<![CDATA[PACG - Progressive Action for the Common Good

<![CDATA[PACG - Progressive Action for the Common Good - Blog]]>Sun, 19 Jul 2026 14:59:48 -0500Weebly<![CDATA[August Green Drinks "How to respond to climate change" PACG event]]>Wed, 15 Jul 2026 17:30:35 GMThttp://www.pacgqc.org/blog/august-green-drinks-how-to-respond-to-climate-change-pacg-eventAugust Green Drinks - How to respond to climate change
Thursday, August 6th at 5 pm (hybrid meeting)

MLK Interpretive Center
501 N Brady ST
Davenport, IA (map)

Environmental Forum

Join us on Thursday, August 6 at 5 pm at the MLK Interpretive Center. Ray Wolf will explain how we can respond to climate change. He is a retired Science and Operations Officer for NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) National Weather Service in Davenport.

This will be a hybrid meeting. If you would like to attend virtually, you can register for a Zoom link by scanning the QR code on the flyer, or by going to this link.

Susan Leuthauser (she/her)

]]><![CDATA[Celebrate Medicare and Medicaid with us! PACG event]]>Wed, 15 Jul 2026 17:27:35 GMThttp://www.pacgqc.org/blog/celebrrate-mecicare-and-medicaid-with-us-pacg-eventHappy Birthday to Medicare and Medicaid!
Wednesday, July 29th from 4 to 6 pm

Davenport Public Library
Eastern Ave Branch
6000 Eastern AV
Davenport, IA (map)

Healthcare Reform Forum

Join us for cupcakes and ice cream as we express our gratitude for the Medicare and Medicaid programs that turn 61 years old on July 30th. Save the date and invite your friends to this free party sponsored by the PACG Healthcare Reform Forum, the Illinois Alliance for Retired Americans, I owa Citizen Action Network, and others.

Alta Price (she/her)

]]><![CDATA[Save the Date for our 14th Annual Picnic and Pie Auction]]>Sun, 12 Jul 2026 20:04:06 GMThttp://www.pacgqc.org/blog/save-the-date-for-our-14th-annual-picnic-and-pie-auctionSave the Date - 14th Annual Picnic and Pie Auction
Sunday, September 13 from noon to 3 pm

Longview Park
1300 17th ST
Rock Island, IL (map)

A Message from the Board

We are having our Annual Picnic and Pie Auction on Sunday, September 13th from noon to 3 pm at Longview Park in Rock Island. This is a fun event and we would love to have volunteers who are willing to help out. Join us to connect with old friends and make new ones. To volunteer, email us at PACGqc@gmail.com. Registration will be open soon. We look forward to seeing you there.

David Anderson (he/him)

]]><![CDATA[Read "A Resistance History of the US"-Of Interest to Our Community]]>Sat, 04 Jul 2026 17:02:07 GMThttp://www.pacgqc.org/blog/read-a-resistance-history-of-the-us-of-interest-to-our-community

A Resistance History of the United States

This is a good book by historian Tad Stoermer that covers the real history of the resistance efforts that helped to build our current understanding of what a democratic republic should be. Here's the review from the publisher:

An urgent, bracing new look at American history that Ava DuVernay calls "deeply necessary for this moment."

Revisit the Salem Witch Trials, the Underground Railroad, and other resistance movements of American history to get a bold new understanding of how resistance shaped our past—and how its principles can change our future.

The United States was shaped by resistance—but not in the way we’ve been taught. The Revolution did not secure liberty; it opened the door to either liberty or oppression, where only white men enjoyed all of the benefits and protections of citizenship.

In A Resistance History of the United States, public historian Tad Stoermer shows how from the very beginning, that tension—between the ideals of resistance and the realities of power—has defined America more than the Enlightenment ideals enshrined in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

Utililizing powerful storytelling to focus on key—and often lesser-known—moments in American history, this book reveals the truth of how resistance movements from Colonial times have opposed the powers that be. Stoermer covers an impressive roster of pivotal movements, with each chapter identifying a key resistance movement and principle meant to inspire contemporary readers, including:

Bacon’s Rebellion/Metacomet’s War (1676)
Salem Witch Trials (1692)
The Black Loyalists (1783)
The Underground Railroad (1850)

Through these and many more examples, Stoermer dismantles the mythologies that pass for American history—exposing the curated nostalgia, moral evasions, and institutional silences that have long protected abusive power. What emerges is an essential look at how we can take lessons from the past to understand, and effectively respond to, the injustices we face today.

