PNN’s mission is to engage, educate and empower our neighbors to make our City a better place to live. Here’s what’s coming up in each of these areas:
Engage: Holiday Toy Drive
Educate: Join a Working Group or Planning Team
Empower: G'town Radio is Looking for Youth Journalists
Holiday Toy Drive is Saturday!
Toy Distribution is Saturday, Dec 23 & Sunday, Dec 24th, 10AM-3PM
It's not too late to help bring a little holiday joy to kids who have an incarcerated parent by providing toys and clothes (pajamas, socks, coats) to children 0-13 years of age this Christmas.
We will begin handing out toys tomorrow (Saturday) starting at 10AM until 3PM at Mother Zoar African UMC, 3259 North Broad St. If there are any toys left over, we'll do it again on Sunday. So, if you have something you'd like to donate, please stop by and we'll be waiting for you. If you have questions, please reach out to Tim@phillynn.org
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Support Local Politics
We know you are getting end-of-the year fundraising requests from many national multi-million-dollar organizations who are doing worthwhile work. But as Tip O’Neil once famously said “All politics is local”.
We believe that you have to build strong organizations at the local level in order to have an impact on the issues facing our neighborhoods, because that's where a lot of the day-to-day work is done. And that is what we have been doing for 18 years – supporting issues and candidates that put people over profit.
Next year, we are facing fascism head-on and we need to increase voter turnout in our city. Notoriously, Philly lags behind the rest of the state by 5-11% every election. That cannot happen in November 2024 or our nation will be pulled into a dark place.
The only effective way to fix this is to engage our neighbors in low-turnout neighborhoods early and often, both talking about issues and doing the work in the most-effected communities on a consistent basis. That is the work you will be funding.
But we do not have any big corporations or millionaire donors to fund our grass roots organization. We depend on our members like you to sustain our work.
WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT. As we move to the last week of the year, we ask you to donate to Onward 2024, our fundraiser that helps us kick-start our 2024 organizing. Thank you.
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Join a Working Group
More than 90 activists took part in our People's Summit at the end of September. It was there that we began our collaborative work on some of the biggest issues this city will face in the coming year. Activists came together around these major areas of concern - Housing Justice, Community Development, Climate Justice, and Schools & Public Institutions. Working Groups were formed to think through priorities, and start to develop SMART goals that will lead to very real successes for our city.
We cannot do this alone, so if you have any skills you can share and some time you can spare, we'd really appreciate your contribution to the greater good. Please take this moment to click on the link below and sign up for something!
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Become a Member of Our Planning Team
Want to be part of the team that figures out what movie we should run for our issues-based "Movie Nights"? Want to try your hand at writing a blog for our new website? Want to help plan an episode of our "Talking In the Neighborhood" radio show? Want to help plan and prepare creative presentations for our actions and events? Then become part of our Planning Team and help our community work. Email tim@phillynn.org for more information.
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Germantown Radio is Looking for Youth Journalists
GTown Radio is looking for young people 12 to 17 years old interested in journalism - fact and opinion - to help create radio talk show programs. Participants will learn how to choose topics for discussion, conduct interviews with guests, add commentary and create broadcast-ready programs on environment, culture and other topics of interest.
The team meets at Germantown Life Enrichment Center on Saturdays. There is no fee to participate, but donations are welcome. For details, please email PNN Steering Committee member Conni Billé or call at 215-285-8136.
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This Week in History
Dec 23, 1783 – Washington Retires. In a seminal moment in our nation's history, General George Washington stepped down as Commander in Chief of the Continental Army and retired to his farm in Virginia, assuring that our nation would be in the hands of a civilian government.
Dec 25, 1914 – Christmas Truce. Shortly after the start of WWI, on Christmas morning, German troops emerged from their foxholes to call for a one-day truce to celebrate the holiday.
Dec 26, 1966 – First Kwanzaa. The seven-day holiday, which has strong African roots, was designed by Dr. Maulana Karenga as a celebration of African American family, community, and culture.
Thanks for your activism!
Tim Brown, Organizing Director
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