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Moving Forward!
What an amazing year this has been!
Everywhere we turn, communities are
standing up for a new vision to build community power and reshape
regional economies that transform the lives of workers and communities.
Around the Beltline in Atlanta, the Ports in LA and Oakland, Dearborn
Street in Seattle, The Hill in Pittsburgh, Disneyland (the happiest
place on earth!), and numerous other campaigns across our Partnership,
we are raising expectations and improving standards in communities
long-neglected in the name of growth and development. Innovative
organizing and research connecting workplace and community issues -
Secure Jobs, Secure Communities in Boston, Rebuilding the American
Dream in Denver, Build Oakland for Everyone, LIVE 2007 in Silicon
Valley - expose the economic chasm in our new economy and point us down
the high road toward a new middle class in this country.
It has been absolutely eye-opening,
and not just a little exhausting, keeping up with you all this
year. The Partnership staff have been playing a game of national
catch-up as our partners and allies charge forward on campaigns raising
the standards for new development, moving high road public policy, and
blocking low road growth in major metro areas across the country.
With new organizations in Pittsburgh, Newark, Phoenix and Syracuse, established organizations in Seattle, Milwaukee and Denver, and an emerging coalition in San
Bernardino/Riverside, we have been on overdrive supporting the growth
of our movement. Couple this with the ongoing support that our
Community Benefits Law Center and Research and Communications team
provide to hot campaigns across the country, and it is hard not to feel
that this movement is growing faster than any of us could have
predicted when the Partnership launched its national program in 2006.
Interest in our collective work is building in new cities and regions,
and we have high hopes that our collective success is both contagious
and sustainable on a grand scale.
This newsletter highlights the
victories and campaigns of Partner organizations from 2007 and gives us
a taste of what's to come. In 2008, in addition to nurturing the
expansion of our national base, we hope to deepen capacity in core
organizing, community benefits and new policy capacities.
Together, we will strategize greening the new economy with job quality
and community stability in mind. We will deepen our understanding
of land use tools and decision-making processes as levers for equity in
the development process. We will continue our work to use
regulation and organizing to redirect growing industries in the new
economy. We will develop year-round civic engagement models as
the nation ponders its future direction. And we will continue to
realize the dream of building a national movement, rooted in cities and
communities, with the power to reshape local economies that deliver
real benefits to workers and communities.
As we pause to enjoy
our families and friends, may you have loving and restful
holidays. And may the New Year find us all well rested and ready
to charge forward to secure a just future for our communities and our
country.
Solidarity!
Partnership Executive Director
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Partnership Staff: Supporting a Growing Movement
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By
Ernesto Sanchez, Partnership Communications Specialist
2007 was an amazing year for the Partnership for
Working Families. With a greatly
expanded staff, we honed our programs to strengthen our Partners and
nurture emerging organizations in new regions. Kathleen Mulligan-Hansel, Research
& Communications Director, used her wealth of knowledge around
community benefits research and communications to foster a peer network
among ground-researchers and build our publications schedule for
2008. Derek Smith, Organizing
Director, used his years of labor/community organizing experience to nurture
new organizations in the Southwest and support new organizers across
our network. Amber Belindo,
Director of Finance and Administration, is transferring her campaign
planning and fundraising skills over to our growing organizational
development and fundraising strategies.
Additionally, myself, John Goldstein, National Program Director
and Julian Gross, Community Benefits Law Center Director are continuing
to build a successful national Partnership program. With Leslie Moody as Executive
Director, we are well positioned to achieve our shared vision and
expand this work to a new scale with new strategies in 2008. More
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Working Partnerships USA: Bringing Prosperity to
Working Families of the South Bay
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Working
Partnerships USA is a public policy institute that builds partnerships
with community, labor, and faith organizations to improve the lives of
working families in Silicon Valley. A founding member of the Partnership for Working
Families, Working Partnerships USA's work is concentrated in four focus
areas: Economic Research and Analysis, Government Accountability and
Reform, Expanding Health Care Access, and Organizing and Leadership
Development. Through these four
concentrations we tackle the issues directly impacting working
families' lives while supporting communities in building their ability
to participate in decision-making.
In
2007, WPUSA made major strides in bringing affordable health coverage
to employees of small businesses, fighting to put workers' and
communities' concerns front and center in City budget and land use
decisions, and organizing to strengthen bonds of solidarity between
people of faith, low-wage workers, and community advocates. More
Click here to view WPUSA's
new website!
