Kategorie: PACG Trivia - PACG - Progressive Action for the Common Good

PACG Wins ICAN Award in 2007

9/25/2025

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.

PACG History - Social Justice Movie Nights

9/15/2025

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.

PACG Issue Forums - PACG's History

9/1/2025

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

PACG Trivia - The newsletter switches to Tuesdays

8/31/2025

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.

PACG Die-In PACG History

8/26/2025

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.

First Annual Picnic and Pies - PACG Trivia

8/20/2025

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. 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: Our First Annual Picnic was held on September 22, 2013. We had pies at this first event but something about how they were distributed was different than the way we do them now. Explain.

Answer: We used a silent auction to determine the pie winners! Read the After Action Report here.

Our Second Annual Picnic in the Park, as it was called in 2015, did mention the pie auction in the flyer. Here's a link to the Mailchimp After Action Report.

Of course these days we call this event the Annual Picnic and Pie Auction and it's NOT a silent auction.

Read the 2024 Annual Picnic and Pie Auction After Action Report here.
Read the 2025 Annual Picnic and Pie Auction After Action Report here.

Community Garden PACG Trivia

8/10/2025

PACG Trivia Contest continues...

Image courtesy of Cliff Day, 2011

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 Progressive Action Update (PAU) posts about a past event, action or concern.

Here's the next in this series:
Question: Did you know that we had a Community Garden? What group, planned, planted and maintained it and where was it?

Answer: The PACG Local Foods Initiative Issue Forum was responsible for all of this work. Read an email announcing a monthly meeting in July of 2009 here.

They also helped organize the 5th Annual Earth Charter Summit – Strengthening & Sustaining our Communities through Local Foods. Read about that here.

First PACG Board President - PACG History

8/1/2025

PACG Trivia Contest continues...

PACG Co-Founder, Cath Bolkcom, and Rev. Ron Quay

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 Progressive Action Update (PAU) posts about a past event, action or concern.

Here's the next in this series:
Question: Who was the first PACG Board of Directors President and what was one of the most important things that PACG Co-Founder Alta Price learned from him?

Answer: Southern Baptist Minister, Rev. Ron Quay, was our first Board President. Alta was impressed to learn that many Southern Baptists are quite progressive, especially concerning the separation of church and state. Read the History portion of this post to learn more.

Read this email from Ron from 2008 as PACG attained it's all-important 501(c)(3) status.

Ron passed away in 2012. Read more about him, including his obituary, in this blog post.

Local Foods Initiative meeting

7/15/2009

Local Foods Initiative monthly meeting
Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Davenport Unitarian Church
Davenport, IA

PACG Local Foods Initiative

Images from Cliff Day, 2011

Join us at the PACG Local Foods Initiative. Together we can help to educate and mobilize municipalities and their citizens to strengthen the Quad City area and foster a source of healthy, local, safe food.

You are what you eat; a popular saying takes on new meaning in our diets today. The food we eat has changed drastically in the last 30 years: Factory Farms, Genetically Modified Food ingredients, Cloned Animal Food ingredients, contaminated food, and toxins in imported foods. We face a daily challenge trying to ensure that the food that we eat and feed our family is safe, healthy, environmentally-friendly and supporting our local economy.

PACG is energized to announce its newest forum, the Local Foods Initiative Forum.
The Local Foods Initiative goal is to assist in the development of a healthy, safe, sustainable, local food supply for the Quad Cities.

Four components of the Local Foods Initiative will work to educate and move to action citizens, businesses and local government to pursue a local food supply. There are:
-Farm to Cafeteria
-Community Gardens
-Local Food Coop
-An Annual Local Foods Summit

The first Annual PACG Local Foods Summit will be Saturday September 26th at Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois. Save the date!

Join us at the PACG Local Foods Initiative. Together we can help to educate and mobilize municipalities and their citizens to strengthen the Quad City area and foster a source of healthy, local, safe food.

If you are interested in joining the Local Foods Initiative or one of its committees, please contact Rachel Griffiths.

Rachel Griffiths

PACG's FIRST Action!

9/24/2005

PACG's FIRST Action! The Peace Bus!
Friday to Sunday, September 23 to 25, 2005

In September of 2005 members of the newly-organized Progressive Action for the Common Good boarded busses to protest the Iraq War in Washington DC at the September 24th Anti-War Protest. Fifty-four of us from the QCA made the journey.

Alta Price wrote this organizing email to Brian Gryzlak early in September:

Hi Brian!

We are trying to get enough people here in the Quad Cities to charter a bus to go to Washington for the Peace rally. Right now we are about 20 people short of the number needed for a comfy, large bus we can spend 2 nights sleeping on. I know you are getting a bus (buses?) as well. We hoped we might be able to share buses or passengers somehow.

I am going to forward you separately the details of our trip. Also, since I will be busy at work on Friday, I want to get you in contact with Cathy Bolkcom, who is organizing our trip.

Thanks!

Alta Price

At the time, PACG

Here is the poster that Cath put together with tear off contacts so that people could coordinate with her.

Read what Wikipedia said about the rally here.