We believe that all people deserve respect and compassion.

No one should be hurt or thrown in the back of a police car when all they need is a little help. But too often, police target poor and working class neighborhoods and Black neighborhoods for more arrests.

And yet, often what our neighborhoods need are more services: for mental health care, for addiction, for housing, and a hotline to call when we or someone we love is having a crisis.

Sign your name now to demand that the City of Cleveland & Cuyahoga County:

• listen to people who have seen what’s wrong with the way things work now, including people who have been targeted by the police, been in jail or prison, been struggling with an addiction, or been through mental health challenges
• implement a care response pilot program – meaning a trial of a program where community and mental health workers respond to certain crisis calls, without any police officer present – that protects us and our loved ones.

Click here to add your name!

The post Sign the Petition: We need a non-police care response now! appeared first on Cuyahoga County Progressive Caucus.

Shaker Heights Fundraiser Saturday, August 13 @ 3:30 pm. Click the link to RSVP and receive event location.

Virtual Phone Bank Every Tuesday from 5:30 to 8 pm. Click the link to RSVP and receive the Zoom link.

Social Media Squad Volunteer Training Wednesday, August 17 from 6 to 7 pm or Thursday, August 18 from 6:30 to 7:30 pm (digital).

The post Volunteer for Nan Whaley for Ohio Governor appeared first on Cuyahoga County Progressive Caucus.

In – Person Phone Bank Wednesday, August 17 from 5:30 to 7:30 pm. Click the link to register and receive the event location

Postcard Party with NEO Young Black Dems and Cuyahoga Young Dems Friday, August 19 from 6 to 8 pm. Click the link to register and receive the event location

Virtual Phone Bank Every Wednesday beginning August 24 from 5:30 to 7:30 pm. Click the link to register and receive the Zoom link

The post Volunteer for Chris Ronayne for County Executive appeared first on Cuyahoga County Progressive Caucus.

A Green City on a Blue Lake? That’s their slogan. But it’s time to call out their phony environmentalism. On Monday, December 2 Cleveland City Council is expected to vote on legislation to put a hold on Cuyahoga County’s plastic bag ban. Plastic pollution is a major global environmental threat. It is especially a threat to the health of Lake Erie where they erode and disintegrate and enter the lake’s food chain. On Monday, December 2 CCPC and other Environmentalist Activists plan to call out the phony environmentalism of Cleveland City Hall. We’ll meet at the Lakeside entrance of City Hall at 6 pm on Monday for a protest and bag in. If the weather is bad we’ll meet in the Rotunda. We plan to deliver as many plastic bags as possible to the green hypocrites in City Hall at their 7 pm meeting.

On Wednesday the Cleveland.com Editorial Board suggested that Cuyahoga County Council has not done enough to fully explore and discuss Cleveland’s concerns with the county wide Plastic Bag Ban Legislation passed on May 28. But some question’s need to be asked. With the County’s legislation set to begin on January 1 why did Cleveland City Council wait until now to put a hold on the legislation when they had the last six months to study and ask questions about the implementation process? Could it be that they were hoping that the Ohio General Assembly would pass a statewide ban on Plastic Bag Bans so that they wouldn’t have to deal with it? The fact that emergency legislation is being rushed through on the last City Council meeting of the year before the January 1 implementation date says a lot about the answer.

The post Protect Lake Erie from Cleveland City Council appeared first on Cuyahoga County Progressive Caucus.

On Monday, November 25 Cleveland City Council President Kevin Kelley introduced legislation to delay implementation of the plastic ban bag passed by the County Council on May 28. It is expected that this legislation will be fast tracked through City Council and voted on at the December 2 meeting. The countywide ban goes into effect January 1 but individual communities can opt out if they pass legislation before that date as Brooklyn did several weeks ago . A Cleveland opt out, even for a few years would effectively kill the ban and all of the ecological benefits it would bring. Cuyahoga County fears Cleveland may opt out of plastic bag ban, diminishing its effectiveness describes the situation with a little more detail.

If you live in Cleveland please contact your City Councilperson ASAP to voice your opposition to this legislation. If you live in Cleveland but aren’t sure what Ward you live in please click here. If you don’t live in Cleveland but know someone who does and would be outraged enough about this to contact their councilperson please contact them.

