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In May, Local Progress and the Center for Popular Democracy released an advocacy toolkit, Using Your Local Budgets to Ensure a Fair Count of Your Community, to help local elected officials leverage their power to support a fair count in the 2020 Census. Getting the 2020 Census count right is critical—it will shape political representation, public policy and funding, private sector investments, and determine whose voice is heard at every level of our democracy.
The census has been chronically underfunded for years. What’s more, the Trump administration is planning to offer insufficient funding in order to ensure an adequate count. The Trump administration is also attempting to add an untested and unnecessary citizenship question to the census. On June 27, the Supreme Court ruled that this attempt violated U.S. law by being “arbitrary and capricious” and prevented it from being added to the census—for now.
Adding a question on citizenship jeopardizes an accurate count because of the almost-certain drop in participation by noncitizens and mixed-immigration-status households. Together, all of this could dampen participation, disenfranchise people in hard-to-count communities, and result in significant ramifications for redistricting and political representation for the next decade.
In this climate, local elected officials have a unique tool: the power to provide budgetary resources to ensure that get out the count (GOTC) to reach hard-to-count populations in their local jurisdictions. To this end, the toolkit offers resources to help electeds calculate funding losses to their jurisdiction that would result from a census undercount. It will also help elected officials determine the amount of resources they should allocate in their budgets to support a complete count. And, it offers advice on how local elected officials can work with their colleagues to exercise leadership in support of GOTC efforts.
Following the release of the toolkit, Local Progress hosted a webinar, featuring Councilmember Erica Spell (Hyattsville, M.D.) and Vice Mayor Sabrina Javellana (Hallandale, Fla.) along with CPD’s Emma Greenman, Director of Voting Rights and Democracy, and Kate Hamaji, Research Analyst, to review the budget advocacy toolkit and highlight the urgent need for local elected officials to take action to ensure a complete and fair count in their jurisdictions.
The Center for Popular Democracy and the National Immigration Law Center published the report "Safe Roads Across the Tri-State Area: The Case for Expanding Access to Driver’s Licenses in New York and New Jersey." As the report highlights, 12 states, plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, have passed laws that make driver’s licenses accessible to all eligible residents, regardless of immigration status. In states where driver’s licenses are available to all residents, clear and compelling evidence demonstrates these policies ensure safer roads, boost state revenues, provide more economic opportunities for working people, and help keep immigrant families together. The report garnered significant press coverage and was featured in the New York Daily News, NY1 Noticias, Univision, and Agencia EFE among outlets.
The report features data on the impact driver's license policies would have in New York and New Jersey, the states where advocates have been tirelessly pushing for these policies. The stories of several members of CPD affiliate Make the Road were highlighted throughout the piece. The report was launched in a press conference on May 29 where CPD Co-executive, Ana Maria Archila, and Senior Research Analyst, Maggie Corser, shared the findings, alongside member leaders from Make the Road New York and Make the Road New Jersey.
On June 17, CPD affiliate Make the Road New York saw a huge victory when New York State passed a comprehensive driver's license policy, granting undocumented immigrants access to drivers license’s after this hard-fought battle.
Leaders Igniting Transformation (LIT), a youth-of-color-led organization in Milwaukee, Wisconsin just won a big victory! Since their founding a year and a half ago, LIT has focused on building the leadership of young people in Milwaukee. Their work has pushed Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) to do better for Black and Brown youth—and they are just getting started. Young people have called on the school district to divest from criminalizing young people and instead invest in supportive and nurturing resources that will give them the freedom to thrive. Check out and share this twitter thread to spread the word!
Recently, they achieved their largest victory yet. The Milwaukee Board of School Directors divested $600,000 from police and security and invested that money into six new mental health positions to focus on trauma-informed care. This is a major victory to start chipping away at the deep criminalization of Black and Brown young people. This marks the first divest/invest win in Milwaukee schools, which came directly from LIT’s advocacy and demands.
This victory came after more than a year and a half of hard work. Last year, a U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights investigation showed that MPS punished students more frequently and more harshly than their white peers. In response, LIT sprang into action. They published a report with CPD that shared their Youth Power Agenda and called for major divestments from policing and punishing young people, instead proposing deep investments in supports and educational resources.
LIT relentlessly pursued that goal. They knocked on 75,000 doors and collected more than 13,000 pledge cards and petitions on their issues. This spring during Milwaukee’s school board elections, LIT engaged young people in the election. Nine out of ten of the school board candidates pledged support for LIT’s Youth Power Agenda.
When the new school board took office, one of their first decisions supported LIT’s demand to divest from policing young people and invest in trauma-informed supports. This is a major win for young people in MPS and a major win for young people across the country who can learn from and build upon this victory.