Cliff Day (he/him)

]]><![CDATA[Read "On Courage"-Of Interest to Our Community]]>Sat, 04 Jul 2026 16:28:16 GMThttp://www.pacgqc.org/blog/read-on-courage-of-interest-to-our-communityOn Courage - How to be a Dissident in an Age of Fear

PACG Book Club

As a group, we decide the books we will read throughout the year and On Courage is not on it at this point. However, this is the manual we need now in our resistance and work to regain our progressive values. It's well-written and encouraging in these difficult times. Read the publisher's comments (below) and learn about the authors at this link.

Book Club will not be meeting again until September when we will discuss The House of Spirits by Isabel Allende.

On Courage is...a deeply reported manual about how anyone can defy an authoritarian – based on original interviews with more than 100 dissidents, activists, and theorists across the world.

The United States is only the latest country to face a leader who wields fear as a weapon, punishes political enemies, disappears people off the street, and undermines free and fair elections. Today nearly three out of four people on earth live under authoritarianism, the highest rate since the late 1970s.

But even under repressive conditions, each of us holds the power to help defeat autocrats. Based on their acclaimed The New Yorker essay “So You Want to Be a Dissident?,” veteran reporter Julia Angwin and political strategist Ami Fields-Meyer give us a captivating – and profoundly hopeful – guide to courage in an age of fear.

Meet a student from Hong Kong who risked everything for democracy. A mom in a working-class neighborhood of Caracas who broke with the political movement that raised her. Cairo twentysomethings who staged a gutsy stunt to help bring down a dictator. A mild-mannered immigrant fighting to save a landmark U.S. civil rights law. People throughout the United States and across five continents who faced serious risks for dissenting in their workplace, their community, or their country. On Courage is the story of how they did it anyway – and how you can do it, too.

Blending rich, previously untold narratives with history, spirituality, and movement research, Angwin and Fields-Meyer deliver a highly accessible book full of practical lessons – an inspiring resource for anyone, anywhere, who feels the walls of history closing in on them. On Courage is a roadmap to political courage and a powerful case for how taking personal risks can help save the free world.

Alta Price (she/her)

]]><![CDATA[A nation of immigrants-ICQC member statements]]>Sat, 04 Jul 2026 16:11:12 GMThttp://www.pacgqc.org/blog/a-nation-of-immigrants-icqc-member-statementsA nation of immigrants

By Brendan O’Brien, Great Grandchild of Irish Immigrants
We’re about to mark 250 years since the founding of these United States, and it’s a good opportunity to reflect on our history. What we could really call our histories. Because the thing about this country is it has never been just one thing. Not one religion, one cuisine, or one culture. Not one story. At least not a simple one. Because you’d have to tell about the long march many took across the Sonoran Desert. And the long march many took from Auschwitz. And the long march many took along the Trail of Tears. You’d have to tell about the march across those sub-Saharan lowlands and the march across that Emerald Isle. And all we are is but a people walking. And all we are is but a people boarding a ship. Who’d been so thoroughly stalked by the specter of violence and famine and persecution that we’d eventually had to leave our beloved homeland and set out for an unknown land.

Some people feel threatened by this, like we must forget where we came from in order to be here. But we did not come here with nothing. And the Immigration Coalition of the Quad Cities recognizes that the we’re better for bringing these parts of ourselves—our music, our food, our language, our past—with us. We welcome our most recent immigrants because we were once strangers in this strange land, ourselves. Every story makes us stronger. Another stitch in the flag.

By Patricia Bird of the Immigration Coalition of the Quad Cities
On July 4,1776 the second continental congress officially adopted the Declaration of Independence. This document severed the colonies’ ties with Great Britain and established the United States as an independent nation.

But what does it mean to be an independent nation? Are we a country that manages without the assistance of others? Are we inhabiting the earth with no interaction or contribution from other nations?

Historically, our country has moved forward from the contributions of independents. Those who fled their homelands to build a better life not only for themselves but for the good of this country. We accepted the Albert Einsteins, the Madeleine Albrights, the Gloria Estefans – all fellow humans in need of refuge. In return, they enriched not only their own lives but our lives as well.

