Leveraging the Stimulus Convening

Date: May 11, 2009

Time: 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Location: Nathan Cummings Foundation
475 10th Avenue, 14th Fl.
New York, NY 10018

Strategy Session Notes: 3:20pm

1) Malia Lazu (http://gatheringforjustice.ning.com/) ideas –

a. Cities for Progress which is 400 local elected officials from
all 50 states. Started out being called “Cities for Peace.” At
the Institute for Policy Studies. Ask them to send out stuff
to their listserv tonight. Distribute these models we’ve
presented through networks. Also worked on the anti-Big
Box legislation
b. Can we create a national youth oversight committee? If
they’re going to be paying for this (in the long-run), so they
need to have voice in how the money is going to get spent.
Create a council to get young people really involved and
have youth groups. We’re still not getting to the “grass
seeds” of the community.
c. “Shifting the paradigm” – Create a common message of a
shared ideology that shifts paradigm that stimulus money
is “our money.” It means we’re investing to save the
infrastructure. “COMMON MESSAGING”
d. How can we operate as a decentralized structure?

2) Penda Hair (http://www.advancementproject.org/) ideas -

a. Model proposal for June 26th deadline for EECBG (Energy
Efficiency Conservation Block Grant)? If it was a template
and build in a non-profit role, as well.
b. How can lawyers be used to slow things down if allocations
are happening too quickly and without equity?
c. National groups should comment on some of the “worst
state landscapes” on equitable disbursement of funds and
use that as rallying points for accountability and infusing
equity.

3) Phil Thompson (MIT Department of Urban Studies and Planning)

ideas –
a. Stimulus is a big rallying point & there is a lot of interest
from many groups. Can be seen as an exciting moment
i. What does this strong interest mean?
 b. Politically, we need to be minimally black, latino,
environmental, other stakeholders in our core groups, et
cetera We need diversity.
i. Strategically, politically, we need to learn how to
work together and communicate
c. Need advocacy points with the build trades
i. Cannot depend on labor groups for political
leadership and vision. So, they need to be pushed to
organize in the South and the Southwest. We cannot
sustain progressive politics in America unless we
change politics in the South and Southwest
ii. Need to encourage laborers & SEIU not to make
weatherization “a ghetto,” but talk about pathways
out of poverty & career ladders for inner-city people.
Need a deeper view of the moment of being bigger
than weatherization

4) Elizabeth Stewart (http://www.labor.ucla.edu/) ideas –

a. This time requires cross-cutting collaboration like we’ve
never seen before. All these groups not used to working
together have to work together. What are models to
remove these “silos”?
i. How do we build bridges?
b. How do we engage progressive businesses in a real
discussion that lays out our principles, and then find social
entrepreneurs and champions within the business
community
c. How do we create demand (i.e. Organize communities) in
order to show the market power of communities. Link
community & economic power? The community can
aggregate demand and emphasize purchasing power.
d. How can we organize ourselves around our strengths (the
people around this table)?
i. Consulting pipeline and split up work so that the
tasks play to different groups’ strengths

5) Dayna Cunningham (http://colab.mit.edu/) ideas -

a. Beloved Communities is organizing minority contractors,
and that’s a good model. How do you organize progressive
community demand (i.e. Community organizing to educate
people and to combine power)?

6) Radhika Fox (http://www.policylink.org/) ideas –

a. Are there ways to use stimulus money to create
sustainable financing pools?
i. i.e. Revolving loan funds. Clean water and
 wastewater money to go into a revolving loan fund.
This can also help to emphasize different
investments in the long-term and not just short-term
“shovel-ready” projects.
b. Where are the pots of money for CBOs and non-profits?

7) Juan Leyton (http://n2nma.org/) ideas –

a. He sees the meeting as important. They’ve been so
entangled in the budget crisis that they’ve missed the boat
on some important stimulus opportunities.
b. Can we expand this group so that we can frame stimulus
as the beginning of something much bigger?
c. We’re at the endpoint of a chapter of American history &
the beginning of another. Stimulus is the trigger point.

8) Demetria Ledbetter (http://www.belovedcommunitycenter.org/)

ideas –
a. Common Cause is organizing with universities & colleges to
get knowledge out about weatherization & the
opportunities.

9) Uyen Le (MIT Department of Urban Studies and Planning) ideas –

a. Look up treasury funds in stimulus
b. Connect stimulus to other funds & use it to build power &
to leverage funds.
c. Also, think about creating “Climate Sustainability Centers
(Green Impact zone in Kansas City)” to build in business
incubator services, organizing to aggregate demand, et
cetera

10) John Flateau (http://duboisbunche.org/) ideas –

a. Sophisticated, diverse media strategies. Get the word out
to the ethnic press to put them into the loop. For our
constituencies, that’s probably their first source for news.

11) Carlos Espinoza-Toro (http://colab.mit.edu/) ideas –

a. We need to disseminate our materials in different
languages, in a way that is coherent and easy to
understand.

12) Nelson Johnson (http://www.belovedcommunitycenter.org/)

ideas -
a. Need to disseminate ideas to networks not at the table
b. Can we be an entity in a network of entities (& we
ourselves are a network). Is network even the appropriate
word?
 c. Can we act as a clearinghouse for model proposals?
d. Can we clarify what we mean of a “paradigm shift” so it
can be integrated into the public debate?
i. Our approach should be to think past fragmentation.
Bring back into relationships things that have been
broken down? How can we bring the social justice
and environmental movement and labor movement
into collaboration?
ii. How can we prevent fragmentation of different class
cohorts? Is this where public-private partnerships can
help to bridge groups?
e. What is the value-add of the data gathering we’re doing?

