2015 Accomplishments

Economic Inequality Action Team:

Planned and launched Durham Living Wage Project, now an active project of The People’s Alliance Fund.

More than doubled the number of living wage employers from 28 in March to 70 in November.
Provided expert technical assistance and support to new Orange County living wage project and interested groups in Wake County.
Thanks to seed funding from the PA Fund was able to organize a crowdfunding campaign to raise funds/community awareness and hired our coordinator (Mel Norton!).

The team launched series of economic justice teach-ins on tax fairness and wealth inequality and team members serve on key committees formed as part of Mayor Bell's anti-poverty initiative.

Education Action Team:

Established with PA membership approval, PA’s Education Principals (these can be found on the PA website). In addition, the team:

Hosted popular Roundtables on Educating Children with Special Needs, Going Green in Public Education, General Assembly Update on Education Bills, and Revision of Discipline Policy.
Hosted community forums on “Privatization of Public Education” and “The Schools our Children Deserve.”
Participated in a coalition effort that resulted in DPS revising the school start times.
Led effort to revise the local assessment policy and allow principals to op-out of some locally mandated tests.
Active on the revision of Discipline Policies, advocating for polices to address the School to Prison Pipeline.
Supported a community conversation regarding Universal Pre-K.
Advocated for the DPS budget needs before the Durham County Commissioners.
Advocated for and won emergency funding to pay DPS workers when a contractor defaulted.

Housing Action Team:

People's Alliance made affordable housing the #1 issue for the City Council election in 2015. PA won the first financial contributions to affordable housing plans by developers to the City and County. With the Coalition for Affordable Housing and Transit, we ensured affordable homes will be built next to the Durham Station. Nearly 200 people joined our community forum on gentrification and neighborhood change. The team gathered 116 signatures on PA's petition to Include Economic and Race Equity Impact on Transit.

The You Can Vote Team:

Launched by the People’s Alliance and now a project of The People’s Alliance Fund, YCV registered 1,000 voters in the off-year, focusing on schools, libraries and health/community centers. New voters registered by YCV in 2014 were 11% more likely to vote than other new registrants. YCV is packaging methods and sharing with partners. This year they helped launch Wake County YCV in preparation for 2016. The team secured a new national partner -- Ben and Jerry's Foundation which provided YCV a capacity building grant of $20,000.

Race Equity Task Force:

PA’s goal is to have 100% of leadership complete race equity training. We are on our way with more Board members and community leaders attending training this year. We are working harder to hear voices from and support justice in all of Durham’s communities.

The PA 40th Anniversary Team:

We have a team working on celebrating 40 years of PA. In September we awarded the first “People’s Award” to Page McCullough for her work in Education. Look for more celebration in 2016!

Building A Stronger PA:

We worked toward and received 501(c)(4) organizational status for the People’s Alliance! Leadership underwent strategic planning using member input to develop goals and a long-term vision. The PA Fund is building capacity to support more educational programing and partners. The Fund is now a Blueprint NC member and is the tax-deductible vehicle behind You Can Vote and Durham Living Wage Project.