The Unionization of America…or How We Lost Our Republic

There is no real beginning and no real end to this article.  My intent is to show that America has been invaded by un-American ideas, theology and political institutions which, despite their names indicating a desire to better our society, are set on the destruction of America, our way of life, our Constitution – yes, even our very Republic.

It has happened so gradually that we hardly noticed and paid little attention.  Now, it is out of control and I fear it would take drastic action on many fronts to rid our country of the evil from within, if it could be done at all.

The unionization of America while necessary at inception has grown to have the political clout and the determination to “unionize” America in a union you and I would not recognize as our nation.  America was founded and instituted as a nation of laws grounded in Democracy and standing as a free society of like-minded people.  The problem is that the minds of the unions do not support the free and individualistic society we as lovers of our nation were born into.

There is a lot of information here, and I apologize for the length.  I tried to edit it closely, but there are entirely too many things we need to become aware of.  The links provided here would take you hours to view, but perhaps if you adopt the adage of how a mouse eats an elephant, you will begin to see some of the dangers that I see involved in the direction Obama is taking America.

Emerald Cities

Open Society Institute

Muckety Mapping of OSI

Discover the Networks – George Soros

Organizations Funded Directly by George Soros and OSI

Indirect Affiliates of the George Soros Network

The Shadow Party

Groups Involved in Far-Left Politics

Muckety Mapping of George Soros

AFL-CIO

Working Partnerships USA

When I say Joel Rogers, your first thought should be George Soros.  I do not want to get ahead of myself.  First, let’s answer the question, “Who is Joel Rogers?”

Wikipedia provides the following biographical information on Joel Rogers:

Joel Rogers is an American academic and political activist.  He currently is a professor of law, political science and sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and has written on American politics and public policy.

Rogers received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Yale University, his Master of Arts and Ph.D. from Princeton, and his J.D. from Yale Law School.

He is also the founder and director of a research and policy center, the Center on Wisconsin Strategy (COWS), at UW–Madison. Rogers has written widely on American politics and public policy, political theory, and U.S. and comparative industrial relations, as well as the “high-road” approach to economic development he is credited as first theorizing. His most recent books are Working Capital: Using the Power of Labor’s Pensions (Cornell, 2001) and America’s Forgotten Majority: Why the White Working Class Still Matters (Basic, 2000), which he co-wrote with Ruy Teixeira.

In 1997, he unsuccessfully challenged laws against electoral fusion in the state of Minnesota. The case, Timmons v. Twin Cities Area New Party, went to the Supreme Court, where in a 6-3 vote, the Court decided that fusion is not a civil right protected by the Constitution.

A contributing editor of The Nation and Boston Review, and a social activist as well as an academic, Rogers was identified by Newsweek as one of 100 Americans most likely to affect U.S. politics and culture in the 21st century.   He was also awarded a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, often called a “Genius Grant,” in 1995.

American Progress.org provides this introductory information about Ruy Teixeira.

Ruy Teixeira is a Senior Fellow at both The Century Foundation and American Progress, as well as a Fellow of the New Politics Institute. He was recently a Visiting Fellow at the Brookings Institution, where he co-directed a joint Brookings-American Enterprise Institute project on political demography and geography, The Future of Red, Blue and, Purple America, and wrote a series of reports with William Frey on the political geography of battleground states in the 2008 election.

He is the author or co-author of six books, including Red, Blue and Purple America: The Future of Election Demographics; The Emerging Democratic Majority; America’s Forgotten Majority: Why the White Working Class Still Matters; and The Disappearing American Voter, as well as hundreds of articles, both scholarly and popular. He also writes the weekly feature, “Public Opinion Snapshot,” which is featured on the CAP and TCF websites.

Teixeira’s book, The Emerging Democratic Majority, written with John Judis (Scribner, 2002), was the most widely discussed political book of that year and generated praise across the political spectrum, from George Will on the right to E.J. Dionne on the left. It was selected as one of the best books of the year by The Economist magazine. Teixeira’s recent writings include “New Progressive America,” “The Decline of the White Working Class and the Rise of a Mass Upper Middle Class” (with Alan Abramowitz), “The Politics of Definition” (with John Halpin), “Back to the Future: The Emerging Democratic Majority Re-emerges” (with John Judis) and the New Politics Institute reports, “The Next Frontier: A New Study of Exurbia” and “The Progressive Politics of the Millennial Generation.”

Teixeira in one of his weekly “snapshots” wrote on March 8, 2010, for the Center for American Progress in discussion of the “Millennial Generation,” who he defines as people born between 1978 and 2000.

The 2008 election was the first in which the 18- to 29-year-old age group was drawn exclusively from the Millennial Generation (birth years 1978-2000), and they voted for Barack Obama by a 34-point margin, 66 percent to 32 percent, compared to a 9-point margin for John Kerry among 18- to 29-year-olds in 2004. Behind this striking result, however, is a deeper story of a generation with progressive views in all areas and big expectations for change that will fundamentally reshape our electorate.

