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Please join Partners For Progress SWPA on May 31 from 5:30-7:30 pm for its membership meeting. This month, to strengthen the social ties that facilitate the work we do as a community, we will be breaking bread together. Everyone is welcome, but if you are able to, please bring a dish to share (main, side, or dessert), or if cooking is not your thing, bring some seltzers or other non-alcoholic beverages to share.

Along with good food, company, and discussion, we will be having a special presentation on mutual aid, how it works, what is going on locally, and how it intersects with both immigrant protection and neighborhood organizing.

Please complete the form to receive the location: https://actionnetwork.org/forms/monthly-meeting-and-potluck-53126/

Join Partners For Progress SWPA and the Unitarian Universalist Church of the South Hills, along with thousands of people across the country on Saturday, June 6th to send Citizens Bank a clear message: financing The GEO Group and CoreCivic, operators of private prison and immigration detention facilities, is bad for business.

Please note: for the safety of attendees, the exact South Hills location will be provided only to individuals who register for the event.

Please bring signs specific to this action: De-ICE Citizens Bank; Cages Aren’t Communities; Citizens Bank – Stop Financing ICE Prisons; Citizens Bank + ICE = Human Rights Abuse; ICE Prisons Don’t Strengthen Our Communities; Citizens Bank – Cut Ties With ICE Prisons; etc.

Citizens Bank is bankrolling the country’s two largest prison companies that are earning record profits operating dozens of ICE detention facilities. While most major banks have cut ties with CoreCivic and The GEO Group, Citizens Bank is deepening its financial support for these companies, which are already holding more than half of the 70,000 immigrants currently in ICE detention centers across the country.

The bank’s capital is supporting a deplorable ICE agenda that aims to fill detention centers with more than 100,000 people by next year. Even as it publicly touts its commitment to “strengthening our communities,” Citizens Bank has played a key role in helping The GEO Group and CoreCivic access more than $2.5 billion in financing, some of it approved earlier this year. This comes as the companies face a mountain of allegations, including forced labor and wrongful deaths due to understaffing and medical neglect at their facilities.

We won’t quietly stand by as Citizens continues to finance the private prison & ICE detention companies that are harming our communities. The 2019 exodus of banks from the industry in response to activism should be a reminder to us that our voices matter. Now it’s time to use them. Visit www.de-icecitizensbank.org for more information and other actions you can take!

Remember, we want to be in solidarity with workers including bank branch employees. Treat everyone with respect and do not harass or film employees.

A core principle behind all Coalition events is a commitment to nonviolent action. We expect all participants to seek to de-escalate any potential confrontation with those who disagree with our values. We expect hosts to ensure all participants in your event uphold this commitment. We recommend all participants review a safety and security resource before your event, such as https://indivisi.org/safety.

May Day (International Workers Day) is being celebrated with two main actions: a nationwide walkout and a local rally/march.

Walkout: Indivisible, along with a coalition of over two hundred organizations, is calling for a day of No Business as Usual. They are asking folks who are in a position to do so not to go to work, not to go to school (the school walkout is backed by major teacher’s unions), and not to purchase anything except at locally owned businesses. The point of this is to flex economic power and send a message to the Trump regime that we will not do business as usual while they trample our rights, terrorize our communities, and drag us into a senseless war.

May Day Rally and March, Friday May 1 at 5:30 pm: Join 1Hood, Casa San Jose, LCLAA and APALA to rally and march for Workers Over Billionaires, Immigrants Over ICE, starting at the United Steelworkers Building, 60 Boulevard of the Allies, Pittsburgh, PA 15222.

https://www.mobilize.us/mayday/event/934091

While marching in the streets won’t get billionaires to pay their fair share or get ICE agents off our streets, solidarity events like this are a first step to create the momentum we need to organize our communities and work together to fight for a city where everyone can thrive.  Bring a friend, coworker, partner, family member, or neighbor – our collective energy is powerful. 

Frontline Dignity Immigrant Protection Training, Wednesday, April 29th, 7-8:30 pm. Sign up is required to receive the specific location. Attendees will be vetted, and no one will be admitted without a ticket. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/dignity-in-action-rapid-response-training-when-ice-appears-tickets-1987017361417

Fridays Without Fetterman, every Friday, noon to 1 pm at 1000 Liberty Avenue, Pittsburgh, 15222. It hardly needs to be said how disappointing John Fetterman has been as our senator. It is crucial that we continue to remind him that we sent him to Washington to stand up for our values, protect our civil and first amendment rights, and be a bulwark against the tyrannical policies of the Trump regime. Bring a sign and a friend. https://www.mobilize.us/mobilize/event/899611/

Citizens Bank: Stop Funding Cruelty, a roadside protest at a South Hills Pittsburgh Citizens Bank branch on May 2, 11-noon. Citizens Bank, through Citizens Financial Group, has long financed private prison operators like The GEO Group despite decades of abuse, neglect, and exploitation. Right here in PA, GEO runs the Moshannon Valley Processing Center, the largest ICE detention site in the Northeast. Join Partners For Progress SWPA and Indivisibles across Pennsylvania to shine a light on the Moshannon Valley Processing Center and to demand that Citizens Bank stop funding cruelty. Sign up for this event here: https://www.mobilize.us/indivisible/event/926510/

Come meet your fellow South Hills (and adjacent communities) activists, plan future actions and activities, and participate in a training session, presented by filmmaker and community organizer Annabel Park, on how to organize locally so you and your neighbors are prepared to act when a crisis arises. This is the type of organizing that enabled the people of Minneapolis to stand and protect each other while under siege and empowered the people of South Korea to resist a military takeover of their government. Location (in Mt. Lebanon) will be provided when you RSVP. https://actionnetwork.org/forms/partners-for-progress-swpa-meeting-and-neighborhood-organizing-training

Sign up at https://www.mobilize.us/nokings/event/909512/

On March 28th, rise up, take to the streets, and say it loud: no thrones, no crowns, no kings. We’re not watching history happen—we’re making it. Join us.

Partners for Progress SWPA is hosting another No Kings rally in Pittsburgh’s South Hills on Saturday, March 28 from 4-5:30 pm.

Featured speakers are former Congressman Conor Lamb, state Rep. Jen Mazzocco, Allegheny County Councilor Dan Grzybek, Carnegie Mayor Sam Bigham, and activist 1Hood Power MAN-E.

Please sign up here: 

https://www.mobilize.us/nokings/event/909512

Signing up helps us plan and allows us to contact you about any changes.

The event is rain or shine (barring any dangerous conditions) so dress for the weather.

A core principle behind all No Kings events is a commitment to nonviolent action. We expect all participants to seek to de-escalate any potential confrontation with those who disagree with our values and to act lawfully at these events. Weapons of any kind, including those legally permitted, should not be brought to events.

Exact location will be provided upon registration. Additional details to follow about the event as the date nears so stay tuned!