Blog Archives - PACG - Progressive Action for the Common Good

Post Card Writing to support victims of human trafficking - PACG Event

1/30/2024

Human Trafficking Forum and Post Card Writing
Friday, February 2nd at 2:00 pm

Rogalski Center
St. Ambrose University
(on the corner of Lombard and Scott)
518 W Locust ST
Davenport, IA (map)

Civil Rights Forum

Hear about the state of human trafficking in Iowa and about the ask to Iowa legislators for $5 million to be earmarked to support victims of human trafficking. We will end the session by writing postcards to our Iowa State legislators.

Allison Ambrose

IRA environmental improvements for your home - Of Interest to Our Members

1/30/2024

The Inflation Reduction Act discounts for environmental home improvements

Rewiring America

Use this calculator to find out how much money you can get from the Inflation Reduction Act to electrify your household.

www.rewiringamerica.org/app/ira-calculator

Susan Leuthauser

Project Renewal youth to show "I Am the Future" - Of Interest to Our Members

1/25/2024

Project Renewal youth to show I Am the Future
Wednesday, January 31st at 4:00 pm

Project Renewal
506 W 5th ST
Davenport, IA (map)

PACG Board of Directors

We were thrilled to have four of the youth from Project Renewal attend our showing of I Am the Future: Standing on the Shoulders of the Past at the Figge Art Museum earlier this month.

A few years ago Project Renewal in Davenport was a recipient of the Dick Fallow Endowment for Social Justice that we help administer. As a reminder, "Project Renewal provides educational, recreational and social activities for children during the school year and summer in a safe, loving environment."

After our showing Ann Schwickerath from Project Renewal reached out to PACG to ask if their youth could show our film at an upcoming event of their own. This idea came from the youth who attended the evening at the Figge! And those same kids want to emcee and lead their own discussion about issues raised.

Of course we loved this idea! Please attend if you are available. Our little video is really getting around and we could not be more proud.

Glenda Guster

"Rustin" on Netflix - No Hate In Our States

1/24/2024

**Watch Rustin on Netflix**

No Hate In Our States

Rustin is the true story of charismatic civil rights activist Bayard Rustin who had a falling out with some in the movement because he was a gay man. He went on to organize the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom which we at PACG have been talking about in conjunction with our I Am the Future film. Take the time to watch this film and see what happened behind the scenes to make that important march a reality. (Update: Colman Domingo has been nominated for an Oscar for his portrayal of Bayard Rustin. This is only the second time that an openly gay man has earned the nomination for playing a gay character.)

Support Human Trafficking Survivors - PACG Event

1/24/2024

Post Card Party: Support Human Trafficking Survivors
Saturday, January 27th at 9:30 am

The Brewed Book
1524 N. Harrison
Davenport, IA (map)

Civil Rights Forum

Come to advocate for the survivors of human trafficking by writing postcards to your legislators! Between 9:30 and 11:00 am, the Civil Rights Forum will have the materials needed for you to express your opinion to your Iowa state legislators on the proposed $5 Million ask to go to organizations across the state that support these survivors. For more information, see the Network Against Human Trafficking and Slavery link here. Your first cup of coffee will be compliments of PACG! Hope to see you there!

In addition, PACG will support a similar initiative on Friday, February 2nd from 2:00 - 3:00 pm at St. Ambrose University. Look for details in next week's Progressive Action Update (PAU).

Allison Ambrose

"I Am the Future" at the Figge - After Action Report

1/17/2024

I Am the Future showing at the Figge - After Action Report

PACG Board

On Thursday, January 11, 2024, over 80 people braved the cold evening to see our civil rights film I Am the Future: Standing on the Shoulders of the Past and to hear our Legacy Panel. The Figge Art Museum in Davenport was the perfect host for our event!

We were honored to have MacArthur Cotton from Kosciusko, Mississippi, a veteran of the civil rights movement in Mississippi, as our guest. He was one of the young organizers to help with the Freedom Riders campaign in 1961. Avery Pearl, Assistant Director of TMBC at the Lincoln Center and our young film star Abdur Howard, who stepped in to fill in for Aubrey Barnes, were also part of our Legacy panel. We were so proud to have such a diverse group across multiple generations to discuss civil rights!

Allison Ambrose did a wonderful job as facilitator for the panel discussion and question and answers. Each of our younger panelists did a great job of suggesting how to get young people involved in civil rights issues and voting. Mr. Cotton made the point that what they did in the 1960s to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 won’t work today. But our country is faced with some of the same threats to our democracy as the 60s and those will affect us all. Today we need to empower people to vote at every level of government, treat each other with respect and work together for change. What a great lead off for the Dr. Martin Luther King celebrations in the following days.

Read all about our I Am the Future film stars here. Read the details of our Legacy Panel here.

We were also happy to have youth from Project Renewal and the Youth Advocate Program (YAP) of the NAACP Davenport.

Ann McCluskey, PACG Treasurer reported, "I asked people what they thought about the event as they walked out. To a person, they were moved by it. It was a special night."

PACG Board Member Loxi Hopkins said, "People I talked to thought it was amazing. I felt sure the whole line of people sitting in front of me were principles or teachers. People spent a lot of time at the displays."

