A growing number of folks think it’s high time the ultra-rich pay their fair share.
This includes folks in Illinois, where The People’s Lobby and ONE Northside won a new tax on Big Tech that will generate $1.2 billion every year for health care and education. And in Maine, where the Maine People’s Alliance helped win a new millionaire’s tax, and Pennsylvania, where PASU blocked a sweetheart deal for an AI data center in Lancaster County. And of course in Missouri, where Missouri Jobs with Justice beat back an attempt to shift taxes away from the rich, onto working people.
And all of you.
Because wherever you are, when you see injustice, you act. When the government helps the rich get richer, you speak out. You organize.
Read on for more stories of how People’s Action members like you are taking fearless action all across the country.
And you’re defending our democracy: like in Iowa, where Iowa CCI Action is meeting with election auditors in all of the state’s 99 counties, and has just become the lead statewide group in the Election Safeguards Response Network, a national coalition of organizations mobilizing to protect the integrity of elections and ensure every citizen can cast their vote without fear or intimidation this November.
“The determination, resiliency and courage of the American people, including Iowans, to defend free and democratic elections is being tested — and that’s why we are not backing down,” says Cherise Mortise, a longtime CCI Action member. “Because our democracy requires us to collectively raise our voice in its defense.”
These two issues – our dignity and our democracy – are deeply connected. Because when a government cares only for the wealthy few, it will fail to deliver or invest in even the basics we need to survive.
That’s why what happens this November matters so much. If we hold the line, and defend both our elections and our neighbors, we can continue to win even greater victories for working people, with elected leaders who will not only listen to our communities, but who put our dignity at the center of how they govern – with health care, education, homes, food security jobs and homes.
In solidarity,
Andrea Marta
Chief of Organizing
Lead Story
Iowa CCI Action Celebrates 51st Anniversary, Doubles Down to Protect Elections
Iowa CCI Action celebrated their 51st anniversary at their “Building the Iowa WE Need” convention, which included an announcement that their sister c3 organization, Iowa CCI, will take the lead in Iowa for the Election Safeguards Response Network, a nationwide nonpartisan coalition to ensure election integrity. Read more
Organizing Stories
Missouri Voters Say “Hell No” to Bid to Gut Income Tax, Ballot Initiatives
Missouri Jobs with Justice and Missouri Jobs with Justice Voter Action knocked on more than 100,000 doors and made over 50,000 calls to speak out against the proposed initiatives to curb democracy and shift taxes from the rich to working families. On August 6, Missouri voters in every single county rejected both measures by a more than four-to-one margin. Read more
Pennsylvania Stands Up Derails Lancaster Data Center, Prompts Statewide Restrictions
Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro has signed an executive order that eliminates fast-track, backdoor permitting for data center construction in the state. This follows a massive outpouring of grassroots opposition to data center construction by members of Pennsylvania Stands Up and its allies. Read more
“Taking On The Rich Is Possible:” The People’s Lobby, ONE Northside Celebrate New Big Tech Tax
Tech titans like Google, Meta and Amazon may now have to pony up as much as $1.2 billion every year to support education and health care in Illinois after The People’s Lobby and ONE Northside helped run a successful campaign to enact a tax on big tech firms’ advertising revenue. Read more
Issues
“Dump Big Tech”: PUSH Buffalo Denounces Data Center Development
Members of PUSH Buffalo, part of the People’s Action Institute national network of grassroots groups, rallied to protest the harms the construction of AI hyperscale data centers will cause in New York State. Read more
Rural Narrative Hub Changes the Story in Rural America
Building on a landmark win in Washington’s Timber Country, Firelands Workers Building Community Power and Rural People’s Platform have created a messaging strategy to reach rural Americans nationwide. They’ve already connected with one in ten rural Americans – 4.7 million people, across seven states where People’s Action member groups are building power – and they’re just getting started! Read More
Recent Media
READ: “Black Liberation Requires Investment”
It’s Black August, and VOCAL-NY board member Reginald Thomas Brown reminds us that Black philanthropy is one of the most effective ways to shift power into the hands of working-class communities. Rather than waiting for institutions and politicians to decide which priorities deserve support, donors can invest directly in leaders and grassroots organizations that understand local challenges and have earned the trust of the people they serve.
READ: “CT Ratepayers Pay the Price when Utility Bullying Goes Unchecked”
Tom Swan. Executive Director of the Connecticut Citizen Action Group (CCAG), reminds us that without action by ratepayers and lawmakers to hold them to account, for-profit utility companies like Eversource and Avangrid will use every advantage to raise rates on consumers to reap record profits.
