Proper Partnership Etiquette

I'm kinda peeved today. We had a meeting with a key county supervisor for the housing trust fund scheduled and our non-profit partner (who shall remain nameless) decided to unilaterally cancel the meeting literally a couple hours before the meeting via email!!!

I think it is time to review proper partnership etiquette:

1. DO NOT unilaterally make critical decisions to a grassroots campaign without FIRST discussing it with your other stakeholders.

2. DO NOT notify the other attendees of a cancellation only hours before the meeting takes place.

3. DO NOT inform other attendees of a cancellation via EMAIL....always give a courtesy call.

Housing Trust Funds

Affordable housing activists might find the concept of a housing trust fund interesting. A county sponsored housing trust fund provides county monies for the following:

1. Construction of new affordable housing

2. Rehabilitation of existing housing

3. Land acquisition for new construction

4. Accessibility modifications (for people with disabilities)

5. Housing related supportive services (i.e. housing counseling, case management, etc.)

The county would have an oversight committee to administer the fund and grant monies based on a competitive application process. Possible funding sources include the following:

1. A small increase in the real estate transfer tax

2. A county sales tax of .1 percent

3. Two cents per $1,000 of property taxes

4. Employer tax deductible contributions

When most people think of affordable housing they instantly conjure up images of huge projects. Nowadays, this isn't the case. These places are all affordable housing complexes:

The Silvernail, Waukesha, WI

Deer Creek Village, New Berlin, WI

Breezewood Village, Hartland, WI

New Online Petition Tool

Change.org continues to create internet tools to advance grassroots work. You can now create an online petition for netizens to sign and it will automatically be sent to the email inbox of your targeted elected official. The petition is at http://www.change.org/petition.

A couple of things you should know before jumping into it:

* Currently there is no way to limit who can sign the petition. This isn't good for local efforts dealing with local officials who may not be interested in the opinion of someone from Italy on a local matter.

* This tool is probably most effective for issues related to multinational businesses or global organizational leaders such as the UN or World Bank.

* It enables for quick and nimble mass organization on issues impacting nations across a broad spectrum.

Organizing in a Conservative County II

So we decided to pursue a low key grassroots strategy that entails getting petitions out to churches, calling county supervisors, and meeting with supervisors one on one. Waukesha County is pretty cool to the idea of "in your face" activism so we are adjusting our strategy and tactics to fit within this framework. I drove around Waukesha County today dropping off petitions and found that mostly Catholic churches and some food pantries were receptive while most politely denied to pass the petition. The greatest challenges we will face will be finding a suitable funding source for the housing trust to provide monies for affordable housing (the good people of Waukesha do not enjoy tax increases) and convincing elected officials that affordable housing is a problem.

An interesting aspect of organizing around affordable housing in Waukesha County are the people who are behind the effort as well as the people who are most affected by it. The face of people struggling with housing is not single mothers, minorities, and working class people, but rather teachers, daycare workers, pastors, middle management people, etc. Also, the people driving the change are mostly non profit folks (many of whom do not even live in the county such as myself). One of our goals is to increase the participation of the actual county residents who are being affected by housing, but due to Waukesha's subdued political climate, most people do not want to "ruffle any feathers." So, it will be interesting to see how this campaign unfolds. We also have a website for our campaign at http://www.affordablehousingtaskforce.org.

Email Quilen with your questions, comments, or random outbursts about your organizing or activism work at cuestocommunityorganizing@gmail.com

Organizing in a Conservative County

I recently got a new job as a community organizer with Community Action Coalition is Madison, WI (I've taken a bit of an organizing hiatus). It is a stimulus funded position and I am responsible for organizing a grassroots campaign in Waukesha County to establish a housing trust fund to provide county monies for affordable housing initiatives such as starter homes, apartments, senior housing etc. This effort is unique because Waukesha is the wealthiest county in Wisconsin. The median home value is $250,000 which clearly prices out many service level professionals such as teachers, daycare workers, church pastors, etc. Because of this high bar for housing, 40 percent of the workforce live outside of the county primarily in Milwaukee and Jefferson counties. This drains potential monies that could be spent on local businesses in Waukesha but are spent in neighboring counties since housing is more affordable there. I will track my progress in my new job in this blog.

Email Quilen with your questions, comments, or random outbursts about your organizing or activism work at cuestocommunityorganizing@gmail.com.