Over 40 Fresno families, renters and community advocates gathered at City Hall on Thursday to call on city leaders to take action and protect city residents against high rental costs, and for more renter protections and a rent control ordinance that would cap rent increases at 3%. Marisa Moraza, a senior campaign strategist with Power California Action, which launched the campaign, reminds us that this work is urgent: “Every day more (of) Fresno’s working families are at risk of losing their homes…That’s why it’s time — it’s past time — for city council to step up and work with community to ensure everyone has affordable, high quality housing.” More at the Fresno Bee.
Change Consulting IRL
We are so excited to welcome our newest team member to Change Consulting! Kiah Albritton is joining our digital and content team, heading up our digital media strategy and implementation work. We are so fortunate to have had the opportunity to spend time together in-person, with Kiah coming out from her home in Washington, D.C. to get to know Change, our community, and her new role. More on Kiah and her work soon.
On Thursday, we were proud to host more than 30 youth justice advocates and leaders from the California Alliance for Youth and Community Justice for a statewide convening on building narrative power. Together we worked through what we mean when we say narrative power and how we can build it to achieve our north star of ending the incarceration of young people, and replacing it with community-based, healing and care based opportunities so young people can truly thrive. We are in awe of the brilliance and power of this incredible group. Thank you for sharing space with us!
This week, our colleague Dina Sigal, Communications Director on the Strategy Team, attended California Budget and Policy Center’s annual Policy Insights conference. Bringing together advocates, movement leaders, and funders, the convening highlighted the importance of moving from programs and pilots into systems change, and how we must hold our elected officials accountable to be bold when it comes to ensuring justice for our communities. A stand out moment came from Michael Tubbs: “Charity isn’t justice. Programs and pilots aren’t policy…they do not change the structures that created the underlying conditions of the road.”