Reclaim Philadelphia

Starting today, Reclaim is taking a break for the month of July. Our work is long term- toward structural change - and it requires periods of rest and restoration to be sustainable. Our 5 year fundraiser continues through the end of August. You can donate here and share the link https://secure.actblue.com/donate/reclaim5yearanniversary... See you all in August! Artist Poorly Drawn Lines

We’ve done so much important work, yet the conditions in our communities have not shifted. It is clear that we have much more work ahead of us--more power to build and more wealth to redistribute. And in order to stay in this work long-term, we have to create space for healing and collective care along the way. So, we are intentionally slowing down our work, and will pause all of our external-facing work for the month of July! We are still committed to reaching our $20,000,... please click the following link to sustain our work: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/reclaim5yearanniversary If you reach out to us via email, Facebook, or Instagram, there will be a delay getting back to you but we will be sure to reply at the beginning of August. Happy Summer y'all!

A revolution of values is taking place as we ask together: what will help our communities heal and thrive? Read more about how JAT looks back at their growth this past year and what else is to come https://whyy.org//families-like-ours-know-that-judges-ex/

If you are a renter living in Philadelphia, please take 15 minutes to complete this survey for a chance to win one of fifty $50 gift cards. The results will help Community Legal Services of Philadelphia better represent and advocate for renters. https://buff.ly/3zQri1O

Join us for another update, with A'Brianna Morgan!

We have so many young people in West and Southwest Philadelphia, and this budget cheats them out of the future they deserve. In my city, in my district, you can...’t separate fully funding our schools and preventing violence amongst our at-risk youth. When we don’t fully fund our public schools, people die. How can we say we want to keep our communities safe when we don’t even provide our schools enough money to remove lead from drinking water? How can we say we want to keep our communities safe when a child believes their opportunities on the street are greater than their opportunities in the classroom? We could have made transformational efforts with this budget, but instead we tucked away a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for a hypothetical rainy day when we're living in a thunderstorm. I cannot in good conscience vote for this budget. I cannot be part of an action that throws away a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and my heart is heavy when I think about all of the children, all of the potential leaders and heroes, who will be robbed of the future they deserve. See more

Have you signed up for the Mass Liberation Phone Zap yet? It is only two days away! During the one hour Phone Zap we will be contacting the First Judicial District and Philadelphia elected officials to demand public access to virtual hearings where unjust bench warrants are being challenged. Contact information for our targets and scripts will be provided to all participants.

Earlier this week, we were disheartened by the ruling of 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals, which reversed the ruling that overdose prevention sites do not violate the Controlled Substances Act. Philadelphia needs these facilities to address our overdose epidemic and save lives. Join us in demanding the Biden administration acts swiftly to support overdose prevention and sign on to the open letter below from our coalition partners Philadelphia Overdose Prevention Network https://actionnetwork.org//legalize-overdose-prevention-s/

Reminder to register for Monday's Radical MLK Day: Bridging the Divide Toward Collective Liberation hosted by PA Stands Up beginning Monday January 18, we will engage in a week of political education and training, centered on working people creating radical and lasting change in Pennsylvania. A lot has been said about the work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., but little has been said about his authentic embodiment of the term radical. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr didn’t origi...nally set out to be the most regarded leader of the Civil Rights Movement. He was propositioned and developed into that role and, as he journeyed through organizing and transformation that continues to define that segment our nation’s history, he began to organize deeper and deeper into the root cause economic and political inequities of black people, and began to see that these inequities framed the economic and political inequities that ALL exploited groups in America experienced. Dr. King was not murdered for leading the Civil Rights Movement. He was murdered for his intent to point that massive power toward labor and black economic power. His murder indicates the huge threat that those things -- black labor and black economic power -- pose to the infrastructure of our country. It is time now -- ten months into this massive pandemic -- to follow in his lead and begin to manifest radical solutions to ensure that our people thrive. Through the 2020 General Election, Pennsylvania Stands Up, along with its state and national partners, organized and mobilized thousands of volunteers to get Trump out of office. But for many of us, this work did not fully encompass the vision for change that we know that our communities are, in the COVID pandemic, literally dying for. Now that Joe Biden will be sworn in as the 46th president of the United States, it is time that we, like Dr. King Jr., radicalize ourselves and our collective to address the root causes of racial and economic inequities in our state and country.

Neoliberal and conservative ideology is based on the lie of trickle down economics - forcing the narrative on all of us that the role of government is to take care of the wealthy and corporations so their wealth trickles down to us. After decades of policy centering this lie, we’ve seen income inequality sky rocket and our own city, with the highest poverty level of any big city, has been terribly affected by this way of thinking, which is entrenched in State and Federal poli...Continue reading

In September, Reclaim Philadelphia launched the #CommunityControlNow campaign for police accountability with a mission to change this deadly status quo https://whyy.org//i-got-shot-with-a-rubber-bullet-by-poli/

Join PA Stands Up , beginning Monday January 18, as they engage in a week of political education and training, centered on working people creating radical and lasting change in Pennsylvania. Register Now! https://www.mobilize.us/pastandsup/event/368480/

First coalition meeting of the year for the Shift the Narrative Project! As part of this project, we are building community narrative power to lift up community-based solutions to violence that don't involve police, to challenge how newspapers cover violence, police, and mass incarceration, and to center our communities’ needs in the story of what public safety means. Shift The Narrative Project is a collaboration between movement and community leaders including Reclaim Philadelphia, Movement Alliance Project, Free Press, Media, Inequality & Change Center, Amistad Law Project, POWER, and The Youth Art & Self-empowerment Project!