This is our heritage. This is our history. America is a country of independents, those who fled to this soil for equality and those born on this soil who continue to seek it.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men (and women) are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

250 years of independence created and upheld by immigrants.

Please subscribe to Immigration Coalition of the QC's Substack here.

Allison Ambrose

]]><![CDATA[Honoring the 108th Colored Troops After Action Report]]>Wed, 01 Jul 2026 18:49:57 GMThttp://www.pacgqc.org/blog/honoring-the-108th-colored-troops-after-action-reportHonoring the 108th Colored Troops After Action Report

Civil Rights Forum

PACG President David Anderson and LTC Adhana McCarthy
at the Rock Island National Cemetery

On Juneteenth (June 19th, 2026), members of the PACG community participated in a celebration and remembrance of the 108th United States Colored Infantry Regiment that guarded Confederate prisoners at Rock Island Arsenal during the Civil War. The keynote address was given by LTC Adhana J. McCarthy MPAS, PA-C United States Army Medical Specialist. Other speakers gave the audience background and connections to families currently living in the Quad Cities. The ceremony concluded by laying flowers at the graves of soldiers of the 108th buried in Rock Island National Cemetery.

David Anderson (he/him)

]]><![CDATA[Plastic Free July 2026-What You Can Do Now]]>Wed, 01 Jul 2026 18:46:33 GMThttp://www.pacgqc.org/blog/plastic-free-july-2026-what-you-can-do-nowBe part of the Plastic Pollution Solution
Plastic Free July™

Environmental Forum

Plastic pollution impacts the environment, wildlife and human health. Our everyday choices can be part of the solution to this global problem and make the world a cleaner place.

Join the global Plastic Free July™ movement and pledge to refuse single-use plastic. Go to this link to make your pledge.

Susan Leuthauser (she/her)

]]><![CDATA[Another Immigrant Story-Of Interest to Our Community]]>Sat, 27 Jun 2026 23:52:27 GMThttp://www.pacgqc.org/blog/another-immigrant-story-of-interest-to-our-communityJose's Immigrant Story

Immigration Coalition of the Quad Cities

This is another in a series of stories about local immigrants that will be appearing on the QCIMBY (Quad Cities In My Back Yard) Facebook page. These stories are also available in the Immigration Coalition QC Substack email. Please subscribe here.

Name: José Burgos

Family: 1 brother who lives abroad.

Native country: Venezuela

Occupation/Volunteer or School: Multilingual High School Teacher

When did you immigrate to the United States?
January 2021

What motivated your decision to immigrate?
Actually, I did not want to immigrate to the United States! I was based in Honduras and I came here as an international student on a graduate scholarship with Southern Illinois University - Carbondale. My plan was to return to Honduras once I finished my program, but I had visa complications with Honduras and I had to find a way to stay in the U.S.

Who accompanied you when you immigrated to the U.S.?
I traveled alone.

Why did you choose the Quad Cities area for your new home?
It was by chance. Once I finished my program at SIUC, I found a teaching job in the area.

What language or languages did you speak when you arrived in the U.S.?
Spanish and English.

If English is not your first language, how did you become more familiar with English?
I got my bachelors in ESL Education in Venezuela, where I learned English.

How were you treated when you first arrived in the Quad Cities area?
Everyone has been really welcoming. I was lucky to find a Latin dance community through which I have met a number of really great people. Communities around the QC area truly know how to utilize the human and professional capital I have brought.

How do you get more involved in life in the Quad Cities area?
I love going to events around the area. Me and other friends started a social event called the Quad Cities Spanglish Table on Facebook, where people who speak a little bit of both languages (English and Spanish) come together to socialize and discuss various themes. I also volunteer every now and then with some nonprofits, churches, and social initiatives in the area. Last year, I helped with the organization of WQTP PBS Multilingual Education Conference at Western Illinois University. You can always find me involved with something outside of work.

What work, volunteer activities, children’s activities and/or hobbies keep you engaged?
Aside from what I said before, I serve in a couple of committees at my workplace, and I’ve volunteered teaching English as a second language with Black Hawk. I’m planning to do that again as soon as I find the time. I am also involved with the Illinois Education association and other pro-public education organizations. In my free time, I enjoy working out, dancing, playing the piano, learning new things, and spending time with my girlfriend. I really like the events that some nonprofits put out here for the community, such as El Ritmo, The Gray Matters Collective, QC AIR, and St. Anthony Catholic Church in Davenport.

