CEJ 2012 Annual Report

7/22/2019 CEJ 2012 Annual Report

1/8

2012 ANNUAL REPORTCOALITION FOR

ECONOMIC JUSTICECEJ IS AN AFFILIATE OF JOBS WITH

JUSTICE AND THE NEW YORK STATELABOR RELIGION COALITION

237 Main Street, Suite 1200Buffalo, NY 14202

716-892-5877 (p) 716-852-3200 (f)

www.cejbuffalo.org


2/8

The past year was one of many changes for CEJ. We deepened our relationship with ourJobs with Justice counterparts in other areas of the state and began a process of planning truly joint strategy to build statewide progressive power. Internally, our long-time organizersshifted into new roles, with Micaela taking on leadership and campaign developmentresponsibilities as Organizing Director and Andy moving into a position centered on themany types of communications we engage in. For the first time, we were able to hire astaff member, Saty, dedicated to development and fundraising, which led to some of ourbest events ever. And after seven years of service, Allison Duwe stepped down to focusmore attention on her family, which led to me joining CEJ as Executive Director inSeptember.

It has been an exciting and challenging few months as weve gone through the transitionprocess, and with the leadership of the CEJ Board of Directors and support of ourmembers and allies, we are poised to grow as an organization.

We are proud of all that CEJ has accomplished in 2012. On the following pages are our top12 highlights of the year, but our work is never done. We are excited for the challenges andopportunities to come in 2013, and we are looking forward to working with all of you tobuild power and make positivechange for workers here inWestern New York and acrossthe state.

In solidarity,

Jennifer DiagostinoExecutive Director

Page 2

A Year of Change, Growth, and Accomplishments

2012


3/8

Top 12 from 2012

Brought Local Hiring and Living Wages to Waterfront Development

CEJ and the Canal Side Community Alliance won a major victorywith the Webster Block development agreement. After years of pushing the Mayor, Common Council, and Erie Canal HarborDevelopment Corporate to embrace a Community BenefitsAgreement for the development of our waterfront, the Cityincluded many of our terms in the sale of the Webster Block to

the Sabres HARBOR center. This agreement includes using local labor for construction, seeking cityresidents for post-construction jobs, and living wages for employees of the ice rink and parking ramp.

Fought for a Long Overdue Minimum Wage Increase

As part of the New York Civic Engagement Table, CEJ unitedworkers, labor, faith, and business allies to build public andpolitical support for an increase in NYs minimum wage andindex it to the rising cost of living. We told NYS SenatorGrisanti a quarter wont cut it, mobilizing low -wage workers

and advocates outside his office to call on him to support theproposed increase. We marched outside City Hall with labor,faith, and community leaders to a NYS Assembly hearing onthe minimum wage, where the speakers we turned out to givetestimony outnumbered opponents by more than three-to-one.

Along with the Clean Air Coalition and Citizen Action of WNY, we conducted polling for the first time everin Grisantis district, finding considerable support for raising the minimum wage, encouraging him to actin the interests of his constituents. And we took the fight to Albany, mobilizing dozens of WNY faithleaders to call on Governor Cuomo to take action on the minimum wage.

Pushed- Back Verizons Corporate Greed

We supported a nationwide campaign to win a fair contract forVerizon workers and preserve good, middle class jobs. Working incoordination with CWA, IBEW, and national Jobs with Justice, CEJdrove local efforts that included occupying multiple Verizon Wirelessstores with over 100 labor, faith, community and Occupy Buffaloleaders and organized direct actions with hundreds of others atVerizons corporate offices to pushback against Verizons corporategreed. It was these tenacious efforts, and the workers resolve tostrike again if necessary that led to this important victory. It shows

that solidarity can win and corporate greed can be defeated.

Page 3


4/8

Seasonal Sanitation Workers Took Fight to the City for back wagesSeasonal Sanitation workers took a firm stand against the Citys repeated refusalto pay them the full wages they are owed. Timothy Johnson, CEJ leader andSeasonal Sanitation worker captured significant attention when his courageousand honest letter was printed in Artvoice and featured in the newspapers 2012

Year in Review highlighting Tims statement, Byron Brown, do the right thing.One time, do the right thing. Another worker, Abraham McKinney, who is also aCEJ Board Member, videotaped powerful testimony that was presented to anopen committee of the Common Council, as he was unable to attend due to workobligations. Abrahams statement concluded with, We worked it, we earned, wedeserve it.

Despite winning multiple lawsuits against the City over the past two years, CEJ andSeasonal Sanitation workers were dealt a significant blow in our effort to win theback wages the City owes the workers when the NYS Appeals Court ruled in favor of the City and the Control Board on a technicality. While this was a distinct setback toCEJ and Seasonal Sanitation workers, the fight is not over. There have been criticalvictories along the way to build momentum for justice.