The work is not over. Though they won a $600,000 divestment, there are still millions of dollars that must be reallocated in order to create thriving public schools for Black and Brown youth. There is still a deeply seeded school-to-prison pipeline in Milwaukee that must be dismantled.
LIT is up for that challenge. Every day, LIT is bringing more and more young people into the movement. In the last year, they’ve started 12 school chapters. They are helping to ensure that the future is Black, Brown and LIT!
As part of a coordinated effort in Washington, D.C., SPACEs in Action has secured almost $16 million in the city budget for the Birth-to-Three Act for All (B3) passed last year! B3 aims to create infrastructure and support for early childhood learning, providing funding for D.C.’s child care subsidy program, increasing payment for early childhood educators, and supporting pre- and post-natal care and health programs for parents. The budget vote represented a big step forward in making the provisions of the Birth-to-Three for All Act a reality, with the council voting to invest in funding for fiscal year 2020. SPACES and other local organizations met with council members and staff, testified at hearings, placed community leaders' op-eds, called, tweeted, emailed, and came together to strategize around this budget.
The funding comes in part from a $5 million investment from the mayor, but impressively, the rest comes from the efforts of the city council to discover new sources of revenue. Six different councilmembers have provided funding (Councilmembers Vincent C. Gray, Robert C. White, Elissa Silverman, Phil Mendelson, Kenyan R. McDuffie, and Jack Evans), including several whose committees are not closely linked to B3 components. This only stands as a testament to the broad appeal of B3’s goals and to the efficacy of SPACEs in Action’s collective advocacy in partnership with other DC groups.
In tandem with the help of councilmembers, SPACEs in Action would like to note other budgeting changes in the District that will help support B3. The D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute helped identify a revenue source in ineffective tax abatements, and Councilmember Brianne K. Nadeu scaled back ineffective tax credits for tech companies—the first time in recent memory that D.C. has pulled back on such spending. In addition, Councilmember David Grosso introduced a bill to raise property taxes on high-value homes. While this bill is just beginning to go through the legislative process, both of these movements will free up more funding for initiatives and programs like B3, as well as contribute support to housing, mental health, lead repairs, and workforce development.
These preliminary wins are a result of a coordinated effort. SPACEs In Action played a key role within D.C. SPACEs aimed to reach $30 million for B3 legislation, and they look to build on the success they have had thus far. The campaign could not have come this far without the collective hard work of many organizations and community leaders. Learn more about SPACES in Action here.
On April 24, Puerto Rican activists, CPD affiliates, and ally organizations took part in actions across several states and Puerto Rico to demand the cancellation of $6 billion in illegal debt owed by Puerto Rico to corporate entities. Even before Hurricane Maria made landfall in 2017, Puerto Rico was facing a fiscal crisis created by austerity measures that benefited a number of private corporate interests. That crisis was compounded in the aftermath of the hurricane by Wall Street banks capitalizing on Puerto Rico’s recovery efforts through predatory lending, in a violation of Puerto Rico’s constitution.
April’s actions were held as part of the #CanceltheDebt campaign, which seeks a just recovery for the island and works to ensure that no money is paid to bondholders and institutions that illegally profited from the Puerto Rico debt crisis. This year, the CPD Network participated in #CanceltheDebt actions in:
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Allentown, PA and Hartford, CT: Make the Road PA and Make the Road CT held rallies in front of local Santander banks to protest the role that the bank played in financing illegal debt.
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New York, NY: NYCC, CUFFH and Diaspora en Resistencia held a rally in front of the courthouse to demand that a federal judge take steps to cancel illegal debt.
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Las Vegas, NV: Members of Make the Road NV sat down with members of Congress to talk about the #CanceltheDebt campaign.
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Orlando, FL and Los Angeles, CA: Vamos4PR, Organize Florida, Alianza and other organizations in Florida and SoCal for Puerto Rico rallied in front of UBS banks in their areas to protest the role that the bank played in financing illegal debt.
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San Juan, Puerto Rico: Construyamos Otro Acuerdo Coalition held a march in the financial district to protest the role that Banco Popular and Santander bank played in financing illegal debt.
On May 2, the federally appointed Financial Oversight and Management Board (FOMB) monitoring Puerto Rico’s financial recovery filed suit against a number of Wall Street banks that participated in predatory lending. As CPD organizer Jesus Gonzalez noted in a statement, this crucial step would not have been possible without sustained advocacy from Puerto Rican families and activists on the island and in the diaspora. And even in light of this recent lawsuit, Puerto Rico is still on a long road to a just recovery.
"While the FOMB has decided to pursue legal action," Gonzalez said, "there is much information we still need to analyze to ensure that proper action is taken against every single person who profited from the illegal debt."
