The Licking County Progressives

Agenda for Monthly Progressive Business Meeting
4/29/19
7-9pm
24 Mill St., Newark, OH
Subject to Change

• Introduction (5 Mins. 7:00-7:05)
• Labor Education/Working Families First (10 Mins. 7:05-7:15)
• Local Activism (5 Mins. 7:15-7:20)
• Open Discussion (If Desired) (100 Mins. 7:20-9:00)
• Adjourn (9:00)
Minutes for Progressive Meeting
3/25/19

• Meeting was broadcast via a LIVE Facebook video.
• We discussed the ongoing plans for a Labor Paper/Pamphlet/Newsletter. Noted that we want it to be nonpartisan since working class issues know no political party. Even so, it should not refrain from pointing out when politicians and parties stray from fighting for working people. We highlighted that the Democratic Party – if it is smart – could benefit from supporting this effort by helping to educate people on labor and helping to boost the power thereof. Want it to be known that we are unquestionably pro-Union. Related to this, we discussed the seeming inevitability about automation, how unbridle automation threatens the economy, how employers use it as a scare tactic, and how it could be used to our collective benefit. It was pointed out that the labor paper can help educate on this as well (while also highlighting the role of outsourcing and insourcing). We discussed how it would be helpful to collaborate with the Think Tank, the Freedom School, Working Families First, and Labor.
• Related to the Labor issue and the role of Working Families First, we dipped into the local politics surrounding the needle exchange – specifically, the recent cowardly vote by the County Board of Health in banning such – and the dominant issue of rising homelessness in the area (stemming from last week’s City Council meeting wherein public support was on display for compassion). It was pointed out the labor paper can help educate here as well. We discussed how the homeless have a desperate need for beds and showers. There are between 500-800 homeless in the area with a study by HUD and Newark City Schools estimating 300 homeless children. Possible locations for homeless to stay: abandoned fire stations, empty schools, the abandoned “Knights Inn”, or even the abandoned “Basket”.
• In our open discussion, we continued our thoughtful review of what socialism is and what it isn’t as well as how we confront the conservative uptick in attacks on the same.