分类: PACG History

Progressive Action Update (PAU) Archives 2025

12/31/2025

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Progressive Action Update (PAU) Archive 2025

These are the Progressive Action Update (PAU) links for 2025:

12/28/2025 - We C BS Free Speech Protest
12/23/2025 - Happy Holidays from PACG | Green Drinks - Environmental Science Fiar Projects | Why We Need Immigrants
12/16/2025 - Happy Holidays from PACG | #GiveHealthy Food Drive | Sign Up To Be A Snow Angel
12/09/2025 - Happy Holidays from PACG | #GiveHealthy Food Drive | Sign Up To Be A Snow Angel
12/02/2025 - Happy Holidays from PACG | #GiveHealthy Food Drive | December Green Drinks - Water & Health

09/23/2025 - You Can Still Register for our 20th Anniversary Gala!! | 5 LGBTQ UVU Students Speak Out
09/16/2025 - Gala Registration Now Open!! | Transgender Legal Risk Map
09/09/2025 - More PACG Trivia! Why Drive Electric? Transgender Legal Risk Map
09/02/2025 - More PACG Trivia! Why Drive Electric? Transgender Legal Risk Map

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Look What We Did! 20th Anniversary Gala 2025

10/20/2025

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20th Anniversary Gala Documents
Sunday, October 19, 2025

We had such a great time at our 20th Anniversary Gala on October 19, 2025! Thank you for joining us. This blog post is a compilation of a lot of the things you saw at our event. We are excited to share them with you!

We ask that you keep PACG cofounder, Cath Bolkcom, in your thoughts and prayers as a family medical emergency prevented her from being with us.

James Lee, our first PACG employee, had a last-minute change of plans which prevented him from joining us.

We want to acknowledge Shanda Burrage for the lovely table decorations. Caroline Vernon painted small decorative rocks that adorned every table.

Thank you to Taylor and Dakota Vernon for being our photographers. We will have images on this page once those are available. Look for all of your friends and favorite moments.

Social Hour Slideshow

Here's the Social Hour slideshow that also played during dinner. It covers events and actions over our twenty year history.

pacg_20th_anniv_gala__2005-2025_.pptx
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Gala Program Booklet

Here's our lovely Gala Program Booklet, which we consider a memory book of our 20 years.

20th_anniversary_gala_booklet.pdf
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Program Slideshow

Our program slideshow may be viewed as a video on your favorite video player. It's also now available on our YouTube channel here.

Speaker Presentations

Alta Price, Cofounder

Click on the link on her name above to open a blog post of her presentation.

pacg_remarks_by_alta_price_10.19.25.pdf
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Ed Tibbetts

Click on the link on his name above to open a blog post of his presentation.

ed_tibbetts_speech_pacg_gala.pdf
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I Am the Future Video

We apologize for the technical issues that did not allow us to play this video. It is linked in the heading above.

We are so proud of our video and grateful for the generosity of WQPT who upgraded it to a much more professional format. View our latest version of I Am the Future: Standing on the Shoulders of the Past here. Read our blog post about this effort here.

Various Blog Posts

We have numerous blog posts about our past events and actions on the website. Use the search bar at the top of every page to find something of interest. But here are some of our favorites:

How PACG began...by Cath Bolkcom

PACG's First Event

PACG's First Action

Past Issue Forums

First PACG Employees

Pictures

Here are some of our images from the Gala. We will add more once they are named and cropped for better viewing.

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Cofounder Alta Price Gala Remarks October 19, 2025

10/19/2025

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PACG Cofounder Alta Price's Gala Remarks
Sunday, October 19, 2025

It’s wonderful to see so many of you here, people who care deeply about our community and our country. I know many of you were really looking forward to seeing Cathy Bolkcom again. She had come in from Minneapolis and had spent a few days here. Unfortunately, on Friday she had a family medical crisis that required her to return to Minneapolis. Please keep Cath and her family in your thoughts and prayers.

Cath and I had been planning to get together on Friday to plan our remarks about how PACG started. I was going to try to get her to do most of the talking. Oh well. Now the story will be based upon my memories and my perspective. The good news is that Cath wrote up a comprehensive story of the founding of PACG and some of our early history, which you can find on our PACG website. I encourage you to read it. There is a QR code at the bottom of page 15 in the Gala booklet that links to a page with Cath’s story as well as more information about our past.
So getting back to how PACG started.

It was after the 2004 election, and George Bush had just been re-elected. Many of us were deeply opposed to the war in Iraq. Many of us had worked very hard to defeat Bush. To say we were disappointed would be a vast understatement.

