Blog Archives - PACG - Progressive Action for the Common Good

Gender Equity Forum - A Message from the Board

6/30/2022

Gender Equity replaces Women's Equity in forum name

A Message from the Board

Gender Equity Forum

We have decided to change the name of the Women's Equity Forum to the Gender Equity Forum to reflect the original intended inclusiveness of the group.

PACG was founded in 2005 as an organization built around our multi-issue forums. As progressives, we all care about many different issues. Those who feel strongly about a given concern or problem can join with others to work specifically on that topic as a member of that issue forum. Members meet to plan events and actions around their cause.

In July of 2008, the PACG Women's Issues Forum held its first meeting. But over the years the need for this forum was replaced by other work for the common good, and it was disbanded.

When we decided to reactivate the group as a result of the SCOTUS leak on the looming decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, we realize that we only slightly updated our forum name. However, in doing so, we may have unintentionally excluded an entire population of people from our group - those who do not identify as women but are nonbinary. We apologize for our oversight.

We welcome everyone to join this forum to work on Gender Equity in the QCA and the nation! You will see name changes across our platforms to reflect our desire for inclusivity.

Thank you for your patience with us as our own progressiveness progresses!

Alta Price and Carolyn Martin

Vote Today in the Illinois Primary - Action Alert

6/28/2022

Vote Today in the Illinois Primary! - Action Alert
Tuesday, June 28th from 6:00 am to 7:00 pm

A Message to Our Members

Have you voted by early by mail or in person in Illinois? If not, go to your polling place today!

We are all aware of the numerous challenges facing our democracy. Your vote matters more than ever and it is the path forward for change.

Here are a few resources if you need more information today:

For voting instructions and assistance: https://www.elections.il.gov/ElectionOperations/VotingInstructions.aspx

Find your vote by mail drop box here: https://www.elections.il.gov/VotingAndRegistrationSystems/VoteByMailBallotDropBoxLocations.aspx?T=637915089565405758

Polls are open to vote in person from 6:00 am to 7:00 pm.

Glenda Guster

We Will Not Go Back! rally for Choice - After Action Report

6/27/2022

We Will Not Go Back! rally - After Action Report
Sunday, June 26th in Davenport

PACG Women's Equity Forum and other groups

Sponsored by:
QC-National Organization for Women, PACG Women's Equity Forum, One Human Family-QC, Iowa Women United and others

We Will Not Go Back! the Davenport rally for Choice, attracted a huge crowd of members of our community who feel that the recent shameful ruling from the Supreme Court on abortion access is a devastating setback to anyone who can get pregnant - women and nonbinary individuals. We listened to speakers and then protested peacefully by walking around Vander Veer Park. Here's a link to the Quad-City Times report from the event, along with their pictures.

Women and nonbinary people around the U.S. awoke late last week to the news that they have less reproductive freedom than their mothers did. A person's right to make her/their own decisions regarding pregnancy has been either taken away or is in grave danger of being abolished.

PACG has always had the ability to organize new issue forums to work on critical problems that arise in our communities and country. These Board of Directors-approved groups can be created and mobilized to address areas of interest and urgent need. This flexibility is part of the reason that PACG continues to be so successful - we meet the needs and demands put upon us. We can focus our outrage and frustration into positive action. We are better and stronger together!

PACG is proud that our new Women's Equity Forum was a sponsor of this rally - it was our first event! And we haven't really had a regular meeting yet!

Join our forum by contacting me (click on my name below for my email box). Our first meeting will be on Tuesday, July 19th at 7:00 pm at the Bettendorf Library. We have work to do! Let's go!

Alta Price

Reimagine Gender - No Hate In Our States

6/26/2022

Alok Vaid-Menon Wants You to Reimagine Gender -
ACLU At Liberty Podcast

Civil Rights Forum

From the "ACLU At Liberty Podcast:"

This year brings an unprecedented surge of anti-trans legislation banning everything from sports participation to healthcare access. So far, we’re tracking roughly 280 state bills that have been filed ahead of or during this legislative session. At the same time, the Supreme Court is on the precipice of delivering a final decision that will likely overturn Roe v. Wade, blocking people who can get pregnant from abortion care. These attacks are actually all part of the same movement, a movement against bodily autonomy and our ability to live freely no matter our model or make, a movement to re-entrench gender hierarchy and binary thinking.

To that end, we’re bringing you a conversation with Alok Vaid-Menon, a nonbinary writer, performer, public speaker, activist and artist exploring the themes of trauma, belonging, and the human condition. They are the author of 'Femme in Public, Beyond the Gender Binary, and Your Wound/My Garden.

Listen to the ACLU At Liberty Podcast: Reimagine Gender now.

