Transformative Change for Our Communities

We’re seeking to:

1. Win policy and corporate campaigns

2. Increase street-level activism on climate change and inequality, particularly in low and moderate income communities of color, to pressure the political and corporate worlds to make the transformative change we need.

Our model is the Fight for $15, a campaign for a $15 an hour minimum wage which NYCC pioneered.

Unlike other organizations who praise politicians for tiny, inadequate baby steps in the right direction, we won’t settle for policies that do not rapidly slash climate pollution and fight inequality. As 350.org co-founder Bill McKibben puts it, “winning slowly on climate change is the same as losing.” The chart on the next page shows why: we need *rapid* pollution cuts now to stave off catastrophe. Climate change is a horrific problem. Inequality even tougher: in New York City, the top 1%, who are overwhelmingly white, take 40% of the income generated in the city, while the bottom 50%, who are overwhelmingly people of color, get only about 5%.

Inequality and climate change are the two great moral crises of our time. Our campaigns are geared at solving these problems for NYCC members like Rachel Rivera and Michael

Johnson, who are Sandy survivors who lost everything in the storm – and who need good jobs and affordable housing. (Read Rachel’s inspiring story of activism in The Intercept)

Incremental, technocratic fixes that politicians tend to puff up as dramatic new programs don’t represent the bold change we need… we don’t want policy that’s a “good first step”.

Instead, we’re fighting for bold, transformative change at the pace and scale needed to meaningfully improve our members’ lives.