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On February 27, over 100 people joined Representative Pramila Jayapal in Washington, DC, to launch the Medicare For All Act, laying out a historic health agenda for the United States. The Center for Popular Democracy, National Nurses United, Our Revolution, and Social Security Works are among the groups backing the new bill as the best path forward on healthcare. The Medicare For All Act is a landmark comprehensive bill that would ensure all Americans would be covered and would eliminate copays, deductibles, and out of pocket expenses. The announcement made headlines in major outlets like ThinkProgress, Huffington Post, Common Dreams, The Intercept and Bloomberg.
Network President and CPD Co-Executive Director, Jennifer Epps-Addison, spoke at the press conference to announce this measure. Epps-Addison explained that, “The Medicare For All Act is the only viable fix to a healthcare system that leaves far too many people in this country behind. I have the privilege of good employer-based insurance, but even that wasn’t enough when my husband was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. I pay $830 a month just in premiums, just to struggle to afford copays and prescription costs, and still any job change or financial emergency could threaten my husband’s life. A system that profits off our pain and misfortune will never deliver the healthcare our families deserve–and that’s why we’re rallying behind this groundbreaking legislation.”
In the United States today, 30 million people are uninsured while another 40 million are underinsured. “We have the most expensive healthcare system in the world and yet our outcomes are the worst of all industrialized countries,” said Representative Pramila Jayapal. “I and the more than 100 co-sponsors of this bill refuse to allow this to continue. It’s time to put people’s health over profit. It’s time to ensure that healthcare is a right and not a privilege, guaranteed to every single person in our country. It is time for Medicare for All.”
This is a problem felt nationwide–in black and white neighborhoods, rich and poor households, rural, suburban and urban environments. A problem that affects us all, demands a solution that includes us all. The CPD Network is proud to advocate for this bold solution to the healthcare crisis that ensures that all people in this country have access to care. We need change and we need it now.
On February 12, CPD released a report with the National Employment Law Project (NELP), Fast Food Justice, and 32BJ SEIU: “Fired on a Whim: The Precarious Existence of NYC Fast-food Workers.” The report reveals that the lives of New York City’s 67,000 fast-food workers are frequently upended by arbitrary firings and dramatic cuts in hours that lead to housing instability, food insecurity, and family stress. The solution? Requiring fast food employers to demonstrate “just cause”–a substantial and verifiable reason–for terminations and significant reductions in hours. The release made headlines in The New York Times, The Guardian, New York Magazine, New York Daily News, Telemundo, and Politico among other smaller outlets.
Many people are surprised to learn that their employer can terminate them whenever they choose, for almost any reason. Today employees have no right to receive a warning before being fired, or even learn the reason they’ve been terminated. Employers can also dramatically reduce work hours, leaving workers earning so little that they are forced to quit. Workers can be fired for reasons as arbitrary as having nails that are “too long” or for “not smiling enough.” This model, called “at-will” employment, sows chaos throughout the fast-food industry, causing stress and financial instability for thousands of New York City families. Arbitrary and often biased managers wield enormous power over workers who are struggling to pay their bills, discouraging workers from speaking up about unsafe and unfair working conditions like sexual harassment and wage theft.
The report reveals findings from an original survey of 539 New York City fast-food workers, which shows that fast-food employers terminate workers with alarming frequency, that drastic cuts in hours are common, and that many workers are denied even a basic explanation when terminated. On February 13, CPD’s Chief of staff Amy Carroll joined fast-food workers and NYC Councilmember (and Local Progress co-chair) Brad Lander on the steps of City Hall to discuss the report and support the introduction of CM Lander’s and CM Adrienne Adams’ “Just Case” bill. This legislation would hold fast-food giants accountable by requiring employers to demonstrate a legitimate reason for terminating workers or reducing their hours. CPD is proud to be advancing a policy that would bring stability and security to thousands of fast-food workers, and to the families and communities in which they play an integral role. Read the full report on our website.