Dee VanThournout

We need an Office Manager! - A Message from the Board

6/26/2022

PACG is looking for an Office Manager

A Message to Our Members

We are in the process of gathering resumes for the part-time position of Office Manager. We prefer to hire within our own community. If you are qualified and interested we would love to hear from you! Hiring from within our extensive membership means that we share the same progressive values, and that's important to us. Here is the ad that we will be running online:

Progressive Action for the Common Good (PACG) of the Quad Cities is seeking a part-time Office Manager to assist the Board of Directors.

This position is responsible for overseeing PACG communications, outreach to volunteers, assistance in carrying out Issue Forum and organization events, support for monthly Board and Issue Forum meetings, and PACG software management.

Candidates must have excellent organizational and communication skills (written, oral, and working digitally online), be self-motivated, have the ability to work independently, and be willing to work occasional nights and weekends. Our Office Manager works between 10 and 15 hours per week. Experience in office management is preferred.

The Office Manager assists the Board of Directors in carrying out the organization’s mission: "As progressives, we empower people to take action for positive change and social justice by coordinating a network of community forums and events aimed at educating and engaging citizens to work for the common good of all. Our core values are: Social Justice, Empowerment, Diversity, Sustainability and Community." PACG is a 501(c)(3) non-profit, nonpartisan organization. More information is available at www.pacgqc.org.

People from under-represented populations are encouraged to apply. The position is open until filled. Please submit a letter of application, resume and contact information for three professional references to [email protected].

Glenda Guster

Thank You to our Office Manager, Julie! - A Message from the Board

6/26/2022

Thank You to our Office Manager, Julie!

A Message to Our Members

It’s so hard to say goodbye!

The Board members of Progressive Action would like to say goodbye to Julie Ross, who is stepping down as our Office Manager. Thank you for your service these past years. We will miss your positive and friendly attitude and that beautiful smile of yours. Our members that needed a little cheering up will miss your kind thoughtfulness and creativity, and those wonderful caramels and candies that you made for the holidays.

Just know, Julie, you will be missed by all.

Glenda Guster

SCOTUS Abortion Ruling Op Ed - Women's Equity Forum

6/26/2022

SCOTUS Abortion Ruling Op Ed

PACG Women's Equity Forum

Note: This Op Ed was prepared by the new PACG Women's Equity Forum in advance of the ruling by the Supreme Court. We submitted it to the the Quad-City Times last week and hope that it will be published soon..

Date: June 21, 2022

The recent decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to deny women federal protection to control their own reproductive choices and bodily autonomy, and to allow individual states to enact widely varying laws regarding abortion, represents an enormous setback for women.

As individuals within a collective society, we will never fully agree on the question of when life begins because personal beliefs dictate and shape that thought. But a more readily answerable question might be this. Whose life is more important and valued: an autonomous woman already navigating her adult life, or a dependent fetus whose continued growth and delivery may pose grave physical, personal, and economic risk to that woman?

Another perplexing question is whether we trust women to make informed decisions regarding their own health and welfare - what is best for them in their own unique set of circumstances – or if we believe that remote legislative bodies in a state or national capitol know better.

Maternal mortality rates are often used as a sentinel measure of a society’s well-being, and cultures that do not value women suffer a higher percentage of maternal deaths. The United States is a sad outlier among high-income countries, with one of the highest rates of maternal mortality. A woman is substantially more likely to die from a pregnancy-related complication or in the first year postpartum if she lives in the United States than if she resides in Canada, Australia, or Europe. Contributing factors include our highly fragmented medical system and lack of universal health care, among others. Enforcing pregnancy, while simultaneously failing to provide nationally funded, comprehensive prenatal and postnatal care, and denying free and universal access to effective contraception is unfathomable.

It is much safer to undergo an abortion than to continue a pregnancy. In 2020, the American College of Obstetricians & Gynecologists stated that the risk of death associated with pregnancy and childbirth is 14 times higher compared with abortion. Legislation within a democracy typically exists as a means by which the health and welfare of its citizens is protected, not abandoned. But the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision reversing nearly a half-century of reproductive health protection is abandonment. Similarly, the recent decision by the Iowa Supreme Court, ruling that our state constitution does not protect the right to an abortion, endangers women’s health.

Overturning Roe will not end abortion in the U.S. Banning abortion will only stop safe abortion. Women will die.

Since 1935, when maternal mortality rates in the U.S. were first separated out by race, a disturbing racial disparity has been documented. Black and Indigenous women die from pregnancy related complications at two to three times the rate of their White counterparts. We will likely see this disparity increase even further, as Black and Brown women are more apt to be deprived economically and may lack the material support and means to travel out of state to have an abortion, should they desire to do so.

Numerous unanticipated events can complicate a previously uneventful pregnancy. With the recent Supreme Court ruling, women and physicians in certain states now find themselves subjected to scrutiny and treatment debates over common obstetric complications such as ectopic pregnancy and incomplete abortion (a subcategory of spontaneous miscarriage). It is untenable that there are now states in which life-saving treatment of these complications is up for debate, something reminiscent of a dystopian novel rather than modern 21st century life. It is not possible to write a state law capable of addressing the myriad potential developments in a patient’s pregnancy, while also allowing for the nuance required in good clinical management. These challenging decisions need to be made between the woman who is pregnant and her physician. No one else should be allowed into that conversation.

