Blog
Over the last month CPD has worked with affiliates to push the Biden administration to go as big as possible on all COVID-19 relief measures. To this end, we released the People’s Transition Memo – a petition demanding that President Joe Biden fight for real policy changes that will uplift and empower Black, Brown, Indigenous, Asian and Latinx communities and hold all elected officials accountable for a fair and equitable government. CPD held meetings with key members of the Biden transition team to demand that any COVID-19 relief package include all people no matter their status, and provide a pathway to citizenship to essential workers, DACA recipients, and TPS holders. You can still sign and share the petition here!
CPD affiliates and other national allies also led a day of action on January 11, directed at incoming Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Marcia Fudge, to push President Biden on rent forgiveness and eviction moratoriums. This is part of a month-long effort to elevate the need for housing protections for Black and Brown communities.
On January 27, within one week of President Biden, Vice-President Harris, and the new administration taking office and four years to the day after President Trump signed the Muslim Ban executive order, CPD joined a day of action led by affiliates CASA, Make the Road NY and national immigrant organizations in Washington D.C. and across the country to ensure that immigrants are at the front lines of any relief measure that the Biden administration proposes. That same day, CPD affiliate Action NC held a press call where they released their COVID impact survey and members shared their stories on why it's imperative that immigrants are included in the next COVID relief package.
In the coming weeks and months, we will continue to take action to push the new administration on our demands and to make the change we know is possible a reality. Make a donation today to support this critical work and demand that everyone who is struggling due to COVID-19 gets the relief they need.
Last month, over 500 people joined with Make the Road Action, CASA in Action, DelACA, CPD and allies in a car caravan with community members from Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Delaware, and Maryland leading the way to Wilmington, Delaware, where we organized a rally to urge President-elect Biden to act swiftly and honor his campaign commitments on critical issues, including immigration, justice transformation, and a just recovery for Puerto Rico. Along the route of the caravan, CPD affiliates placed billboards like the picture above to make sure the message was seen and heard. The caravan was covered by local and national news outlets including USA Today, NPR, Washington Post, Telemundo, and the NY Daily News among others.
Our sister organization, CPD Action partnered with affiliates CASA in Action, Make the Road Action, to run historic voter turnout efforts, reaching millions of immigrant, Latinx, Black, and working-class voters. We knew from the start that this election would depend on turnout. CPD network affiliates are proof of what’s possible when we do the work to organize our communities over the long haul—not just in election season. Together, our affiliate network made 31,573,580 calls, sent 12,868,360 texts, and knocked on 668,668 doors. With action taken like this, an accountability caravan was necessary to hold President-elect Biden accountable every step of the way.
Looking for inspiration in the new year? Visit Transformation Talks and join us a gear up for 2021 and all the exciting new opportunities to create the future we know is possible. Hosted by CPD, we bring some of the world’s most prolific artists, community organizers, and progressive leaders together in this virtual space of national conversation and connection, seeking to explore the question: What is popular democracy?
Transformation Talks features over 70 hours of programming, including chats, debates, keynotes, and workshops, and talk forwards, and looks to center bold progressive policy, mine the intersection of arts and activism, and ask how we can truly live up to the promise of Of the People, By the People, For the People. Join us!
After Congress went on its August recess without voting on a relief package to extend the $600 weekly Unemployment Insurance (UI) benefits, members of Unemployed Action, a movement by and for unemployed workers and their families, took to the streets. We held #MitchBetterHaveMyMoney protests in Kentucky, Washington D.C., New York City, and elsewhere around the country, and joined #ReliefIsDue protests to elevate the eviction crisis. In September, Unemployed Action held virtual meetings with their elected representatives to let them know that President Trump's Lost Wages Assistance order, which provides only $300 per week for 6 weeks and excludes the poorest workers, is completely insufficient and real relief is needed.
The Unemployed Action community continues to grow, with 16,000 members. This fall, they will focus on engaging voters and on mutual aid to help each other survive in the absence of federal relief. We're launching a new initiative for Unemployed Action via our Community Solidarity Fund to give small grants to unemployed workers facing hunger, housing instability, and other financial hardships. We’ve also created a healing justice workshop series to support our members through this difficult time. Click here to provide direct relief to unemployed workers!
Across the CPD network, affiliates are leading the fight against evictions and calling on decision-makers to cancel rent and mortgages across the country. Since the start of the pandemic, CPD affiliates have been building grassroots Eviction Defense Networks to respond to the potential eviction of 40 million people across the country. An eviction crisis would be a catastrophe for the people already hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, Black and Brown people, immigrants, unemployed workers—our loved ones and neighbors.