Reflecting on the event over the past few days, attendee (and mother of Legacy Panel member Abdur Howard), Daneca Walker said, "The response to a question directed to the Legacy Panel pointed out that activism needs to start with the young people. We can’t allow the normalization of unfair and inequitable treatment. We must teach our children to guard against this. Inequitable treatment begins to desensitize them to the issue of humans being treated humanly. Larger cities have more opportunities for the exposure. In smaller areas like ours the opportunities exist, one just has to be more intentional in their search. As adults, we move about this unforgiving world praying that each of our interactions are genuine and filled with positivity, but we are also smart enough to know that that notion isn’t realistic. Children interact with adults believing that whether the interaction was good or bad it must be okay because they are adults. The trust factor plays such a huge role. Diversity, equity, equality and inclusion are terms that young people can easily comprehend as individual terms, but society has difficulty understanding them collectively as they apply to humanity. They all equate to activism and civil rights - to Human Rights."

Thank you to our committee members Allison Ambrose, Ann McCluskey, Caryn Unsicker, Loxi Hopkins, Susan Leuthauser, Rael Slavensky, and Alta Price. PJ Slobojan for helped with registration and Jeannie Price worked on our graphics. Thanks to Rael and Glenda for the pictures.

Thanks to our co-sponsors Figge Art Museum, WQPT-Quad Cities PBS and WVIK-Quad Cities NPR. Our event was also made possible by the generosity of the following organizations, individual and anonymous donors:

100 Black Men of the Quad Cities, ASWAS, Inc, Diocese of Davenport, Friends of MLK Interpretive Center, Iowa State Representative Ken Croken, Metrocom NAACP #4019, Northwest Bank and Trust, One Human Family-QCA, Quad Cities Interfaith, Tracy and Ben Singleton and Smart Lexus of the Quad Cities.

Glenda Guster

"Moved by Waters" film at the Putnam - Of Interest to Our Members

1/14/2024

Moved by Waters at the Putnam
Saturday, January 27th at 3:00 pm

Putnam Museum and Science Center
1717 W 12th ST
Davenport, IA 52804 (map)

Fourth Wall Films

Local Emmy Award-winning filmmakers at Fourth Wall Films will show their latest documentary, Moved by Waters, at the Putnam Museum and Science Center on Saturday, January 27th at 3:00 pm. The theme of the film is 'What unites us is more important than what divides us.' The "Moved by Waters" story is the opposite of the national narrative. The national narrative tells us that Americans are too divided politically to work together on anything. But the people we met and talked to while making this film showed us the opposite. “Moved by Waters” is an uplifting and inspirational new documentary that depicts collaborative projects involving organizations and diverse groups of students, teachers, artists, farmers, and volunteers of all ages. Setting aside political or other differences, all are working toward improving the quality of water in the Quad Cities region in the Upper Mississippi Watershed. Did you know a piece of trash discarded in a Moline, Illinois neighborhood can end up in the Gulf of Mexico? How is water quality monitored and evaluated? Is water pollution an urban or rural challenge? How does water quality affect wildlife and their habitat? We all need water that is clean and safe to drink, and the people and projects in "Moved by Waters" model a way forward that benefits people, and the environment.

Quad-Cities organizations/institutions featured in the film include Partners of Scott County Watersheds, Augustana College--Upper Mississippi Center, The City of Davenport, Quad City Arts, River Action, Quad City Conservation Alliance Wetlands Center, Nahant Marsh Education Center, Scott County Conservation, Wapsi River Environmental Education Center, and Living Lands & Waters.

“Ultimately, we need clean water to survive,” says Amy Kay in the film. “Not to be too doomsday-esque, but if we can’t work together for something that we need to survive, we’re in big trouble.” Kay is the Clean Water Manager for the City of Davenport.

PACG Webmaster

February 2024 Green Drinks - PACG Events

1/14/2024

February Green Drinks - Life on a Barge
Thursday, February 1st at 5:00 pm via Zoom

Environmental Forum

Since 1998, Living Lands and Waters (LL&W) crews and over 130,000 volunteers have removed over 13 million pounds of trash from America’s rivers and planted almost 2 million trees. They also removed acres of invasive species and restored native prairies. Students attended their workshops and summer camps to learn how their daily activities impacted the environment.

Mike Coyne-Logan, Educational Facilitator of LL&W, will explain what it is like to live on a barge, what we can do to help keep our rivers clean and what LL&W has been doing lately. Mike saw the impact of plastic pollution on the river and ocean ecosystems first hand.

Please register in advance here. You will be sent a link to join the meeting.

Susan Leuthauser

Brava, Julie!

1/9/2024

Brava Julie Meyerson Ross!

PACG Board of Directors

Have you seen the great press about our former PACG Office Manager, Julie Ross, and her snowflakes? In her typical humorous style, she calls this work "craftivism." Our friends at Real Mainstream just wrote a lovely article, complete with lots of photos. Read it here.

2024 Party Caucuses - What You Can Do Now

1/7/2024

A message to our members in Iowa - Attend your party caucus!
Monday, January 15th at 6 pm (arrive early)

Varied locations

Scott County Democratic Party: There is only one caucus location, North High School, 626 W 53rd St, Davenport. You will not vote for candidates. There will be a display in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. If you want to bring memorabilia to add to that display, see the flyer below.

Scott County Republican Party: Find your caucus location at this website. You can also download the Republican caucus locations in the attached flyer at the end of this blog post. Since you will be voting, bring photo ID and know your precinct.

2024_republican_caucus_locations.pdf
File Size:	636 kb
File Type:	pdf