Report from Leave No Neighbor Behind Town Hall Meeting

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Dear friend,
On February 2nd, Bread & Roses Community Fund hosted a town hall to bring together concerned neighbors from communities throughout the Delaware Valley.
The topic? Organizing to prevent gentrification and disinvestment. Over 200 people came out to the "No Neighbor Left Behind" town hall meeting.
Ellen Somekawa (Asian Americans United), Lynn Cummings and Harold Adams (Neighbors Empowering Pennsuaken) Rev. Dr. Kevin Johnson (Bright Hope Baptist Church), and Ian Phillips (ACORN) all shared stories about successful organizing campaigns they'd run. After the presentation, small groups broke out to talk more about building just and sustainable neighborhoods.
Click here to see pictures and video from the event and learn what you can do to get involved.
Here are some of the personal action goals group members came up with:
Joining civic groups is important
Elected officials need to hear from their constituents on matters of disinvestment and reinvestment
Local businesses, especially banks which provide capital to people of color and women, must be supported
Here are some of the policy reforms they proposed:
Make property tax laws fair
Revise the zoning codes to favor community members
Encourage mixed-use development
Return abandoned buildings to communities
Develop land trusts
The purpose of the town hall was to bring together neighbors from all over the Delaware Valley to talk about an important issue. Bread & Roses will convene town halls like this one again from time to time on a variety of topics.
Specifically, in terms of disinvestment, reinvestment and gentrification, our intention was to bring together some of the people who care the most about the issues to network and build an infrastructure to organize for change.
If you have any questions, comments or further ideas for us, please feel free to contact me.
Sincerely,Patrice Greendirector of grantmaking and capacity building