Key Allies Celebrate Our Merger
"The new, expanded Center for Popular Democracy is a vitally important addition to the social justice landscape – building much-needed strength, sophistication and scale in community organizing. The new CPD fills an important void - aggressively innovating and replicating public policies that expand rights and opportunities for workers, for immigrants, and for people of color. But, it also has top-notch organizing, research, politics, operations and campaign staff who bring decades of experience building strong organizations, doing innovative and effective base-building organizing and running and winning campaigns throughout the United States. We are excited to work closely with CPD to protect and promote the dignity of America’s workers."
Richard Trumka – President, AFL-CIO
“The fast-growing Center for Popular Democracy is a close and important ally of SEIU. CPD’s experienced staff, innovative thinking, and strong and dynamic field partners are precisely what we need to challenge injustice and forge a bright future for America’s working families.”
Mary Kay Henry - President, Service Employees International Union
“The new, expanded CPD will be led by brilliant organizers who understand scale and know what it takes to build power and innovate progressive policy at the state and local level.
In this period, when so much of the battle for our country’s future will play out in local and state fights, it will be critical to have the kind of support, experience and myriad legal, strategic research and tech skills that CPD brings to the table.”
Deepak Bhargava - Executive Director, Center for Community Change
"If we are serious about winning what our members really need, we must try new things and must push ourselves to be more creative, to share best practices, to replicate our best campaigns, and to build a top-notch infrastructure that will propel our work forward. The Center for Popular Democracy is well-positioned to do all of those things."
Christina Livingston - Executive Director, Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment
“The expanded Center for Popular Democracy, and its sister c4 organization, Action for the Common Good, will provide desperately needed support to a wide range of field organizations to produce tangible progressive results. CPD focuses their formidable capacity on game-changing state and municipal battles to promote opportunity, equality and justice. Through its bottom-up model, CPD will promote participatory democracy at the local and state level. I truly believe that five years from now we will look back and say with complete confidence that CPD fundamentally changed the progressive movement for the better.”
John Podesta – Chair, Center for American Progress
"Now more than ever we need bold efforts to link innovative policy advocacy with cutting edge grassroots organizing to address questions of equity. The new, stronger Center for Popular Democracy can do this by bringing to the table deep commitments to racial justice, to economic justice, and to building place-based efforts to strengthen communities from the ground up."
Angela Glover Blackwell - President, PolicyLink
“The Center for Popular Democracy is the kind of partner we need – strong, sophisticated and rooted in immigrant and African-American communities around the country. CPD brings needed policy, research, organizing, data, management and campaign capacity to win respect and dignity for working communities and families. We value our long and collaborative relationship with many of those involved with CPD, and look forward to the broadening and deepening of this partnership as the organization merges with the Leadership Center for the Common Good. Together, we’ll continue our fight for justice, dignity and equality.
Héctor Figueroa - President, 32BJ Service Employees International Union
"As an immigrant mother of two, I live the reality of inhumane immigration laws, bad schools, and poverty wages every day. And that's why I joined my neighbors to build a powerful community organization that could transform New York City into a place where my family can live with dignity and my daughters can have a future.
The merger of CPD and LCCG gives me hope, not only because Make The Road New York will be stronger and even more able to win victories that make a difference in my life, but because we will have deep connections with brothers and sisters fighting for justice across the country. With the new CPD our movement will be stronger and together we will win respect and dignity for our communities everywhere!"
Irania Sanchez - grassroots leader and Board Member of Make the Road New York
“The new, expanded Center for Popular Democracy will strengthen the progressive movement by bringing unique and solid expertise in capacity building, organizing, research, and policy.
CPD’s talented team will be a transformative force in building power for low-income communities of color at the local and state levels.”
Cristina Jimenez — Managing Director, United We Dream Network
