This week on Sustainability Now!, your host, Justin Mog, has a nice porch sit with Beau Revlett, organizer with Kentucky Tenants, a project of Root Cause Research Center designed to build a tenants movement in the Commonwealth. In collaboration with tenant-led organizations across the state, KY Tenants, launched a Tenants Organizing Training Series on August 7th, with trainings hosted in various locations across Kentucky with options to call or Zoom in on Saturdays, 2p-3:30p Eastern. Entitled Collectivizing our Struggles, participants will learn about: Tenants' rights in Kentucky, what a better housing system could look like, how to research your landlord, launch a campaign, plan a protest, grow the movement, and more. The series is hosted by the Bowling Green Anti-Eviction Network, Lexington Housing Justice Collective, Lexington Tenants Union, Madison County Tenants Union, Mama Bears of Beecher, Root Cause Research Center, and Rowan County Listening Project. You can signup anytime between now and the final training on December 18, 2021. Learn more and register to participate at http://rootcauseresearch.org/tenanttraining
Resources Beau mentioned include:
"How social is that housing?" by Oksana Mironova and Thomas J. Waters https://www.cssny.org/news/entry/how-social-is-that-housing
"Abolish rent: Toward a communist tenants' movement" by Julian Francis Park (distinguishing tenants' movement, tenants' rights movement, and housing justice movement) https://libcom.org/library/abolish-rent-communist-tenants-movement
"Hidden Tribes" report categorizing US political subcultures https://hiddentribes.us/profiles/
"What is the left?" by Sophia Burns, which analyzes the implications of the above report for movements
Hammer and Hoe: Alabama Communists during the Great Depression by Robin D.G. Kelley https://uncpress.org/book/9781469625485/hammer-and-hoe/
Carving out the Commons: Tenant Organizing and Housing Cooperatives in Washington, D.C. by Amanda Huron
The remaining schedule includes:
Introduction to Housing Justice - August Training
• Aug 28 - People Over Profits: Transformative Visions of Housing (Location: Rowan County Public Library)
Basebuilding - September Training
• Sept 11 - Basebuilding 101 (Location: Joshua Tabernacle Baptist Church 426 South 15th Street in Louisville)
• Sept 18 - Meeting Facilitation (Location: Madison County)
• Sept 25 - Basebuilding 201 (Location: Madison County)
Campaign Planning - October Training
• Oct 9 - Campaign Planning 101 (Location: Bowling Green)
• Oct 16 - Power Mapping: An Introduction for Tenants (Location: Bowling Green)
• Oct 23 - Meeting with Decision-Makers (Location: Bowling Green)
Direct Actions - November/December Training
• Nov 6 - Direct action 101 (Location: Lexington)
• Nov 13 - Working with the press: A Training for Tenants and Organizers (Location: Madison County)
• Nov 20 - Police Liaison: Direct Action Role Training (Location: Lexington)
• Dec 4 - Legal Observer: Direct Action Role Training (Location: Lexington)
• Dec 11 - Jail Support: Direct Action Role Training (Location: Lexington)
The Future of Tenant Organizing - December Training continued
• Dec 18 - Tenant Organizing in Kentucky: Where do we go from here? (Location: Louisville)
As always, our feature is followed by your community action calendar for the week, so get your calendars out and get ready to take action for sustainability NOW!
Sustainability Now! airs on Forward Radio, 106.5fm, WFMP-LP Louisville, every Monday at 6pm and repeats Tuesdays at 12am and 10am. Find us at http://forwardradio.org
The music in this podcast is courtesy of the local band Appalatin and is used by permission. Explore their delightful music at http://appalatin.com