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Pittsburgh UNITED: Putting Pressure
Until CBAs are Finalized
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By Natalie Green, Pittsburgh
UNITED Researcher
One Hill CBA
Coalition Campaign
Pittsburgh
UNITED is currently negotiating our first CBA in the Hill
District. More than a hundred
community groups and organizations representing thousands of residents
came together beginning in April 2007 to form the One Hill CBA
Coalition, a community-driven organization with a platform to make the
Hill District a more livable community.
The One Hill CBA Coalition went through an exhaustive and
transparent process to engage residents and stakeholders of the community
to provide input into this platform for creating a community benefits
agreement. Every Hill resident
received mailed flyers inviting them to upcoming forums and meetings,
and a large subset of the population was door-knocked and surveyed.
Khari Mosley, Pittsburgh UNITED Campaign Manager,
clearly remembers the "dot" exercise in July 2007 when 200
residents from the Hill District attended a community meeting at the
Hill House to prioritize the list of CBA asks. The list was narrowed down from 39 to
seven. As one of many
opportunities for residents to be involved, the event highlighted just
how much the community was driving the CBA process. More
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Center on Policy Initiatives: Beating Back the Attack on
Public Services
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By Susan Duerksen, CPI Communications Director
For the Center
on Policy Initiatives, 2007 was a year of moving our message,
celebrating our achievements, and gearing up for our next big battles.
In October,
almost 700 people attended CPI's first big fundraiser, our 10th
anniversary dinner! A short film about CPI premiered at the gala.
As is customary
at such events, CPI gave awards to three allies. But one of our three honorees was a
group of 11,000 people: all City of San Diego workers, who were recognized for "high
quality, dependable services under pressure." A big part of the pressure is the
Mayor's effort to outsource city departments through "managed
competition." CPI's first
major campaign in 2008 will be to save these workers' jobs. We will fight to make sure not one of
these public service jobs is turned into a privatized job with poverty
wages and no health benefits! More
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Good Jobs and Livable Neighborhoods Coalition:
Putting Milwaukee Residents First!
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By Jennifer Epps, GJLN Organizer
As the Community Benefits
model continues to pick up steam, we in Milwaukee see 2008 as a year of momentum. 2007 has been a year of building,
with the hiring of new staff, a rally in support of the Park East
development and many opportunities for public testimony on the need for
good jobs, affordable housing, and environmental responsibility in our
planning and decision-making.
We're gearing up for two new campaigns in 2008. The first is a partnership between
Good Jobs and Livable Neighborhoods and Milwaukee Inner-city Congregations Allied for Hope
(MICAH). MICAH was a founding
member of the Coalition and has remained an integral partner in the
effort for accountable economic development policy; policy that puts Milwaukee residents first! More
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FRESC: Good Jobs, Strong Communities
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By Robin Kniech, FRESC Campaign for Responsible
Development Coordinator & Program Director
This year FRESC
celebrated its fifth anniversary of working to preserve and expand good
jobs and strong communities. We marked this milestone with a
highly successful dinner on December 6, attended by 200 of our closest
friends, members, and supporters. At the dinner we honored those
who helped to found FRESC but have moved on to new endeavors, including
Leslie Moody who has stepped up to lead the Partnership for Working
Families, and Chris Nevitt who was elected to the Denver City Council
in June of 2007. We also honored two grassroots committees who
embody some of the groundbreaking organizing FRESC is spearheading.
The Prevailing
Wage Committee is a first-of-its kind committee of rank-and-file
construction workers from four different union crafts: IBEW, Sheet
Metal Workers, Laborers and Carpenters. Building on the Campaign
for Responsible Development's community benefit achievements at the
Gates site, the committee has been working to expand good jobs on all tax-increment financing
projects, by calling for more consistent application of the prevailing
wage. More
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Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy: Closing
2007 With Campaigns in Five Industries
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As 2007 comes to an end, the Los Angeles Alliance
for a New Economy has seen campaigns heat up in five different
industries: hospitality,
logistics, airline services, grocery, and health care.
Upgrading
Hotel Jobs: LAANE
continues to help lead a major campaign to improve conditions for 3,500
workers employed at hotels near Los Angeles
International
Airport. These hotels enjoy the highest
occupancy rates in Los Angeles
County,
yet LAX-area hotel workers earn 20% less than their counterparts in
downtown L.A. At an October pilgrimage, students,
clergy and housekeepers in wheelchairs marched from Loyola
University
to Century Boulevard to raise public awareness of the high risk of
injuries for room attendants in L.A.'s
booming hospitality industry. More
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Georgia Stand Up: Organizing for an Equitable Atlanta
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By Melissa Conrad, GSU Policy & Project
Coordinator
Georgia
Strategic Alliance for New Directions and Unified Policies (Georgia
STAND-UP) is the only Georgia
alliance of leaders representing community, faith, academic, and labor
organizations which organizes and educates communities about issues
related to economic development. Throughout 2007, Georgia
STAND-UP utilized its four strategic program areas to continue to
empower leaders and strengthen the alliance in order to work toward the
creation of an equitable Atlanta.