Launched the Corporate Tax-Dodgers Hall of ShameCEJ and our Getting Our Moneys Worth partners launched a renewedeffort with community, labor, and faith allies all around the state to getgood jobs, not giveaways from public investments in developmentprojects. In 6 regions of New York, our coalition held energizing liveinduction ceremonies where we literally rolled out red carpets. In WNY

we inducted Carl Paladino and VWR in the Finger Lakes.

Our coalition also launched the Corporate Tax Dodgers Hall of Shame a website at www.gettingourmoneysworth.org , featuring notableexamples of corporations that have cashed in on tax breaks but failedto deliver on jobs and community benefits. These efforts further

exposed an economic development system that makes it far too easy for corporations to swindletaxpayers. while making it clear that we will continue to fight to fix this system to create good jobs,strong communities, and to have a voice in the process .

Expanded the Movement for Reform of Corporate Subsidy Programs

CEJ, as co- anchor of the statewide Getting Our Moneys Worth campaign,continued to build the movement for meaningful reform of corporate subsidies. InWNY, we pushed back against VWR Internationals job -shifting practices, andcompelled the Authorities Budget Office to initiate an investigation into thecompany and its tax deals. Our coalition released a statewide report in Julyhighlighting the failure of IDA projects to create jobs and we took the fight for good

jobs, not giveaways directly to corporations who have received large subsidies butdidnt deliver jobs or community benefits!

Page 4
http://www.gettingourmoneysworth.org/http://www.gettingourmoneysworth.org/http://www.gettingourmoneysworth.org/


5/8

Advanced the Development of a Worker Center in WNY

In 2012, CEJ played a key role in the growth of an exciting new Worker Center collaborative project. Weworked closely with labor and community partners to develop a detailed logic model for the WorkerCenter, outlining major goals and identifying activities to reach them. We were founding partners for aformal Steering Committee to help guide the Worker Center in our goal of strengthening and encouraging low-wage worker participation across Western New York.

As part of the legal committee for the Worker Center, we organized a collaborative workers' rights training with PUSH, VOICE and WNYCOSH, which was attended by dozens of low-wage workers and advocates. Wealso co-sponsored a live worker hotline, where people having workplace problems like wage theft oruncompensated overtime could drop in and be matched with a volunteer lawyer to help them identifysolutions. This past fall, we became part of an Upstate Worker Center Collaborative, which brought ustogether with other Worker Center projects from Rochester, Ithaca, Syracuse, and Albany as a way toshare best practices and identify ways to grow and reach new, under-represented workers. We're looking forward to even more trainings, collaboration, and outreach in 2013.

Trained Hundreds of grassroots, labor, and faith leaders

Working with our partners, we developed and led multiple trainings that gavehundreds of labor, faith, and community leaders the tools to build power in theircommunities for progressive change. In collaboration with our Fight for a FairEconomy campaign partners, CEJ led a Confronting Corporate Power training withover 100 grassroots leaders from local community groups, congregations, andunions to launch a collective effort to work on key corporate accountabilitycampaigns. Following this training, CEJ worked with PUSH Buffalo and CitizenAction to lead multiple 99% Spring Trainings in WNY and Rochester as part of anationwide effort to train over 100,000 on the principles of non-violent directionaction and engage them to take action on our campaigns to win change in ourcommunities. Additionally, CEJ developed Freedom of Information Clinics with

Artvoice, Burning Books, and the Leonard Pelteir Defense Offense Committee. These ongoing clinicsprovide participants with essential and expert information on Freedom of Information Law requests togain access to Federal, State, and local government documents.

Hired a New Executive Director!

We made a significant transition and change in leadership in 2012 whilestrengthening and growing CEJ. After seven years as CEJs Executive Director, AllisonDuwe stepped down from the position to focus more attention on her growing family.Following an extensive nationwide search, CEJs Board of Directors announced lastSeptember that Jenn Diagostino would take the lead as our Executive Director. Newleadership at CEJ comes at a critical time for working people in Western New York andacross the country, as we continue to bring labor, faith, and community together inunique and lasting ways to win major victories.

Page 5


6/8

Awesome Fundraising Events

2012 was an exceptional year filled with several exciting, fun-filled fundraising events, including our 26 th Annual Awards Dinner, which was our best gala to date. Over 500 people joined us for a night filled with

games, auctions, our outstanding guest speaker Steve Dubb of the Democracy Collaborative, and of course the award ceremony, where we honored James Wagner and John Mudie from CWA 1122,members of OPEIU at BlueCross BlueShield, and John Washington of Occupy Buffalo. Throughout theyear, friends of CEJ held house parties to support our work. Our Strike for Justice bowling tournament inAugust was as eventful as ever, and we ended the year with our most successful auction at the BuffaloCLCs annual holiday celebration. Thank you to everyone who supported CEJ by helping to make theseevents a great success.

