Penn ACTION is a relatively new organization that has become the only progressive grassroots organization outside the labor movement with statewide reach in Pennsylvania. We are committed to working on our own, and in coalition with other groups, to building and expanding the progressive movement in Pennsylvania—one that realizes our idea of a New Commonwealth in Pennsylvania and the United States as a whole. To realize that ideal, we will work to advance critical progressive legislation and to help elect progressive political officials.
We have a statewide email list of 195,000 with an activist base of 15,000 people who have taken actions—online or in person—in support of progressive issues and electoral campaigns. We have extraordinary volunteers who hold political events and actions in every corner of the state. We aim to keep staff members working in Northwestern PA, Northeastern PA and Southeastern PA and hope to expand to two other locations next year.
Our reputation for effective work and our place in the US Action network has connected us to nationwide progressive issue coalitions and campaigns as well as a national donor network that supports electoral work in key districts. But we must raise funds inside the state to maintain our organization and staff.
What we have done: Issue Campaigns
Social Security: Penn ACTION led the Pennsylvania fight against Social Security privatization in 1986-87.
Health Care: Penn ACTION was one of the core partners in the Health Care For America Now (HCAN) campaign, the largest issue campaign in Pennsylvania history and is now led by the statewide director of HCAN, Marc Stier. Our staff members organized the grassroots effort in three Blue Dog districts—in Erie, Bucks County, and Northeastern PA—which provided critical support for members of Congress who eventually voted for reform.
Immigration Reform: Penn ACTION was a key partner in the immigration reform campaign, taking the lead on the campaign in the Erie area.
What we have done: Electoral Campaigns
2006: Penn ACTION conducted extensive Get Out The Vote (GOTV) efforts in Southeast PA in 2006. Congressman Patrick Murphy said that our work in Bucks County was critical to his electoral victory that year.
2008: Penn ACTION contacted over 50,000 voters in Erie County by phone or canvass. Our efforts played a major role in Kathy Dahlkemper’s victory over incumbent Phil English.
What we are doing now: Issue Campaigns
Health Care Reform Implementation: Penn ACTION is going to continue to lead the Health Care For America Now campaign in Pennsylvania, focusing on defending and building on our accomplishments this year.
Over the last six months, we have held over twenty events at which we explained the benefits of reform to small business people and senior citizens and others. And we brought pressure on Pennsylvania legislators and insurance companies to preserve Adult Basic, a program low income Pennsylvanians need until health care reform comes fully into effect in 2014.
Social Security: Penn ACTION is part of the coalition to preserve Social Security, fighting against benefit cuts, an increase in the retirement age, and privatization of the program.
We celebrated social security’s 75th birthday by organizing over 25 rallies and events at senior centers and other locations and securing the signatures of hundreds of people on petitions to preserve social security benefits.
Taxes and the Budget: Penn ACTION is fighting to make our budgets and tax codes more progressive. On the federal level, we have been mobilizing our activists to contact legislators to oppose the extension of the Bush tax cuts on the rich. We mobilized both Democrats and Republican state legislators to fight for an extension of federal FMAP funding, which was critical to avoiding massive state budget cuts this year.
On the state and local level, we are working to make corporate and sales taxes fairer and to shift more of the tax burden onto the income tax. And at both levels of government we are trying to preserve health care and social service funding critical to the poor and working people.
Marcellus Shale: As one of the few groups with a statewide reach, activists in Northeast and Western PA have asked us to get involved in effort to protect our water and local communities from the possible dangers of drilling for natural gas in the Marcellus Shale. In response to their request, we have joined with Conservation PA to hold a statewide conference on October 16, at which we will provide local activists with information, training and opportunities to network with each other and statewide environmental organizations.
Public Transit: Our Executive Director, Marc Stier, has been a leading transit activist in Pennsylvania over the last six years. We intend to keep working for dedicated funding for public transit as well as roads and bridges.
Jobs: The critical issue facing the country right now is creating new jobs for the millions of American who are currently unemployed. We have supported additional federal stimulus money to create jobs. Our national partner US Action is working to develop new ideas for creating jobs that we will support next year. And here in Pennsylvania, Penn ACTION is investigating the possibility of creating a state bank like the one that has made it possible for small commercial banks in North Dakota to create thousands of jobs each year.
What we are doing now: Electoral Campaigns
In a year in which money for independent expenditure electoral campaigns has been very difficult to raise, Penn ACTION’s connections and reputation has made it possible for us to raise a great deal of money for electoral work and to join with other organizations to have an impact on federal and state races.
Bucks County / Congressional District 8: We have raised $74,000 for a major effort to canvass and phone infrequent voters in Bucks County in order to bring them to the polls in support of Congressman Patrick Murphy.
Philadelphia: Penn ACTION has been granted $8,000 to do GOTV work with infrequent voters in North Philadelphia. We are supplementing that program with a major volunteer effort that will use the most advanced predictive dialer system for phone banking.
Pat Toomey and Social Security: We received a grant to “bird dog” PPenn ACTION is a relatively new organization that has become the only progressive grassroots organization outside the labor movement with statewide reach in Pennsylvania. We are committed to working on our own, and in coalition with other groups, to building and expanding the progressive movement in Pennsylvania—one that realizes our idea of a New Commonwealth in Pennsylvania and the United States as a whole. To realize that ideal, we will work to advance critical progressive legislation and to help elect progressive political officials.
