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Arizona ACORN
This year Arizona ACORN, in coalition with AFL-CIO, AFSCME, America Coming Together, Arizona Leadership Institute, SEIU, and UFCW among others, is working to increase the wage floor throughout the state with a minimum wage ballot initiative. After the success of the 2004 statewide minimum wage campaign in Florida, there are key states working on a ballot initiative for 2006; Arizona is one of them. With early BED support in place to jumpstart the statewide campaign, Arizona ACORN can harness resources to lay the groundwork for effective door-to-door outreach and education.
Arizona ACORN works to abolish society’s economic, racial and civil injustices that affect the everyday lives of working families. With offices in Phoenix, Mesa, Glendale, and Tucson and a membership of 2,500 statewide, Arizona ACORN organizes individuals of low-income to identify and develop direct-action campaigns that impact their communities.
Miami Workers’ Center
Miami Workers’ Center’s Regional Equity for Neighborhoods and Tenants (RENT) project is a comprehensive plan for addressing the issues of urban development and the impact on low-income workers. RENT’s current priorities include developing a community benefits agreement around the development of the Liberty City Transit hub, to include a living wage component; supporting a cross-sector coalition to support local organizing efforts around accountable urban development; and building strong internal research and communications capacity on these issues. RENT utilizes a holistic approach that brings together focused local community organizing around the issues of community development and gentrification, research and public education, coalition building, and direct policy change.
The Center is a leader in regional movement building around issues affecting disadvantaged, urban communities. The Center has proven its ability to launch and win comprehensive, cross-issue campaigns that employ sophisticated racial analysis in a southern, right-to-work state that, despite its ethnic diversity, is a hotbed of cross-national tension. It has developed real trust in the African American communities in Liberty City and has been building a leadership base within the community that is prepared to fight these campaigns. It is a complicated, long-term strategy that probably will not see much success right away but with its ability to build coalitions and mobilize residents, the Center has the potential to realize changes in the lives of the people of Liberty City in a few years.