Besides the absence of universal health care, we lack affordable childcare and universal pre-K education. Since 2009, the Iowa minimum wage has remained a paltry $7.25 an hour, while in Illinois it was increased in 2022 to $12 an hour. It is simply not possible for a family, let alone a single-parent household, to thrive on these wages. For a family with one child, existing childcare costs in Iowa take up a whopping 18% of a single parent’s family budget, and with two or more children the percentage is even higher. The economic hardships of an enforced pregnancy will push more women and their children into poverty, denying them full and self-determined lives.

Societal progress has been slow, and women are tired of waiting for change and the elusive concept of equality. But besides the dire health and economic consequences, an enforced pregnancy can cause other catastrophic upheavals: It can change the entire trajectory of a woman’s life. Her education may be derailed and never completed, she may choose to stay in an unhappy or abusive relationship, she may not have the time or emotional capability to care for additional children, and her future may be irretrievably altered.

We profoundly disagree with the U.S. Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade.

Carolyn K. Martin, M.D.
Alta L. Price, M.D.
Co-Facilitators, Women’s Equity Forum
Progressive Action for the Common Good

We Will Not Go Back! rally for Choice in Davenport - Action Alert

6/24/2022

We Will Not Go Back! rally - Action Alert
Sunday, June 26th at 3:00 pm

PACG Women's Equity Forum and other groups

Vander Veer Park
215 W Central Park AV
Davenport, IA 52803 (map)

Sponsored by:
QC-National Organization for Women, PACG Women's Equity Forum, One Human Family-QC, Iowa Women United and others

Women around the U.S. awoke today to the news that they have less reproductive freedom than their mothers did. A woman's right to make her own decisions regarding pregnancy has been either taken away or is in grave danger of being abolished.

While we have known for some time that the Supreme Court intended to overturn Roe v. Wade, today’s decision is no less devastating to women and nonbinary people across the nation.

We Will Not Go Back!

Thirteen states have trigger laws that immediately end abortion access. We know that another 13 states will likely move to end abortion rights in the coming weeks and days. This decision will certainly affect Black, Brown and poor people disproportionately. They already face unsatisfactory medical outcomes, placing them at even greater risk of dying either through forced pregnancy or illegal abortions.

This outrageous attack upon women and nonbinary people cannot stand. We must codify women's choices about their own reproductive health into law.

Bring your signs (if you have them) and your energy and join us at Vander Veer Botanical Park to rally for women's rights. We will be meeting at the Stone Fountain on the south side of the park closest to West Lombard Street.

Alta Price

ACLU of Iowa Meet and Greet - PACG Event

6/24/2022

ACLU of Iowa Summer Meet & Greet Events: Davenport Edition
Wednesday, July 6, 2022 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm

LULAC Center
4224 Ricker Hill Rd
Davenport, IA 52802 (map)

Women's Equity Forum and Civil Rights Forum

Come hear timely updates on our work from ACLU of Iowa staff, meet other ACLU advocates in Davenport, and find out more about how to get involved in some of the most pressing civil liberties issues in our state!

Everyone who registers will receive a free ACLU of Iowa t-shirt and have the chance to win raffle prizes from local businesses. Appetizers will be provided.

Please RSVP by June 28.

Schedule:
5:30-6: Check-in and mingling
6-6:45: Program
6:45-7:30: Social time

Register here: https://secure.everyaction.com/FMnVs-ygaUuoA1Y9vGSG1A2

Alta Price

Second Anniversary of Racial Equality Now! rally - After Action Report

6/22/2022

Second Anniversary of PACG Racial Equality Now! Rally - After Action Report
Saturday, June 18th at 12:00 pm

Civil Rights Forum

Members of PACG gathered to mark the second anniversary of the Racial Equality Now! rally started by Caryn Unsicker along with Glenda Guster. After George Floyd's death, Unsicker knew the local and national press coverage as well as all the huge rallies would die down and things would return to normal until the next black person was killed. She called her friend, Glenda, and others who agreed to help start a local rally that would go on indefinitely until racial inequality in our country is no longer an issue.

The group has gathered from noon to 12:30pm almost every Saturday since June 13th of 2020. They have extra signs and always welcome anyone who wants to stand with them for racial equality.

Unsicker says she is encouraged by the many positive honks and waves from passersby of all races. It tells her that many people realize there is racial inequality embedded in our society and that they are willing to talk about it.

WQAD8 (ABC) acknowledged our efforts on the news! Read the short article and watch the broadcast here: For 2 years, rain or shine, a local group has protested for racial equality

Caryn Unsicker