I want a world where our economy is sustainable for people and the planet. A healthy ecosystem where people are cared for and can thrive. To accomplish this, we are building community run campaigns, challenging the current structures of power, and creating community safety networks. I am invested in seizing agency - the type of agency that policy makers have to make decisions about our communities. Can you join me in contributing $25 right now?- Steph Drain, Steering Committee Member https://secure.actblue.com/donate/eoygiving2020

Because of a few VERY generous investments, Reclaim Philadelphia has hit our 5k dollar end of year goal! To keep up the momentum of our movement we are now reaching for 10k by the end of the year. We are only a couple of thousand dollars to hitting 10k dollars by 2021! Can you make an investment today? Can you share this fundraiser to our neighbors and community? Let's do this! This is what people powered and people funded organizing looks like! https://secure.actblue.com/donate/eoygiving2020

Join Rick for Monday's Organizers Report!

Renter’s rights are human rights!

Important info!!!

Political Healers are bringing the grief, anger, joy and hope we hold in our stories into this election. They are fighting for community repair this year. Political Healer and Reclaim Steering Committee member Lena Smith shares what she will remember in November. What are you remembering this November? Why are you voting? #RememberinNov #PoliticalHealer #ReclaimPhiladelphia

Even amongst the backdrop of a year full of struggle our movement has had a lot of success this year. We have big plans for 2021, all of which need BIG funding! Can you help us raise 5k dollars by 12/31? We need to raise at least 400 dollars a day to hit this target. Currently, we are on pace(!) but need you to invest and/or share this fundraiser with your friends and neighbors. https://secure.actblue.com/donate/eoygiving2020

Getting Donald Trump out of office has been our key focus and responsibility for months - our lives and the future of our planet depend on it. But over the past month, Trump’s campaign has been putting more and more pressure on voters in Philly, slandering COVID-safe voting practices and mail-in and absentee voting that makes the ballot box far more accessible in this moment of pandemic and crisis. We’re doing everything we can to make him a one-term president, and still he’s... calling all our votes - into question. We know Philadelphia plays a crucial role in this unprecedented election - and we know that we will always defend our communities, city, and democracy in the face of voter intimidation and suppression. We take care of our own. We love this town - grit and pain, despair, hope and all: Sign and share this pledge below to #CountEveryVote: for your vote, for your neighbors' votes, and for Black lives, Brown families, the workers who make our city run, for communities who have been here for generations and those new to our neighborhoods, and with deep love and Philly pride that no one in the White House will ever understand: http://phillywerise.com/blog/count-every-vote-pledge/

URGENT: We have the chance to stop evictions in Philadelphia! Evictions only help spread COVID-19, they don’t help small landlords and we’re watching city council today to ensure they do the right thing and extend the eviction moratorium for *all* Philadelphians. Reach out TODAY to let them know our home means both our health and our education! Councilmember At-Large Allan Domb Councilmember Katherine Gilmore Richardson Councilmember Mark Squilla Councilmember Curtis Jones, Jr. Councilmember María Quiñones-Sánchez

Tonight from 6-8pm! If you haven't yet make sure to sign-up to phone bank with Reclaim Philadelphia's Mass Liberation Task Force: https://docs.google.com//1FAIpQLScVInmCRS4u0bJDLQ/viewform While efforts to defund and abolish police departments are gaining support, there are also growing fears and concerns. Here in Philadelphia, there is not enough widespread support for defunding the police. As we are facing a gun violence crisis, many believe that police are the best solution. During October, Reclaim's Mass Liberation Taskforce will be hosting weekly phone banking sessions so that we can have meaningful conversations with people about the issue. We hope to challenge the way people think about community safety and the role that police play in keeping us safe.

Since 2013, 5,296 complaints have been filed against Philadelphia police officers. But only 2% have resulted in a guilty finding by the Police Board of Inquiry (the board of police officers responsible for investigating their fellow officers). To make matters worse, police officers are able to avoid discipline because they have access to an arbitration process created by state law Act 111. In this process, the discipline agreed upon by the cop’s fellow officers AND superiors... can be overturned by an arbitrator. Poor leadership by past Mayors is what allow the police to use grievance arbitration to overturn discipline-- it's literally written into their labor contract. As the city prepares to enter negotiations again, we are demanding an END to the use of grievance arbitration. Sign our petition here: bit.ly/CommunityControlNow

TOMORROW tell Superintendent Hite what the safe reopening of schools means to you! Board of Education's Live Town Hall: Update on COVID-19 @ 4 to 5pm to discus...s the new proposed reopening plan: https://www.philasd.org/coronavirus/schoolstart2020/ Guests: Gail Carter-Hamilton BSN, RN, CSN Philadelphia Department of Public Health Dr. David Rubin & Dr. Susan Coffin Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Where to watch and how to participate Zoom: bit.ly/sdptownhall1 Password:533276 Watch live: facebook.com/PhillySchools

Fighting for a #HomesGuarantee means fighting for social housing. Join Philadelphia Coalition for Affordable Communities this Tuesday for a political education event about community land trusts! http://bit.ly/PeoplesU2020