On Valentine’s Day, February 14, CPD joined Make the Road New York (MRNY) and allies in New York City to pay an early morning visit to the home of Jamie Dimon, the CEO of JPMorgan Chase, to call on the bank to stop financing private prison and immigrant detention companies. The groups were joined by a mariachi serenade featuring break-up songs as immigrants, TGNCIQ+ (transgender, gender non-conforming, intersex, and queer) New Yorkers, and allies demanded the bank stop bankrolling the suffering of their communities.
The event was organized by the Corporate Backers of Hate campaign, which, for the past two years, has taken direct actions against powerful corporations like JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo for financing companies like Geo Group and CoreCivic–private prison companies responsible for terrorizing people of color and immigrant communities in pursuit of profit. This rally was part of a nationwide day of protest led by the #FamiliesBelongTogether Accountability Committee who worked with community organizations across the nation to deliver petitions to JP Morgan and Chase Banks and whose efforts forced Wells Fargo to limit their investments in private detention centers over the course of the year.
On Tuesday, March 5, JPMorgan Chase announced that they will end their practice of financially backing private prison and immigrant detention companies. This victory is the result of significant pressure from immigrants and their families participating in the Corporate Backers of Hate campaign to urge financial institutions to cut their financial ties with Geo Group and CoreCivic, the private prison companies responsible for terrorizing people of color and immigrant communities in pursuit of profit. Please join us in congratulating all the affiliates, organizations, allies, and immigrant families that were central in this fight for our communities!
In January, New Jersey won $15 by 2024 impacting 1 million workers. Make the Road New Jersey (MRNJ) and allies organized to secure this victory for workers. When it appeared that youth would be excluded, they mobilized more than 150 young people over 10 weeks this summer to get 6,000 petition signatures for a clean minimum wage bill. They built organizing committees of low wage adult and teen workers and fostered truly intersectional alliances among youth across gun control, immigration, and worker rights, as well as combined direct action and a strong social media game with traditional canvassing.
True momentum led to MRNJ leader, Giovana Castaneda, introducing Governor Murphy for the bill signing. The leading headline from this fight is the power of youth organizing and ability to set a bold economic justice agenda. Congratulations to MRNJ for this monumental win for our communities!
In February, the Fed Up Campaign released “The Urgent Need for a More Publicly Representative Fed: 2019 Diversity Analysis of Federal Reserve Bank Directors” which reveals a shocking lack of progress in diversity among the nation’s most powerful monetary policymakers. Every year the Fed Up Campaign conducts an analysis of the gender, racial, and occupational diversity of the Federal Reserve system’s leadership. This is designed to gauge progress on the Federal Reserve’s public commitments to diversity and highlight areas for continued growth in the coming year.
This year’s report was released in an exclusive with Forbes which pointed out that, “The relative absence of women and racial minorities [in the Fed] is problematic... Within the Federal Reserve, this lack of diversity can create blind spots on critical issues that impact historically underrepresented groups.” This original analysis is the only of its kind and often garners wide coverage in the media, which adds important public pressure to the Fed.
The data shows the Federal Reserve is backsliding on the incremental progress it made on diversity in 2018. In 2019, among the 108 current Fed Board Directors: 76% come from the banking or business sectors, 74% are white, and 62% are male. Unfortunately, these diversity issues also extend to Federal Reserve Bank Presidents who are overwhelmingly (83%) white and are most commonly recruited from with the Federal Reserve’s existing leadership or the finance sector. In fact, 3 of the 12 current Fed Presidents have strong ties to Goldman Sachs--an institution the Fed is tasked with regulating. Without diverse perspectives, the Federal Reserve’s failure to represent the interests of the American people will persist. In 2019, policymakers and advocates continue to call on the Federal Reserve to actively pursue greater diversity at all levels of its leadership. Read the report in full on our website.
In the final week of February, CPD, the Right to the City Alliance, and PolicyLink released a groundbreaking report “Our Homes, Our Future: How Rent Control Can Build Stable, Healthy Communities,” to shed light on why rent control is a national, scaleable, and cost effective solution to the housing and renter crisis. The issue has garnered public support from major progressive lawmakers who have championed the need address our country’s affordable housing crisis and protect renters from skyrocketing prices.