[…]

First, in views on social issues, the Pew study found that Millennials are far more progressive than any other generation. Consistent with this pattern, Millennials in the study favor allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry legally by 50-36, compared to a 43-46 split among GenXers, 58-32 opposition among baby boomers, and 66-24 opposition among the Silent Generation.

Millennials are also the most progressive generation on the role of government. By 53-42, Millennials think that government should be doing more to solve problems rather than that government is doing too many things better left to businesses and individuals. GenXers are split 45-47 on the two statements, while boomers favor the antigovernment statement by 50-43, as does the Silent Generation by 47-39.

It is difficult to overestimate the importance of these results. While conservatives are busy doubling down on the most retrograde parts of their agenda, more and more of this generation is pouring into the voting pool. This is just one more reason why a hardline conservative strategy that seems clever and effective in the short term will look much less clever—in fact, disastrous—in the long term. But by the time conservatives figure out their mistake it will be way too late. Say goodbye, conservatives, to an entire generation.

While he is berating the conservative movement, perhaps he will one day find himself eating his words.

According to conservatives, a tax revolt is sweeping the country as Americans conclude that their tax dollars are being spent unwisely. Well, it’s true that no one likes paying taxes and the public does believe there is considerable waste in the system. But that’s different from the conservative caricature of the outraged citizen in full-scale revolt against federal government taxes.

George Soros is trusting these two men among many others to paint a beautiful picture of a “progressive America” voting for the Socialistic changes Soros is using our politicians and our entire government to push down our throats.  More on George Soros later.

The Wikipedia biography of Joel Rogers mentions the term “electoral fusion.”  While the practice may be banned in 42 states, eight states still allow electoral fusion as conventionally practiced; Connecticut, Delaware, Idaho, Mississippi, New York, Oregon, South Carolina, and Vermont.  In several other states, notably New Hampshire, fusion is legal when primary elections are won by write-in candidates.

Electoral fusion is “an arrangement where two or more political parties support a common candidate, pooling the votes for all those parties. By offering to endorse or nominate a major party’s candidate, minor parties can influence the candidate’s platform.”

I believe this practice is used in all 50 of our United States by way of the Libertarian Party with the introduction of “Liberty Republicans” into the mainstream Republican Party.  The Libertarian Party has not been totally successful on its own.  Indeed, many Libertarian candidates, including Rand Paul who is seeking the US Senate seat being relinquished by Jim Bunning of Kentucky, have openly admitted that they can’t win an election as third-party candidates; therefore, they abandon the Libertarian Party for the Republican brand to, they hope, lead to their election.

This tactic is not new to Libertarians.  The Libertarian Party used fusion to elect four members of the New Hampshire state legislature during the early 1990s.

It is the hope of the Libertarians that they will soon control a majority of the political offices held by these “Liberty Republicans” so that they will be able to “reform” the Republican Party into their ideal following the party planks of the Libertarians and dispensing with the Conservative planks of the Republican Party.  Reforming the Republican Party has long been a dream of Ron Paul, Daddy Libertarian himself.

Electoral fusion was once widespread in the United States.  As the practice became more successful for the minor parties, state legislatures began enacting bans against electoral fusion. One Republican Minnesota state legislator was clear about what his party was trying to do: “We don’t propose to allow the Democrats to make allies of the Populists, Prohibitionists, or any other party, and get up combination tickets against us. We can whip them single-handed, but don’t intend to fight all creation.” (Spoiling for a Fight, 227-228). The creation of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party made this particular tactical position obsolete.

Oregon practiced a form of fusion by requiring the state to list multiple nominating parties beside the candidate’s name on the ballot prior to 1958.  Sylvester Pennover was elected Governor in 1886 and 1890 listed as a candidate of both the Democratic and People’s Parties.  Seven members of the Oregon House were elected as candidates of the People’s Party and either the Democratic or Republican Parties in 1906.

The Independent Party of Oregon filed suit in 2008 against the Oregon secretary of State claiming that modifications to the ballot design statute in 1995 again required the state to list any multiple nominating parties on the ballot then used then used fusion to cross-nominate five major party candidates, winning races for the U.S. Senate, Oregon State Treasurer, and the Oregon House of Representatives that same year.  This lawsuit gave rise to State legislation allowing candidates to list up to three party labels after their names on the ballot.  This bill passed both houses of the Oregon legislature and was signed into law on July 23, 2009 by Governor Ted Kulongoski.

Nationally the Democratic Party split into two wings in 1864 over the peace question. The War Democrats fused with the Republicans to elect a Democratic Vice President, Andrew Johnson, and re-elect a Republican President, Abraham Lincoln.

There have been occasions when popular candidates for local office have been nominated by both Republican and Democratic Parties.  Before California banned fusion, republican Governor, Earl Warren, a future chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, won nominations from the Republican, Democratic, and Progressive Parties.