Our Alliance &
Community Organizing
In
2007, Alliance
membership grew from 70 to more than 125 organizations and
individuals. Every month Georgia
STAND-UP brings these individuals together to share information,
develop a shared list of community benefits principles, and strategize
opportunities for change throughout Atlanta
and the metropolitan region.
Meeting topics in 2007 included:
*Mortgage Fraud & Predatory Lending
*Prioritizing Community Benefits Principles
*Redevelopment in Atlanta
*Affordable Housing & Displacement
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Syracuse Alliance for a New Economy: A Year of
Growth and Partnership for Central New York
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By Mark Spadafore, SANE Executive Director
In
one year, Syracuse Alliance for a New Economy
has grown from a small group of committed individuals
to a recognized organization with a full-time
Executive Director along with a comprehensive
and diverse Executive Board.
The Executive Board has grown to sixteen
members who represent local businesses, labor
unions, community outreach organizations, and
religious organizations.
This year
has been the launching point from which Syracuse
will begin to see accountable development in
action. Executive Director Mark Spadafore
has focused on increasing the visibility of
the organization to enhance its ability to positively
impact the outlook of development in the area. The improved recognition of the
group has led to increased visibility in the
community and greater access to upcoming projects.
More
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Puget Sound Sage: Changing the Debate on
Development in the Sound
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By David
West, Sage Executive Director
As 2007 closes,
Metro Seattle is currently the hottest real estate market in country.
This creates both challenges and opportunities for Puget Sound Sage,
one of the Partnership's newest members. The challenge is trying to track
numerous large projects slated for development over the next five
years.
One example of where Seattle is going is the huge development coming in a
large area of the Denny Triangle in downtown Seattle which has been put up for sale by Seattle's Clise family.
The 12-acres of mostly undeveloped property, which now consists
largely of parking lots, is spread over seven city blocks. With new zoning allowing larger buildings,
as much as 13 million square feet could be built on properties, which
could bring in as much as $7 billion in public and private investment.
The size of the project could rival London's Canary Wharf or the World Trade Center in New York. One of the likely bidders for the property is an
investment company controlled by the Emir of Dubai. Other mega-projects are being
proposed for Seattle suburbs of Bellevue and Federal Way. More
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CAUSE Youth Leader Questions John Edwards at
Presidential Forum
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By Cesar
Hernandez, CAUSE Community Planning Director/Lead Organizer
On the afternoon
of Saturday, December 1st, Erica Fernandez, Central Coast
Alliance United for a Sustainable Economy (CAUSE) youth leader and
senior at Hueneme
High School,
stood confidently on-stage at the Heartland Presidential Forum in Des Moines
poised to ask Sen. John Edwards her question. She passionately told her
story of Oxnard
and Malibu's
struggle to stop a multi-billion dollar foreign corporation from
building a Liquefied Natural Gas storage facility off our coastline.
She finished her story with her questions, "Do communities like
mine or people like me not deserve a clean and healthy
environment? Sen. Edwards, our
vision is equality and justice, what will you do to make our society
and country a place where we are "all in it together?"
Erica was
selected to be one of 30 people to address one of the presidential
candidates. Senator Edwards
heard and responded to her question on the issue of environmental
justice at the nationally televised Presidential forum. Earlier this year, Ms. Fernandez was
involved in the campaign that stopped one of the largest mining
companies in the world, BHP Billiton, from building a liquefied natural
gas facility off the coast of Oxnard.
More
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400-Person Crowd Makes Bold Plans to "Build Oakland for Everyone"
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By Kate O'Hara,
EBASE Community Benefits Program Director
In many metro
regions across the country, communities have been struck by the
enormous amount of urban infill, large-scale condo projects, and
commercial development that is pricing working families out and
perpetuating working poverty through low-road employment
opportunities. Have you ever
questioned whether you'd have the privilege of buying a home in regions
like this or wondered how much workers get paid in newly constructed
retail stores?
You're not the only one! All of these projects are
hard to ignore, and development issues are on the minds of many. In Oakland,
California
it's such a hot topic that over 400 people - including union members,
community residents, environmentalists, service providers, and students
- gathered on Saturday, November 17th for Building
Oakland for Everyone: A Summit on Jobs, Housing, and Justice.
The gym at St. Anthony's Elementary School in the San Antonio
district could barely hold this energetic crowd voicing their visions
for Oakland's
growth. More
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