For more information on this organization, see Causa Justa Just Cause.
People Organized to Win Employment Rights (POWER) is a San Francisco Bay Area-based left-of-center community organizing group. In 2015, it merged into Causa Justa Just Cause, another Bay Area community organizing entity.
Organization
People Organized to Win Employment Rights (POWER) is a San Francisco local non-profit, which was founded to advocate for left-wing social and economic policies in the Bay Area. 1
POWER has now merged with Causa Justa Just Cause, a similar advocacy and organizing group. 2
Projects
POWER works on specific projects in addition to its general advocacy in support of union-backed employment policies such as raising San Francisco’s already exceptionally high minimum wage, expanding public housing and government subsidies, and increasing leniency in student discipline. 1
Bayview Justice Organizing Project
The principal constituents of this project are public housing residents and low-income home owners in the Bayview Hunters Point neighborhood, the largest African-American neighborhood of San Francisco. 3 The project has involved securing government-funded transit passes, as well as promoting the accelerated seizure of environmentally damaged land parcels by the municipal government. 4
Youth in Power Project
A project to develop leadership and skills in youth, ages 12 to 18. The project also enables youth to attend the “Education 4 Liberation School,” a month-long political indoctrination and training program, which includes providing students with a six-week paid internship in community organizing. 5
Women Workers Project
The Women Worker Project organizes mostly immigrant workers to advocate left-wing policy on immigration issues and domestic work conditions. Regular meetings are held, which offer political education and leadership development classes to members. 3 The result of this advocacy was the passage of A.B. 889, a package of employment regulations on domestic workers in 2011, which was subsequently vetoed. 6
Transit Justice Project
Continuing the work of the Bayview Justice Organizing Project with respect to promoting government funded youth transit passes. Expanding eligibility to more low-income youth. This project also includes environmentalist advocacy. 7
The project also seeks to promote providing bicycles to low-income youth, from the stock of confiscated bicycles at the San Francisco Police Department. 8
Black Priorities Project
This project was established during the rise of Black Lives Matter in 2013. The project held listening groups with African-American residents. Topics discussed included housing, criminalization, economic self-determination, health and wellbeing, and political power. 9
People
N’Tanya Lee
N’Tanya Lee, the current president and chair of Causa Justa Just Cause,10 served as the Interim Director of POWER, from 2014, after the departure of Alicia Garza, until the organization’s merger with Causa Justa in 2015. 11 Lee previously served as POWER’s Chairman. 12
Lee is co-founder and on the coordinating committee of Left Roots and partner of Lee Turner Partners for Change Consulting in Oakland. Over her career, she had worked primarily for LGBT causes. She worked at Coleman Advocates as a youth organizer and then Executive Director, over a span of eleven years. 10
Lee is an “Endorser of the Call” for the Black Radical Congress, which has many ties13 to the Communist Party of the United States of America. 14 She reportedly has attended Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism events,15 and is on the Coordinating Committee for LeftRoots. 16
Alicia Garza
Alicia Garza, the former co-executive Director of POWER, is now the director of strategy and partenerships17 for the National Domestic Workers Alliance. 18 She is a co-founder of Black Lives Matter. 19 She also serves on the LeftRoots Coordinating Committee. 20
Prior to working at POWER, she had worked extensively for pro-abortion local non-profits. 21
Steve Williams
Steve Williams, former co-executive director and co-founder of POWER, is also a co-founder and the current National Secretary of LeftRoots. 22 He lectured at The Marxist School of Sacramento in 2005. 23
Merger
On 1 January 2015, POWER merged into Causa Justa Just Cause, with the latter absorbing the staff, membership, and campaigns of POWER. This saw Causa Justa assume responsibility for the Black Priorities Project and Youth in Power Project. The merger has brought the historically black-focused POWER into the historically Latino-focused Causa Justa. 2
References
- “People Organized To Win Employment Rights (POWER).” Catchafire. Accessed April 25, 2019. https://www.catchafire.org/organizations/people-organized-to-win-employment-rights–power-_4566.
- “POWER + Causa Justa: A More POWERful Just Cause.” Causa Justa Just Cause. Accessed April 25, 2019. https://cjjc.org/mediapress/power-causa-justa-a-more-powerful-just-cause/.
- “POWER (People Organized to Win Employment Rights).” Tenants Together. Accessed April 25, 2019. http://www.tenantstogether.org/resources/power-people-organized-win-employment-rights.
- People Organized to Win Employment Rights. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990), 2011, Part III, Line 4a.
- People Organized to Win Employment Rights. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990), 2011, Part III, Line 4b.
- People Organized to Win Employment Rights. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990), 2011, Part III, Line 4c.
- People Organized to Win Employment Rights. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990), 2012, Schedule O, Part III, Line 4a.
- People Organized to Win Employment Rights. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990), 2013, Part III, Line 4a.
- People Organized to Win Employment Rights. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990), 2013, Part III, Line 4c.
- “Board of Directors.” Causa Justa :: Just Cause. Accessed April 24, 2019. https://cjjc.org/about-us/board/.
- People Organized to Win Employment Rights. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990), 2014, Part VII, Column A, Line 6.
- People Organized to Win Employment Rights. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990), 2012, Part VII, Column A, Line 4.
- See e.g. “Jarvis Tyner.” Communist Party USA. September 24, 2009. Accessed May 01, 2019. http://www.cpusa.org/authors/jarvis-tyner/.
- Kupendua, Marpessa. “!*Mission Statement of Black Radical Congress.” E-mail. March 16, 1998. http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/45a/524.html.
- Sunkara, Bhaskar. Twitter post. October 25, 2014. 5:56 p.m. https://twitter.com/sunraysunray/status/526175577850806272
- Lee, N’Tanya, Cinthya Muñoz, Maria Poblet, Josh Warren-White, and Steve Williams. “Towards a Transformational Strategy.” LeftRoots. March 01, 2016. Accessed April 24, 2019. https://leftroots.net/towards-strategy/.
- “Spokespersons.” National Domestic Workers Alliance. Accessed May 01, 2019. https://domesticworkers.org/spokespersons.
- Dalton, Deron. “The Three Women Behind The Black Lives Matter Movement.” MadameNoire. May 04, 2015. Accessed April 24, 2019. https://madamenoire.com/528287/the-three-women-behind-the-black-lives-matter-movement/.
- “Our Co-Founders.” Black Lives Matter. Accessed April 24, 2019. https://blacklivesmatter.com/about/our-co-founders/.
- LeftRoots CC. “Celebrate LeftRoots 1st Anniversary! Become a LeftRoots Compa! /Celebrar El Primer Aniversario De LeftRoots!” E-mail. August 11, 2014. https://groups.google.com/forum/#!msg/left-unity/YKXhUuF-GYw/A4IzjRpQxpkJFrom:
- Garza, Alicia. “Catchafire.” Alicia G. Accessed April 24, 2019. https://www.catchafire.org/profiles/19455/.
- Williams, Steve. “‘Ideas for the Struggle’: Required Reading for Activists in These Challenging times.” LeftRoots. August 30, 2016. Accessed April 25, 2019. https://leftroots.net/ideas-for-the-struggle-required-reading/.
- “All Speakers.” The Marxist School of Sacramento. Accessed April 25, 2019. https://www.marxistschool.org/history.html.