Please join us for a community conversation about housing justice in our community March 7th, 7-8:30pm at Cavalry Center for Culture & Community (48th & Baltimore)!
From that first meeting in October through the end of January, I’ve devoted most of my time and energy to organizing around the evictions happening at the Arvilla apartment building on my block.
While we weren’t able to prevent the sale of the building, we have:
- done a pile of organizing and put a bunch of pressure on Mission First
- won an extension for the residents & basic relocation assistance
- collected media to share the real on the ground experiences of the residents & issued a forceful response to MF’s rosy statement on the building sale
- gathered significant press coverage so that this injustice did not go unnoticed: Inquirer, NBC10, DP, Metro, UC Review, Hidden City, and more…
- started productive conversations w/ offices of Councilwomen Blackwell & Gym, and Penn’s office of govt & community relations.
- rallied a lot of help for individual neighbors in the forms of gifts, supplies, moving assistance, individual financial support & administrative support.
- raised $17k through a 501c3 fiscal sponsor that is being disbursed directly to affected residents as visa gift cards to help them through this troubling transition.
It’s time to take stock of both all that we’ve accomplished as a community and to plan what our next steps are together.
We’re continuing to move forward along two paths, with continued direct support for the residents who were ejected from our neighborhood, while also turning an eye to the larger work of shaping larger change in housing policy in our neighborhood & city.
Join us:
Thursday March 7th
7:00 – 8:30pm
Calvary Center for Culture & Community
RSVP via Facebook or just show up.
Please spread the word & share the invitation with anyone concerned about housing justice in our community, and make sure you’re on the email list for future updates.