Texas had a similar situation when, in 1952, both the Democratic and Republican Parties nominated Allan Shivers.  His name actually appeared on the ballot twice – once for each party.  Who won?  The Democrat Shivers handily defeated the Republican Shivers in the general election.

The State of Louisiana still uses what is known as “jungle primary.” Another name for this is “nonpartisan blanket primary.”  The top two candidates are moved forward from the primary election regardless of party to a runoff if no candidate wins more than 50% of the vote.  As a result of the “jungle primary,” the 1991 Louisiana gubernatorial election saw white supremacist David Duke, running as a Republican finish in the top two.  Prominent Republicans, not wanted to be associated with the white supremacist, endorsed his Democratic opponent Edwin Edwards.  Because of the “electoral fusion” exhibited by both major parties that joined against a candidate, Edwin Edwards became the Governor of Louisiana.

For those of us not especially familiar with New York political history, Tammany Hall was the name given to the political machine that was the Democratic Party in New York City from 1854 through 1934.  Small parties significant predominately for electoral fusion still use the method in New York.  They include the Working Families Party, Right to Life Party, Liberal Party, Independence Party, and Conservative Party, which is not affiliated with the Conservative Party USA. Most judicial elections are won by candidates endorsed by more than two parties.

Fusion led to the demise of the Liberal Party when in the 2002 New York gubernatorial election, Andrew Cuomo was nominated by the Liberal Party.  He was running against Carl McCall for the Democratic nomination.  McCall had already secured the nomination from the Working Families Party.  Cuomo dropped out and endorsed McCall.  Because of this, the Liberal party did not get the 50,000 votes for governor that was required to receive an automatic place on the ballot.

This troublesome “electoral fusion” in these examples is the same cause Joel Rogers took to the Supreme Court asking the Justices to rule that fusion is a “civil right” of the people.

The Brookings Institution says of Joel Rogers:

Joel Rogers is professor of law, political science, public affairs and sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He directs COWS, the strategy center for high-road (high wage, low waste, democratic) development. Rogers has published widely on American politics and democratic theory, advised many local, state, and national governments, and founded or cofounded many social justice initiatives, most recently the Emerald Cities.

I think it is important to let Emerald Cities speak for itself when possible.

What is ECC?

The Emerald Cities Collaborative (ECC) is a start-up, national coalition of diverse groups that includes unions, labor groups, community organizations, social justice activists, development intermediaries, research and technical assistance providers, socially responsible businesses, and elected officials.

We are united around the goal of rapidly greening our nation’s central cities and their surrounding metropolitan regions in equitable and democratically accountable ways. We envision a future in which American cities are the greenest and most equitable in the world, leading the way to head off global climate change while creating a vital new economic sector.

Mission Statement

The Emerald Cities Collaborative is a consortium of diverse organizations – businesses, unions, community organizations, development intermediaries, social justice advocates, research and technical assistance providers – united around the goal of “greening” our metropolitan areas in high-road ways that advance equal opportunity, shared wealth, and democracy within them.

ECC’s first project is the comprehensive retrofit of America‘s urban building stock. This we propose to do city by city, while realizing as many gains from their joint and mutual assistance and learning as possible.

What they will not tell you is that they are funded both directly and indirectly by George Soros.  As you read the next several paragraphs, see how many times you can count Soros foundations involved in ECC.  I will even help you.  Look for the RED.   By the way, these are only the ones I have been able to confirm as I write this.  There may be others.  I have added some links and italic print to draw attention to some areas.

Board of Directors

Chairman of the Board

Gerry Hudson

SEIU, Executive Vice President

Hudson, who has served as Executive Vice President of SEIU since June 2004, leads the union’s long term care work through new strategies and campaigns. He came to SEIU in 1978 from the Hebrew Home for the Aged in Riverdale, N.Y., where he was a member of SEIU Local 144. Hudson has served on the advisory board of the Apollo Alliance and Redefining Progress, the nation’s leading public policy think tank dedicated to developing innovative public policies that balance economic well being, environmental preservation, and social justice.

In 1996, Hudson served as political director of the New York state Democratic Party and helped lead the union’s campaigns in support of Jesse Jackson’s presidential efforts in New York and the successful New York City mayoral campaign of David Dinkins. He played an instrumental role in the election of H. Carl McCall, the first African American controller in New York State.

Secretary/Treasurer

Doris Koo

Enterprise Community Partners, President and CEO

Doris W. Koo, a nationally respected leader with nearly 30 years of experience in affordable housing and community development, began her career as a community organizer and has been a highly successful developer, public agency administrator and nonprofit executive. From 1979 to 1992, Koo led Asian Americans for Equality in New York City, first as a member of the board of directors and later as founding executive director. After moving to Seattle in 1992, Koo continued her involvement in affordable housing development as senior housing developer at the Fremont Public Association. Koo joined the Seattle Housing Authority as director of development in 1994 and was named deputy executive director in 1999.