In conjunction with the release, CPD affiliates and allies in New York, California, Illinois, and Florida rallied for rent control and increased tenant protections. In New York, the Upstate/Downstate Housing Alliance mobilized to Albany to call for #UniversalRentControl; in California, ACCE rallied with renters in Los Angeles; in Florida, Organize Florida held a Renters Speakout in Orlando; and in Chicago, the Lift the Ban Coalition held a rally at the Chicago Realtors office to call attention to the money they are spending to oppose rent control statewide. The report and actions were featured in CBS News, Fast Company, Colorlines, the Chicago Sun Times, and the Pacific Standard.
If rent control becomes reality in the six states and two cities it is currently being debated, 12.7 million renter households will be stabilized. If adopted by states nationwide, 42 million households could be stabilized. The report further highlights the unprecedented scale and breadth of families that would benefit from rent control policies with far reaching impacts, and calls for immediate action by policymakers to take action to address the worse renter crisis in a generation. Click here to read the full report as well as real stories about renters affected by the movement for rent control.
The report features CPD affiliates and allies including New York Communities for Change, MHAction, Churches United for Fair Housing (CUFFH), Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE), Organize Florida, Make the Road New York, One Pennsylvania, Make the Road Nevada, Kenwood Oakland Community Organization (KOCO), the Life the Ban Coalition in Chicago, and the Upstate-Downstate Housing Alliance in New York.
Today, JPMorgan Chase announced that they will end their practice of financially backing private prison and immigrant detention companies. This victory is the result of significant pressure from immigrants and their families participating in the Corporate Backers of Hate campaign to urge financial institutions to cut their financial ties with Geo Group and CoreCivic, the private prison companies responsible for terrorizing people of color and immigrant communities in pursuit of profit.
Roughly 75 percent of immigrants detained by ICE are held in private detention and, up until today, JPMorgan held more debt in the two main private prison companies (the Geo Group and CoreCivic) than any other lender—62% more debt than the next largest lender.
Elizabeth Chavez, member of Make the Road New York, said, “Immigrants and trans women like me have stood up to JPMorgan Chase for bankrolling private immigrant detention companies because it’s people like us who face abuse and violence in their cages every day. We have marched to the bank headquarters and branches. We have rallied outside Jamie Dimon’s home. And we will continue to work to put the private prison industry out of business as we fight for respect and dignity for every member of our community.”
“The country has seen the images of humans in cages and heard the cries of children begging to be reunited with their parents. Our immigration enforcement system is cruel and inhumane. Providing financial backing to this industry is not morally defensible”, said Ana Maria Archila, Co-Executive Director of the Center for Popular Democracy. “Today we are delighted to hear that JPMorgan Chase has decided to listen to our communities and end its harmful practice of financially backing private prisons and immigrant detention centers. This is an incredible victory for immigrant communities and for our society as a whole.”
Rachel Rivera, Board Member of New York Communities for Change, stated “No corporations should profit off the suffering and misery of those at private prisons and detention centers. All banks must end the financing of Geo Group and Core Civic.”
Since it was launched in 2017, the Corporate Backers of Hate campaign, a project of the Center for Popular Democracy and CPD affiliates Make the Road, Action NC, New York Communities for Change, and allies MomsRising, Freedom to Thrive (previously Enlace), and Hand in Hand, along with other partners, has highlighted how private prisons and their financial backers have positioned themselves to gain from Trump’s immigration crackdown. The campaign has organized powerful direct actions against JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo and has delivered hundreds of thousands of petitions to the banks. Immigrant leaders confronted JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon at the company’s annual shareholder meetings and protested repeatedly outside the company’s headquarters and Dimon’s home. Just last month, Make the Road New York members and allies held a mariachi serenade outside Dimon’s house on Valentine’s Day, asking the bank to break up with private prisons. In July 2018, immigrant New Yorkers and allies protested outside of Dimon’s home, and blasted audio gathered by ProPublica of immigrant children crying out for their parents in detention facilities.
