CPD IN THE NEWS

Despite a week of police-related violence, Still We Rise: The 2016 People’s March peacefully trailed through downtown Pittsburgh Friday afternoon, filling the streets with bright colors and music in the process.

About 40 organizations — including New York Communities for Change, Common Good Ohio and Action United — and more than 1,000 people marched from the David L. Lawrence Convention Center to the Station Square office of Sen. Pat Toomey, R-PA, in protest of inequality and hate.

Friday’s march was part of the People’s Convention — a two-day convention discussing social issues such as climate justice, immigration and economic inequality. The Center for Popular Democracy and CPD Action presented the convention, which runs Friday through Saturday at the Convention Center.

Emily Terrana from Open Buffalo, a civic initiative in Buffalo, New York, focused on improving equity and justice, said collaborative actions show “the outside world” and people within the organizations the importance of their work.

“It really shows how much power we have when we come together,” Terrana said. “Oftentimes, folks can feel really isolated in the work that they do. [Actions like the march] give life to one another so that we can continue to exist and fight on.”

La’tasha Mayes, the executive director of New Voices Pittsburgh: Women of Color for Reproductive Justice and a Pitt alum, said marches such as Still We Rise are important because “we have so far to go” on social issues.

“Every time you have an action like this, it’s to bring awareness,” Mayes said. “It’s supposed to mobilize people who are most impacted by these issues. We have to have leaders, we have to have advocates, we have to have organizers to make a difference.”

A large phoenix puppet with a 35-foot wingspan was at the head of the march. The CPD asked KT Tierney, a Pitt alum, and a group of others who make puppets for marches and similar events. Tierney said the phoenix, which also appeared on flags and shirts organizers distributed to demonstrators, symbolizes rising from the ashes.

“People face oppression, and from that oppression, they can still triumph,” Tierney said. “It’s kind of a rebirth.”

Before reaching its final destination, the march leaders stopped at several Downtown locations to protest corporate and governmental offices. Among the stops were the Allegheny County Courthouse, Bank of New York Mellon, the U.S. Steel Tower — where protesters held signs decrying UPMC’s treatment of employees — and the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland offices.

JoEllen Chernow, the director of special projects at CPD, said the CPD has been planning the convention for a year, while the march has been in development for about five months.

“This is a really important moment for people to be coming together,” Chernow said. “People are afraid already in their communities. These [issues] are things keeping every one of these people up at night.”

Before reaching Station Square, marchers crossed the Smithfield Street Bridge and waved to kayakers in the Monongahela River. A sign reading “Stop Oil Trains” floated across the water, tied to each of the kayaks.

Outside of Toomey’s offices, a wall of Styrofoam “Toomey stones” served as the backdrop for a series of speakers, including Teresa Hill of Action United and Debbie Soto of Organize Now from Orlando, Florida.

The wall of Toomey stones read, “Here lie profits over people, homophobia, divisive politics and empty promises, racism and hate, climate change denial.” Following the speeches, members of the crowd cheered as the wall fell, symbolizing the necessity of overcoming institutional obstacles.

As part of the march’s finale, rappers Jasiri X, LiveFromTheCity and Tyhir Frost performed as representatives of 1Hood Media, a Pittsburgh collective of socially conscious hip-hop artists and activists.

“When we say ‘Black Lives Matter,’ we’re not saying only black lives matter,” Jasiri said before starting his performance. “We say ‘Black Lives Matter’ because if you watch the news, if you watch television, it’s black people that are being shot down.”

The march and convention happened to coincide with the fatal police shootings of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, which sparked controversy after videos connected to the incidents went viral on social media.

Micah Johnson, a black man angered by the deaths of Sterling and Castile, shot and killed five Dallas police officers, injuring seven other officers and two civilians during a Black Lives Matter march Thursday night.

On Friday afternoon, Mayor Bill Peduto announced plans to hold a communitywide peace summit next week “to work together to address fear and violence.” Peduto, in collaboration with Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald, plans to gather leaders in law enforcement, faith-based organizations, activist groups, corporations and government.