Steve Allen

United Association of Plumbers and Pipefitters, Director of the Sustainable Technologies Department

Steven H. Allen, LEED AP is the Vice-Chair of the Green Mechanical Council. Allen has over 40 years experience as an HVACR Service Technician and HVACR educator. He works with HVACR Manufacturers, Contractors Associations, and Career Technical Schools to develop classroom and web-based HVACR certificate and degree programs that lead to employment. He is the developer of the UA STAR Testing and Certification program, and the UA Interactive On-line Curriculum (a web-based file sharing system for UA instructors). Allen has a Masters Degree in Education with a Certification in Instructional Technology.

Angela Blackwell

PolicyLink, Founder and CEO

Angela Glover Blackwell founded PolicyLink in 1999. A renowned community building activist and advocate, Blackwell served as senior vice president of the Rockefeller Foundation where she oversaw the Foundation’s Domestic and Cultural divisions. Blackwell also developed Rockefeller’s Building Democracy division, which focused on race and policy, and created the Next Generation Leadership program. A lawyer by training, she gained national recognition as founder of the Oakland (CA) Urban Strategies Council, where she pioneered new approaches to neighborhood revitalization. From 1977 to 1987, Blackwell was a partner at Public Advocates, a nationally known public interest law firm. She is the co-author of Searching for the Uncommon Common Ground: New Dimensions on Race in America (W.W. Norton & Co., 2002), and contributed to Ending Poverty in America: How to Restore the American Dream (The New Press, 2007), an anthology edited by John Edwards.

Dayna Cunningham

MIT CoLab, Executive Director

Dayna has over 20 years of experience working in democratic engagement and social justice as an attorney, in philanthropy and in development. Dayna worked as a voting rights lawyer with the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, litigating cases in Arkansas, Tennessee, Louisiana, Mississippi and elsewhere in the South. As an Associate Director at the Rockefeller Foundation, she funded initiatives that examined the relationship between democracy and race, changing racial dynamics and new conceptions of race in the U.S., as well as innovation in civil rights legal work. She also worked as an officer for the New York City Program at the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. While associated with Public Interest Projects, a non-profit project management and philanthropic consulting firm based in New York City, she managed foundation collaboratives on social justice issues. Most recently, Dayna directed the ELIAS** Project, an MIT-based collaboration between business, NGOs and government that seeks to use processes of profound innovation to advance economic, social and environmental sustainability.

Dayna holds an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management and a juris doctor degree from New York University School of Law. She has an undergraduate degree from Harvard and Radcliff Colleges.

** The purpose of ELIAS is to prototype and help advance an inclusive and sustainable global market system. I call this a transformation from the current forms of economic and social systems – capitalism 1.0 and 2.0 – to a 3.0 form of capitalism and society. Capitalism 3.0 would enable us to deal with the intertwined 21st-century economic, environmental, and social challenges in a more intentional way—mainly by developing mechanisms for innovating on the scale of the system as a whole.

Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins

Green For All, CEO

Since taking leadership of Green For All in March 2009, Phaedra has led the organization to a stirring string of victories. Chief among these was assembling a civil rights coalition that successfully lobbied for two significant improvements to the House version of the American Clean Energy and Security Act: securing funding for job training, and guaranteeing broad access to clean energy jobs. These are the Act’s only provisions creating opportunity for low-income people and people of color. Prior to joining Green For All, Phaedra was head of the South Bay AFL-CIO Labor Council and Working Partnerships USA.

Jeff Grabelsky

Cornell University, Director of Union Building Strategies

Jeff Grabelsky develops and delivers education and training programs and provides research and technical assistance in all aspects of union affairs.

The programs he has worked on have reached over 300,000 unionists nationwide. Jeff began his career in the labor movement working and organizing in the steel industry in 1973, has been a member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) for thirty years, and is the former national organizing director of the Building and Construction Trades Department (AFL-CIO).

Jack Hayn

IUPAT, Liaison to the AFL-CIO

Jack Hayn formerly served as the Government Affairs field representative for the IUPAT Central Region. His new position as IUPAT liaison to the AFL-CIO includes serving as the representative on the many AFL-CIO constituency groups as well as serving as support on IUPAT efforts on numerous federation committees to include the passage of Health Care Reform and the Employee Free Choice Act.

Hayn began his career in the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades in 1986 when he enrolled as an apprentice glazier in Local Union 181/District Council 6 (Cleveland ). His work in political activism earned him a position on the International staff in December of 2003 as a field representative in Government Affairs. In addition to his duties on the International level, he continued to remain active in Ohio politics. Hayn was a key supporter and volunteer for Governor Ted Strickland.

Art Lujan

The Building & Construction Trades Department, AFL-CIO, Special Assistant to the President

Prior to his current position, Art Lujan served as the Executive Director of the Gulf Coast Construction Career Center (G4C) located in New Orleans, Louisiana. G4C was developed in response to the challenge of reconstructing the Gulf Coast and is supported by a consortium of national and local organizations including the Building and Construction Trades Department of the AFL-CIO, AFL-CIO Investment Trust Corporation, the AFL-CIO and the State of Louisiana. The blueprint for the center was developed by national and local construction industry leaders, including contractors, academic representatives, union representatives, project owners, affordable housing advocates, and investment experts.

