Every month People’s Action shares the latest victories,
campaigns and events from our member groups
What would it mean to play chess, not checkers, when we face down opponents who have more money than they could ever spend, but don’t have what we have – one another to rely on? How do we build a better world, when it feels like the odds are stacked against us?
This is the question People’s Action has been asking from our start – indeed, it’s a question we’ve asked – and answered, with our victories for working people – for decades.
It’s a question that goes back to our very first gathering in 1972, where at St. Sylvester’s Church in Chicago, 368 community groups in 38 states sent 1,600 delegates to our first national housing conference. The power we built at that gathering led directly to the passage of the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act and and Community Reinvestment Act, and affirmed our intuition which, if you look closely at the banner in the back of the room, you can see: “People’s Politics CAN Make the Difference.”
This approach still inspires us today, and it was in full view at our Strategy Summit in Minneapolis this July, where over 150 of you from all across the country gathered to plan, together, the shared pathways we commit to in order to build a country with room and opportunities for all, and the essentials we all need: homes, health care, education, a clean environment and hope for the future.
Member-leaders and organizers from across the country shared stories of their victories to inspire us, such as Hoosier Action’s successful campaign to improve access to health care in Indiana for more than 760,000 people, Progressive Maryland’s legislation to force private insurance companies to disclose denials of health care, and the monumental victory by People’s Action’s New York State member groups – Citizen Action of New York, Community Voices Heard and VOCAL-NY – to pass just cause protections for tenants into law for more than 1.5 million people.
These are real, tangible improvements to people’s lives. While they are just a fraction of what we all need – and what we can achieve together – they are also tangible proof of the power of organized people, even when it feels the odds are stacked against us.
And we do well to remember the words Sulma Arias chose to inspire us at the Summit: “It’s a must for any of us organizers who want to do this work in a way that is transformative, that is joyful for us and for those around us,” she said. “We can’t do this work without hope, without being hopeful and feeling hopeful, especially when progress on what we are trying to do seems so slow.”
You can read all about these victories, and our Summit, in this month’s Into The Field. And don’t forget to check out the amazing videos from our direct action at UnitedHealth headquarters in Minnetonka, Minnesota, where 11 courageous Care Over Cost members were arrested as they protested denials of health care, along with more than hundred People’s Action members from across the country. Also check out our first-ever Spanish language livestream, “Nuestro futuro comienza hoy,” which featured U.S Representative Delia Ramirez (IL-03) from the Congressional Progressive Caucus, and the “one-man Telemundo,” Carlos Eduardo Espina.
If you want more, on August 14th we’re holding a second livestream, in English, with U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal (WA-07), the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, on their agenda for progressive change in 2025 and beyond. See you there!
Read on!
In solidarity,
Amanda Weaver
People’s Action
Lead Story
Chess, Not Checkers: Building Strategy with People’s Action
More than 150 People’s Action members, from 30 different groups in 25 states, who gathered for three days of reflection, strategy development, and of course, direct action at our Strategy Summit in Minneapolis, Minnesota this July. Following hot on the heels of last year’s convention in Washington, D.C., this Strategy Summit was a deeper dive for People’s Action members and organizers to develop the issue areas and campaign priorities we share. Read more
Organizing Stories
New York: CVH, CANY and VOCAL-NY Win Good Cause Protections for 1.5m Tenants
People’s Action member groups Community Voices Heard, Citizen Action of New York, and VOCAL-NY are celebrating the protections they won for more than 1.5 million tenants in New York State who are now protected from landlords who seek to throw tenants out to raise rents. Read more
Michigan United Action Takes to the Streets to Defend Democracy
Michigan United Action members are door-knocking in a big way to defend democracy in Flint, Grand Rapids, Detroit, Saginaw, and more. MUA members are hitting the streets to encourage people to get out and vote, and in support of the group’s endorsed candidates. Read more
Texas: Workers Defense Celebrates DOL Heat Rule, Dallas Resolution Against SB4
The Department of Labor has proposed a new Heat Rule which requires employers to provide adequate breaks and hydration, one year after WDP members joined U.S. Rep. Greg Casar on the steps of the U.S. Capitol for a “thirst strike” to demand action to protect workers from extreme heat. Read more
Hoosier Action Organizing Overturns Barriers to Care in Healthy Indiana Plan (HIP)
More than 760,000 Hoosiers will benefit from the removal of burdensome and unnecessary barriers to receiving care through the Healthy Indiana Plan (HIP), part of Indiana’s Medicaid programs This hard-fought victory follows five years of organizing by Hoosier Action in opposition to these unnecessary rules. Read more
TakeAction Minnesota Builds Tenant Power in Duluth, Canvasses in Minneapolis
TakeAction Minnesota canvassed to support U.S. Representative Ilhan Omar in contested primary, and joined the Duluth Tenants Union for a daylong training in the fundamentals of organizing to build tenant power in the state. Read more
Progressive Maryland Celebrates Legislative Wins for Housing and Health
People’s Action member group Progressive Maryland celebrated multiple wins in this year’s legislative session, with two top-priority bills passed and another key piece of legislation passed with the group’s intervention. Read more
Recent Media
WATCH: “UnitedHealth (Doesn’t) Care” Protest and Arrests
Eleven members of People’s Action Institute’s Care Over Cost campaign are arrested in a peaceful civil disobedience protest, with hundreds of People’s Action members from all across the country, at UnitedHealthGroup headquarters in Minnetonka, Minnesota to demand the company end its practice of delaying and denying care to policyholders in order to boost profits.
EN ESPAÑOL: ¡Nuestro futuro comienza hoy! con la representante Delia Ramirez y Carlos Eduardo Espina
La representante del estado de Illinois Delia Ramirez (IL-03) habla con Sulma Arias, el influenciador Carlos Eduardo Espina y miembros de People’s Action de los estados de Washington, Colorado y Nevada sobre los peligros del Proyecto 2025, el plan para desmantelar el gobierno desde adentro, bajo un nuevo gobierno conservador, y la alternative que tiene el Caucus Progresista en el Congreso, del cual Ramirez es miembra.