Personally, I felt like crawling into a corner and withdrawing from any kind of activism. I vividly remember sitting at my kids’ school waiting for my turn at a parent-teacher conference and several teachers and other parents approaching me and sharing their despair. Alta, what can we do?

I felt like I had to help them. So I said, well, we might not make any progress at the national level, but there are all sorts of things we can do at the local and state level. I shared that there were lots of local organizations they could get involved with. Myself, I was active with Quad Citians Affirming Diversity and QC NOW.

About this time, my school district, Pleasant Valley, was having a school board meeting to discuss banning a popular children’s book, The Misfits, by James Howe. Someone had asked to have it banned because one of the young characters in the book was gay. Many parents went to the school board meeting. Almost all comments from the audience were in opposition to banning the book. But when it came to the vote, they voted for the ban. One of the school board members made a statement that the school wanted to protect all of its students. At that point a woman yelled from the back of the room “Except the gay ones!” She was the only disorderly audience member to speak out of turn. I thought, I’ve got to talk to that woman. Of course, it was Cathy Bolkcom.

Soon Cath and I got together over a meal and I told her I wanted to help my friends and others by having a summit to show them all the ways they could get involved in progressive issues locally. Cath thought that was a good idea. More importantly, Cath had contacts with numerous local activists and organizations and knew how to organize.

Cath approached Roger Butts, the minister at the Unitarian Universalist Church. Even though Roger didn’t know Cath, he let us meet at the church. Starting in January, we met weekly and then twice a week (once at noon and once in the evening) through the end of March. I don’t think any of those meetings had fewer than 30 people, and new people were always coming. Hundreds of people were involved.

Thinking back, several things that came out of those meetings explain PACG’s success. First, we came up with a great name (that alone took multiple meetings!) Then came the idea of working in what we named Issue Forums. That structure has allowed us to work on multiple different issues, as the need and desire arose. And many of our founders came from different organizations, and we have always worked in coalition with others to be more powerful.

Finally, in April of 2005, we had our big PACG Summit at Augustana College. Over 450 people attended and talked about the issues they wanted to work on.

I really thought the summit would be a one off just to get people engaged. Of course, we’ve been educating members of our community, inspiring them to take action, and building a better community ever since. Cath always says she’s good at starting things and I am good at persisting.
Although Cath and I are sometimes recognized as the co-founding mothers of PACG, the true co-founders are those hundreds of people who got involved 20 years ago. Cath and I might have been the spark, everyone else lit the fire.

When I was telling my husband about the Gala, he asked, has PACG had any successes? You should talk about those. Actually, for me the purpose of this Gala is mostly to have a party! I always say, we should have more parties. But my husband’s questions did make me reflect, especially since our country is in a very similar position as we were 20 years ago, maybe worse? Did our 20 years of activism even make a difference? What was the point?
To better answer the question of our success, I think this needs to be addressed on an individual level as well as on a broader community level. So for individuals involved with PACG over the years, I know that working with others to take action for the common good personally benefits those doing the work. For me it is a way to channel my own negative feelings of despair or anger into something productive. I don’t suffer much from fear. But I know many people do experience the negative emotion of fear. They can also use that negative energy to do something positive. The work is can be challenging, so you develop new skills and maybe new interests. It is a great way to make friends and build community. I’ve come to realize building community might be the most important thing we can do to improve our society. And a lot of what we do is actually fun, even if it is hard.

But getting back to the state of the country, did we accomplish anything with our 20 years of activism in PACG, and other organizations?

Well, as one example I told my husband how our Healthcare Reform forum educated people around the issue of quality affordable health care for all. We collected 1000s of handprints, in our effort to collect 18,000 handprints to represent the 18,000 people who died in the United States every year for lack of health insurance. We even got a handprint from Senator Barack Obama. (I am equally proud of getting Howard Dean’s handprint, since I was a huge Deaniac!) Our issue forum facilitator, Karen Metcalf, was an important leader statewide and even nationally on this issue. And when Obama got elected, he got the Affordable Care Act passed. I told my husband, I guess we did succeed in that effort. So he asked “did Obama give you credit?”

Here's the thing, there were thousands of Americans who took part in similar efforts. And we were part of that. So I think we can count it as a success. But what about now, when it looks like the ACA may be severely damaged? Does it make a difference what we did so long ago? Yes, because when we first worked to get the ACA passed, it was demonized by those opposed to it. Now that it has been available for years, there will be many more people working to get it back and improve it.
One of the first issues I worked on was LGBTQ civil rights. Even before PACG started, I worked with QCAD and others on getting sexual orientation added to the Davenport City Civil Rights ordinance. I remember making a speech in 2000, I think at a QC NOW event, and stating that I hoped to see at least one state enact same-sex marriage in my lifetime. I could never have dreamed that less than 20 years later, marriage equality would be the law of the land. Of course I am very angry and frustrated at the attacks on the trans community, and other backsliding on these issues. But we are certainly in a better place today, and that is due to the actions taken by people in QCAD, PACG and similar organizations around the country. So another success!