“We are all affected by the violence in our communities — whether it be here in Pittsburgh, in Dallas or so many other cities — and we all must do everything we can to stop it,” Peduto said in a release. “Pittsburgh is a strong and resilient place, and our bonds are even stronger when all of us in the city work together.”

The Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership will also host a Town Hall meeting July 13 with the city police to discuss Downtown stakeholders’ safety concerns.

Renata Pumarol of New York Communities for Change said the organizations behind Still We Rise, as well as the individual demonstrators, were there to “learn from each other” and show they are a “strong force.”

“We wanted to take to the streets to send a big message here that we’re stronger than ever,” Pumarol said. “We face the same issues across the nation. It’s very important for us to be united and fight together.”

By  Alexa Bakalarski

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McClatchy Washington Bureau - November 14, 2014 - Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen met Friday with leaders of groups that want a voice in the selection of future presidents at the Fed’s 12 district banks.

“The focus was making sure that working families’ voices were heard,” Connie Paredes of Dallas, who represented the Texas Organizing Project, told McClatchy after meeting more than an hour with Yellen.

Paredes was one of 30 activists from the Center for Popular Democracy, a nationwide network of liberal and faith-based organizations who want more Fed attention on returning the nation to full employment, and for a more public process of selecting Fed presidents.

Unlike most central banks, the Fed has a dual mission. It must guarantee price stability, and it does that with the goal of keeping inflation in a range between 1 percent and 2 percent. But it also has the mission of promoting full employment, and that’s the string activists pulled on Friday.

“The Federal Reserve should publicly commit to building an economy with genuine full employment … promising to keep interest rates low until the economy has reached full speed and is producing millions of new jobs and higher wages for workers across the economic spectrum,” said The National Campaign for a Strong Economy, another group that met with Yellen and issued a statement afterwards.

A pressing concern for the activists was creating a mechanism by which ordinary people can have some input in the selection of presidents at the Fed’s 12 district banks. The presidents of the Philadelphia and Dallas district banks, Charles Plosser and Richard Fisher, have announced their retirement next year.

Traditionally, Fed presidents are appointed by the board of directors of each of the 12 banks, with the approval of Fed governors in Washington. The terms are for five years, and they can be reappointed. Critics of the Fed argue that Wall Street and Corporate America get unusual sway because they make up the boards of directors at the Fed banks, and there hasn’t historically been input from the public.

“We need a (Dallas) Fed president that is very aware of the community that he or she represents. Not just the corporate banking community but the entire community,” said Paredes, who applauded Philadelphia’s creation of a feedback process but still wanted more public participation in the Fed’s selection process.

The Fed had no immediate comment on Friday’s meetings.

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Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2014/11/14/246944_yellen-meets-activists-on-e...

The Hill - November 19, 2013, by Ana Maria Archila - Across the country, it’s become increasingly evident that problems stemming from inequality have reached a level that can only be characterized as a crisis.  With the wealth gap between the top .01 percent of households and the rest of us greater than it was in 1928 before the onset of the Great Depression, opportunities for too many Americans are disappearing. 

At her confirmation hearing last week to become the next chair of the Federal Reserve, Janet Yellen characterized income inequality as an “extremely difficult and to my mind very worrisome problem.”  And while the recent race for Mayor in New York City focused plenty on the wealth gap, it remains to be seen how far a local politician can go to implement the type of policies the nation’s largest city desperately needs. 

Of course, there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to restore our democracy to a system that truly gives everyone a chance to thrive.  But a large part of the solution will come from dedicated community members partnering with organizations with policy expertise, strategy insights, and coalition coordination experience to achieve meaningful reforms.  That’s why this week, the Center for Popular Democracy and the Leadership Center for the Common Good announced a plan to merge on Jan. 1, 2014.

The new organization will be called The Center for Popular Democracy with a sister c4 organization called Action for the Common Good.  Together, we will work at the center of emerging new politics, working to build the capacity and resilience of rooted, democratic community organizing institutions.  We will share organizing models and strategies with a vast partner network to replicate campaigns and tactics that work to confront racial and economic inequality.

