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Covering the stakes, not the odds: good news for progressives
Welcome to Message Monday! It’s no wonder we have so many corrupt and idiotic people in office, when the media is so deeply committed to...

Karen Young
Mar 12, 20242 min read


Strong culture could help progressives win big
Welcome to SWOT Sunday! Last week, we talked about how conflict avoidance within an organization causes many problems, especially with...

Karen Young
Mar 11, 20246 min read


Progressive Unionism 2.0: Vermont AFL-CIO United
Welcome to Team Tuesday! Today we have the story from Jacobin of how an intrepid band of union reformers transformed the Vermont State...

Karen Young
Mar 5, 20242 min read


Conflict aversion dooms strategy: make conflict work for you
Welcome to SWOT Sunday! You are no stranger to conflict. Conflict is everywhere: with your family, friends, in your workplace or...

Karen Young
Mar 4, 20245 min read


Grassroots organizing pushes governor to accept food aid
Welcome to Winning Wednesday! I assume you’ve heard about the victory for Starbucks workers. Super great! Congratulations to everyone...

Karen Young
Feb 29, 20242 min read


UAW has a strategy to win battle of the century
Welcome to Team Tuesday! Last fall, the United Auto Workers (UAW), under new leader Shawn Fain, launched a wildly audacious attempt to...

Karen Young
Feb 21, 20245 min read


With Point B in place, Point A is where strategy starts
Point A: Another way to say it is, Where are we right now? What is the reality of our present moment? This was a major topic near the end...

Karen Young
Feb 18, 20244 min read


Florida for All strategy to engage public in state budget fight
Welcome to Take Action Tuesday! I’m really impressed by a lot of things about the People’s Budget Florida campaign: - The breadth...

Karen Young
Feb 13, 20242 min read


Debt Jubilee: It was impossible, and now it seems inevitable
Welcome to Winning Wednesday! Talk about the Overton window! This is how it gets moved. The group Debt Collective, the nation’s first...

Karen Young
Feb 7, 20242 min read


7 progressive environmental groups hold Nashville hearing on TVA
Welcome to Take Action Tuesday! Public hearings are an important way to show support for progressive policy ideas and hold government...

Karen Young
Jan 30, 20242 min read


Progressive strategy for working with - or around - Democrats
Welcome to SWOT Sunday! We all know that progressives have to work with mainstream Democrats, at least some of the time, to build power...

Karen Young
Jan 28, 20249 min read


Razom fights for Ukraine with passion - and strategy
Welcome to Team Thursday, when I spotlight a worthy organization. Full disclosure, I am a sustaining donor to Razom, and have been since...

Karen Young
Jan 25, 20244 min read


2 strengths and a weakness: Democratic/Progressive policy strategy
Welcome to SWOT Sunday! The strengths are related to progressive and Democratic Party policies vs GOP policies, and the resulting effects...

Karen Young
Jan 16, 202411 min read


1 big union with a strategy to change the South and the nation
Welcome to Team Thursday! We stay in the South for a third day of exciting developments that could one day tip the balance of power...

Karen Young
Jan 11, 20242 min read


With a free petition platform, MoveOn fertilizes grassroots organizing
Welcome to Take Action Tuesday! MoveOn.org sent me an email saying, Will you start a petition to turn vacant office buildings into...

Karen Young
Jan 9, 20241 min read


Will the children save our politics? Leaders We Deserve says yes
Welcome to Team Thursday, when we spotlight an exciting organization. I confess I stan David Hogg, one of the Parkland high school...

Karen Young
Jan 4, 20242 min read


GrowNYC Lives, Organizing To Save Compost Programs Continues
Welcome to Winning Wednesday! I love living in Milwaukee, but the thing I miss most about living in New York is that I can no longer...

Karen Young
Jan 3, 20242 min read


Two pieces of good news – and one warning – about Texas
Welcome to Take Action Tuesday! I’ve been a big fan of Beto O’Rourke since I saw the 2019 HBO documentary Running With Beto. This...

Karen Young
Jan 2, 20242 min read


Bigger Movement, Bigger Wins: SWOT Sunday
Read an overview of SWOT analyses and my analysis of the progressive movement. Here is a summary of a related pair of Strengths and...

Karen Young
Nov 25, 20235 min read


Jane Goodall Grows Organizers - Team Thursday
Jane Goodall is best known as the woman who did groundbreaking research with chimpanzees years ago. She is also a most formidable...

Karen Young
Nov 25, 20232 min read
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