On October 1, as tenants have for every 1st of the month since the pandemic began, CPD affiliates came together to demand that elected officials take action to cancel rent, cancel mortgages, and stop evictions. Local advocates shared their stories, organized safe protests, and turned the heat up on elected officials who have failed to respond to the crisis. If you believe, like we do, that everyone deserves a home in which they can thrive, then click here to join us in the fight to cancel rent, cancel mortgages, and resist evictions for the duration of the pandemic and recovery phase.
In Philadelphia, CPD affiliate One Pennsylvania launched their Eviction Defense Network called the Freedom to Stay Block Brigade to resist evictions. The Freedom to Stay Block Brigade is led by impacted Black and brown Philadelphians who have been organizing for the transformation of housing policy through their Freedom to Stay Campaign for rent control and homeowner protections. As Philadelphia residents look to the looming mass eviction crisis, they are educating people about their rights and protections, building collective power with those most impacted by the housing crisis, and preparing for rapid response direct action for when evictions occur.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has heard our call for national protections and announced a national eviction moratorium that provides some tools for tenants to resist eviction until December 31, but still ignores the central problem: our communities will not be able to pay back rent incurred since March. We need full rent and mortgage cancellation NOW. The CDC’s National Eviction Moratorium is one possible tool for tenants to be able to stay in their homes, but there is so much more to be done. For more information, check out this Know Your Rights Training hosting by CPD's housing campaigns team.
Sign the petition now to join us in the fight for a Home to Thrive.
This year has brought a host of new challenges for the 2020 Census as we continue to deal with a public health crisis on top of President Trump’s repeated attempts to cut the census short and deprive millions of their right to participate in it. In response, organizations and members across the CPD network jumped into action to do everything in their power to encourage their communities to be counted in order to shape our future for the next decade.
From phone banking to text banking, broadcast events on Facebook Live, Instagram Takeovers and car caravans, our affiliates have done everything they can to get out the word about the importance of engaging in the census to their communities. In New York City alone we partnered with Make the Road NY and NYS Senator Zellnor Y. Myrie’s office to make more than 100,000 calls to community members in Brooklyn. On a national level, we partnered with Fair Immigration Reform Movement (FIRM) to host monthly census calls for the immigrant rights movement, and collaborated on an Immigrant Heritage Week of Action in June 2020 to increase census participation digitally. We also want to give a special shout out to our partners Make the Road NV and Action NC on an impressive outreach campaign! They hosted virtual census dinner parties, and car caravans to get out the count.
In July, the Trump administration issued a memorandum in an attempt to exclude undocumented immigrants from the census count. This is especially alarming since using inaccurate census data will affect how many representatives each state will have in Congress for the next ten years, and how much federal funding our communities will receive for roads, schools, housing and social programs. In response to this attack, our partners from Make the Road NY, CASA and others filed a lawsuit to block this directive. It was a huge victory for the immigrant community when a federal panel of three judges in New York ruled that Trump’s order was unlawful. As the other lawsuits await a hearing, we continue to pressure Congress to pass a bipartisan bill that would help ensure an accurate count by extending the deadline.
In the meantime, as we get closer to the October 31st deadline, it is imperative that all of us get counted with the current resources we have at our disposal. Completing an accurate census count now is even more critical than even in order for us to realize a full pandemic recovery, and will have an impact that will affect us for the next ten years.
Tell Congress it MUST extend the reporting deadlines for apportionment and redistricting in the next COVID relief bill to give the bureau time to complete the count, and allocate $400 Million to address other challenges caused by COVID-19. Add your name now!
Last month, CPD affiliates and allies came together to commemorate the third anniversary of Hurricane Maria, which devastated the island of Puerto Rico and resulted in over 3,000 deaths and exacerbated an ongoing economic crisis.
On September 16, CPD affiliates Make the Road PA, CASA, Action NC, and Make the Road NV joined forces with the Power 4 PR coalition to host a phone bank to connect with Puerto Ricans living in the diaspora about the need to participate in the upcoming elections and to continue to push for a just recovery for the island. That same week, CPD worked with Hedge Clippers, CUFFH, NYCC and Latino Justice PRLDEF to release a letter signed by lawyers urging New York Attorney General, Letitia “Tish” James to investigate the role of hedge funds on Puerto Rico's debt crisis and prosecute any corruption. This letter was later followed by a community letter joined by many CPD affiliates representing hundreds of thousands of Puerto Ricans in the diaspora elevating the demand for the Attorney General to investigate.
Finally on September 22, CPD affiliate members from Make the Road NY, Make the Road CT, CASA, Make the Road NV, Action NC, NYCC, CUFHH, Make the Road PA joined a community popular education training for affiliates to learn about Puerto Rico and get activated about bringing justice to the island.