Art has previously served as the California State Labor Commissioner in the Governor Gray Davis administration. Art also served as the Business Manager of the San Diego Building Trades Council for fourteen years. During his tenure he developed and implemented a pre-apprenticeship program for the building trades designed to recruit more people of color and females into the trades. During that time he also managed 450 units of low to moderate income housing owned by the building trades unions.

Don Mathis

Community Action Partnership, President & CEO

Don Mathis heads up the national membership organization of CAP which represents more than 1,000 Community Action agencies across America that work to promote economic security for all in America. Mathis is responsible for the Partnership’s national “Rooting Out Poverty” campaign and for raising the visibility of Community Action through strategic branding, marketing, public relations, and new collaborations, thereby serving as a key advocate for the 37 million Americans who live in poverty. Mathis has over 35 years experience in managing, designing, and lobbying for children, youth, and family programs at the community, state, and national levels. He held a senior staff position with the federal Corporation for National and Community Service that included managing 600+ AmeriCorps volunteers at the 1996 Olympics. He directed the Pennsylvania Conservation Corps and the National Youth Employment Coalition.

Leslie Moody

The Partnership for Working Families, Executive Director

Leslie Moody heads a national network dedicated to building power and reshaping the urban environment and economy for workers and communities. Prior to leading the Partnership, Leslie dedicated 15 years to changing Colorado’s organizing and political landscape. As the first woman president of the Denver Area Labor Federation, she spent a decade building a unified and successful movement which helped transform the state political alignment, and raise the minimum wage. As labor council president, she also co-founded the Front Range Economic Strategy Center (FRESC), and co-chaired the successful community benefits campaign at the Cherokee-Gates redevelopment. Committed to building a diverse and effective movement, Leslie has helped train thousands of union, community and student organizers; led organizing and policy campaigns impacting tens of thousands of low-wage workers; and helped block millions of dollars in public subsidy to Wal-Mart and other low-road employers.

Sally Prouty

The Corps Network, President

Ms. Prouty serves as an advocate for The Network’s 143 member Corps. She served four years as Deputy Director Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) and seven years as Director of the Ohio Civilian Conservation Corps (OCCC), a division of ODNR, operating two residential and six non-residential programs statewide. In addition to working 30 years in the public and private sectors, Ms. Prouty has nearly an equal number of years of experience in volunteer non-profit positions at the local, state, national and international levels including serving on a public school Board of Education and on the founding board of a faith-based Charter School. Ms. Prouty also holds a degree in Organizational Communication from Capital University in Columbus, Ohio. Her current work is concentrated on utilizing national and community service as a strategy to revitalize communities, preserve and restore the environment, prepare young people for responsible, productive lives and build civic spirit through service. Currently, Ms. Prouty is co-chair of the national Campaign for Youth and until recently served as founding co-chair of Voices for National Service.

Kevin Reilly

Laborers’ International Union of North America, Home Performance Coordinator

Kevin Reilly grew up in PA in an Irish Democrat household, whose grandfather was a steelworker. Reilly received his PhD in History from UMass-Amherst, where he was shop steward for the Graduate Employee Organization, a bargaining unit in UAW local. He taught US history survey courses and seminar in US women and business history at Morgan State University and University of Maryland before joining Laborers’ International Union of North America (LIUNA) in 2006.

Joel Rogers

COWS, Director

Joel Rogers, a former labor organizer, is a professor of law, political science, public affairs, and sociology at the university. He is the director of COWS, MIP, and CSI, senior policy advisor to Green for All, and cofounder and first chair of the Apollo Alliance. Joel has written widely on democratic theory and contemporary politics and is a MacArthur Foundation “genius” fellow, identified by Newsweek as one of the 100 living Americans mostly likely to shape U.S. politics and culture in the 21st century. John Sweeney and Andy Stern jointly said of Rogers: “nobody outside the American labor movement has shaped our present thinking as profoundly.”

Michael Rubinger

LISC, Executive Director

Michael Rubinger has been the President and Chief Executive Officer of Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) since 1999. Prior to joining LISC, he was the Executive Vice President of the Pew Charitable Trusts, one of the largest private foundations in the country. Mr. Rubinger has more than thirty years experience in the housing and economic development fields. He worked for the City of New York as Assistant Commissioner of Employment and Training and was also responsible for planning and implementing various housing and employment-related national demonstration projects for the Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation, a non-profit policy research corporation. Earlier in his career, he helped to administer the Ford Foundation’s community and economic development initiatives. Mr. Rubinger is a graduate of Brown University and the Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy at Tufts.

