Written by: Jonathon Feinberg, Organizing Director
As 2020 arrived, the New Lynn Coalition was working on a new website and gearing up for a major Housing For All campaign, releasing a new housing toolkit, and building our Diverse Hiring committee to influence city hiring practices. And then everything changed.
The first months of Corona Virus shutdown were harrowing. We spent hours upon hours trying to figure out the city’s response, identify gaps in relief efforts, and understand how our broad coalition could best serve the needs of our community. We moved our organization online to stay connected. We published the first bilingual Covid-19 resource guide, designed to be printed and distributed. During May Day, May 1st- the international worker's day, we organized a May Day car rally and radio station, keeping our tradition alive in a Covid-safe action through distance and technology.
Then, former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin murdered George Floyd, sparking a new wave of uprising for Black lives. NLC supported actions and joined coalitions to deepen our ongoing fight for racial justice. When 3 black men were beaten, arrested, and harassed by Lynn police, we were there to support their demands for Justice. We now carry this work forward.
First, we are involved in hiring decisions for the City of Lynn and the Lynn Public Schools. This includes the Chief of Police, Diversity Equity Inclusion officer, and several positions within LPS administration and at the school-level, including job descriptions. Second, NLC was a founding partner of the Lynn Racial Justice Coalition, which formed to demand a new vision for public safety in Lynn. We helped win police Body Cameras, and have commitments` from the Mayor to work with us on creating an Unarmed Emergency Response team in Lynn.
As the crisis continued, we pushed the city to meet the needs of our people, supporting our partner organizations. We supported small business owners at the Lynnway Mart fighting against their eviction, helping secure businesses SBA grants to assist their transition. Many have since relocated locally. We distributed over $150,000 in financial assistance to undocumented households who do not qualify for other state or federal aid programs. We publicized and helped stop the ICE arrest of a Lynn father.
In June we were approached by city councilors and the North Shore Labor Council to take on their food aid programs. We raised enough money to hire a Food Aid Organizer, and now deliver groceries to nearly 600 Lynn households. We are identifying new food sources to increase our distribution frequency, and meet the worsening hunger crisis in Lynn.
We continued our Housing Campaign through our leadership and participation in the Housing Lynn planning process. The Coronavirus pandemic has laid bare the deep inequities in our city, and housing is a key determinant of personal and public health. Over 40% of the state’s renters face eviction due to rent debt. Meanwhile, the development process continues for nearly 4000 luxury units priced far out of reach for the vast majority of Lynners.
This year has been a struggle. But we have adapted, we have grown, we have been resilient, and we have transformed. Even through social distance, we have come closer together. Our work now is as it has always been: to prevent the development of two Lynns, separate and even more unequal, by building a New Lynn, where equity is a core principle and advancing the social, political, and economic interests of Lynn’s multi-racial, multilingual, poor and working class majority becomes a shared commitment by the broader community.
The Coronavirus pandemic has created a moment of great transformation. It’s up to us to make sure this transformation benefits all of us. We can build a new Lynn, but only if we do it together. Join us.
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