ACTION: CPD Affiliates Organize Dramatic Series of Actions in Capitol

On June 12, the Center for Popular Democracy’s sister organization, CPD Action, brought 200 people to Washington, D.C. for a dramatic series of actions ranging from raising their voices for women’s reproductive health, to challenging the inclusion of the citizen question on the upcoming census, to advocacy for Medicare for All.

The underlying theme was that we are all in this together – a way to strengthen and clarify the shared commitments of our movement.

The day kicked off with a hearing in the U.S. House Committee on Ways and Means about Medicare for All. The room was packed with activists wearing #MedicareforAll t-shirts. Read more on our blog.

MEET OUR AFFILIATES:

Join Good Jobs Now at the People's Convention 2019

On June 15, Detroit Action, the organization formerly known as Good Jobs Now, held its first Detroit Neighborhoods Summit called "The Future of the Hood." Detroit Action was joined by over 200 Detroit residents who came together for staff-led workshops on abolition and democracy, on the politics of the hood, and on power building led by youth leaders who make up Voices of Detroit Youth (VODY). The organization's year-round canvass team pitched folks on why revenue generating membership is a key strategy for building independent politics and a pathway towards liberation.

GJN member and Detroit’s champion Congresswoman, Rashida Tlaib, discussed key bills in Congress to chip away at away at economic precarity in our communities. Read more on our blog.

TOOLKIT: Using Local Budgets to Ensure Fair Counts for the 2020 Census

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. Read more on our blog.

REPORT: The Case for Expanding Access to Driver's Licenses

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 other 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. Read more on our blog.

EDUCATION JUSTICE: CPD Affiliate LIT Wins BIG in Milwaukee

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. Read more on our blog.

EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION: SPACES in Action Helps Pass Provisions of the Birth-to-Three for All Act

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. Read more on our blog.