Pushback Network

“[PBN’s National Convening] opened up my eyes to a lot of things I didn’t know before. I was able to bring back what I learned to let other people know how important it is to vote and get involved in the community.”
– Valerie Pearson, Community Voices Heard Leader, Yonkers, NY

New York is a critically important state in the national landscape and in the Pushback Network. In addition to the sudden attention that New York is getting amidst the Presidential elections (with Democratic and Republican – and possibly Independent? – candidates emerging from within), New York policies have the potential to lead the way in the nation…if they truly begin to work for the people most in need. New York Pushback groups are working to see that this happens – first by building their capacity to do non-partisan voter mobilization work, and then by using this voter power to assure that progressive policies are put in place.

New York Anchor Organizations

Community Voices Heard (CVH)

CVH is a 14-year old organization of low-income people, predominantly women with experience on welfare, working to build power in New York City and State to improve the lives of low-income families, communities, and individuals. Founded as a welfare rights organization, CVH now focuses on a broad range of economic justice issues including workforce development, public housing preservation & improvement, and accountable development. CVH currently organizes in three areas across the state: New York City, Westchester County (Yonkers), and the Mid-Hudson Valley (Newburgh & Poughkeepsie).

Learn more about CVH on their website.

New York Jobs with Justice (NYJWJ)

New York Jobs with Justice is a dynamic, permanent, multi-issue coalition of labor, community, student, and faith-based organizations working to build power for poor and working class New Yorkers. Three of Jobs with Justice’s New York coalitions, operating in a statewide capacity, co-anchor the Pushback work in New York: Buffalo, New York City, and Rochester.

Learn more about NYJWJ on their website.

New York Participating Organizations

In addition to the two co-anchor groups above, PBN’s New York State Alliance also consists of five core participating organizations, working in urban and rural communities across the state:

• Coalition for Economic Justice
  (Buffalo)
• Metro Justice
  (Rochester)
• Make the Road New York
  (Queens, Brooklyn, Staten Island)
• Families United for Racial
  and Economic Equality
  (Brooklyn)
• New York City AIDS Housing Network
  (Brooklyn)

What’s going on in NY

The work done by the PBN’s New York state alliance in 2006, combining voter engagement efforts with a multi-layered public housing campaign, paid off in 2007. $3.5 million in operating subsidies was won for the NYC Housing Authority – a state contribution that was its first in 10 years. In addition, CVH and other partners moved the Governor to sign legislation that will ultimately bring an additional $47 million a year in much-needed state resources to NYC public housing.

“During the summer, NY Jobs with Justice was going door to door in a housing development. The woman who came to the door could hardly walk and was in her late 60’s. However, because she saw the development happening across her street, she immediately got involved with NYJwJ. She’s grown into a leader. Even though walking for her was difficult, she managed to go throughout her building and get 30 contacts. She also went to her church and got them involved. Now, the Brown Memorial Baptist Church is involved with NYJwJ and worked with four religious leaders who joined in the organizing efforts and began working door to door on the issues too.” – Carl Lipscombe, New York Jobs with Justice