Dorothy Stoneman

YouthBuild USA, Founder and President

Dorothy Stoneman heads the national support center for 273 YouthBuild programs and is a leader in advocating for youth engagement in civil society. She is chairman of the National YouthBuild Coalition, with more than 1,000 member organizations in 45 states, Washington D.C., and the Virgin Islands. After joining the Civil Rights movement in 1964, Stoneman lived and worked for 24 years in Harlem.

She has built grassroots coalitions that have succeeded in obtaining hundreds of millions of dollars of city, state, and federal funds for community-based organizations to implement programs for youth and community development in low-income neighborhoods. She was selected by Non Profit Times as one of the 50 most influential non-profit leaders in 2008, awarded the prestigious international Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship in 2007, the John Gardner Annual Leadership Award from the Independent Sector in 2000, and a MacArthur Fellowship (“genius grant”) in 1996. Stoneman serves as a trustee of America’s Promise: The Alliance for Youth; a member of the steering committees of Voices for National Service, ServiceNation, America Forward, and Campaign for Youth. She served on the Task Force to End Poverty of the Center for American Progress which issued a set of recommendations in 2007 regarding how to cut poverty in half in ten years.

Phil Thompson

MIT, Associate Professor of Urban Politics

Phil is an urban planner and a political scientist. In the early 1990s, Phil worked as deputy general manager of the New York Housing Authority, and as director of the Mayor’s Office of Housing Coordination. He is a frequent advisor to trade unions in their efforts to work with immigrant and community groups across the United States. Phil’s most recent academic work includes a 2004 review of public health interventions in poor black communities (written with Arline Geronimus) published in the Du Bois Review, entitled “To Denigrate, Ignore, or Disrupt: The Health Impact of Policy induced Breakdown of Urban African American Communities of Support”; an article entitled “Judging Mayors” in the June 2005 issue of Perspectives on Politics; and a recent book, Double Trouble: Black Mayors, Black Communities, and the Struggle for Deep Democracy, published by Oxford University Press. Following Hurricane Katrina, Phil coordinated MIT’s technical assistance efforts in the Gulf.

Ken Wade

NeighborWorks America, CEO

Kenneth D. Wade oversees the provision of technical assistance, financial assistance and training that assists over 3,000 community based organizations and oversees the support of a national network of more than 240 affordable housing and community development organizations serving over 4,000 communities. Wade, who joined NeighborWorks America in 1990, has more than 25 years of experience in community development. He most recently served for five years as NeighborWorks America’s director of national programs, initiatives, and research. In addition, he served as the director of the NeighborWorks America New England district for eight years. Prior to joining NeighborWorks America, Wade worked for nine years with Boston’s United South End Settlements.

Jerry Westerholm

International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Director

Sunia Zaterman

Council of Large Public Housing Authorities (CLPHA), Executive Director

Sunia Zaterman joined CLPHA as Executive Director in 1994. She has over thirty years experience in housing issues at the federal, state and local levels. From 1994 to 2004, she also served as Executive Vice President of the Housing Research Foundation. Prior to her tenure at CLPHA, she served as the Director of Research and Development at the Alexandria, Virginia Redevelopment and Housing Authority and the Executive Director of the Travis County, Texas Housing Authority. In addition, she has worked at the Texas State Legislature and the New York State Housing Finance Agency. She holds a Masters Degree in Urban Planning from Princeton University and a Bachelors Degree in History from Barnard College, Columbia University. Ms. Zaterman serves as a Trustee of CHF International, an international community development organization and the National Housing Conference (NHC). She also serves on the editorial advisory boards of Affordable Housing Finance and Housing and Development Reporter.

Staff

Peter Banks

Special Assistant to the Chair of the Board

Peter Banks is a native of Washington, DC. He has worked as a tenant organizer and more recently has consulted for the Local Initiatives Support Corporation and the Annie E. Casey Foundation. In 2004, he published a book that he co-wrote about public and subsidized housing, entitled The Unintended Consequences. He is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and MIT.

Deborah Kobes

National Policy Director

Deborah Kobes is the first staff member of the Emerald Cities Collaborative. Prior to Emerald Cities, she consulted for the Community Innovators Lab at MIT in several capacities including the Project Manager for Innovation and Equity Transform America, a collection of memos for the Presidential Transition Team. She has also been a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow; Brookings Research Fellow in the Metropolitan Policy Program at the Brookings Institution; and a Research Associate at the Urban Institute as part of the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center. Kobes received her PhD in Urban Political Economy and Governance from MIT and a B.S.E. in Civil Engineering and Architecture from Princeton University.

Wenda Tai

Managing Director

Wenda Tai joins Emerald Cities Collaborative as the second national staff member. Prior to Emerald Cities, she spent 15 years in a variety of leadership roles in higher education facilitating interdisciplinary research and programs on global health and democratic governance as well as strategic campus planning and systemic improvements of core business operations. She established a track record of moving initiatives from an entrepreneurial, start-up phase to a more sustainable, institution-building stage. Prior to her work in higher education, Tai worked for the Massachusetts Port Authority as senior policy analyst for several major projects, including strategic land use planning at the airport and revenue-enhancing business arrangements for the airport and the seaport. Tai began her career in grassroots advocacy, community organizing and union drives with several community-based organizations in New York City. She has served on the board and advisory committee of several activist foundations, including the Boston Women’s Fund and Resist.