I am so proud of all the great leaders and activists who have taken action on so many fronts in PACG over the years. Page through your Gala booklets for a sampling. And yes, we have had wins on many fronts.

In closing, it is important to realize it only takes a few people taking action to educate the public and get them to think differently about an issue. For example, the leaders of the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s were few in number. It was a small percentage of the population who directly participated in civil rights actions. But those leaders and activists impacted millions of Americans who did not personally participate in a bus boycott or march across a bridge in Selma. The leadership and actions of a few people changed the hearts of minds of most of the rest of the people in the country. I could use a more recent example of protesters in Portland wearing critter costumes, which changes the narrative that protesters are dangerous or violent. Then Operation Inflation spread around the world. If you were at the Indivisible No Kings rally yesterday you probably saw some of these creatures. And it was so much fun.

When my husband asks, have we made a difference, I absolutely believe that we have. Like activists before us, a small percentage of the population, our efforts have indeed changed our community and our country for the better. As Margaret Meade said: Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

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Ed Tibbett's Gala Speech - October 19, 2025

10/19/2025

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Ed Tibbett’s PACG 20th Anniversary Speech as Prepared for Delivery
Sunday, October 19, 2025

I want to thank the organizers of this event for asking me to speak tonight.

Some of you know me. Many don’t. As you’ll understand at the end of this speech, I am not a practiced public speaker. Nor am I an activist. I'm a journalist.

I’ve spent a career covering events like these, not participating in them. In nearly 40 years of writing about the news in eastern Iowa and the Quad-Cities, my role has been as a witness.

Usually, at events like this one, I’m the guy standing in the back, holding up a wall, taking notes.

Still, I am happy to be here tonight to take part in the 20th anniversary of Progressive Action for the Common Good and to recognize the work you have done for our community and our country.

As I thought about what I might say tonight, I remembered the beginning of Progressive Action, and my memory was helped along by an article I wrote for the Quad-City Times about the birth of this group, in 2005.

I recently found a copy of that article, and there were some obvious similarities to today.

Then, like now, an unpopular Republican had just won a second term as president. And a Democratic Party that fought valiantly, but lost, was trying to figure out what would come next, how it would retool for the future.

It’s important to remember just what things were like 20 years ago. I remember the day after the 2004 election, going to a local Democratic Party office. It was like a dark cloud hung over the place.

I have a copy of the Nation magazine from 2004, and on the cover are dark heavy clouds with the headline, “Four more years.” That was the mood.

Yet, 20 years ago, the founders of Progressive Action decided in the wake of that election, not to leave the public square in disappointment but to re-channel their organizational efforts. Not into party politics, but into grass roots action.

They centered their work on the idea that the doors to opportunity and happiness shouldn’t be open to just a privileged few, but to all Americans.

A few minutes ago, Alta Price talked about whether Progressive Action has made a difference, and she mentioned health care. I can tell you, as an outside observer at the time, that, yes, Progressive Action and the people in this room, working with other organizations, made a difference.

I remember before the 2008 caucuses, attending events where people showed up, advocating for universal healthcare, often in blue smocks. People like Karen Metcalf. And it made a difference.

There is a reason Barack Obama came to Iowa after signing the Affordable Care Act to commemorate the moment.

Now, as then, these voices are desperately needed, as we watch our country change and deteriorate in ways that, I believe, many of us could not have imagined 20 years ago.

***

We’ve all seen how Donald Trump’s immigration forces have raided cities like Chicago. They say they’re going after the worst of the worst, but they stake out churches and schools. They’ve swept up grandmothers and children. Recently, they detained a cop.

Often, they act out of simple cruelty. Two weeks ago, the Chicago Tribune reported that federal authorities detained a 60-year-old man, a legal immigrant, who is too frail to work, and because he couldn’t immediately provide his documentation, they gave him a $130 ticket. Even though, the Tribune reported, he’d said he offered to take those officers to his home to show them his papers.

Does that sound like they are going after the worst of the worst? Is this what America is about? Are we the kind of society that asks for your papers?

Most Americans believe in borders, but they also believe in humanity; in a government that exercises restraint and compassion and in helping those who are fleeing violence and poverty and who are willing to contribute.

