Eviction Representation For All
We believe a fair trial shouldn’t come with a paywall. That’s why we’re fighting to pass a tax on the wealthy to fund free legal representation for all tenants in eviction court. Eviction Representation for All is the tenant-led initiative to bring right to counsel to Multnomah County eviction court via a ballot measure in 2022.
Unlike in criminal court, in eviction court (civil court) defendants who are unable to afford a lawyer are not provided one. In the vast majority of cases, this means that only one side comes to court with legal representation—landlords. Tenants who appear without a lawyer are compelled to defend themselves against their landlords’ lawyers. Without the guidance of a professional who knows how to navigate the legal system, tenants find themselves vulnerable to procedural tricks, abusive conduct, predatory contracts, and intimidation.
As it stands, the balance of power overwhelmingly favors landlords. The outcome of this ballot measure—free legal representation for all tenants in eviction court—will help shift the power balance, ultimately reducing the number of evictions that occur and lessen the harm that evictions cause.
Eviction Representation for All follows in the footsteps of successful efforts in cities, counties, and states all across the country, starting with the movement’s initial win for New York City’s tenants in 2017. While scope and implementation vary across jurisdictions, the message is consistent and clear: the right to counsel movement is strong, widely supported, and continues to expand.
Medicare For All
We need a healthcare system that puts people’s lives before corporate profits. We need comprehensive care, free to all US residents at the point of service. We need a single, universal system to make sure that everyone gets the care they need – not a fractured system that saves the best care for those who can afford it. Our wasteful, private insurance system is largely paid for by poor and working-class people. In return, they get the worst access to care in the industrialized world and the highest rate of medical debt. We need a healthcare system paid for through progressive taxation where the rich finally pay their fair share. We need Medicare for All.
Poll after poll shows that Americans overwhelmingly support Medicare for All. Yet, powerful interests continue to stand in the way of change – even as a deadly pandemic kills hundreds of thousands and leaves millions more in medical precarity. We in the Portland DSA Medicare for All Campaign believe that building a mass movement around health justice is key to winning. That’s why we are co-hosting a monthly “Rise Up for Medicare for All” rally. That’s why we will continue to show up at town halls, to canvas neighborhoods, to support healthcare workers and marginalized communities, and to build power. Join us at our monthly meetings to help build the movement and win Medicare for All. Everybody in, nobody out!
Universal Preschool Now
What if every family was guaranteed high-quality preschool, regardless of their ability to pay? Would it transform your life, or that of someone you know? This can be a reality — from Chicago to Denver to New York City, universal preschool programs are being successfully implemented nationwide. With your support, we can win universal preschool for Multnomah County in the November 2020 election!
Countless families are burdened with monthly childcare costs equal to rent or mortgage payments for just a single child. Many childcare workers report wages so low that they can’t afford to send their own children to preschool. When parents, caregivers, and workers are given the opportunity to choose what is best for their families, our whole community flourishes.
Money invested in early childhood education pays back 7-10% a year, because parents can choose to work. Universal preschool is the single best strategy to raise high school graduation rates and kids’ wages as adults, while, reducing unemployment, incarceration and crime, and lowering economic inequality by race, gender and class.
Everyone deserves the opportunity to thrive. Universal preschool addresses a fundamental social inequity by ensuring that all children are guaranteed a strong foundation on which they can build their lives.
Our vision for universal preschool:
- Ensures that all kids can have the play-based, culturally responsive and inclusive care they deserve.
- Gives caregivers of young children the opportunity to work or go to school.
- Provides a way to pay preschool and childcare workers living wages.
- Builds the political support to sustain funding for a strong preschool program and creates momentum to expand it to younger and older children.
PDX Amazon Workers Solidarity Campaign
We are the Amazon Workers Solidarity Campaign!
Our campaign is aimed at educating, supporting, and helping workers in whatever ways we can, so they can improve wages, benefits and working conditions!
Educational Videos
Below are links to various educational and informational videos that the chapter has produced.
- Intro to Socialism – A US Tradition: An introductory video series to Democratic Socialism
- Portland DSA Red Talks: Short lectures given at DSA general meetings on a variety of topics of the Red persuasion
Portland DSA Medium Articles
Here is a collection of short articles written by the membership on important topics and causes.