Dear John,

The words stuck with me:

THERE ARE BLACK PEOPLE IN THE FUTURE.

Several years ago, artist Alisha Wormsley emblazoned these words in bold print on a massive billboard in Pittsburgh’s East End. They haven’t left my mind since.

I love the radical simplicity of Wormsley’s verb choice. There are Black people in the future. The future is a place where we are. Her art resonates with me in part because I so badly want a future where we can just be. Where we can exist in all our complexity, where we can breathe, where we can rest.

This Black History Month, I’m here for the struggle, but I’m also here for the freedom dreams. I’m here for the beloved community Dr. King spoke of – a vision that prefigured our health and joy as dependent on the health and joy of others, that insisted on our wholeness. That’s the Black future I want. I’m here for a future lit up with Black joy. Not joy in the midst of struggle, not joy in spite of pain. Joy, plain and simple, for our sake.

In solidarity,

Lauren Jacobs
Executive Director
PowerSwitch Action

Spotlight On: Voting Rights in Georgia!
Georgia STAND-UP Executive Director Deborah Scott discusses their work to build community through civic engagement [[link removed]] with PowerSwitch Action’s Deputy Director Felicia Griffin
[[link removed]]
Felicia: Can you tell us about the work that Georgia STAND-UP is doing to protect voting rights and draw more people into our democracy?
Deborah: We focus our campaigns around two groups. The first is Black women. When we look at the numbers, we can see that Black women have been the base of important movements for change in the South and in Georgia. The second is Black youth. Working with 18 to 35-year-olds is how we grow the electorate. We need to make sure we merge that base that we depend on — those seniors or those Black women — with those young folks who are not necessarily as politically inclined.
Part of our job is to be a service station for the community. We build trust and relationships through our job training programs, our leadership development work, and by connecting people with resources and support. Then we’re in the community working on racial equity issues, development issues, race, class and power issues.
What we’ve found is the more we show up in the community, the more folks will show up when we ask them to vote or knock on doors or attend a community meeting.
To read the full conversation visit us on Medium! [[link removed]]

#BlackHistoryBlackFutures Month
This month we’ve asked some of the brilliant Black leaders in our network to reflect on why they fight for racial justice, and to tell us about campaigns that are centering BIPOC communities as we build towards a multi-racial, feminist democracy. You can find their insights on our Instagram page [[link removed]] .

Staff News
A warm welcome to Aboubacar Ndiaye!
Aboubacar "Asn" Ndiaye is PowerSwitch Action’s new California Housing and Climate Campaign Manager, working to develop campaigns and policies to advance climate equity and housing justice in California. Previously, he was the Partnership for the Bay’s Future Challenge Grant Fellow working with the City of San Jose and Somos Mayfair to address displacement. Prior to the fellowship, he served as policy manager for Working Partnerships USA, a community/labor organization bringing together the power of grassroots organizing and public policy innovation to drive the movement for a just economy. Before Working Partnerships, he worked as a strategic researcher for SEIU Local 1, responsible for planning and developing organizing campaigns for building services workers in the Midwest. Aboubacar holds a bachelor's degree in government from the University of Texas at Austin. Outside of work, Aboubacar enjoys traveling, labor history, and watching period dramas.

Congratulations, Edgar!
Edgar Beltrán has been promoted to the role of Campaign Manager. Since joining PowerSwitch in 2020, Edgar has played a leading role in developing PowerSwitch's People-Powered Budgets program and works with affiliates on their local efforts to democratize public budgets and redistribute resources to center care and racial justice. Read more about Edgar's work at peoplepoweredbudgets.org.

We’re hosting an ACLS Leading Edge Fellow!
Know a new humanities PhD committed to social, racial, and economic justice? We’re excited to host one of 20 ACLS Leading Edge Fellows as a communications and research strategist! The deadline to apply is March 28, 2022 [[link removed]] .

We’re Hiring!
We are seeking experienced individuals to join our team! If you know anyone who would be a great fit, please send them our way. The ideal candidates will have a deep commitment to social, racial, gender, economic and environmental justice.

Finance & Operations Coordinator [[link removed]]
Communications Manager [[link removed]]
Creative Lead [[link removed]]
State Interference Campaign Director [[link removed]]
Chief of Staff [[link removed]]

And be on the lookout for the following job opportunities later this year:

Research Director
Housing Base Building Lead

In Case You Missed It
Pittsburgh’s Our Water Campaign Featured in Demos Case Study
Pittsburgh United mobilized the community to fight back against a city proposal to privatize public goods in Pittsburgh – and won. In a new case study, “ Water as Public Good: Pittsburgh’s Our Water Campaign, [[link removed]] ” Demos and Pittsburgh United outline how a diverse coalition of organizers and community residents stood up against privatization, demanding that the city live up to its obligation to keep the water system public. Check out the case study [[link removed]] and read Demos’ op-ed about the campaign in NextCity [[link removed]] .

The Utility Pre-Craft Trainee Program is Changing Lives
We love this video profile of the Los Angeles-based Utility Pre-Craft Trainee Program, co-created by our affiliate LAANE. The UPCT Program is creating access to family-supporting careers for people who traditionally don’t have a path into the construction trades. Watch the video here! [[link removed]]

What We're Reading

When Private Equity Becomes Your Landlord [[link removed]] - ProPublica
A new article from ProPublica examines how private equity is making it harder for working families to afford a place to live, with powerful real estate investment firms buying up properties and jacking up rents. Read the article here [[link removed]] . (Note: This article includes disparaging remarks about unhoused people. We stand with unhoused people and those who are failed by capitalist and racist market systems.)

On Whoopi Goldberg’s Comments and the Origins of Racism [[link removed]] - The New York Times
Jamelle Bouie’s column situates Whoopi Goldberg’s comments about the Holocaust on “The View” with a helpful examination of, in Bouie’s words, “the history and purpose of race, meaning its function in the modern world” and its inextricable relationship to capitalism. Read the column here [[link removed]] .


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PowerSwitch Action
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Oakland, CA 94612
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