***

We’ve also watched as the Trump administration has used the power of the government to force law firms, news organizations, universities and television networks to buckle to its ideological will. Unfortunately, out of a sense of fear, economic gain or self-preservation, too many have complied. Or at least relented in the naïve hope that more won’t be demanded of them later.

I am ashamed to say some in my own field are among them.

In Iowa, the state has exercised its own attempt at thought control, imposing a de facto book ban on schools that swept more than 3,000 books off the shelves. They said it was to ban explicit sexual content, but that wasn’t true.

The Des Moines Register now reports some of Iowa’s more aggressive rightwing culture warriors are using the law to try to ban books they think are too critical of policies they support; that, in their opinion, are anti-American. And some want to go beyond schools and expand this effort to target public libraries.

***

We’ve also seen how powerful forces are seeking to remake our economy in ways that are not for the greater good. Congress this year passed a law that cuts almost $1 trillion from the Medicaid program that assists the poor and disabled, and they effectively took that money and transferred it to the top 1% in the US in the form of tax cuts.

In Iowa, the ruling party has shifted how it pays for state government—now choosing to draw more of its revenue from a sales tax that hits lower- and middle-income Iowans the hardest, while drawing less from the income tax, which has historically asked more of upper income Iowans.

Somehow, they thought giving the average millionaire a $67,000 tax break and the typical Iowa family $600 would spur our economy.

Meanwhile, they cut our health care and our schools to try to cover up the growing deficits.

***

These are some of the same issues—if not always by the same name—that the founders of Progressive Action told me 20 years ago they wanted to take on: Economic fairness, democracy and a wider understanding of morality.

Just a brief word about the latter. In the story I wrote 20 years ago, I quoted Ron Quay as saying one of his goals was to reorient our understanding of the word “morality.”

For too long this word has been used by political forces to narrowly misconstrue what it means to be a moral people. As I paraphrased Ron in that 2005 article, “Morality includes a concern for the most vulnerable.” In his own words, he said –I quote—"We’re responsible to each other.”

This is not only for the good of others, but for our own good.

This month, Pope Leo—a native Chicagoan—issued his first apostolic exhortation. In it, he wrote: “I am convinced that the preferential choice for the poor is a source of extraordinary renewal both for the Church and for society if we can only set ourselves free of our self-centeredness and open our ears to their cry."

This is not the path we are on now. For one reason or another, our political system has led us astray. Away from true morality, away from pursuing the common good.

As someone who writes about, and believes in, the American form of government, I have faith that, someday, we will find our way back. But if politics is the vehicle for pursuing that path, then it’s the people—in rooms like these, working together—that point the way; that steer our system in the right direction.

Just as Americans have done for 250 years. Just as Progressive Action began doing 20 years ago.

I have to say, I admire the tenacity of many of the people in this room who do this work; who do things like make five phone calls a day—every day—to try to push our country in the right direction. They did it after their hearts were broken by the last election, and they still do it today.

They are often dismissed and derided by the other side. But they persist. And when I see their posts on Facebook, saying, “I made my five calls today,” I can’t help but admire them all the more.

Just as I admire those—many of you in this room—who turned out by the thousands at the “No Kings” march at Vander Veer Park in Davenport yesterday, and by the millions nationwide. I’m sure it infuriated the critics to see all these Americans united behind the idea that in this country we don’t answer to a monarch—or even someone who just wants to be one—but to each other.

As I said at the outset, I am not an activist. I am a reporter, a commentator, a witness. But I want to thank you again for allowing me to be here tonight, to acknowledge and celebrate the 20 years of your work.

This country needs good and decent people like you right now. Real patriots. To stand up for what is right, what is moral and what it means to pursue the common good, and to make our country a more perfect Union.

Thank you.

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First PACG employees - James Lee and Caroline Vernon

10/7/2025

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Our first PACG employees - Caroline Vernon and James Lee

L to R: Caroline Vernon, Cath Bolkcom, Caryn Unsicker, James Lee, Pam Kaufman

PACG has relied on part time staff for many years. Two of our first employees were James Lee and Caroline Vernon.

James Lee joined PACG during the spring of 2005. He became an active member in the organization where he joined, and eventually led, the Reclaiming Moral Values Forum. In 2007 James was asked by Cath Bolkom and Ron Quay to consider becoming the first Executive Director of Progressive Action. He accepted and served in that position from the Spring of 2007 through the early spring of 2009.

After serving as Executive Director James left the region and moved to the Washington, DC metro area. In 2010 where he become a national organizer for the Network of Spiritual Progressives and become an active member in the Occupy movement where he founded Occupy Faith, an organization that supported the Occupy movement in the faith community.

