Hi John -- Our Fall Membership and Redistribution Pledge Drive [[link removed]] starts today, and I’m going to ask you to commit to three things:

*
Commit
to
yourself,
your
inherent
worth
and
dignity,
and
the
ways
in
which
you’ll
benefit
from
a
world
where
everyone
has
enough,
and
that
together
we’ll
all
have
much
much
more
than
that.

*
Commit
to
putting
in
the
work
to
make
that
world
real:
take
action,
have
courageous
conversations,
join
a
chapter,
or
take
on
a
leadership
role.
Today,
sign
our
Redistribution
Pledge
[[link removed]]
and
commit
to
supporting
our
partners
the
Center
for
Popular
Democracy
and
the
Movement
for
Black
Lives.
[[link removed]]

*
Commit
to
Resource
Generation,
join
or
renew
as
a
member
pledging
5%
of
your
annual
giving.
[[link removed]]
Being
a
membership
organization
is
a
political
strategy
in
a
long
lineage
of
organizing
(base-building
organizations,
unions,
political
parties,
and
more).
This
builds
the
collective
power
we
need
to
bring
about
the
world
we
all
deserve,
and
multiplies
our
impact
far
beyond
the
sum
of
our
individual
actions.

[link removed] [[link removed]]

Today is the first day of our Fall Redistribution Pledge and Membership Drive. Less than 2 months ago in mid-September, I became the Executive Director of Resource Generation, having been a member and on staff for over six years. It’s an exciting time to be moving into this role as RG has:

*
more
members,
chapters,
and
member-leaders
than
we’ve
ever
had,
*
ever
deepening
partnerships
with
the
Center
for
Popular
Democracy,
the
Movement
for
Black
Lives,
and
dozens
more
organizations
at
the
local
level
fighting
for
social
justice,
*
and
ouor
next
phase
of
strategic
planning
is
on
the
horizon
-
we’re
making
a
strategic
plan
for
the
next
five
years.
It's
an
opportunity
for
us
to
decide
what
we
want
to
double-down
on,
what
we
want
to
try
out,
and
what
we
want
to
leave
behind
that
no
longer
serves
our
work.

What feels clear is that movements need Resource Generation to be organizing young people with access to wealth to be playing our part in solidarity with poor and working-class led movements for economic and racial justice -- and for me, I know I need the community, purpose, and hope of RG to live into the stories of redistribution that our movements need to win. [[link removed]]

--
My redistribution story takes place in the fluorescent aisles of a Cash & Carry in Tampa. (Similar to ‘money stories,’ which are our stories of self through the lens of money and class; redistribution stories are our stories of self through the lens of redistribution).

*
Back
then
we
didn’t
have
a
lot.
If
you
could
afford
to
buy
me
a
Happy
Meal
whenever
I
wanted,
you
were
rich,
and
my
mom
couldn’t
every
week
so
I
considered
us
poor.
What
we
could
do
was
go
to
the
grocery
store,
and
fill
our
cart
with
Cheerios,
Kix,
Juicy
Juice,
and
peanut
butter.
None
of
those
foods
came
with
toys,
but
for
breakfast
and
lunch
throughout
the
week
I
had
enough.
*
This
was
possible
because
of
the
Special
Supplemental
Nutrition
Program
for
Women,
Infants,
and
Children,
also
known
as
WIC.
This
is
a
federally
funded
program
that
redistributes
tax
dollars
to
families
like
mine,
even
in
places
like
“anti-handout”
Florida.
WIC
is
life
saving
for
so
many,
a
lifeline
for
survival,
but
it
is
far
from
the
resourcing
people
need
to
thrive.
When
we
talk
about
“involuntary
redistribution,”
we’re
talking
about
programs
like
this
and
dreams
of
an
interdependent
social
fabric
that
goes
much
much
further.

My redistribution story also takes place overlooking the rolling green hills around the Highlander Center in New Market, Tenessee.

*
It
was
my
first
month
working
at
Resource
Generation,
and
I
decided
I
needed
to
be
a
dues-paying
member.
I
was
becoming
passionate
about
our
mission,
about
the
power
we
could
shift,
and
I
wanted
the
pride
of
being
able
to
say
I
was
a
member.
*
I
didn’t
have
a
giving
plan
yet,
and
didn’t
have
any
other
redistribution
commitments.
Within
a
week,
I
commited
to
three
other
organizations
at
$21
a
month,
some
months
later
I
was
moving
$300
a
month
to
Social
Justice
Foundations
and
organizations
using
community
organizing
to
win
the
changes
our
society
needs.
At
the
time
I
had
negative
net
assets
(student
loans)
and
a
salary
of
$51,000
a
year.
*
Today
I
make
a
salary
of
$102,000,
have
net
assets
of
$40,000
(mostly
retirement),
and
am
moving
at-minimum
$7,000
a
year
to
movements
(not
counting
giving
to
friends,
family,
and
community
members).

And in the future, my redistribution story will take place off the dusty streets of Casablanca, Morocco, in the offices of the plastics business my dad’s family owns. It will be a somber and tender time with my brothers, discussing the inheritance our father will leave us and we will do with it. My plan for when that happens is to give my share of the family business to the workers.
--

What’s your redistribution story..? What do you want it to be? What should it be? What can it be?

We invite you to figure that out in community with young people with access to wealth who are committed to the equitable distribution of wealth, land, and power:

*
Join
692
others
in
signing
our
Redistribution
Pledge
totalling
$77.4
million!
[[link removed]]

*
This
fall
we
have
$23
Million
to
go
to
reach
our
Redistribution
Pledge
goal
of
moving
$100
Million
to
movements
in
2021.
[[link removed]]

*
Join
our
growing
membership
community
of
1,200+
young
people
with
access
to
wealth
committed
to
the
equitable
distribution
of
wealth,
land,
and
power!
[[link removed]]

Those numbers are big, but I know we’ll meet them when each of us does our part for the whole.

I couldn’t be more proud to be a part of this community, and I look forward to continuing to be a part of it with you.

With Gratitude,
Yahya Alazrak
Executive Director

Contact Info: Resource Generation
1216 Broadway
New York, NY 10001
United States
unsubscribe: [link removed]