AFFILIATE HIGHLIGHT: Make the Road NJ Celebrates Major Victories

CPD affiliate, Make the Road New Jersey (MRNJ), kicked off 2020 with a number of significant victories for immigrants, workers, and education justice! On December 19, after a five year fight, MRNJ along with coalition partners at Let's Drive NJ, won their campaign to expand access to drivers licenses to all, regardless of immigration status, making New Jersey the 15th state to do so. Governor Phil Murphy signed the bill into law in his office in Elizabeth, surrounded by members of MRNJ and other partners in a raucous celebration. Watch Governor Murphy's powerful signing statement here!

Two summers ago, MRNJ members stood shoulder to shoulder with Toys R US workers as a wave of bankruptcies and mass layoffs hit retail workers across the country. Wall Street billionaires' greed and recklessness left thousands of families in economic crisis while CEOs and private equity firms received million-dollar bonuses. Read more about MRNJ's victories on our blog.

CPD AFFILIATES
Take Action for Puerto Rico

Since late December, a series of major earthquakes shook the southwest area of the archipelago of Puerto Rico causing an island-wide blackout, leaving thousands homeless, and causing structural damage to hundreds of buildings, schools, and roads. To this day, in the towns of Guanica, Peñuelas, Guayanilla, Arroyo, Yauco, Guayama, Ponce and others, an estimated four thousand people are housed in shelters, and thousands more have pitched tents in their backyards.

In the aftermath, CPD quickly mobilized with the Maria Fund, to move rapid response funding to an initial 6 community groups. On the Island, CPD affiliate Taller Salud is helping to channel much needed resources in the south. You can support these efforts by donating here.

Organizers knew that even more action was needed to make sure Puerto Rico received every resource it could to rebuild. Read more on our blog.

LOCAL PROGRESS

Releases Analysis of Policing in 12 Cities

In 2018, Local Progress launched Reform/Transform: A Policing Policy Toolkit, a resource designed to help elected officials, policymakers, and organizers evaluate the strength of policing policies, based on a set of standardized criteria and best practices. In December 2019, Local Progress worked with its members to follow up with an analysis of policing policies in 12 cities on four of the toolkit’s policy areas: ICE collaboration, use of force, independent oversight, and police spending versus other priorities.

The findings showed that, across the four policy areas, all 12 cities can and must do more to strengthen police accountability. However, this work is also very dynamic –– even as we publish these results, policy changes and budget negotiations are underway across the country. Read more on our blog.

NEW CPD REPORT Reveals Tax Act Hurts Workers

In December 2019, CPD and the Economic Policy Institute, published a report "Still Terrible at Two: The Trump Tax Act Delivered Big Benefits to the Rich and Corporations But Nearly None for Working Families." On the two year anniversary of Trump's tax act, the report uses government data to show there has been no increase in wages for working people and no increase in business investment--all while corporate revenues have plummeted and corporate stock buybacks have soared.

Overall, the paper finds that the TCJA - one of the largest overhauls of the tax system in the last 50 years - enacted sweeping changes to benefit corporations and wealthy individuals while the interests and priorities of working families were ignored. Read more on our blog.

JUSTICE TRANSFORMATION: 'Freedom Lab' Held in Nashville, TN

CPD’s Justice Transformation team kicked off the new year with a weekend of mobilization and power building. The group wrapped their second Freedom Lab in Nashville alongside Law for Black Lives and PolicyLink. Building off the inaugural convening last year in Milwaukee, it was a powerful event with nearly 70 people in the room representing organizers and activists from all across Tennessee, as well as North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and some other folks across the country. The group also included a strong delegation from CPD affiliate New Georgia Project.

The cohort spent two days strategizing on divest/invest decriminalization campaigns, including deep dives into budget analysis, advocacy tactics, participatory budgeting and communications strategies. Read more on our blog.

PLANNING AHEAD: CPD Affiliate Executive Directors Convene to Strategize for 2020 and Beyond

Earlier this month, Executive Directors and key staff from more than 30 CPD affiliates met in Stony Point, New York to plan for 2020 and beyond. They spent two and a half days connecting and aligning a network-wide strategy, and the agenda was packed: they discussed racial capitalism, made plans for shared transformational legislative goals, how to foster unity and trust across the CPD Network, how to actualize our strategic vision as we head into another challenging year. Collectively, our network is working to build a base of one million people, and it was exciting to dig in on the path to success as a group.

Further, we  were able to do important collaborative planning, learn from each other, share ideas and resources, and identify key next steps for the network as a whole to continue working towards building a stronger, more just world. Read more on our blog.