Blog
To realize the promise of a representative and inclusive democracy, our electoral system must guarantee every American the right to vote and the power to participate. In Georgia, we knew this past election cycle would be one for the history books and we jumped at the opportunity to work with CPD affiliate New Georgia Project (NGP) to execute on a thoughtful, intentional, and strategic voter turn-out plan.
As we build for the future, we are reviewing what we learned by our successful work in 2020. Through a deeply rooted partnership, we helped NGP recruit hundreds of volunteers from across the state to participate in the organization’s Election Protection program that posted line warmers and trained violence-interrupters at polling locations. CPD staff helped to teach more than 3,000 people in de-escalation tactics to protect our communities’ basic right to vote and safety at the polls, ensuring the success of movement-wide get-out-the-vote efforts so our voices would be heard.
After delivering a record voter-turnout where we took back our democracy, organizers and activists on the ground in Georgia quickly pivoted to support the Senate run-off race. CPD stayed on the ground with NGP connecting volunteers to opportunities and supporting their statewide non-partisan get-out-the-vote efforts. The CPD network showed up in full force when affiliates from Make the Roads New York and Pennsylvania, Ohio Organizing Collaborative, and SPACEs in Action DC also shared their non-partisan resources to do everything from opening and staffing offices, helping with voter registration drives, making PPE packs and even hitting the doors to turnout early voters. During the Senate run-off alone, NGP recruited 2,707 volunteers who completed 5,040 shifts from November 4, 2020 to January 6, 2021. In the same timeframe, together we made 831,126 phone calls, sent 701,606 text messages and knocked on 1,748 doors. These efforts relied on years of deep organizing and relationship building as well as smart election-mobilization.
In 2020, we saw what we can accomplish together with the power of the people at work. We defeated many attempts to suppress voters and erect massive barriers to the ballot. CPD will continue it’s work to expand and protect our voting rights and democracy, drawing down the lessons learned from our 2020 partnerships and engagement. Please consider making a donation now to support this critical work moving forward.
Last month, executive directors and key staff from more than 40 affiliates in the CPD/A network, along with several members of CPD/A staff, came together for a virtual convening to reflect on the challenges and victories from 2020, and to begin the work of planning our network strategy for 2021.
2020 was both a deeply painful year for our communities and an extremely important year for politics. When COVID-19 hit, CPD/A affiliates immediately adapted their organizing and support programs to address the most critical issues facing their members: fighting for eviction and rent moratoria, providing access to food and health services and direct cash assistance where needed, and working to support those hardest hit by the pandemic. Then, over the course of the summer after the murder of George Floyd, our network worked in solidarity with the Movement for Black Lives to lead and support more than 34 actions in cities across the country, calling on elected officials to defund the police and invest in Black communities.
And this was happening against the backdrop of a key moment in the electoral cycle. Our network kept its powerful gaze on the elections – affiliates helped register thousands of people to vote and hosted many events, text banks and phone banks to increase voter turnout, all while fighting to ensure that our communities had the ability to vote safely. And, as we now know, the 2020 primaries and general election experienced record turnout, particularly through early voting and vote by mail.
When we came together last month, we took a few moments to pause and reflect on the truly impressive achievements of our network in 2020. But then it became time to turn our attention to 2021. We talked through lessons from 2020, how to apply them moving forward, and the direction we should take with our work moving forward. We discussed CPD’s leadership transition that was announced in January, and the role that network affiliates will play in finding our next executive directors. We began to dig into our federal agenda and all that we hope to achieve during and after the first 100 days of the new administration. And we refocused on the next steps towards actualizing our strategic vision and building a base of one million people. But most importantly, we took time to be in the same virtual space and build community with each other - an opportunity that feels more and more rare these days. We look forward to continuing to build the power of our network to realize our vision of a country where everyone has the freedom to thrive. Donate now to support our critical work ahead.
The Center for Popular Democracy is proud to announce that our leading affiliates in Florida, New Florida Majority and Organize Florida, have merged to become the largest grassroots powerhouse in the state, Florida Rising! They started the year off strong with the launch of their new website.
“We are so excited about the future of Florida Rising,” said Stephanie Porta, co- Executive Director of Florida Rising. “New Florida Majority and Organize Florida have a proud history of support for human rights and building grassroots coalitions. This merger will take us on a new journey that will solidify our commitment to Black and Brown communities, and create more opportunities for a better quality of life. Florida Rising is the next logical step that combines our efforts to empower people to take control and give our causes a louder, stronger voice for change.”