There is much more all of which is designed to lead America down the rocky road of following their ideas and opinions of how America should look, act, live and exist.  This is a major part of Obama’s “spread the wealth” Socialism and Soros’ overtaking America for his own Communistic viewpoint – the State owns everything and thus dictates to “the worker.”

The membership of ECC is listed below if you care to see how deeply imbedded they are in our everyday society.

Members

Building and Construction Trades Department, AFL-CIO (BCTD)

BCTD provides essential coordination and support to the work of its affiliated national and international unions in order that, through inter-trade solidarity, organized construction workers achieve a powerful voice in government, in bargaining, and in their communities. For nearly a century, the BCTD has secured the trade jurisdiction and autonomy of its affiliates as the respected arbiter of trade issues and through that work has contributed to the continuity of employment and economic security of organized construction workers in the US and Canada.

Center On Wisconsin Strategy (COWS)

COWS is a national policy center and field laboratory for high-road economic development a competitive market economy of shared prosperity, environmental sustainability, and capable democratic government. COWS’ work is collaborative, experimental, and evidence-driven. Working with business, government, labor, and communities, we try out new ideas, test their effectiveness, and disseminate those with promise. COWS believes that the best way to predict the future is to start making it, particularly in our states and metro regions.

Community Action Partnership

The Community Action Partnership was established in 1971 as the National Association of Community Action Agencies (NACAA) and is the national organization representing the interests of the 1,000 Community Action Agencies (CAAs) working to fight poverty at the local level. The mission of the Community Action Partnership is to strengthen, promote, represent, and serve the network of member agencies to assure that the issues of poverty are effectively presented and addressed.

The Corps Network

The Corps Network is the voice of the nation’s 143 Service and Conservation Corps. Currently operating in 44 states and the District of Columbia, Corps annually enroll more than 29,000 young men and women in service. Corps annually mobilize approximately 227,000 community volunteers who in conjunction with Corpsmembers generate 21.3 million hours of service every year. Today’s Corps, inheritors of the legacy of FDR’s Civilian Conservation Corps, enable Corpsmembers to improve community and the environment through programs including Civic Justice Corps, Public Lands Corps, Clean Energy Service Corps, and Corps Respond. By serving their nation, Corpsmembers gain abilities that last a lifetime, including work readiness, educational advancement, civic engagement, and the ability to make responsible choices.

Council of Large Public Housing Authorities
The Council of Large Public Housing Authorities is a national non-profit organization that works to preserve and improve public and affordable housing through advocacy, research, policy analysis and public education. CLPHA’s 60 members represent virtually every major metropolitan area in the country. Together they manage manage 40 percent of the nation’s public housing program; administer 26 percent of the Housing Choice Voucher program; and operate a wide array of other housing programs.

Enterprise Community Partners

Enterprise is a national nonprofit with more than 25 years of experience in the community development and affordable housing field. They are the leading provider of capital and expertise for affordable housing and community development. Enterprise creates opportunity for low- and moderate-income people through fit, affordable housing and diverse, thriving communities. Central to their mission is a fundamental commitment to give people living in poverty an opportunity to move up and out. They believe that these opportunities are best provided in communities with a diverse mix of affordable and market housing options, access to jobs and social supports, and a strong commitment to the environment and civic participation.

Green For All

Green For All is a national organization working to build an inclusive green economy strong enough to lift people out of poverty. Green For All is dedicated to improving the lives of all Americans through a clean energy economy. They work in collaboration with the business, government, labor, and grassroots communities to create and implement programs that increase quality jobs and opportunities in green industry all while holding the most vulnerable people at the center of their agenda.

International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW)

The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) represents approximately 725,000 members who work in a wide variety of fields, including utilities, construction, telecommunications, broadcasting, manufacturing, railroads and government. The IBEW has members in both the United States and Canada and stands out among the American unions in the AFL-CIO because it is among the largest and has members in so many skilled occupations.

International Union of Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT)

IUPAT represents a growing force of over 140,000 working men and women in the United States and Canada. Our members work in the finishing trades as painters, drywall finishers, wallcoverers, glaziers, glass workers, floor covering installers, sign makers, display workers, convention and show decorators, and in many more exciting occupations. IUPAT members skills are in high demand at every construction project in North America. The IUPAT membership extends beyond far beyond the workplace, however. Recognized as one of the most active unions in the labor movement, IUPAT members help shape their communities in many ways: through an abiding commitment to service, by fighting passionately for workers rights that benefit all working families, and through effective and aggressive political mobilization.