Ward 1: Joe Jones – 216 664 4944, jjones@clevelandcitycouncil.org
Ward 2: Kevin Bishop – 216 664 4945, kbishop@clevelandcitycouncil.org
Ward 3: Kerry McCormack – 216 664 2961 kmccormack@clevelandcitycouncil.org
Ward 4: Ken Johnson – 216 664 4941, kjohnson@clevelandcitycouncil.org
Ward 5: Phyllis Cleveland – 216 664 2309, pcleveland@clevelandcitycouncil.org
Ward 6: Blaine Griffin – 216 664 4234, bgriffin@clevelandcitycouncil.org
Ward 7: Basheer Jones – 216 664 2908, bjones@clevelandcitycouncil.org

Ward 8: Michael Polensek – 216 664 4236, mpolensek@clevelandcitycouncil.org
Ward 9: Kevin Conwell – 216 664 4252, kconwell@clevelandcitycouncil.org
Ward 10: Anthony Hairston – 216 664 4743, ahairston@clevelandcitycouncil.org
Ward 11: Dona Brady – 216 664 3708, dbrady@clevelandcitycouncil.org
Ward 12: Anthony Brancatelli – 216 664 4233, abrancatelli@clevelandcitycouncil.org
Ward 13: Kevin Kelley – 216 664 4579, kkelley@clevelandcitycouncil.org
Ward 14: Jasmin Santana – 216 664 4238, jsantana@clevelandcitycouncil.org

Ward 15: Matt Zone – 216 664 4235, mzone@clevelandcitycouncil.org
Ward 16: Brian Kazy – 216 664 2942, bkazy@clevelandcitycouncil.org
Ward 17: Charles Slife – 216 664 4239, cslife@clevelandcitycouncil.org

The post Contact your Cleveland City Councilperson ASAP! Plastic Bag Ban in Jeopardy appeared first on Cuyahoga County Progressive Caucus.

In response to publicly stated concerns about the role of money from shadowy sources in elections, the Cuyahoga County Progressive Caucus in Beachwood asked all candidates for the Beachwood City Council and the Board of Education to take the Defense of Democracy Pledge which commits them “to publicly disavow all funded efforts to influence the results of an election that do not disclose the donor or the source of the money.” Eight of thirteen candidates have taken the pledge so far, including all of the city council candidates.

Concern about the issue of undisclosed money arose during a Beachwood School Board Candidate Forum hosted by the Cuyahoga County Progressive Caucus at the Beachwood Branch of the Cuyahoga County Public Library on September 19^th. Before the forty-five gathered in attendance, a question from the audience drew attention to the American Policy Coalition’s anonymously funded ad campaign in Beachwood. The ad campaign sought to influence the vote on a local school levy in 2018. The question from the audience asked the candidates at the forum to take a pledge against what has been termed “dark money” because of the secretive nature of the funding source.

The American Policy Coalition is a Montana-based organization. In media coverage, its ad campaign was not supported by leaders on either side of the levy debate. Outside interference in a local matter was seen as polluting the electoral waters.

Despite what would seem an uncontroversial moral stand to take, two candidates for the Board of Education have not taken the pledge: Tiffanie Broadbent and Kareen Caputo.

Defense of Democracy Pledge

We, the undersigned, vow to publicly disavow all funded efforts to influence the results of an election that do not disclose the donor or the source of the money. In a time when large sums of money are spent by individuals and corporations to create lopsided electoral playing fields, we take a firm stand against those who would corrupt our democracy with secretive donations that mask and hide their undue influence. Regardless of the candidate, we publicly reject any ads in the form of mailings, social media, radio, television, or print that are paid for with money that cannot be traced to its source. Accountability depends upon transparency, and we pledge to defend our democracy.

