Clean Air Staff Presents at Common Bound Conference!
This weekend, the New Economy Coalition is bringing their CommonBound Conference right here to Buffalo, NY. CommonBound will bring together hundreds of leaders and organizations from across North America for an international conference on visionary strategies for achieving deep systemic change. Participants will share insights and stories, build relationships, highlight achievements, and chart a shared path toward a society that puts people and planet first.
We’re proud to say our very own very own community organizers, Natasha Soto and Brian Borncamp, our member Della Miller, and our Executive Director, Rebecca Newberry will be presenting at CommonBound!
Rebecca will be presenting on Clean Air’s work with the Tonawanda community to ensure residents are taken care of and prepared to transition to a bright, sustainable future as the Huntley Coal Plant closes. Highlighting the campaign between Clean Air and organized labor, they will share strategies and success in our fight for a just transition. She’ll be presenting with Peter De Jesús and Richard Lipsitz from the WNY Area Labor Federation and Peter Stuhlmiller of the Kenmore Teachers Association. Clean Air and partners will also be jointly hosting a New Economy Tour of Tonawanda – including a visit to Huntley, a coal fired power plant in the decommissioning process. Transportation is being provided courtesy of NFTA-Metro. If you’re attending the Common Bound conference and would like to attend the tour, register here! Space is limited.
Clean Air staff and members will be presenting in two sessions about Participatory Budgeting (PB) this weekend. For the first, Natasha, Brian, and Della will be presenting with Maria Hadden of the Participatory Budgeting Project, and will focus on teaching participants about PB in the United States and sharing how Buffalo residents gained real power over their money in the recent pilot PB project guided by Clean Air members in the Masten District. Natasha and Maria will also be presenting with Biola Jeje of the American Postal Workers Union in Budgets for Black Lives – this session will focus on how to #FundBlackFutures, explore how integrating demands for PB into campaigns could advance organizing goals, highlight campaigns for economic justice led by Black Youth, and discuss whether PB could be used as a tool to achieve movement goals at the local level.
Can’t make CommonBound but want to find out more about what the conference is all about? First, you can visit this website to find access to a livestream of the conference all weekend. Second, we’ll be posting pictures and quotes from all sessions that Clean Air staff are presenting at, so follow us on Twitter and Facebook!
Want to support Clean Air’s expert staff and our campaigns to bring PB city-wide in Buffalo and a Just Transition to Tonawanda? Click here to donate to Clean Air – consider making a sustainable monthly contribution to keep this groundbreaking work going!
UPDATE: Here’s some pictures from Rebecca, Natasha, Brian, and member Della presenting at CommonBound!
A packed house at River Road Fire Hall, one of the stops on our New Economy Tour of Tonawanda, presented with Cathy Kunkel from IEEFA, Richard Lipsitz from WNY-ALF, Peter Stuhlmiller from Kenmore Teachers Assocation, and Dave Wasiura from USW
Brian, Della, Natasha, and Maria Hadden from PBP before they kick off their Participatory Budgeting session!
Rebecca along with Dick Lipsitz and Pete De Jesus from WNY-ALF and Peter Stuhlmiller from the Kenmore Teachers Association presented on communities facing coal plant closure
Tags: commonbound, commonbound conference, new economy coalition, support clean air coalition