Throughout his adult life James has been active in political campaigns, social action and educational endeavors all aimed at promoting critical consciousness and social justice in the USA and across the world. He believes that we are directly responsible for the type of world the we want to see in our daily lives.

Caroline was also a founding member of PACG and was in attendance at the first gathering of progressives in January 2005. She became very involved in many of the early issue forums such as Health Care Reform, Media Reform, Women's Issues, Economic Justice, Social Security and Corporate Reform. She adopted Corporate Reform as her banner issue and joined the national Wake-Up Walmart campaign. Caroline also facilitated our monthly Social Justice Movie Night during her time as staff and beyond. She was hired as the PACG Organizer from September of 2005 to August of 2008. She supported the working forums, helped to organize events, managed communications, created staff reports outlining the work, including after action reports. At that time PACG had a steering committee and later formed the first board after incorporating as a 501c(4).

Upon leaving PACG, Caroline served as Organizer for NAMI Scott County/Greater Mississippi Valley for the past 16 years.

When Caroline stepped back from these responsibilities, she wrote this lovely email to our community about the changes. This was also when our organization email address was established as [email protected] (which we no longer use).

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PACG Wins ICAN Award in 2007

9/25/2025

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PACG History - ICAN Award in 2007

Left to right: Karen Metcalf, Caryn Unsicker, Beth Wehrman. Glenda (Pettigrew) Guster, James Lee, Caroline Vernon, Elesha Gayman

At their Annual Delegate Assembly and Leadership Conference on April 21, 2007, Iowa Citizen Action Network (ICAN) honored the Quad Cities citizen group Progressive Action for the Common Good as this year's recipient of the Grassroots Leadership Award.

ICAN is Iowa's largest grass roots consumer and environmental watchdog organization, with more than 13,000 individual members across the state. Each year ICAN honors one organization in the state that their Board and staff see as "doing exemplary work, and embodying the spirit of true grassroots activism."

US Senator Barack Obama, who began his career as a community organizer in Chicago, was the keynote speaker at this event. James Lee of Davenport, PACG’s Executive Director, received the award on behalf of PACG. According to PACG President Cathy Bolkcom, “It is very gratifying to have all of our hard work and the activities of our many leaders and volunteers recognized. Our top goal is to activate citizens to make our communities a better place to live for all”.

The inscription on the award reads:
In recognition of Outstanding Efforts to Win Concrete Improvements in People's Lives, Make people Aware of Their Own Power, and Alter the Relations of Power in Iowa.

Phyllip Cryan, Program Director of Iowa Citizen Action Networks stated, "In making this determination, we specifically seek to honor a group in Iowa whose accomplishments and political strength are out-sized in comparison to their budget – a group that is doing extraordinary work as true "Davids" facing off with the Goliaths we all have to confront; a group without a large paid staff, infrastructure, glossy materials, etc. Our Board unanimously (and very enthusiastically) selected PACG as the organization most deserving of the Grassroots Leadership Award this year."

Progressive Action for the Common Good was organized in early 2005 and has been successful in activating hundreds of citizens for peace, social justice, health care for all and a variety of other issues. Their website is at www.qcprogressiveaction.org.

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PACG History - Social Justice Movie Nights

9/15/2025

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PACG Social Justice Movie Nights 2005 to 2012

Caroline Vernon offered PACG's Social Justice Movie Night for seven years. Dave and Carol Brown offered their own equipment and technical expertise.

These showings happened the third Friday of the month and included lemonade and popcorn! Sometimes a specific issue forums hosted one of these events. Caroline would send an email with a flyer to our community email list. Here's an example of one of those emails: Good Grew Tired of Us.

The movies are listed here:

Collapse 03/16/2012
Independent American reporter Michael Ruppert is the subject of this documentary, which looks at how the ex-police officer managed to predict the massive Wall Street crash of 2008 years before it happened.

Koch Brothers Exposed 04/21/2012
A hard-hitting investigation of Charles and David Koch, two of the world's richest and most powerful men, and how their billions and influence have changed the landscape of America.

Truck Farm (Local Foods Forum) 7/15/11
Truck Farm tells the story of a new generation of quirky urban farmers. Using green roof technology and heirloom seeds, filmmaker Ian Cheney

What's the Matter with Kansas? 4/15/11
Shows how Kansas transformed from an outpost of radicalism to a bastion of
conservatism. Unforgettable characters and their stories shed new light on our nation's
political divide.

Gasland (Environmental Forum) 04/17/11
Exposing the risks of fracking -- the controversial drilling technique also known as hydraulic fracturing.