Justin Berns, Candidate for Beachwood City Council

Mike Burkons, Candidate for Beachwood City Council

Barbara Bellin Janovitz, Candidate for Beachwood City Council

Brian Linick, Candidate for Beachwood City Council

June Taylor, Candidate for Beachwood City Council

Jillian DeLong, Candidate for Beachwood Board of Education

Dawann Gray, Candidate for Beachwood Board of Education

Marla Hart, Candidate for Beachwood Board of Education

Richard Loeb, Candidate for Beachwood Board of Education

Joshua Mintz, Candidate for Beachwood Board of Education

Megan Walsh, Candidate for Beachwood Board of Education

The post Democracy in Beachwood appeared first on Cuyahoga County Progressive Caucus.

GM is still getting corporate welfare—since Trump took office, some $700 million in federal contracts and $700 million in tax breaks (including the president’s giant corporate tax cut).  #UAWStrike https://ourrev.us/iCFaSS

Join us Saturday, October 5 at the GM Parma Plant, 5615 Chevrolet Blvd. Cleveland, OH 44130 from 1:00 to 2:15 for a live stream from the picket line.

When we are finished we will be heading to Lakewood to knock on doors for Our Revolution endorsed candidates in Lakewood:

• Meghan George, Lakewood OH Mayor
• Laura Rodriguez-Carbone, Lakewood City Council, Ward 1
• Brad Presutto, Lakewood City Council, Ward 2
• Jeff Wise, Lakewood City Council, Ward 3

Meet at the CCPC office: 11910 Detroit Ave. Lakewood, OH 44107 at 2:30 pm.

The post Join Our Revolution Standing With GM Workers appeared first on Cuyahoga County Progressive Caucus.

The post Activists demand Cuyahoga County prosecutor follow progressive prosecutors elsewhere, bar requests of cash bail for low-risk defendants appeared first on Cuyahoga County Progressive Caucus.

Ohio nuclear bailout bill held up because of lawmakers absences​was the good news from last Wednesday evening as four expected yes votes in the House that were needed to get the bill passed did not show up. 

It was initially expected that a new vote would take place on August 1, but we have since learned that the vote is now expected to occur this Tuesday, July 23.

We are not sure if Tuesday’s vote is to approve the Senate version of the bill or to send it to a conference committee to work out a compromise bill. Either way action is needed today.

Please take a minute to make three calls and/or emails using the links provided. 

One goes to your state representative.​ 

The other two go to:  

District 56 Representative Joe Miller – Phone (614) 466-5141 Email: Rep56@ohiohouse.gov​​

District 10 Representative Terrence Upchurch – Phone (614) 466-7954​ Email: Rep10@ohiohouse.gov​

These are Democrats in Northeast Ohio who initially voted for the bill but with enough pressure may do the right thing this time. 
Below are some suggested talking points you can use in your emails

• I do not support HB6, the dirty energy bailout bill.

• The legislation would increase monthly electric bill to bail out old uneconomic nuclear, and nuclear plants and gut Ohio’s clean energy and efficiency standards.

• Please oppose HB6, and support energy efficiency, and clean energy programs that reduce energy costs, and protect our health.

• The rest of the country, including neighboring states in the Midwest, are moving forward to retire coal plants and invest in clean energy.

• One in five people in the US now live in communities committed to 100% clean energy, and the price of renewable energy is expected to be consistently cheaper than fossil fuels by 2020.

The post HB 6 vote scheduled for Tuesday! Contact your State Representative ASAP! appeared first on Cuyahoga County Progressive Caucus.

GM is still getting corporate welfare—since Trump took office, some $700 million in federal contracts and $700 million in tax breaks (including the president’s giant corporate tax cut).  #UAWStrike https://ourrev.us/iCFaSS

Join us Saturday, October 5 at the GM Parma Plant, 5615 Chevrolet Blvd. Cleveland, OH 44130 from 1:00 to 2:15 for a live stream from the picket line.

When we are finished we will be heading to Lakewood to knock on doors for Our Revolution endorsed candidates in Lakewood:

• Meghan George, Lakewood OH Mayor
• Laura Rodriguez-Carbone, Lakewood City Council, Ward 1
• Brad Presutto, Lakewood City Council, Ward 2
• Jeff Wise, Lakewood City Council, Ward 3

Meet at the CCPC office: 11910 Detroit Ave. Lakewood, OH 44107 at 2:30 pm.

The post Join Our Revolution Standing With GM Workers appeared first on Cuyahoga County Progressive Caucus.