“The two of our organizations coming together means that Black and Brown communities and everyone excluded by the current status quo will have a vehicle to work together to win the policies and the representation that we deserve,” said Andrea Mercado, co- Executive Director of Florida Rising. “It is our duty to make a better, stronger, and more organized movement in Florida. We need to build stronger communities and organize more people in order to combat the Conservative stronghold built in our state. Our collective power, creativity, and love for our communities will get us to victory. Florida Rising will be a living and breathing entity created by the people for the people and a representation of the people who move us, not just an institution for our political idea. A decade after NewFM’s founding, we’re prepared to build power so that we can’t be ignored”.
The recent 2020 election revealed how much can be accomplished by joining forces. The coalition supported progressive candidates to get a seat at the table and won a $15 an hour living wage. But there is much more to do. With Florida Rising, both organizations will combine efforts to secure excellence for our communities.
Florida Rising will be a new and powerful model on how Black and Brown communities, women, femmes, LGBTQ+ and every voice left out of decision making can be liberated. Florida Rising can win the policies and representation we deserve. We are excited to continue supporting the future Florida Rising is creating!
It is with tremendous gratitude and pride that we write to share that we will be stepping down as co-executive directors of the Center for Popular Democracy and CPD Action in 2021. Ten years ago, CPD/A was only an aspiration. Today, it is a strong and beautiful community of action, anchored by 50 community organizations in 222 cities, 33 states, and Puerto Rico. As the organization’s co-executive directors, we are humbled, grateful and deeply proud of all that we built together. As we plan to step into different roles in the movement and pass the reins of this organization to two new co-executive directors in 2021, our optimism, commitment and urgency burn bright.
*/1 / 30 2 / 30 3 / 30 4 / 30 5 / 30 6 / 30 7 / 30 8 / 30 9 / 30 10 / 30 11 / 30 12 / 30 13 / 30 14 / 30 15 / 30 16 / 30 17 / 30 18 / 30 19 / 30 20 / 30 21 / 30 22 / 30 23 / 30 25 / 30 26 / 30 27 / 30 28 / 30 29 / 30 30 / 30
We have built CPD/A with our eyes set on the promise of a dynamic, participatory, multiracial democracy to create the country of our dreams. When the four of us came together to lead CPD/A, we anchored our efforts in a shared commitment to nurturing leaders and organizations deeply rooted in communities. For each one of us, the experience of organizing on the ground had taught us everything we knew about building and community, with love at the center. We wanted CPD/A to serve as a national formation to advance an agenda of justice for Black, Latinx and other people of color, immigrant communities and working-class families in the US.
When we started CPD/A, we dreamed of someday being powerful enough to transform our communities and to end our people’s suffering. We could not have imagined how close our country would come to fascism and white supremacist insurrection. But we knew we had a long road to travel. The struggle for freedom and democracy in this land is as old as the country itself. The systems of white supremacy, exploitation and exclusion have been erected to resist the powerful and unwavering yearning for freedom that flows through every human and pulses powerfully in every community, in every generation. CPD/A is our love offering to all that yearn for a country where we all thrive together. We will transition the organization in a period of strength and financial stability, and in a moment when our affiliates are ascending to the height of their power, because we know this beautiful community of action is full of leaders who will pour their hearts and souls into taking our collective work to the next level.
Our work has been animated by the certainty that a new, more just nation is struggling to be born. And that her arrival becomes more possible every time immigrant youth tell their stories and articulate their dreams; every time Black women lead us to victory in a hard fought election; every time low-wage workers win dignity at work; every time someone joins a march for the first time; and every time poor and working class families win better schools, a more inclusive democracy, housing and healthcare. The arrival of a more just nation becomes more possible when the very people who have been silenced and relegated to the margins of our democracy build power together, and use that power to dismantle the structures of exclusion and exploitation from below.
We knew, too, that people’s organizations—which offer both a space to find community and exercise collective imagination and power—play a crucial role in advancing and sustaining social change. As we look back on almost a decade of work, we are most proud of CPD/A’s efforts to help nurture and support new leaders of color, and foster the creation of rooted people’s organizations in states like Nevada, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Florida, New Jersey, Louisiana, Arizona and more. It is the patient work of people organizing with their families and neighbors, building powerful communities of action over years, that is transforming the political trajectory of these states and that ultimately helped make Trump a one-term president.
CPD/A and allies joined in protest against the separation of immigrant families at the Families Belong Together march in June 2018We are also very proud of helping to seed projects and infrastructure for the broader progressive movement, and partnering with many to win critical policy victories. CPD/A has helped win hundreds of campaigns, impacting tens of millions of people. Our fights have led to better wages, better housing, more freedom and more justice for millions. We have raised and distributed tens of millions of dollars to nourish and build strong, rooted organizing throughout this country, and in Puerto Rico.
