Pittsburgh Neighborhood Assemblies, so far

For almost a year now an experiment has been underway in our part of the world. Neighbors have been organizing themselves into Neighborhood Assemblies to pursue an independent political project. This experiment comes out of a shared experience, a shared view of our world, and a commitment to build whatever is necessary to have political power rooted in our communities. 

The neighbors who first began to come together volunteered on the Not On Our Dime referendum. Organizing around Palestinian solidarity found no institutional or non-profit support and either silent neutrality or antagonistic opposition from our elected officials. Still, these neighbors organized themselves into a campaign that developed its own leaders, built and managed a base of volunteers over 500 people large, and collected over 21,000 signatures. 

Following a mini-conference to discuss what came next, these volunteers then committed to building out the neighborhood networks that came from the campaign. They started by meeting more of their neighbors with informal meet ups and summer block parties. They invited people to more intentional discussions about coming together and what we could do if we had permanently organized neighborhoods. And they committed to not being a social network meant to save the Democratic party but an affiliated group to think together and take action together. 

Seeking to develop a political home for neighbors who can unite around fights for healthcare as a human right, neighborhoods and housing for all, mobility guarantees, and an understanding that these things are not guaranteed to everyone in our neighborhoods because our current system creates poverty and death  in order to horde wealth and profit. This system destroys our communities and those around the world which requires us to build a permanently organized response. A place where we can tend to the relationships and hold the lessons of each of the fights that the Neighborhood Assemblies chose to concentrate around because we see a way to advance a politically independent project. 

This is the vision for the Neighborhood Assemblies, to reach out to neighbors and talk with each other about to build leaders and organize our neighbors. So far, we've already formed these in:

• Lawrenceville/Polish Hill/Millvale
• Highland Park/East Liberty
• South Hills
• North Side
• Regent Square, and
• Bloomfield/Garfield/Friendship/Shadyside

In the first months, neighborhood assemblies have established priorities for mutual aid, political education, Sunday salons for socializing and conversations with organizers, rapid response and ICE out activities, and this newsletter! This is where we have to develop our leaders, deepen our relationship in our community, and make meaning out of our world and actions. We are the only ones who can build the world we need, we will never get permission to organize ourselves, and we need you to help to have something that belongs to the people of our neighborhoods.