Center for Popular Democracy

Center for Popular Democracy

Abbreviation	CPD
Formation	2012
Founded at	New York City, United States
Type	Nonprofit
Purpose	Progressive political advocacy [1]
Headquarters	Brooklyn, New York
Co-executive directors	Damareo Cooper Analilia Mejia
Revenue	$28.7 million [2] (2023)
Expenses	$29.8 million [2] (2023)
Endowment	$35.9 million [2]
Website	populardemocracy.org

The Center for Popular Democracy(CPD) is an American advocacy group that promotes progressive politics. ^{[3] [4] [5]} CPD is a federation of groups that includes some of the old chapters of ACORN. ^[6] The group's stated goal is to "unapologetically demand transformational change for Black, brown and low-income communities." ^[7] The organization is allied with teachers' unions and has published studies criticizing charter schools. ^{[8] [9]}

Campaigns and actions

The organization gained national prominence during the protests over Brett Kavanaugh's nomination to the United States Supreme Court. One of the organization's co-executive directors, Ana Maria Archila, confronted U.S. Senator Jeff Flake over his support for the judge ^{[10] [11]} and other activists had questions for U.S. Senator Rand Paul. ^[12]

Private prisons

CPD has run a years-long campaign against private prisons, and prison companies have warned investors that activist groups are a threat to their future profitability. ^[13] This notice to investors came after lenders like JP Morgan Chase bowed to pressure from CPD and other groups and agreed to stop doing business with prison companies. ^[14]

Local Progress

Local Progress started as a project of CPD, and works to organize grassroots groups with progressive politicians. It was founded in 2012 to connect progressive politicians so they could share policy ideas and model legislation. ^{[15] [16] [17]} Previous Local Progress board members include Brad Lander, Helen Gym, Gregorio Casar, Phillipe Cunningham, Tefere Gebre, and Lorena González. ^[18] In 2022, Local Progress spun off from CPD and became its own distinct 501(c)3 and 501(c)4 organizations - now known as Local Progress and the Local Progress Impact Lab] .

Funding

CPD has received funding from the Bauman Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the Democracy Alliance, ^[6] and the Open Society Foundations. ^{[19] [20] [21] [22]} It also receives funding from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. ^[23]

References

1. Gillespie, Patrick (November 11, 2014). "Liberals and conservatives blast the Fed". CNN. Retrieved 30 July 2015.
2. Robert (9 May 2013). "Center For Popular Democracy - Nonprofit Explorer". ProPublica.
3. Marrans, Daniel (July 29, 2015). "The Fed Just Inched Closer To Raising Interest Rates". Huffington Post. Retrieved 30 July 2015.
4. Applebaum, Binyamin (November 14, 2014). "Face to Face With the Fed, Workers Ask for More Help". New York Times. Retrieved 30 July 2015.
5. Applebaum, Binyamin (March 3, 2015). "Black Jobless Rates Remain High, but Fed Can Only Do So Much to Help". New York Times. Retrieved 30 July 2015.
6. Judis, John (June 20, 2015). "Dear Democrats: Populism Will Not Save You". National Journal. Retrieved 30 July 2015.
7. "Mission". Center for Popular Democracy. 16 October 2013. Retrieved 30 July 2015.
8. Brown, Emma (March 24, 2014). "California charter schools vulnerable to fraud, report says". Washington Post. Retrieved 30 July 2015.
9. Payton, Bre (October 3, 2014). "5 things to know about new charter school fraud report". Watchdog.org. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 30 July 2015.
10. "Who were the women who confronted Sen. Jeff Flake about Kavanaugh vote in an elevator?". Miami Herald . Retrieved 15 October 2018.
11. "The Final Days of the Brett Kavanaugh Protests". The New Yorker . 6 October 2018. Retrieved 15 October 2018.
12. "Senator Rand Paul confronted by activists at airport" . Retrieved 15 October 2018.
13. Stockler, Asher (May 8, 2019). "Private prison company GEO Group says activists pose risk to bottom line". newsweek.com. Newsweek. Retrieved May 22, 2019.
14. Rueb, Emily (March 6, 2019). "JPMorgan Chase Stops Funding Private Prison Companies, and Immigration Activists Applaud". The New York Times . Retrieved May 22, 2019.
15. DePillis, Lydia (January 4, 2016). "Meet the lefty club behind a blitz of new laws in cities around the country". The Washington Post. Retrieved May 22, 2019.
16. Early, Steve (August 8, 2017). "Diverse, Radical and Ready to Resist: Meet the First in the New Wave of Local Progressive Officials". inthesetimes.com. In These Times. Retrieved May 22, 2019.
17. Bradley, Bill (March 29, 2017). "City Leaders Met Yesterday in NYC to Strategize the Resistance". nextcity.org. NextCity. Retrieved May 22, 2019.
18. "Board Members". Local Progress. Retrieved May 21, 2019.
19. "Analysis - No, George Soros isn't paying Kavanaugh protesters". Washington Post. Retrieved 15 October 2018.
20. Center for Popular Democracy — Fed Up Campaign (2015),
21. "A conversation with Brian Kettenring on October 16, 2014" (PDF). GiveWell . Retrieved 15 October 2018.
22. "OSPC Summary of Lobbying Activities: 2016, Third Quarter". Open Society Policy Center. Archived from the original on June 23, 2017. Retrieved 15 October 2018.
23. "Grants William and Flora Hewlett Foundation". William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. Retrieved 4 November 2024.