The Voter Empowerment Committee built a coalition in Durham and beyond to educate our citizens on voting changes. That Coalition became the You Can Vote Project, which, with over 200 fabulous volunteers registered over 2000 voters. There was a tremendous outreach to the Durham Public Schools to register students and parents. This effort helped turn out an impressive mid-term election vote.
Economic Inequality Committee worked to put money in the pockets of low-income Durhamites, by successfully achieving a repeal of the regressive garbage fee and developing a plan for a voluntary living wage campaign.
Education Committee After almost ten years of PA advocating to the DPS School board and administration this year saw a significant expansion of the teacher mentoring and Principal leadership training programs in our public schools. Our team's representation and voice on the DPS Budget Advisory Committee for four years led to an expansion of this body's role in the budget development process.
Housing Committee now LEADS in coalition with CAN and other housing advocates to fight for very affordable and supportive housing near transit. As a result of PA leadership, both the City Council and County Commissioners voted to require a minimum of 15% affordable housing within a half mile radius of each transit station for the future light rail. And PA is acting NOW to ensure developers make affordable housing a priority.
Equity in Policing: PA was a vocal supporter the Southern Coalition, Durham NAACP and F.A.D.E. in questioning racial profiling by Durham Police, and supporting five concrete policy recommendations designed to end these disparities by making the DPD more accountable ensuring that civil rights are respected. These recommendations were made effective on October 1, 2014.
Building A Stronger PA: We are nearly finished with our transition to a 501(c)(4) organization and have made a number of other "behind the scenes" administrative changes to make us more a more effective progressive organization.
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