On September 1, affiliates across the CPD network, Unemployed Action, and League of Heroes—two projects of CPD/A— organized a national day of action to demand immediate relief for families across the United States through eviction protections, rent and mortgage cancellation and action by the Senate to develop and enact a federal relief package that puts people first.
Safe, affordable, decent housing is an anchor for every family’s ability to thrive. Yet, Congress continues to fail our communities as another month passes with no relief in sight for families experiencing unemployment and threats of eviction. Experts estimate that there could be 30-40 million people evicted in the next 6 weeks if there is no federal, state, or local action. In order to prevent the worst housing crisis this country has ever seen, government officials and corporate landlords must act to cancel rent and evictions for public health and protection of Black, Latinx and Indigineous communities across the country. Will you join us to fight evictions?
Click here to tell the Senate to take action now!
Nearly 1,000 people joined us for a day of resistance to the crisis of government inaction that will lead to a mass eviction and economic crisis. Through grassroots statewide Eviction Defense Networks (EDN), organizers are calling on eviction and housing courts across the country to remain closed, and for evictions and rent to be cancelled for the duration of the COVID-19 crisis.
Our affiliates have already taken action to protect tenants from eviction. In Chicago, Kenwood Oakland Community Organization in partnership with the Lift the Ban Coalition, organized an occupation of the local eviction court for 5 days, and won an extension of the eviction moratorium. CPD affiliates in Florida, Pennsylvania, Nevada, New York, California, Michigan, Illinois, Louisiana, Washington D.C., North Carolina, Washington, and Arkansas are keeping the pressure up on their Senators, banks, corporate landlords, the courts and other government officials to #CancelEvictions, #CancelRent, and #Savethe600.
There are tenants and homeowners who still need rent and mortgage cancellation. Learn more about our campaign to help them here.
Since late spring, the Center for Popular Democracy has been engaging families who lost loved ones due to COVID-19 to demand accountability and justice in the pandemic response. This campaign, known as COVID Families, officially launched on Friday, August 21, where hundreds of people came together to March for the Dead in New York City.
Together, we marched through downtown Brooklyn, participated in a silent candlelit walk across the Brooklyn Bridge, and held a reading of names lost to COVID-19 at Foley Square in Manhattan.
Individual organizers from Rise and Resist, March for Truth, NYIC, MoveOn, and several Indivisible chapters came together to organize the event, while CPD affiliates CUFFH and NYCC endorsed the action. CPD helped to nationalize the event and sparked actions with affiliates like Delaware Alliance for Community Advancement, Arkansas Community Organization and Alaskans Take a Stand (formerly known as Alaska Grassroots Alliance), and independent events in Wisconsin, Maine, San Francisco and Los Angeles.
To date, 185,000 Americans have died from COVID-19, and those are only the confirmed cases on record. These numbers are devastating, especially as we watch the Trump administration avoid responsibility for containing the spread of COVID-19. Trump’s incompetence, malice, and inaction has led us here and he must be held accountable.
Click here to share your story and get involved with COVID Families.
On August 3, CPD’s education justice campaign organized a national day of resistance with coordinated actions across 38 cities to demand a safe and equitable reopening of schools.
School districts across the country are opening schools either in person or virtually and our affiliates and partners across the country have already begun to make sure that the health and safety of our communities is given the priority it deserves.
Several CPD affiliates led protests outside of schools including: Step Up Louisiana, Make the Road New Jersey, Latinos Unidos Siempre, Florida Student Power Network, and Arkansas Community Organizations.
In Baltimore, Communities United joined their local teacher’s union as they rallied outside of Comcast. They demanded the company provide free services to students and educators. In Chicago, KOCO lifted up their quality of life demands outside of city hall demanding the safe reopening of schools, access to housing and healthcare. In Dallas, parents with Texas Organizing Project hosted a virtual town hall. In Los Angeles, parents with ACCE joined teachers and students outside at the LA Chamber of Commerce & the LA Unified school district for a protest demanding a safe reopening of schools. In Milwaukee, the students of Leaders Igniting Transformation supported teachers as they held a car caravan and die-in in front of the Department of Health Services. In Philadelphia 215PA joined a coalition of students, parents and teachers in a protest in front of their school district to demand asbestos and lead-free schools. In Vermont, Rights and Democracy joined their local teacher union at the state capitol to demand a delay to the start of school, cancellation of rent and mortgage payments, the tools needed for remote learning and more. And in West Virginia, Our Future West Virginia held several actions including a town hall with parents advocating for a safe reopening.
These actions were sparked by a growing momentum to support students, families, and educator's ability to lay out our own reimagined vision of public school safety. Stay tuned for our next steps as an education justice movement.
