by Liz Moore, PJALS Director
What I love most about PJALS is being part of a community of people who take action together based on the connections between human rights, economic justice, & peace.
Our Steering Committee asked you, PJALS members, to guide strategic planning for 2013-2014. We learned that you overwhelmingly support organizing to raise revenue & reject cuts as well as to counter the costs of militarism and to demand money for people, not for war. You’re also passionate about alternatives to incarceration & police accountability. You value that we create community together through our events & campaigns. You strongly support our Young Activist Leaders Program & our interns. You love our Action Conference. You want PJALS to continue to strengthen our connections with communities of color & with rural people.
Why prioritize those areas? You want to see impact for the most people. You want to win! You want PJALS to move more people to support our work, increase our influence, & donate to make more victories possible. You want to see us focus on issues where our “connections analysis” is unique.
Many of you are directly affected by economic injustice, poverty, police misconduct, militarism’s resource suck, the human damages of war, & a sense of unity with those who are directly affected in ways you are not. More than 1 in 4 of you live on less than $25,000 & another 1 in 4 live in households with income of $25,000 to $50,000. PJALS members are disproportionately older and white, compared to Spokane County.
Our 2013-2014 plans reflect your campaign priorities & focus on creating impact & growing our active membership—particularly youth & people of color participation & leadership. We’ll share learning opportunities, increase our visibility, & strengthen relationships with communities of color. We’ll use a racial equity & justice lens in our policy campaigns, leadership development, & relationship building. We’ll “exert moral leadership” & we’ll strengthening our fiscal condition & match our capacity & our workload so our work is sustainable.
Sounds like a great community of action to be part of, doesn’t it? It is exactly YOU that makes this plan realistic & achievable. Please continue & even increase your involvement. PJALS members are my favorite people! I look forward to our work together!