PNN’s mission is to engage, empower and educate. Here’s what’s coming up in each of these areas:
Engage: Sign up to Host a canvass at your home; Protect tenant rights
Empower: Fight to restore our public libraries; Join the Net Zero Project Team
Educate: See the movie “Changing the World” and meet the star, Heather Booth
Read on to find out the when, where, and how.
Movie Night: "Changing the World"
Thursday, February 24th, 7PM, Virtual Event
Liz Warren calls her, "the most influential person you never heard of..." Senator Warren is talking about Heather Booth, a ground-breaking organizer who has been at the center of almost every social movement of the past 50 years.
We have a special treat for our community activists, as we kick off our Movie Night series with a powerful movie about her life, followed by a Q&A with Heather and our audience.
To give you an idea of Heather's behind-the-scenes influence, she:
Registered voters in the South during the 1964 Freedom Summer
Created an abortion rights network during the women’s movement
Organized the first sit-in against the Vietnam War
Pioneered door-to-door canvassing as an organizing tool
Was the co-creator of the renowned Midwest Academy, which has trained tens of thousands of organizers and became the template for Wellstone and others
Heath Booth was also the person Elizabeth Warren turned to in her fight for financial reform against big banks and Wall Street firms, returning more than $5 billion to consumers!
In short, she's the real deal.
Don't miss this opportunity to meet Heather as she joins us in a viewing of the documentary based on her life, "Changing the World." After the movie, Heather will answer questions from our audience about her life, her organizing challenges and she'll talk about the future of organizing in our current political climate.
This is a must-see event.
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Will You Host a Canvass?
Canvasses will Start in March, Sign Up NOW
PNN is looking for a volunteer in every Division to help us by Hosting a canvass in front of your home for the Primary Election. What does that look like? It's pretty simple, actually.
Click the link below
In the list of activities, click "Launch a Canvass in front of my House"
We'll call you to set up a date and time
We'll work with you to recruit a dozen volunteers to canvass
On the day, we'll set up a table in front of your home
You'll greet volunteers and we'll provide a training
We'll pair up our canvass volunteers and send them to talk to neighbors
We'll welcome back our canvassers and debrief them on their experience
Our goal is to have a comprehensive canvass in every Division, to get to know neighbors, to talk about shared issues, to get folks registered to vote and help them with their mail-in ballot applications, so that we can defend our democracy against a determined fascist movement.
Want to Do More? Our activists are taking on issues around education, the environment, healthcare and housing, and preparing for the upcoming elections that will be part of everything we do for 2022. The theme of Saving Our Democracy permeates all the work that we will be taking on this year. And we cannot do it without you – so please sign up for whatever you can do and we will be in touch to follow up.
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Tenants Need Good Cause Protection
Opinion, Margaret Lenzi, PNN Executive Committee
Many people read in last Sunday’s Inquirer about the tenant who was facing an illegal eviction after her rental house was sold to a new owner. Even though the tenant had a lease since 2019 and no legal procedures were followed, the new owner moved in and effectively tried to force out the tenant thus creating a potentially violent confrontation. We believe it is the inequity in the system that lays the foundation for disrespect and leads to unsafe and violent situations such as this one.
The underlying cause of this situation is the lack of affordable housing for tenants in a hot housing market. In Philly, 54% of all renters are cost-burdened and 68% of renters who earn less than 30% annually pay more than half of their income on housing expenses. Further complicating this situation in Philly is the unprecedented increase in rentals, up over 10% from last year, pushing the median rent to $1,693 for a 1-bedroom apartment and to $1,995 for a 2-bedroom apartment. Even when a tenant wants to move, they cannot find affordable housing, nor do they have the relocation funds necessary to secure a new apartment.
That is why Philly needs Good Cause protections for tenants in a hot housing market. Philly Neighborhood Networks is part of the Philadelphia Rent Control Coalition that is seeking an expanded Good Cause bill that would, among other things, include relocation fees for tenants forced to move due to the sale of the property.
This is much needed legislation to help stabilize the housing market and protect tenants who are increasingly facing a lease termination when a property is sold. It is incumbent upon our elected officials to look out for the needs of, and to protect the rights of, our neighbors who are renters by enabling these Good Cause protections immediately.
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City Offers $100 Reasons to Get Vaccinated
If you know of someone who is not yet fully vaccinated, perhaps this is enough incentive for them to complete the process - the City of Philadelphia is offering $100 to City residents to get caught up on their vaccinations. They have determined that the $100 investment is worth it if it keeps people out of the hospitals.
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Concerned About Climate Change?
Want to join others in doing something about it? The Community Net-Zero Education Project, a project of the PNN Environment Action Committee, is working to educate and engage neighbors on how to reduce climate risk. Would you like to play a role?
We are developing materials (sample flyer attached) for use at tables at public events, and slideshow presentations. We are looking for volunteers to:
Use our materials to educate neighbors in 1) informal conversations, or 2) organized gatherings to talk about how we can take simple steps to reduce fossil fuel use.
Help develop materials or research particular topics.
Find or organize events where you (or we) can set up tables or present slide shows.
Help educate about climate change while getting out the vote in upcoming elections.
If you are interested, please contact us at NWPhilllyCAN@gmail.com.
This is a historic time, and we invite you to help increase local awareness of how to build an environmentally safe and healthy future for the next generations!
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Help Restore Our Public Libraries
Monday, March 14th, 7PM, Virtual Event
Join the Alliance for Philadelphia Public Schools (APPS) and the West Philadelphia Alliance for Children (WePAC) in a virtual presentation & discussion on restoring and supporting school libraries and librarians in the Philadelphia public schools. We believe that ALL children should have access to a quality school library program that includes a full-time certified teacher librarian, and we need your help to make that happen.
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Report from Car Caravan for Justice
Last Saturday, more than 100 activists from all across the City showed up with their cars to caravan around the Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility in NE Philly before heading to City Hall to do the same, in an effort to bring much-needed attention to the plight of those incarcerated in our City's prisons.
These facilities are severely understaffed, people are being subjected to violence but consistently denied medical care, denied access to counsel and even court dates, refused any kind of mental health care–and since nearly everyone in the jails are being denied more than an hour or two of out-of-cell time, the entire system is the equivalent of solitary confinement. And all this despite most people being held pre-trial.
Thanks to everyone from our PNN family who showed up in solidarity.
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Looking for Organizers. We are currently accepting resumes for Organizing Staff (full/part) on Contingency Funding for c3/c4 electoral and community work. Send your interest to tim@phillynn.org
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This Week in History
Feb 18, 2010 – Manning Docs Leaked. Wikileaks began releasing nearly 750,00 documents by Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning Manning, shedding light on atrocities committed by American armed forces, and painting a far grimmer picture of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Feb 19, 1942 – Japanese-Americans Interned. In one of the sadder moments in our nation's history, FDR ordered the internment of fellow Americans for fear they might harbor spies and saboteurs for the Japanese Empire.
Feb 21, 1965 – Malcolm-X Assassinated. Black leader Malcolm-X was gunned down while addressing his Organization of Afro-American Unity in NYC.
Thanks for your activism!
Tim Brown, Organizing Director
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