Countdown to Zero 7/21/11
In recognition of the passing of the Start Treaty, this compelling documentary is timely.
The START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) refers to a series of agreements between the United States and the Soviet Union, and later Russia, to reduce the number of strategic nuclear weapons. The original START I treaty was signed in 1991 and led to significant dismantling of strategic nuclear weapons. The most recent of these treaties is the New START Treaty, signed in 2010.

A Sea Change 09/17/11
Sea Change follows the journey of retired history teacher Sven Huseby on his quest to
discover what is happening to the world’s oceans. After reading Elizabeth Kolbert’s “The
Darkening Sea,” Sven becomes obsessed with the rising acidity of the oceans and what this “sea change” bodes for humankind.

Capitalism: A Love Affair 07/16/10
Michael Moore examines the disastrous impact of corporate dominance on the everyday lives of Americans. But this time the culprit is much bigger than General Motors, and the crime scene is far wider than Flint, Michigan.

Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin 06/18/10
"The unknown hero of the civil rights movement" Bayard Rustin was an American political activist and prominent leader in social movements for civil rights, socialism, nonviolence, and gay rights. Rustin was the principal organizer of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963.

Seneca Falls (QC NOW/Women’s Issues Forum) 03/19/2010
a life-changing journey with nine high school girls and a lone 10-year old boy bound for the birthplace of women’s rights in America. Part teenage road trip, part shocking history lesson, the film is, above all, an awakening of young hearts and minds.

Food, Inc (Local Foods Initiative) 02/19/2010
Filmmaker Robert Kenner lifts the veil on our nation's food industry, exposing the highly mechanized underbelly that has been hidden from the American consumer with the consent of our government's regulatory agencies, USDA and FDA.

Battle in Seattle 11/20/09
The historic 1999 Seattle protest victory of people power over corporate rule, QCFL and
PACG is joining house parties across the country the week of November 15th. Battle in
Seattle starring Charlize Theron, Andre 3000, Woody Harrelson and more.

Fresh the Movie (Local Foods Initiative) 09/18/2009
Fresh celebrates the farmers, thinkers and business people across America who are re-
inventing our food system.

The Future of Food (Local Foods Initiative) 05/22/2009
An in-depth look at the controversy over genetically modified food.

The World According to Monsanto 03/20/2009
As the world leader in genetically modified organisms (GMOs), and one of the most
controversial corporations in industrial history, this empire has created some of the most toxic products ever sold, including polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and the herbicide Agent Orange. Based on a painstaking investigation into the company's history.

Flow 01/16/2009
Irena Salina's award-winning documentary investigation into what experts label the most important political and environmental issue of the 21st Century - The World Water Crisis.

Obsession (Reclaiming Moral Values Forum) 11/18/2008
This film grossly misrepresents Islam and Muslims in America. In response, this free
community event will intersperse clips from the video "Obsession" with discussion about peaceful and factual responses to bigotry and stereotyping about Muslims and others.

Iron Jawed Angels (QC-NOW/Women’s Issues Forum) 10/17/2008
2nd showing – Back by popular demand
The struggle of suffragists who fought for the passage of the 19th Amendment. The film
shows how activists broke from the mainstream women's-rights movement and created a more radical wing, daring to push the boundaries of political protest to secure women's voting rights in 1920.

Life and Death 09/19/2008
takes a hard look at how globalization, deregulation, and World Bank Loans, despite
promises of economic development, are actually crippling developing nations,
saddling them with enormous debt.
The Business of Being Born 08/15/2008 Women’s Issues Forum
Director Abby Epstein's controversial documentary takes a hard look at America's
maternity care system, juxtaposing hospital deliveries against the growing popularity of at-home, natural births.

The Business of Being Born 8/15/2008
A documentary that explores the childbirth experience in the US, including the dysfunctions of the healthcare system that relies heavily on medications and medical interventions, as opposed to the view that it is a natural process.

God Grew Tired of Us 07/18/2008
After raising themselves in the desert along with thousands of other parentless "lost boys," Sudanese refugees John, Daniel and Panther have found their way to America, where they experience electricity, running water and supermarkets for the first time.

For the Bible Tells Me So (Reclaiming Moral Values Forum) 06/20/2008
Through the experiences of five very normal, very Christian, very American families we
discover how insightful people of faith handle the realization of having a gay child. Informed by such respected voices as Bishop Desmond Tutu, Harvard's Peter Gomes, OrthodoxRabbi Steve Greenberg and Reverend Jimmy Creech, offering healing, clarity and understanding to anyone caught in the crosshairs of scripture and sexual identity.