Laborer International Union of North America (LIUNA)

LIUNA is the most progressive, aggressive and fastest-growing union of construction workers, and one of the most diverse and effective unions representing public service employees. LIUNA members are on the forefront of the construction industry a sector that is a powerhouse of 12 million workers producing 5 percent of our countries economic output. A half-million strong, they are united through collective bargaining agreements which help them earn family-supporting pay, good benefits and the opportunity for advancement and better lives.

The Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC)

(LISC is dedicated to helping community residents transform distressed neighborhoods into healthy and sustainable communities of choice and opportunity good places to work, do business and raise children. LISC mobilizes corporate, government and philanthropic support to provide local community development organizations with: loans, grants and equity investments; local, statewide and national policy support; and technical and management assistance. LISC is a national organization with a community focus.

MIT Community Innovators Lab (CoLab)

CoLab is a center for community-engaged research and practice within MIT’s Department of Urban Studies and Planning. They work with low-income/low-wealth communities in putting their assets to work to help strengthen civic life and use the market as an arena for achieving social justice. CoLab supports the development and use of knowledge from excluded communities to deepen civic engagement, improve community practice, inform policy, mobilize community assets, and generate shared wealth. CoLab facilitates the interchange of knowledge and resources between MIT and community organizations and engages students to be practitioners of this approach to community change and sustainability.

NeighborWorks America

NeighborWorks America is a national nonprofit organization created by Congress to provide financial support, technical assistance, and training for community-based revitalization efforts. NeighborWorks America helps build healthy communities. Together, with national and local partners, NeighborWorks creates new opportunities for residents while improving communities.

Partnership For Working Families

The Partnership for Working Families is dedicated to building power and reshaping the economy and urban environment for workers and communities. Our movement shares a commitment to expanding and connecting community and worker organizing for quality jobs, affordable housing, shared prosperity, and a healthy environment. In this era of hope, we are building our capacity to win big in cities, and adding it up to move a national agenda for change. Through strong alliances with environmental, labor, faith-based and civil rights organizations, we are dreaming and organizing together toward an economic expansion that rises above environmental and economic exploitation.

PolicyLink

PolicyLink is a national research and action institute advancing economic and social equity by Lifting Up What Works. Founded in 1999, PolicyLink connects the work of people on the ground to the creation of sustainable communities of opportunity that allow everyone to participate and prosper. Such communities offer access to quality jobs, affordable housing, good schools, transportation, and the benefits of healthy food and physical activity. Guided by the belief that those closest to the nation’s challenges are central to finding solutions, PolicyLink relies on the wisdom, voice, and experience of local residents and organizations.

United Association of Plumbers and Pipefitters (UA)

The United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipe Fitting Industry of the United States and Canada or “UA” as it is commonly known is a multi-craft union whose members are engaged in the fabrication, installation and servicing of piping systems. There are approximately 326,000 highly-skilled United Association members who belong to over 300 individual local unions across North America. UA serves as a collective voice for workers through negotiation and collective bargaining with employing contractor groups, such as the Mechanical Contractors Association of America, and the National Association of Plumbing-Heating-Cooling Contractors. The UA is also a key member of the Building and Construction Trades Department, the AFL-CIO, and the Canadian Federation of Labour.

YouthBuild USA

YouthBuild is a youth and community development program that simultaneously addresses core issues facing low-income communities: housing, education, employment, crime prevention, and leadership development. In YouthBuild programs, low-income young people ages 16-24 work toward their GEDs or high school diplomas, learn job skills and serve their communities by building affordable housing, and transform their own lives and roles in society.

Additional Member Organizations

• AFL-CIO Center for Green Jobs [www.workingforamerica.org]
• Apollo Alliance [www.apolloalliance.org]
• Bronze Investments
• Building Futures [www.bfri.org]
• C-Change Investments [www.cchangeinvestments.com]
• California Construction Academy, UCLA Labor Center [www.labor.ucla.edu]
• Change to Win [www.changetowin.org]
• Civic Ventures[www.civicventures.org]
• DC Project [www.weatherizedc.org]
• Detroiters Working for Environmental Justice [www.dwej.org]
• National Association for the Advancement of Colored People [www.naacp.org]
• Pantheon Properties [www.pantheonproperties.com]
• PA State Representative John Siptroth [www.pahouse.com]
• United Steelworkers [www.usw.org]
• US Green Buildings Council [www.usgbc.org]
• Wider Opportunities for Women[www.WOWonline.org]

Donors

• Annie E. Casey Foundation
• Nathan Cummings Foundation
• The Joyce Foundation
• The Kendeda Fund
• The Kresge Foundation
• Living Cities
• The Rockefeller Foundation
• Surdna Foundation

National Strategy

Beyond our partner Emerald Cities, ECC promotes Emerald Strategies nationwide that promote Emerald Goals to green our cities, build our communities, and strengthen our democracy. We foster a comprehensive and equitable approach by 1) presenting Building Blocks to individuals, organizations, and local governments interested in engaging in this work; and 2) creating National Programs with our member organizations