We have a statewide email list of 195,000 with an activist base of 15,000 people who have taken actions—online or in person—in support of progressive issues and electoral campaigns. We have extraordinary volunteers who hold political events and actions in every corner of the state. We aim to keep staff members working in Northwestern PA, Northeastern PA and Southeastern PA and hope to expand to two other locations next year.
Our reputation for effective work and our place in the US Action network has connected us to nationwide progressive issue coalitions and campaigns as well as a national donor network that supports electoral work in key districts. But we must raise funds inside the state to maintain our organization and staff.
What we have done: Issue Campaigns
Social Security: Penn ACTION led the Pennsylvania fight against Social Security privatization in 1986-87.
Health Care: Penn ACTION was one of the core partners in the Health Care For America Now (HCAN) campaign, the largest issue campaign in Pennsylvania history and is now led by the statewide director of HCAN, Marc Stier. Our staff members organized the grassroots effort in three Blue Dog districts—in Erie, Bucks County, and Northeastern PA—which provided critical support for members of Congress who eventually voted for reform.
Immigration Reform: Penn ACTION was a key partner in the immigration reform campaign, taking the lead on the campaign in the Erie area.
What we have done: Electoral Campaigns
2006: Penn ACTION conducted extensive Get Out The Vote (GOTV) efforts in Southeast PA in 2006. Congressman Patrick Murphy said that our work in Bucks County was critical to his electoral victory that year.
2008: Penn ACTION contacted over 50,000 voters in Erie County by phone or canvass. Our efforts played a major role in Kathy Dahlkemper’s victory over incumbent Phil English.
What we are doing now: Issue Campaigns
Health Care Reform Implementation: Penn ACTION is going to continue to lead the Health Care For America Now campaign in Pennsylvania, focusing on defending and building on our accomplishments this year.
Over the last six months, we have held over twenty events at which we explained the benefits of reform to small business people and senior citizens and others. And we brought pressure on Pennsylvania legislators and insurance companies to preserve Adult Basic, a program low income Pennsylvanians need until health care reform comes fully into effect in 2014.
Social Security: Penn ACTION is part of the coalition to preserve Social Security, fighting against benefit cuts, an increase in the retirement age, and privatization of the program.
We celebrated social security’s 75th birthday by organizing over 25 rallies and events at senior centers and other locations and securing the signatures of hundreds of people on petitions to preserve social security benefits.
Taxes and the Budget: Penn ACTION is fighting to make our budgets and tax codes more progressive. On the federal level, we have been mobilizing our activists to contact legislators to oppose the extension of the Bush tax cuts on the rich. We mobilized both Democrats and Republican state legislators to fight for an extension of federal FMAP funding, which was critical to avoiding massive state budget cuts this year.
On the state and local level, we are working to make corporate and sales taxes fairer and to shift more of the tax burden onto the income tax. And at both levels of government we are trying to preserve health care and social service funding critical to the poor and working people.
Marcellus Shale: As one of the few groups with a statewide reach, activists in Northeast and Western PA have asked us to get involved in effort to protect our water and local communities from the possible dangers of drilling for natural gas in the Marcellus Shale. In response to their request, we have joined with Conservation PA to hold a statewide conference on October 16, at which we will provide local activists with information, training and opportunities to network with each other and statewide environmental organizations.
Public Transit: Our Executive Director, Marc Stier, has been a leading transit activist in Pennsylvania over the last six years. We intend to keep working for dedicated funding for public transit as well as roads and bridges.
Jobs: The critical issue facing the country right now is creating new jobs for the millions of American who are currently unemployed. We have supported additional federal stimulus money to create jobs. Our national partner US Action is working to develop new ideas for creating jobs that we will support next year. And here in Pennsylvania, Penn ACTION is investigating the possibility of creating a state bank like the one that has made it possible for small commercial banks in North Dakota to create thousands of jobs each year.
What we are doing now: Electoral Campaigns
In a year in which money for independent expenditure electoral campaigns has been very difficult to raise, Penn ACTION’s connections and reputation has made it possible for us to raise a great deal of money for electoral work and to join with other organizations to have an impact on federal and state races.
Bucks County / Congressional District 8: We have raised $74,000 for a major effort to canvass and phone infrequent voters in Bucks County in order to bring them to the polls in support of Congressman Patrick Murphy.
Philadelphia: Penn ACTION has been granted $8,000 to do GOTV work with infrequent voters in North Philadelphia. We are supplementing that program with a major volunteer effort that will use the most advanced predictive dialer system for phone banking.
Pat Toomey and Social Security: We received a grant to “bird dog” Pat Toomey on the Social Security issue. Our efforts led to major national and state stories about Toomey’s support of social security privatization.
Tom Corbett, Health Care and Taxation: Penn ACTION has led the way in calling out Tom Corbett for his support of an absurd lawsuit that challenged the constitutionality of health care reform. We joined with Keystone Progress to call on Corbett to resign for using his office for political purposes. We’ve led the way in calling out Corbett out for his support of a huge increase in the unemployment compensation tax.
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