No End in Sight: The Occupation of Iraq (Peace and Justice Forum) 03/21/2008
A critical analysis of the United States' occupation of Iraq following the 2003 invasion. The film argues that the disastrous handling of the occupation was a result of incompetence and a series of grave policy mistakes made by the Bush administration.

The Narrow Path (Reclaiming Moral Values Forum) 11/16/2007
Following in the footsteps of the great apostles of nonviolence - Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., Dorothy Day, Thomas Merton and Oscar Romero - John Dear, SJ presents in The Narrow Path the challenging message of Jesus in a fresh way, speaking with new force and vision of God's plea for peace.

Shocking and Awful: A grassroots response to War and Occupation 08/17/07
Shocking and awful is the way many people view the current situation in Iraq and the
United States. The war takes its toll on Iraqi civilians, international aid workers, journalists and US troops.

War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death
07/20/2007
War Made Easy reaches into the Orwellian memory hole to expose a 50-year pattern of
government deception and media spin that has dragged the United States into one war
after another from Vietnam to Iraq.

Iraq For Sale: The War Profiteers 10/19/2006
Private contractors making millions as a result of Pentagon contracts to perform
interrogations. Many soldiers are featured speaking out about the effect that these private mercenaries are having on their jobs and morale. Mercernaries are also featured speaking to the lack of security provided by the private companies that hire them.

Why We Fight 05/18/2007
The film describes the rise and maintenance of the United States military-industrial
complex while concentrating on wars led by the United States over the last fifty years
particularly on the 2003 Invasion of Iraq.

When I Came Home 03/16/07
A film about homeless veterans in America: from those who served in Vietnam to those
returning from the current war in Iraq.

The War Tapes - footage filmed by actual soldiers in Iraq February 2007
Filmmaker Deborah Scranton provides three U.S. soldiers with cameras so they can
document their experiences during Operation Iraqi Freedom.

The Power of Forgiveness (Reclaiming Moral Values / QCUU) 03/24/2007
Researchers examining the psychological and physical effects of forgiveness on individuals and within relationships under a wide variety of conditions, ranging from petty insults to sexual assault. Clinicians have developed interventions that guide people through a process that allows them to forgive transgressions and get on with their lives.

The Road to Guantanamo 01/19/2007
The film tells the story of Ruhal Ahmed, Asif Iqbal and Shafiq Rasul (the 'Tipton Three');
three young British men from Tipton in the West Midlands who were captured by the
Northern Alliance in Afghanistan in 2001 and detained as "enemy combatants" at
Guantánamo Bay, without charge or legal representation, for nearly three years.

The Ground Truth - The Human Cost of War 11/17/2006
Our soldiers' perspective of the Iraq War, and how they are being treated upon returning home. It goes beyond the war stories to look underneath our American tradition of going to war and then abandoning the warrior.

30 Days 09/17/2006
Frank George, who legally immigrated with his family from Cuba to the US when he was 7 years old, has staunch illegal immigration views. He believes the US military should man all borders and is a member of the Minutemen, a volunteer group that patrols the country's borders. For 30 days, Frank lived with a family of mixed status who fled their native Mexico in 1995. He shared a one-bedroom apartment with Rigorberto and Patty Gonzales and their five children. Two of the children were born in the US and are American citizens. Their parents and siblings are illegal immigrants.

The Revolution Will Not be Televised 08/18/2006
Two independent filmmakers were inside the presidential palace on April 11th, 2002, when Chavez was forcibly removed from office by members of the military and the national chamber of commerce. They were also present 48 hours later, when, remarkably, millions of Venezuelans took to the streets, and by teaming up with loyal military officers, returned Chavez to power.

The Big Buy: Tom Delay's Stolen Congress 07/21/2006
The film is a warning about how easy it is for American democracy to be hijacked by a
combination of relentless ambition and corporate millions. It makes the case that DeLay built a "custom-made Congress" that is still providing votes for his agenda.

A Day Without A Mexican 06/16/2006
Beginning in 1994 with California’s Prop 187 the filmmakers intended to give form to a
strong sentiment of discomfort we perceived in the Latino immigrant community but which up to now has had no clear shape, no loud voice. We believe that immigration reform is the civil rights struggle of our time. It is a struggle that affects all of us with its impact on the economic, social and cultural fabric of our society.

Thirst 05/19/2006
This documentary draws attention to the fact that global corporations are rapidly buying up local water supplies - Communities suddenly lose control of their most precious resource. This is a piercing look at the conflict between public stewardship and private profit.