Grew CEJ: Hired a New Development and Administrative Assistant

We brought on Saty Singh to fill our new and much needed Developmentand Administrative Assistant position. Prior to joining CEJ, Saty worked inthe development department at Demos, a progressive, multi-issue New

York based think tank. With CEJ, she has worked tirelessly to increase our

fundraising and organizational capacity, in addition to working on individualgiving initiatives, building more institutional support, and organizing exciting and successful fundraising events. She has also been instrumentalin improving our financial and administrative management systems.

Financial Highlights & Acknowledgements:

This past year was an exciting one for fundraising here at CEJ. We were able to raise more money thanever thanks to our amazing individual and institutional supporters, foundation partners and throughexciting fundraising events. We continued to receive foundation support from the Presbyterian HungerProgram, Unitarian Universalist VEATCH program at Shelter Rock, The Rev. Joseph A. BissonetteMemorial Foundation, and the Ford Foundation. Additionally, we secured a new grant from the North StarFund to support our work with the New York State Civic Engagement Table.

CEJ hosted a variety of grassroots fundraising events in 2012 including a spring house party hosted byJohn Lipsitz and Maria Scrivani, our Annual Awards Banquet, our Strike for Justice Bowling Event, and anauction at the Buffalo CLCs annual holiday celebration. In October, we also held a wonderful farewellparty at the home of Steve Halpern and Betty Stanton to say goodbye to our outgoing Executive Director,Allison Duwe.

Page 6


7/8

(Financial Highlights & Acknowledgements continued )

Thank you to everyone who attended andhelped make 2012 our most successfulyear for events! In the coming year, we willcontinue to focus our efforts on organizing creative grassroots fundraising events andengaging our members in variousfundraising efforts.

A big thank you also goes out to our 2012Board Members for their dedicated serviceand to our individual and institutionalmembers. We sincerely appreciate ourmembers continued support and our workwould not be possible without them.

Finally, we would like to thank the staff atCornell Universitys School of Labor andIndustrial Relations in Buffalo for providing in-kind support as well as a CEJ summerintern through the ILRs Highroad FellowsProgram and of course, for putting up withCEJ staff each and every day.

Become a CEJ Member!Please continue your support by becoming a monthly, Solidarity Sustainer!!

You will help our fundraising efforts tremendously by becoming a Solidarity Sustainer with a pledge of $5 ormore/month directly from your Debit or Credit Card.

YES , I would like to become a Monthly Sustainer for the Coalition for Economic Justice (circle one) :$50/month $25/month $10/month $5/month Other_____

YES, I would like to make a one-time membership contribution to CEJ: ( ) Agitator $35 ( ) Justice Fighter $100-$499( ) Change Maker $50-$99 ( ) Movement Builder $500 +

Name___________________________________ E-mail___________________________________

Address__________________________________ Zip_______________ Phone________________

Credit Card Type (circle one) VISA MASTERCARD Expiration Date ___________________

Credit Card Number ________________________________________________________________

Union or Organization Affiliation _____________________________________________________

Thank You! Checks made payable to the Coalition for Economic Justice are tax deductible.Full financial information is available from CEJ or the office of the Attorney General, Charities Bureau, 120 Broadway, New York, NY

10271

Page 7

Anna Falicov , Esq. Board ChairCreighton, Pearce, Johnsen & Giroux

Anna Geronimo , Board Vice ChairNYS United Teachers

Creighton Randall , Board TreasurerBuffalo CarShare

Cayden Mak , Board recording Secretary18 Million Rising

Maurice Brown Abraham McKinney1199 SEIU Sanitation Worker

Cheryl Bird Dr. Ruth MeyerowitzDaemen College SUNY Buffalo

Patty DeVinney Rabbi Alex Lazarus-KleinWNY Area Labor Congregation Shir-ShalomFederation

Betty MartinMark Manna Transportation AidesUnited Food & of BuffaloCommercial Workers

Jon FuzakLaborers Local 220

2012

BOARD

OF

DIRECTORS


8/8

The Coalition forEconomic Justice

Annual AwardsBanquetThursday, May 2 2013Buffalo Niagara Convention Center

6:00 Social Hour 7:00 Program Begins(Guest Speaker: David Cay Johnson, Pulitzer Prize winner

and author of Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Enrich Them-selves at Government Expense and Stick You with the Bill)

Dont wait! Call CEJ to reserve your tickets today! (716.892.5877)

Coalition for Economic Justice237 Main Street, Ste 1200 Buffalo, NY 14203

Phone (716) 892.5877Fax (716) 852.3802www.cejbuffalo.org

Non-Profit Org.US Postage

PAIDBuffalo, NY

Permit No. 3010

2 0 1 2 A n n u a l R e p

o r t :

S e e C E J s t o p 12

ac hi e v e me nt s f r o m t he

p as t y e ar !

And mo r e !

CEJ 2012 Annual Report

Documents

Transcript of CEJ 2012 Annual Report