The Center for Popular Democracy (CPD) is an American

advocacy group Advocacy groups, also known as interest groups, special interest groups, lobbying groups or pressure groups use various forms of advocacy in order to influence public opinion and ultimately policy. They play an important role in the developm ...

that promotes

progressive politics Progressivism holds that it is possible to improve human societies through political action. As a political movement, progressivism seeks to advance the human condition through social reform based on purported advancements in science, techn ...

. CPD is a federation of groups that includes some of the old chapters of

ACORN The acorn, or oaknut, is the nut of the oaks and their close relatives (genera ''Quercus'' and '' Lithocarpus'', in the family Fagaceae). It usually contains one seed (occasionally two seeds), enclosed in a tough, leathery shell, and borne ...

. The group's stated goal is to "envision and win an innovative pro-worker, pro-immigrant, racial and economic justice agenda." The organization is allied with teachers’ unions and has published studies criticizing

charter school A charter school is a school that receives government funding but operates independently of the established state school system in which it is located. It is independent in the sense that it operates according to the basic principle of auto ...

Campaigns and actions

The organization gained national prominence during the protests over

Brett Kavanaugh Brett Michael Kavanaugh ( ; born February 12, 1965) is an American lawyer and jurist serving as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He was nominated by President Donald Trump on July 9, 2018, and has served since ...

's nomination to the

United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

. One of the organization's co-executive directors,

Ana Maria Archila Ana María Archila (born 1978/1979) is an immigrant rights, worker justice, LGBTQ rights, and women's rights advocate who ran for Lieutenant Governor of New York. She was formerly the co-executive director of the Center for Popular Democracy ( ...

, confronted U.S. Senator Jeff Flake over his support for the judge and other activists had questions for U.S. Senator Rand Paul.

Private prisons

CPD has run a years-long campaign against

private prison A private prison, or for-profit prison, is a place where people are imprisoned by a third party that is contracted by a government agency. Private prison companies typically enter into contractual agreements with governments that commit ...

s, and prison companies have warned investors that activist groups are a threat to their future profitability. This notice to investors came after lenders like

JP Morgan Chase JPMorgan Chase & Co. is an American multinational investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered in New York City and incorporated in Delaware. As of 2022, JPMorgan Chase is the largest bank in the United States, the w ...

bowed to pressure from CPD and other groups and agreed to stop doing business with prison companies.

Local Progress

Local Progress is a project of CPD, and works to organize grassroots groups on the outside and progressive politicians on the inside to advance an inside/outside strategy for change. It was founded in 2012 to connect progressive leaders in different cities so they can learn from each other's experiences, share policy ideas and model legislation. It also regularly brings local officials together so they can learn from each other in person and share ideas. Local Progress board members include

Brad Lander Bradford S. Lander (born July 8, 1969) is an American politician, urban planner, and community organizer who currently serves as the New York City Comptroller. A member of the Democratic Party, Lander is a progressive politician, and has been d ...

Helen Gym Helen Gym ( ; ko, 김혜련, born January 11, 1968) is an American politician. The daughter of Korean immigrants, she was the first Asian American woman to serve on the Philadelphia City Council. She was first elected to Council in 2015 and ser ...

, Gregorio Casar,

Phillipe Cunningham Phillipe M. Cunningham is a former city council member for Minneapolis Ward 4 and the first transgender man of color to be elected to public office in the United States. Cunningham won the council position in the 2017 Minneapolis City Council el ...

, Tefere Gebre, Lorena González, and other local officials and national progressive leaders.

Funding

CPD has received funding from the Bauman Foundation, the

Ford Foundation The Ford Foundation is an American private foundation with the stated goal of advancing human welfare. Created in 1936 by Edsel Ford and his father Henry Ford, it was originally funded by a US$25,000 gift from Edsel Ford. By 1947, after the death ...

, the

Democracy Alliance The Democracy Alliance is a network of progressive donors who coordinate their political donations to groups that the Alliance has endorsed. It has been described by ''Politico'' as "the country's most powerful liberal donor club". Members of th ...

, and the

Open Society Foundations Open Society Foundations (OSF), formerly the Open Society Institute, is a Grant (money), grantmaking network founded and chaired by business magnate George Soros. Open Society Foundations financially supports civil society groups around the wo ...

References

Organizations established in 2012 Non-profit organizations based in New York City Progressive organizations in the United States 2012 establishments in the United States {{nonprofit-org-stub