The NN annual conference is also a good time to look back at what we have and have not accomplished in the last fifteen months.
I, of course, am not an objective observer, having been a member of the committee of seven or eight people who developed the idea of Neighborhood Networks, and having been a member of the Steering and Executive Committees for the last fifteen months. (I just resigned from the Executive Committee because of my race for City Council.) But perhaps my familiarity with the organization makes my remarks worthwhile none the less.
Still Here
One important thing to say: we are still here after fifteen months. Some ward leaders said we couldn’t survive and mobilize people to work politically without the incentives (such as city jobs) available to the Democratic Party. But we have seen our mailing list grow to about 800 from the initial 230, although paid membership is significantly less than our total mailing list.
Successful Issue Campaigns
Another important thing to say: we have had some successes, especially in our issues campaigns. We were a key part of the Minimum Wage Coalition, which successfully fought all the odds—that is the Republican controlled General Assembly—to bring a significant increase in the minimum wage. We were represented at the Raise the Minimum Wage Coalition meetings week after week. W made major contributions to the strategy of the coalition. And, we made the first financial contribution to the radio advertisements that made critical contribution to our victory.
We also made major contributions to Ethics Reform in the city. We ran the field operation that helped the November 2005 Ethics Charter Change sweep to one of the greatest victories of any city wide referendum in our history. That victory helped convince City Council to adopt further Ethics reform legislation and to place another Charter Change, to create an independent Ethics Board on the ballot in the May 2006 primary. Again, the Charter Change swept to a great victory. And that, in turn, has lead Council members to begin talking about the next reform we need, public financing of political campaigns.
Other Issue Campaigns in Progress
We have been involved in a number of other issue campaigns. We have held meetings and canvassed for a great recycling program, Recycle Bank. We have helped plan and taken part in rallies for Inclusionary Housing. We are helping organize the effort to repeal Act 193. We have joined the fight against the present locations of the casinos. We have rallied and canvassed for Handgun Control. We have testified for the Cohen wage tax rebate for low income workers. Most of these campaigns are still in progress. On the first three, I expect us to win relatively soon, perhaps by the next annual meeting. The second set of three might take a little longer.
Growing Pains
We haven’t always succeeded. We have had a lot of growing pains. To my mind, the biggest one was our failure endorse Anne Dicker in the 175th district—although I worked hard for her as did other leaders of NN. Other problems were to be expected of a fledgling organization. We have spent too much time writing a platform and drafting bylaws and too little time out on the streets. We built a large website but couldn’t always keep it updated. We haven’t raised enough money. And not all our neighborhood / ward groups are as active as they should be.
Not Growing Fast Enough Pains
Our biggest failing is that we have not grown as fast as we should and have not found it easy to recruit members to actually do the grass roots organizing that is critical to progressive politics. Lots of our members like talking to each other. Fewer of them want to hit the pavement and talk to their neighbors. That is not an easy thing to do. But it is critical to becoming politically successful. Our mid-level leadership has not always been good at recruiting or motivating our volunteers to do this work. But we are making some changes in that leadership that, we hope, will create the kind of energy we need at the grass roots. We hope everyone will see the result when we bring large numbers of our members to the streets to work for the election of Bob Casey as our Senator and Ed Rendell as our Governor.
Our Role in Philadelphia Politics
Despite these problems, we have become a major player in Philadelphia politics and an important ally of the progressive groups that have a narrow focus on specific issues. If you just look at all the great organizers who are attending our conference, you will see how connected we are to the progressive movement in Philadelphia. Despite some growing pains on both sides, we have forged a working relationship with Philly for Change, with whom we recently organized an event protesting the undemocratic character of the special elections to council. No progressive issue campaign starts today without someone calling us and asking us to join. We have also developed important ties to organized labor, with whom we have worked on many issues. We are consulted by members of City Council and the General Assembly and, more recently, the Democratic Party establishment has reached out to us and other progressive organizations in the city.
Democracy with a small d
Perhaps our greatest achievement, however, is that we have remained democratic with a small d. We have polled our members before taking most actions and / or our decisions have been shaped by the neighborhood / ward leaders who are elected by and responsible to their local membership. Staying true to our little democratic intentions has not always been easy. It took us some time to figure out how to communicate enough with our membership to give people a sense of ownership over the organization. And sometimes, those same members wanted to be consulted less and given a specific task more. We have been tempted to short circuit our procedures, especially when our leaders were not happy with the result. But by and large we have been true to our intentions and are stronger for it.
Because we have been so active and successful, and have remained true to our mission, I’m pleased with where NN is today. I hope you are too, because if you are reading this blog you should be a member and come to our annual conference this Saturday. Go to www.phillynn.org and join now!