We helped found and support Local Progress, a network of progressive elected officials, who are bringing the spirit and demands of the movement into the halls of power in cities across the US. When Hurricane Maria struck, we jumped into action to launch the Maria Fund which raised millions of dollars to support new organizing work and the Puerto Rican communities hardest hit by climate change and years of austerity. And with the leadership of our dear colleague Ady Barkan, we helped launch the Be A Hero Fund to resource a people-powered democracy in key states and build a movement to win Medicare for All.
The election of Donald Trump helped reveal the strength of white supremacy, the mainstreaming of misogynist and racist politics, and the complicity of neoliberal economic forces that benefit from gutting and hobbling our government. The last four years, though, have also revealed the resilience and tenacity of communities under attack, and our collective determination to fight and win the freedom we long for.
As we look back on CPD/A’s role during that period, we are proud of our efforts to mobilize thousands of people and forcefully elevate the voices of Black, Brown, and working-class people during critical battles in Washington, whether it was to protect the Affordable Care Act and DACA, or to fight back against the GOP tax scam, the separation of families at the border, and the shameless nominations of Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court.
CPD Action activists taking the message of Medicare for All to Congress in 2019Over these years of incredible movement activity, a whole generation of young people has become activated and politicized, following the lead of women of color who set the tone of the resistance, and pursuing the transformative vision in the Black Lives Matter movement. People have used art, storytelling, digital organizing and direct action to celebrate each other’s courage, to tend to each other’s pain, to elevate collective demands, and to put us on the path towards the greatest advances in generations. Community organizations have provided critical infrastructure in moments of urgent need – from mobilizing bail funds, to sharing information, moving resources quickly or providing legal support. As we look towards the future of CPD and CPD Action, we are excited for the next leadership team to continue exploring how our network can develop even further as a trusted and responsive partner in movement moments.
At every step, and with every battle, we are reminded that democracy, a truly popular democracy, is the mechanism that we have to protect one another. With each fight, we are invited to remember that democracy does not exist on its own: democracy breathes and comes alive when people tell their stories, take direct action, build community and networks of mutual support, register to vote, mobilize their loved ones to the polls, and ensure every vote is counted.
Our democracy itself is under grave attack. Our work is far from over. And this moment is a critical window to make evident in people’s lived experience that a different kind of politics can, in fact, deliver relief and opportunity. We are confident that CPD/A and our affiliates will continue to be at the forefront of the fight to win badly-needed changes on people-centered COVID relief, climate change, immigration reform, housing and evictions, defunding the carceral state, addressing the growth of white supremacist forces, and more.
As we prepare to end our tenure as co-executive directors, we are filled with gratitude for the communities that nurtured us and formed us as organizers: for Jen, Black workers in Wisconsin; for Brian, working-class Floridians; for Andrew and Ana Maria, Latinx immigrants in New York. Each one of us worked to imbue CPD/A with the aspirations of the communities that raised us as organizers and welcomed us into the long and beautiful history of struggle for justice in this country.
Leading together as a team has been a gift, and passing the baton together in a moment of organizational strength is the best way we know to support the new leaders, the organization and the network to move forcefully into the future.
We thank everyone who has worked with us—the staff, the Boards of Directors, every affiliate organization that joined and breathed life into this network, and every donor who invested in our efforts. CPD/A would not be as strong without you.
Finally, we want to to express our deepest gratitude to movement allies who encouraged us, challenged us, invited us to join in struggle, and ultimately helped us build, and become part of, a growing, rebellious and visionary movement of people determined to live with freedom and dignity, and bring the country of our dreams into existence.
In solidarity,
Ana Maria Archila Co-Executive Director Jennifer Epps-Addison Network President & Co-Executive Director Brian Kettenring Co-Executive Director Andrew Friedman Co-Executive Director
It’s now been over a year since the first COVID-19 case was confirmed in the U.S. and still so many families are struggling to put food on the table and keep a roof over their head, after months of inaction by the government. The Center for Popular Democracy network is on the frontlines organizing to fight for what our communities need and end the deepening housing crisis, due to COVID-19. Even before the pandemic, this country was facing a historic housing and homelessness crisis – most people in this country are tenants, the majority of which were rent burdened before the pandemic began. It has never been more clear that long-term solutions are required for a genuine recovery. Donate now to support our fight for tenant rights, and to help communities most impacted by COVID-19.