Walmart: The High Cost of Low Prices (Corporate Reform Forum) 11/18/2005
The controversial retail giant Walmart faces the scrutiny of filmmaker Robert Greenwald in this documentary showcasing the adverse effects the behemoth inflicts on communities and individuals.

Iron Jawed Angels (Women’s Issues Forum/QC NOW) 08/26/2005
The struggle of suffragists who fought for the passage of the 19th Amendment. The film
shows how activists broke from the mainstream women's-rights movement and created a  more radical wing, daring to push the boundaries of political protest to secure women's voting rights in 1920.

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PACG Issue Forums - PACG's History

9/1/2025

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PACG History - Did you know we had these forums?

20th Anniversary Party Committee

One of the reasons that PACG has been so successful for so long is that we established Issue Forums. Here's what our website says about this concept: As progressives, we all care about many different issues. Those who feel more strongly about a given issue can join others to work specifically on that issue as a core member of an Issue Forum.

Over the years, we have had many different Issue Forums. Here's a list of some of them, going back to 2008. We have information about a few of these listed on our website (links in blue). Those marked with an asterisk ( * ) below, are currently active forums.

The some of the following are mentioned in our PACG newsletter from 2012.

Clean Elections

Civil Rights * - educates the public and participates in fun and interesting projects that advance civil rights for all.

Corporate Reform Forum - established in 2005 by Caroline Vernon to teach activists to lobby.

Creative Leaders

Drug Policy Reform - established in 2018.

Economic Justice

Education

Environmental * - educates the citizens of the Quad Cities about environmental issues and the science of Climate Change, and to work with other environmental advocates to build sustainability across our communities.

Environmental / Sustainability Energy

Gender Equity * (formerly Women's Issues) - works to remove barriers to equal opportunity for women and nonbinary individuals. We educate and engage members in positive action that they can take to help affect change.

Healthcare Reform * (formerly Health Care Reform) - works for implementation of an affordable, sustainable, quality health care system for all.

Local Foods Initiative

Media Reform

Peace Forum

Peace and Justice

Reclaiming Moral Values

Social Justice Movie Night

Social Security

Women's Issues

Young Leaders

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PACG Trivia - The newsletter switches to Tuesdays

8/31/2025

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PACG Trivia Contest continues...

Anniversary Planning Committee

As part of our upcoming 20th Anniversary Gala the evening of Sunday, October 19th, we will be playing PACG Trivia. (By the way, you can register now!) To give you all a head start (as well as a nostalgic look back at some of our past events), we will have Progressive Action Update (PAU) posts about a past event, action or concern.

Here's the next in this series:
Question: When did our PACG Newsletter Team decide to switch our Mailchimp to Tuesday mornings (instead of sending them sort of randomly as the need arose)?

Answer: In November of 2014! Read that announcement here. And read that entire email issue here.

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PACG Die-In PACG History

8/26/2025

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PACG Trivia Contest!

Anniversary Planning Committee

As part of our upcoming 20th Anniversary Gala the evening of Sunday, October 19th, we will be playing PACG Trivia. To give you all a head start (as well as a nostalgic look back at some of our past events), we will have regular Progressive Action Update (PAU) posts about a past event, action or concern.

Here's the next in this series:

Question: What was the PACG Die In and why did we organize that?

Answer: Our Health Care Reform Forum and Campaign for Better Health Care (CBHC) wanted to bring attention to the fact that Health Care is a Moral Value. People die if they don't have access to quality, affordable healthcare.

Read our Die In announcement email here for more details on the event.

Watch our Die In video here.

Read our planning email here.

Read some of the aftermath of our event in an After Action Report email here.

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<<Previous

Progressive Action Update (PAU) Archive 2025

20th Anniversary Gala DocumentsSunday, October 19, 2025

Social Hour Slideshow

Gala Program Booklet

Program Slideshow

Speaker Presentations

Various Blog Posts

Pictures

PACG Cofounder Alta Price's Gala RemarksSunday, October 19, 2025

Ed Tibbett’s PACG 20th Anniversary Speech as Prepared for DeliverySunday, October 19, 2025

Our first PACG employees - Caroline Vernon and James Lee

PACG History - ICAN Award in 2007

PACG Social Justice Movie Nights 2005 to 2012

PACG History - Did you know we had these forums?

PACG Trivia Contest continues...

PACG Trivia Contest!

Archives

Categories

20th Anniversary Gala Documents
Sunday, October 19, 2025

PACG Cofounder Alta Price's Gala Remarks
Sunday, October 19, 2025

Ed Tibbett’s PACG 20th Anniversary Speech as Prepared for Delivery
Sunday, October 19, 2025