter.
Reading, PA – the May Day march in Reading (described above) included a stop at a local Wells Fargo bank.
Salem, OR – PCUN, together with Oregon’s statewide immigrant rights coalition, organized a May Day march and rally, which denounced Wells Fargo and JP Morgan Chase.
On May 9, the San Jose City Council voted 9-2 for the Just Cause urgency ordinance, putting crucial new protections for renters into effect immediately. Now 450,000 tenants in San Jose, CA, can no longer be evicted without a valid reason. Since the Council first voted to develop a Just Cause ordinance in April, San Jose has seen a rise in no cause evictions as unscrupulous landlords sought to evict tenants before the new rules took effect. This urgency ordinance prevents any more last-minute evictions from landlords trying to game the system.
CPD affiliate Working Partnerships USA worked tirelessly to secure this victory as part of the Silicon Valley Renters’ Rights Coalition, collaborating with the Law Foundation of Silicon Valley, PACT South Bay, Latinos United for a New America, Sacred Heart Community Service, Silicon Valley De-Bug, the Santa Clara County Affordable Housing Network, and Tenants Together to prevent a flood of last-minute evictions.
CPD would like to congratulate all the partners, activists and protesters who fasted, came out to City Hall, and worked so hard for Just Cause and the urgency ordinance.CPD would like to congratulate all the partners, activists and protesters who fasted, came out to City Hall, and worked so hard for Just Cause and the urgency ordinance.
This fight is not over, however. You can continue to help keep fighting displacement and addressing Silicon Valley’s affordable housing crisis. Later this year, we expect San Jose City Council to consider further protections for renters, including capping rent hikes in rent-controlled apartments at the inflation rate. Learn more and get involved here!