Faced with an opportunity to strengthen and provide more universal eviction protections, President Biden signed an executive order on his first day in office extending the current CDC eviction moratorium. But this is a temporary measure that still leaves families without the rent and debt forgiveness they will need to recover from the devastating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. On March 31, the CDC national eviction moratorium will expire with no national and almost no state and local protections for millions of renters at risk of eviction for non-payment of rent.
Families across the country need short-term action for immediate relief AND a long-term commitment to expand the eviction moratorium and cancel rent and mortgages. And while people struggle to pay rent in the face of mass unemployment, right now the largest corporate landlords are sitting on $470 billion in tax breaks and subsidies. What’s clear is that we CAN afford rent and mortgage forgiveness, and relief to small landlords and affordable housing providers who need it. We just need to tax the largest corporate landlords to pay for it.
From January 20 to February 1, tenants from across the country who are at risk of eviction will call on the Biden administration and congressional leadership, every day, to take immediate action to protect the up to 40 million people at risk of eviction through a universal eviction moratorium and rent and mortgage cancellation immediately. These tenants, supported by CPD network affiliates and local eviction defense networks, will defend their homes through direct action and community support—from move-ins and occupations, to online rallies, and petition deliveries. Donate now to join us in the fight to prevent more than 40 million people from losing their homes.
Last month, the Center for Popular Democracy released two new reports: Feeding the Beast: A scope of federal funding for state and local law enforcement, and Double Exposure: Retail workers nationwide hammered by the combo crisis of pandemic and private equity.
Each year, the federal government sends billions of dollars in funding, equipment, and other resources to state and local law enforcement. These federal outlays are on top of upwards of one hundred billion dollars spent by states and localities on policing each year. Federal resources have been a key way that the government has helped build and sustain police power and has influenced local, county, and state budget and policy priorities. Over the past few decades, Congress has helped build and continues to perpetuate the crisis of policing through the power of the purse. From criminalization to targeted policing, and mass incarceration of Black and brown communities to police violence and the killing of Black people, Congress has been complicit in propping up the very unjust systems we are fighting to dismantle. Download and read Feeding the Beast: A scope of federal funding for state and local law enforcement to learn more.
Private equity has had a disastrous impact on the retail industry, driving dozens of firms into bankruptcy, shutting down tens of thousands of stores, and costing hundreds of thousands of jobs nationwide. Private equity is an especially predatory type of Wall Street investment firm that has taken over scores of national and regional retail chains. The private equity business model poses considerable risks to retailers and workers. Further, private equity-owned retailers have often collapsed into bankruptcy as they are unable to service the large debt loads. While the private equity firms and executives walk away largely unscathed or even profiting from the deals that led to the retailer’s collapse, hundreds of thousands of women and people of color in frontline retail jobs have lost their livelihoods, often with no severance and no recourse. Download Double Exposure: Retail workers nationwide hammered by the combo crisis of pandemic and private equity to learn more.
The Center for Popular Democracy is excited to welcome two new affiliate organizations to our growing network: Comunidades Organizando El Poder Y La Acción Latina MN (COPAL-MN) and Montana Human Rights Network (MHRN). We are proud to bring these two powerful organizations into our network and to fight alongside them to build a better world.
Based in Minneapolis, COPAL-MN operates in the twin cities and throughout Southern Minnesota. Read more about them here. Like us, they believe Latinx communities are a powerful force in the fight for environmental justice, access to quality education, and immigrant rights and more. Just last year, COPAL’s staff and volunteers had more than 20,000 conversations with community members about the importance of voting, and collected more than 18,000 pledges to vote! Additionally, COPAL provides crucial support to the community through census support, citizenship classes, consulate support, and their Navigators program, which helps connect community members to life-saving assistance during times of crisis.
MHRN was formed in 1990, after local community groups formed to counter white supremacist organizing across the state of Montana in the late 1980s. Read about MHRN’s mission here. Today, MHRN operates statewide with 10 affiliates and 10,000 members, working to expand human rights in Montana by pursuing progressive public policy, combating white nationalism, and supporting community organizing. They work to advance critical issues such as LGBT rights, economic justice, immigrant and refugee rights, and tribal sovereignty, and continue to fight bigotry—from anti-semitism to islamophobia whereever it rears its head. Last year, with far-right extremism on the rise in all corners of the country, MHRN worked tirelessly to combat far-right ideologies in Montana through public education, including publishing this video analysis of the history of the far-right in the state.
We’re incredibly excited to welcome COPAL-MN and MHRN into the CPD/A family!
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!
