Calling UofC folks & alumni: fundraiser & conversation with Asha Ransby-Sporn!
The event is over but you can still contribute to the fundraiser here! And below you can watch the recording of the speaking part of the event.
A bit of what Asha said:
“The long-time organizing of communities doing work like that of STOP all across the city — labor, community and political coalitions that have come together behind a shared agenda really created fertile ground and built the ground-work and some of the organizing muscle-memory that made electing a mayor and 19 progresses to our city council possible.
“And I think the 'why' of that, beyond my personal 'why,' is because those forces saw the negative impact of decades of neo-liberal reforms really driven by finance and real-estate actors getting to choose who's in office in Chicago and then setting their agendas that have had incredibly harmful impacts on marginalized communities across the city, from school privatization to the closure of mental-health clinics and the destruction of public housing.
“Issues that are why STOP has led the the important campaigns that the organization has had has led. And that progressive coalition has I think seen themselves in some way, shape or form as a part of a shared project of sort of taking back the city for the more equitable, in the face of that structural set of harms that has been done over many decades.”
WEDNESDAY, MAY 29, 7-8:15pm CT virtually: “What the Left Can Learn from Chicago Today: Combining Local, Labor, and Visionary Organizing.”
A dialogue and activist reunion. Register above (free). Or if you want to support but can’t make it, let us know here!
UChicago alumni, students, faculty, staff, and community members, let’s get together, raise more hell, and raise more money! Like we did in 2021, 2022. and 2023. This year let’s…
(Re-)connect with current and past activists around the UofC.
Share and hear insights about STOP’s work and work like it.
CONTRIBUTE TO STOP AND SOUTH-SIDE POWER!
And we’ll hear and participate in conversation with:
Asha Ransby-Sporn. She started in organizing as a Columbia undergrad, chaired BYP100’s national organizing, and co-led the grassroots mobilization made Brandon Johnson the nation’s most progressive big-city mayor. His election has made so much possible, from police-free schools to re-opened mental health clinics.
Anna Durr. She’s STOP’s youth organizer and restorative-justice coordinator. She started a member of STOP’s youth program and has helped lead the five-year campaign that just won removal of all police from Chicago Public Schools.
SSA alum Fanny Diego Alvarez. She’ll facilitate dialogue with Asha and Anna. She’s from Chicago’s west side, started organizing as a Chicago Public Schools (CPS) student, and has led education efforts like CPS's creation of the Sustainable Community Schools model with the Chicago Teachers Union.
Tenants working with UofC students started STOP 20 years ago as the Student/Tenant Organizing Project. Since then, as Southside Together Organizing for Power, we have won so much, including a trauma center at the University, and a Community Benefits Agreement setting aside nearby land for affordable housing. Now our demands include reparations-scale funding from the University, like $1 billion to build affordable housing.
If you are or were an activist around the UofC – recently or decades ago – let’s get together, learn from each other, and help build on so much amazing work!
Register above to get the Zoom for May 29. Or if you can’t make it but can still contribute, let us know here!
Can’t wait? Check out Ransby-Sporn’s "Movements Got Brandon Johnson Elected. How Do We Organize From Here?"
Up to help? Be on the host committee if you can commit to bringing five people to the event, donate an amount meaningful to you, and be listed in event communications. (You don’t have to come to any meetings!) Email dominic@stopchicago.org if you’re up for this.
Host committee as of 5/14: Natalie Naculich, Natalie Warren, Brad Stolbach, Abby Rampone, Chris Merkel, Olivia Woollam, Matt Ginsberg-Jaeckle, Neil Miller, Alex Goldenberg
Program committee: Neomi Rao, Marta Cook, Ryan Cairns, Duff Morton, Hamza Jilani, Jazmine Jefferson, Madeleine Greene, William Thomas, Dominic Surya