In partnership with the Upstate/Downstate Housing Alliance and other housing activists, Local Progress NY has been fighting for increased tenant protections and an end to evictions in the state of New York. Since February, members have written op-eds, joined a sign-on letter to the state legislature and Governor Andrew Cuomo, held town hall meetings , and passed resolutions in several jurisdictions intended to defend and expand renters’ rights.
This month, Local Progress NY participated in several actions to address New York’s ongoing housing crisis. On May 2, Local Progress member and Dutchess County legislator Francena Amparo partnered with the Upstate/Downstate Housing Alliance and local activists to host the first Renters’ Town Hall in Wappinger, NY, where dozens of concerned residents attended to discuss the conditions facing renters in Dutchess County.
On May 14, Local Progress NY members joined the Upstate/Downstate Housing Alliance and nearly 2,000 renters from all over the Empire State at the New York State Capitol to advocate for expansion of the Emergency Tenant Protection Act (ETPA) and the “Good Cause” Eviction bill. Local Progress members participated in a rally on the steps of the State Museum, then marched across the Empire State Plaza to the Capitol, where activists occupied state legislative offices and delivered petitions and postcards to state legislators and Governor Cuomo.
At the rally, Marion Porterfield, Schenectady city council member and co-vice chair of Local Progress NY, spoke on behalf of its membership and highlighted the work that our network has done in support of both bills. Also in attendance were Francena Amparo, who spoke about the Dutchess County Renters’ Town Hall; New York City council members Brad Lander, Ben Kallos, Carlina Rivera, Mark Levine, Speaker Corey Johnson, and NYC Comptroller Scott Stringer spoke in support of all nine tenants’ rights bills currently in front of the state legislature; and Ossining Village Trustees Quantel Bazemore and Omar Herrera led lobby visits with their constituents to their State Assembly members and senators.
Renter protection legislation is part of CPD’s Local Progress State Legislative Toolkit for 2019 and has generated more member engagement this year than any other campaign associated with the toolkit. As gentrification, rising rents, and evictions displace an increasing number of New Yorkers from their homes, Local Progress NY will continue to serve as an integral part of the coalition fighting for stronger renters’ protections statewide. Learn more about Local Progress NY and CPD’s housing justice work.
On May 21, 2019, CPD released a new report in partnership with the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), "Unchecked Corporate Power: Forced arbitration, the enforcement crisis, and how workers are fighting back.” The report highlights the important work that Make the Road NY, Working Washington, PCUN, Maine People's Alliance, Rights & Democracy, and other groups are leading to win new workplace protections and fight forced arbitration. Forced arbitration—or clauses in employment contracts that require workers to waive their right to sue their employer or participate in class-action litigation—is a serious threat to our gains on minimum wage, earned sick leave, fair workweek laws, and other core guarantees including anti-discrimination measures.
The report release date marked the one-year anniversary of the Supreme Court’s ruling on Epic Systems Corp. v. Lewis, which upheld the legality of forced arbitration. In the report, CPD and EPI assess that decision’s disastrous impact on working families and predict that by 2024, more than 80 percent of private-sector, nonunion workers will be blocked from court by forced arbitration clauses with class-action waivers. Without legal recourse, virtually all workers will have to rely on underfunded public worker-protection agencies to enforce their workplace rights. Our report includes new data showing that the resources and staffing of labor departments have shrunk at the federal level and in six states, even as the workforce has grown.
Although workers from tech companies including Google, Uber and Lyft have succeeded in pressing their employers to roll back some of their forced arbitration policies, the resulting company-by-company changes are extremely limited. To effectively and permanently restore the rights of millions of workers affected by forced arbitration, our report recommends two pieces of federal legislation, the Restoring Justice for Workers Act—which would overturn the Epic Systems ruling—and the Forced Arbitration Injustice Repeal (FAIR) Act, which would make forced arbitration clauses unenforceable. The report further details a whistleblower enforcement model that would authorize workers at the state level to initiate actions for violations of labor law and help public enforcement agencies partner with workers and community organizations.
Read or download the full report and read extended coverage of the report in CityLab, featuring Brenda Rojas, a PCUN member and first-generation college student in Salem, Oregon.
From May 13-15, 35 new organizers representing 16 CPD affiliates from across the US and Puerto Rico gathered in Brooklyn’s Mayday Space for a three-day new organizer training. The training, designed to support emerging base-building organizers with fewer than two years of experience in the field, was led by members of CPD’s base-building team from New York City and Detroit.
The training covered a number of key organizing fundamentals and tactics, ranging from ideology and organizer’s math to leadership development and healing justice. The training also addressed many of the shared challenges faced by new organizers while foregrounding solidarity, hope, and collaboration.