What gives you the most joy?
Making someone’s day a little easier and better, especially for young people. Youth in the U.S. have it incredibly tough right now, and they need our compassion and guidance more than ever.

What challenges have you navigated as an immigrant?
The list is heartbreaking: language barriers, cultural isolation, social and systemic discrimination, traumatic stress related to my immigration status, my mom passing and being unable to travel abroad, being taken advantage of because I don’t “know the system” well, higher taxes, higher interest rates, SIUC losing my international transcripts and effectively making it borderline impossible for me to get a teaching license in the U.S., the Midwest weather.

Who are your mentors, the people you admire most?
When I was growing up, one of my uncles, one of my aunts, and one of my teachers were my biggest mentors. They taught me how to be a decent human, to always seek to add value, and to always have fun while doing it. I also admire a couple of historical figures like Simón Bolívar and Joan of Arc, who so brilliantly fought for the freedom and independence of millions of people from massive empires.

What gives you hope?
Seeing my students being kind to one another gives me hope; seeing this makes me think everything I do is worth it.

What is your favorite quote, motto or religious verse?
“I shall make the child I once was proud of the adult I am becoming” - Me

Is there anything else you’d like to share?
In the good years of Venezuela, before the dictatorship, I look back realizing that I grew up in a multicultural environment where the children of immigrants seamlessly became Venezuelan; a place where the word “foreigner” carried NO negative weight, and where the education system, the media, and politicians taught people to welcome them as “siblings.” This so organically nurtured a culture where being born abroad or speaking with an accent was met with curiosity, fascination, and utmost hospitality. Yet, I must admit there was much I didn’t fully understand about my neighbors’ lives back then, nor did I ever asked many questions; I grew up hearing a beautiful tapestry of Italian, Portuguese, Colombian, Peruvian, and German accents all around me, always engaging with them and having fun with people, but never quite stopping to realize the journeys behind them.

Having witnessed a world where people from different backgrounds smoothly and happily integrate to enrich the economy, culture, and the very soul of a nation. It is my hope that the people in the United States can one day move past this country’s historical tensions surrounding immigrants and teach their children to truly embrace people for who they are: human beings deserving of dignity based on their deeds, not their passport stamps or the miles they traveled to get here.

Allison Ambrose

]]><![CDATA[Pesticide damage to oak savana-Of Interest to Our Community]]>Sat, 20 Jun 2026 23:42:00 GMThttp://www.pacgqc.org/blog/pesticide-damage-to-oak-savana-of-interest-to-our-community
Pesticides ‘shatter’ leaves of Iowa’s state tree
A conservationist’s 20-year quest to address pesticide damage in his oak savanna

Iowa Capital Dispatch

Environmental Forum

photo courtesy of Tony Singh

By Tom Foley

In 1996, Tony Singh began rewilding a plot of land in LeClaire, hoping to restore its oak savanna, native prairie, woodlands and wetlands.

Less than five years later, he noticed the leaves on his oak trees were in tatters.
“When the leaf is coming out, if it is natural, it’s a beautiful thing,” Singh said. “But then they start spraying this pre-emergent herbicide, and the leaves get completely shattered.”

Over the last 20 years, Singh has been documenting the phenomenon and trying to raise awareness about it. But his 50-acre reserve is surrounded by an industrial agriculture system that is economically entwined with the land he seeks to restore.

In 1996, Tony Singh began rewilding a plot of land in LeClaire, hoping to restore its oak savanna, native prairie, woodlands and wetlands.

Less than five years later, he noticed the leaves on his oak trees were in tatters.
“When the leaf is coming out, if it is natural, it’s a beautiful thing,” Singh said. “But then they start spraying this pre-emergent herbicide, and the leaves get completely shattered.”

Over the last 20 years, Singh has been documenting the phenomenon and trying to raise awareness about it. But his 50-acre reserve is surrounded by an industrial agriculture system that is economically entwined with the land he seeks to restore.
“Acetochlor has been correlated strongly with oak tatters, where the tissue just is missing from the oak leaf, and you just see the veins, or with dicamba, you’ll see cupping and curling,” said Iowa Department of Natural Resources Forest Health Program Leader Tivon Feeley. Please read this entire article here.

Susan Leuthauser (she/her)

]]>