13) Dayna Cunningham (http://colab.mit.edu/) ideas –

a. “Decentralized mutual resourcing”
b. It’s about ideas, principles, and visions that are not
exclusive, but people don’t have to harden commitments
and restrict flow of resources and communication

14) Malia Lazu (http://gatheringforjustice.ning.com/) ideas –

a. We want to operate like a “crew.” There are a lot of ways
that messaging and pushing these collaborations
organically. We all know black, brown, yellow, red, and
others, so we should get the word out
b. Our first step is building relationships and caring about
each other and looking out for each other

15) Phil Thompson (MIT Department of Urban Studies and

Planning) ideas –
a. Emerald Cities can act as the “big tent” on how to
collaborate
b. How can communities have a voice if we are not organized
into a structure like the building trades, et cetera? How can
we be functionally collaborative and have a strong voice
nationally, but also not confining to individual work and
ideas.
c. Green manufacturing is the entire future manufacturing
business. The new models that are coming out right now
are not niche, but they are actually going to replace the
defunct models that existed before
i. i.e. The paradigm of Chrysler asking the workers to
own over 50% stake in the company
d. www.prosper.com
i. Low-income people making loans to each other.
They’re saying you don’t need Bank of America, et
cetera to do small loans. Zero to 850,000 loans in 4
 years.
e. Emerald Cities needs principles for organizing and how
work should be done.
i. What should Emerald Cities look like at the local
level?
f. Dialogue & mutual education in a viral way. How do we
communicate, learn from each other, and build up and out?
g. “God’s Green Earth” is targeting green to many different
congregations through churches, youth groups, et cetera
Unlike abortion and gay marriage, et cetera the “green”
thing has not been co-opted by conservatives, so it may be
a way to bring more evangelicals to the progressive table.

16) John Flateau (Medgar Evers College) ideas –

a. Art & culture. It’s an important sector for our non-profits
and for economic development.

17) Elizabeth Stewart (http://www.labor.ucla.edu/) ideas – Need

to ask
a. BALLE (Business Alliance for Local Living Economies).
National organization getting traction in communities
b. There are emerging groups that are trying to shape new
ways of doing business, and they have access to capital, so
their work needs to be informed by our vision and
strategies. How can we capitalize on this?
c. Local hiring & PLA (Project Labor Agreement). How can we
keep private investments accountable?
d. ABC (Associated Builders and Contractors, Inc.) has just
funded rouge academic studies against PLAs, so it’s a very
aggressive effort & we need to plan for these types of de-
legitimizing actions

18) Michele Rudy (http://n2nma.org/) ideas –

a. Are there other groups Emerald Cities should be in partner
with PICO (People Improving Communities through
Organizing), Inter-Faith Worker Justice, CCC, IAF (Industrial
Areas Foundation), NTIC (National Training & Information
Center)

19) Donnell Baird (http://www.commonground.org/) ideas –

a. History of why he haven’t been winning in the past 40-50
years. How can we change this quickly because of the
stimulus deadlines?
b. We need to understand who our “enemies” are. Who is
currently going to get money and what is the status quo?
What are those groups doing?
 20) Derrick Johnson (http://www.naacpms.org/) ideas –
a. How do we organize progressive white people? There’s no
one doing the work of organizing those folks and bring
them into alignment with our mission & goals?
b. We need to clear up information for allied elected officials
who don’t know good information about the stimulus.
Briefings?
c. The political campaign out-organized the organizers on the
ground, so we need to become better organizers.
d. We need to organize around the work of organizations and
good ideas, and not the name of the organizations or the
name of the personalities. We may need to dig deeper to
find ideas & groups and not immediately jump to the
biggest names.

21) Malia Lazu (http://gatheringforjustice.ning.com/) ideas –

a. “Sunlight” project with the Obama administration
b. Clay Johnson of “Ask Jeeves”

22) Gloria Walton (http://www.scopela.org/index.php) ideas –

a. SCOPE brought in community, environmental & labor. Now
are looking to bring in private businesses now that they’ve
articulated mission & vision.
b. Also, Project Labor Agreement as a way to standardize and
create regulations for equitable wages, trainings, et cetera

23) Phil Thompson (MIT Department of Urban Studies and

Planning) ideas –
a. Entergy, ABC, Home Depot & other groups are going to
fight like crazy to prevent PLAs and other types of
progressive agendas that may drive down their profits

24) Aurora Vasquez (http://www.advancementproject.org/)

ideas –
a. PLAs bind contractors & sub-contractors, so the
transparency does not get lost past the initial contracting
effort. It’s important that community be on top of them as
they’re being developed.

Websites for Leveraging the Stimulus Meeting Participants

Community Innovator’s Lab

www.colab.mit.edu
The Gathering
www.thegatheringforjustice.org

Beloved Community Center

www.belovedcommunitycenter.org

Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada (PLAN)

www.planevada.org

Advancement Project
www.advancementproject.org

Union of Minority Neighborhoods

www.unionofminorityneighborhoods.org

Neighbor 2 Neighbor Massachusetts

www.n2nma.org

Mothers on the Move

www.mothersonthemove.org

Right to the City

www.rightothecity.org

Dubois Bunche Center (At Medgar Evers College)

www.duboisbunche.org

New York State Senate Recovery Website

www.nystimulus.org

Kentucky Jobs with Justice

http://www.kyjwj.org/

Kentuckians for the Commonwealth

http://kftc.org/

Mississippi NAACP
http://www.naacpms.org/

UCLA Labor Center

http://www.labor.ucla.edu/

Alternatives for Community and Environment

http://www.ace-ej.org/

Policy Link
http://www.policylink.org/

Community Voices Heard

http://www.cvhaction.org/

SCOPE LA
http://www.scopela.org/index.php

Common Ground
http://www.commonground.org/