Friend --

When you’ve been organizing for as long as I have, it can feel like all you do most of the time is fight to hold back the tide. We fight to stop cuts to essential programs. We fight to stop critical protections from ending. We fight to stop things from getting worse. After 14 years of organizing, I also know how rare it is that this year all we did was win!

So, I want to take this moment to celebrate the victories we’ve accomplished together in 2019:

Universal Rent Control: Our coalition ran a successful campaign resulting in the strongest package of tenant protection laws in a generation.
Green New Deal for NYC: We drove the campaign to pass NYC’s historic new “Green New Deal” law, which is a world-first law requiring large buildings, - the source of 70% of the city’s climate pollution, - to clean up. It will also create tens of thousands of good jobs.
No Amazon HQ2: We stopped the biggest corporation in the world from receiving billions of dollars in public subsidies to establish its second headquarters, complete with a helipad, in one of the most rapidly gentrifying neighborhoods of New York City.
Fighting Segregation on LI: We won a $5.4 million settlement from Nassau County and the Village of Garden City, in a landmark anti-segregation lawsuit. The settlement marks a major step forward to building quality affordable housing and chipping away at the entrenched segregation on Long Island.
Stopping the Williams fracked gas pipeline: Along with our allies, we built the grassroots campaign that successfully pushed Governor Cuomo to stop this $1 billion climate-destroying pipeline in NYC akin to Dakota Access or KeyStone XL.
Ended Cash Bail: our coalition advocated for critical criminal justice reforms including the end of cash bail for non-violent offenders and a speedy trial and discovery legislation.

In short, we took on real estate, fossil fuels, the prison industrial complex, and the largest corporation in the country—and won. It was an absolutely incredible year!

Can you make sure everyone in your networks know what we can accomplish by organizing, by sharing our post on Facebook or click here to Retweet us?

There’s still so much more to do. Over the next few days I’m going to be sharing an inside view of our exciting plans for 2020 (and asking for your support). But for now, I wanted to a moment to celebrate.

Best,

Jonathan Westin, NYCC