“As a new organizer, this training helped me to learn about some very important concepts, tactics, and habits that will help to ground me in the work,” said participant Lisa De Paoli of the Center for Coalfield Justice in Pennsylvania. “I’ve learned that some of the difficulties that I am having aren’t uncommon. I really welcome the sense of camaraderie that I feel here and the hope to continue.”
Using roleplays, case study discussions, community-building circles, and other methods, the training sought to center reflection and practice, and served as both a laboratory and sanctuary for participants to practice the skills essential for developing effective base-building programs. While observing a simulated organizer’s lab during a visit to the training, CPD Co-Executive Director Ana Maria Archila said, “This is where we become a network.” Participant Steven Merrick of Maryland Communities United echoed that sentiment and highlighted the peer relationships that developed during the three-day training.
“I have gained a vast amount of knowledge that I can take back and teach others,” he said. “My favorite part of this training is the relationships that I built with other participants. I didn’t expect to learn love during this training.”
CPD affiliates and other organizers will convene in July at the People’s Convention in Detroit and at CPD CAMP in November. We hope to see you there!
Earlier this May in Orlando, Florida, CPD’s Sustainability Team conducted its tri-annual canvass director training, an intensive, week-long program designed to help CPD affiliates develop the skills and strategies necessary to run effective canvassing offices and build dues-paying membership canvass drives.
Canvass directors from CPD affiliates Organize Florida, New Florida Majority, VOCAL-NY, Working Washington, Good Jobs Now, and One Pennsylvania received in-depth training on management practices, messaging skills, recruitment techniques, and statistical analysis. CPD Co-Executive Director Jennifer Epps-Addison flew in to speak personally with the canvass directors and led a discussion on the critical role of canvassing in the CPD Network’s base-building strategy over the next five years. Directors also developed models for engaging and retaining members in collaboration with Membership Drive, and participated in door canvassing to sign up new members with Organize Florida. At the end, the directors joined the Organize Florida team at a letter-drop action at Florida Senator David Simmons’ office to rally around the bills currently in legislative session.
CPD’s canvass programs are designed to generate significant revenue for participating partners and dramatically increase organization membership over the coming years. Learn more about the CPD Network’s door-to-door and street canvassing efforts.
For years, the members and staff of Arkansas Community Organizations (ACO) have helped tenants in Arkansas win much-needed repairs and improvements to their rented homes and apartment complexes. Yet, despite these services, ACO realized they were pushing a rock up a hill only to have it roll back down again: While nearly one third of all Arkansans rent their homes (and those numbers are growing), the state still does not have a minimum standard of habitability for rental units and landlords are not required to maintain their properties. Worse still for mistreated tenants, nonpayment of rent is a criminal offense in Arkansas.
ACO realized they needed to fight hard to change Arkansas's lopsided landlord-tenant laws. Members began meeting with attorneys at nonprofit legal organizations in the state to develop an organizing and litigation strategy for reforming the state's renter laws, and over the last several years, ACO and Arkansas tenants have won several important victories.
In 2015, the city of Little Rock tried to close down an apartment complex over the holidays, giving tenants just one week to move. ACO had contacts at the complex and quickly organized a group of tenants who ultimately stopped the city's eviction order. The judge overseeing the case eventually ruled that because Little Rock has housing codes, there also exists an implied warranty of habitability for all rental property in the city.
In the summer of 2018, ACO started Arkansas Renters United (ARU) in an effort to build a statewide organization that could match the power of the Arkansas Realtors Association, a group that has defeated every attempt to reform Arkansas’s landlord-tenant laws. Lacking the financial capacity to hire organizers, ACO formed a closed Facebook group that members could share with friends around the state. The strategy worked—the group grew quickly, and members planned and participated in several actions, including making over 200 calls to the governor's office as part of a coordinated call-in during December 2018.
Valencia White, mother of two, and a renter in Little Rock, says she and the other members of the ARU are ready to continue the battle.
“It’s OK to just sit there and live in squalor? It’s a luxury to have a house that won’t fall in on you?” she asked. “I’m in the fight. We’re fighting together.”
The potential for this campaign to grow and build transformational people power in Arkansas is enormous, but social media alone cannot build the grassroots revolution needed to win stronger tenant protections in the state. For this reason, ACO has launched a national fundraising drive in order to hire two organizers who can lead campaigns across the state to keep the pressure on local property managers and realtors and bring real change to people in Arkansas. They ask for you to get involved in two ways: 1) stand in solidarity with their members by making a financial contribution here, and 2) reach out to ACO Executive Director, Neil Sealy, if you are aware of skilled organizers who are ready to take on this fight in Arkansas. Neil can be reached at nsealy@arkansascomm.org.