Already,we’ve seen examples of the types of changes motivated, coordinated community efforts can produce.  And as new partnerships and increased collaboration online help movement leaders to share best practices – there’s plenty of reason to believe communities can implement changes that make a difference.

In New York, coalitions of community groups, progressive unions, and faith networks cametogether this year to secure a raft of impressive victories, from a raise in the state’s minimum wage, to the adoption of paid sick days’ legislation in New York City to the passage of pro-immigrant language access initiatives in both Nassau and Suffolk Counties on Long Island. And, in the face of fierce opposition from outgoing Mayor Bloomberg, the Center for Popular Democracy and our allies secured passage of new laws to stop the discriminatory policing tactics of the NYPD’s “Stop and Frisk.”

With real roots in the African-American, Latino and immigrant communities, and connections across faith and labor organizations, the Center for Popular Democracy is poised to provide expanded reach and scale on issues from education policy to immigrant and racial justice, voting rights and homeownership.

As AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka recently said, “The new CPD fills animportant void - aggressively innovating and replicating public policies that expand rights and opportunities for workers, for immigrants, and for people of color."  That’s part of our belief that just as our communities are stronger together, so are organizers.  It’s time to put our strength, scale and reach to work.

Ana Maria Archila is the co-executive director of the new Center for Popular Democracy.

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Democrats in Congress are pushing the Federal Reserve to emphasize diversity when filling top policymaking roles.

In a new letter sent to Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen, the lawmakers noted that the overwhelming majority of top central bank positions are filled by white men, and they urged a rapid change.

“The importance of ensuring that such positions are filled by persons that reflect and represent the interests of our diverse country cannot be overstated,” they wrote. “When the voices of women, African-Americans, Latinos, Asian Pacific Americans, and representatives of consumers and labor are excluded from key discussions, their interests are too often neglected.”

The letter, spearheaded by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) and Rep. John Conyers Jr. (Mich.), garnered signatures from 11 senators and 116 House Democrats. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a Democratic presidential contender, signed the letter, as did every Democrat in the Congressional Black Caucus.

Hillary Clinton jumped into the fray as well, issuing a statement Thursday echoing that message and calling for reforms at the Fed to limit Wall Street input.

"Secretary Clinton believes that the Fed needs to be more representative of America as a whole as well as that commonsense reforms -- like getting bankers off the boards of regional Federal Reserve banks -- are long overdue," said a campaign spokesperson.

The members called for the Fed to consider a range of factors when filling upcoming vacancies, including a candidate's ethnicity, economic and professional background.

They note that while unemployment has fallen sharply over the last several months, minority groups still fall behind. White unemployment is 4.3 percent, Hispanic unemployment is 6.1 percent, and black unemployment is 8.8 percent.

The lawmakers noted that every member of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), which sets the nation’s interest rate policy, is white.

In response to the lawmaker critique, the Fed said it was committing to boosting diversity, and touted its recent efforts along those lines.

"We have focused considerable attention in recent years on recruiting directors with diverse backgrounds and experiences," said a Fed spokesperson. "By law, we consider the interests of agriculture, commerce, industry, services, labor, and consumers. We also are aiming to increase ethnic and gender diversity. "

Thursday’s letter is the latest in a growing leftward push to influence the Fed, as liberals view the central bank as disproportionately influenced by input from Wall Street. With the economy on the mend and the Fed eyeing upcoming interest rate increases, they argue that too many Americans lower on the economic scale are not yet feeling those economic gains and need more support from the central bank.

Yellen was previously asked about diversity at the Fed at a congressional hearing earlier this year, and she committed to look into the matter.

Did you know 67% of all job growth comes from small businesses? Read More

A top priority for the lawmakers is ensuring increased diversity at the 12 regional Fed banks scattered across the country. Those banks occupy five rotating seats on the FOMC. But their boards are mostly filled by commercial banks, which directly back each institution.

Democrats have said for years that the arrangement ensures that the financial sector enjoys a prime seat in communicating with the Fed. Thursday’s letter noted that no regional bank head is black or Latino, and no African-American has ever helmed a regional Fed bank in the organization's 100-year history.

By Peter Schroeder

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