In February, after months of pressure from the campaign, Wells Fargo announced it will scale back on its investment in private prisons.
This is a major victory for our communities. It's clear that we can hold corporations accountable for their actions. While there is much to celebrate, we must remain steadfast in our fight to keep families together and ensure our communities have the freedom to thrive. The future of our country depends on bold action from each of us. Support this critical work by making a donation today.
The people united is a powerful force to reckon with. On February 14, Amazon cancelled plans to build its second headquarters in Queens. This decision came after months of organizing by community leaders, activists, and people’s organizations who asked Amazon to allow its workers to unionize, to invest in the local community and infrastructure, to stop cooperating with ICE, and to refrain from taking a $3 billion subsidy in tax revenues.
Instead of investing in their workers and listening to the voices of our communities, Amazon chose to leave. That betrayed their real intentions for our city. This is a landmark victory for our communities, showing the power of the people, even when taking on one of the world’s largest corporations.
CPD affiliates Make the Road New York and New York Communities for Change were instrumental in the fight. Their members and allies stood firm against Governor Cuomo’s taxpayer giveaways. Many allies played a key role in this historic victory including Align, RWDSU, Teamsters, Workers United, Partnership for Working Families, CAAAV, DSA, MPower Change, JFREJ, Chaya, and others. This win would not have been possible without our collaborative efforts
We can stop corporate control of our communities. Members of CPD's Local Progress network of progressive elected officials have already issued statementsfrom each of the cities that Amazon considered for headquarters demanding no corporate subsidies, and an interest in workers and the well-being and input of local community. We will continue to hold corporations like Amazon accountable – and we have proven that we can do so successfully.
Please make a donation today to support the CPD Network in our fight to keep our democracy alive. The future of our communities, and this country, depends on bold action from each of us.
Thank you for your continued support in this fight.
In a video launched on social media on February 4, CPD announced that our Co-Executive Director, Ana Maria Archila, would join Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as an invited guest at the State of the Union. Like millions of others, we are inspired by Alexandria’s fierce leadership and her bold, hopeful vision.
Members of Congress get to bring one person each to the address. Ocasio-Cortez chose Ana Maria for the courage and leadership she showed while confronting Senator Jeff Flake in an elevator on Capitol Hill during Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearings. The choice was symbolic in a moment when immigrants and reproductive rights are under attack, and we are all called upon to stand up.
Ana Maria understood the invitation was not solely for her, but really was an invitation for people across the country to tell their stories, to join in protest, and to breathe life into our democracy by ensuring the people’s demands and aspirations are at the center for our debates. Stand with Ana Maria, AOC and the CPD Network by giving $5 or whatever you are able. Donate today.
Archila is a longtime community organizer, outspoken sexual-assault survivor, and a constituent of Ocasio-Cortez’s district. Ana Maria’s invitation to the State of the Union was covered on MSNBC with Rachel Maddow, CNN with Dana Bash, ABC , Univision, and Democracy Now!, and made headlines across major outlets like The New York Times, CBS News, Vox, Teen Vogue, Business Insider, The Intercept, and Huffington Post among many others. Archila was also included in Jezebel’s list of Most Inspiring Women of 2018 last December.
On December 6, with a 14-3 vote and a packed chamber, the Philadelphia City Council passed a fair workweek ordinance impacting 130,000 service workers throughout the city. The policy guarantees predictable hours, opportunities for full-time work, adequate rest between work shifts and a voice for workers in crafting their schedules. The victory in Philadelphia follows New York City, Seattle, Oregon, San Francisco, Emeryville, and San Jose in delivering a fair workweek for hourly workers in the hospitality, food service and retail sectors.
CPD affiliate One Pennsylvania ran a powerful public education campaign, working closely with chief sponsor (and Local Progress co-chair) Councilwoman Helen Gym (@HelenGymAtLarge) and the Fair Workweek PHL coalition, which included Unite Here 274 and UFCW 1776. The campaign overcome strong industry led opposition, garnering extensive positive media coverage with over 100 press hits. Check out this video and One PA member Madison Nardy's account of her transformational experience with the Fair Workweek campaign.
