On June 12th, UFE’s Worker’s Rights Organizer Victor Urquiza and Inclusive Economies Project Director Kayan Cheung-Miaw participated in a Communications Initiative Workshop hosted by the North Carolina Network of Grantmakers. This was made possible due to the great generosity of the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation, and United for a Fair Economy appreciates their support from the bottom of our hearts.

The two-day conference was located in Greensboro, North Carolina, where organizations from all throughout the state were able to reflect, plan, and storytell their current progress and prepare for future goals.

This year, Urquiza and Cheung-Miaw decided to focus on applying the workshop activities to a coalition which they are part of, Duke Respect Durham. The campaign Duke Respect Durham was announced on May 1st of 2023, a coalition created with the goal of having Duke University pay their fair share of taxes to the county and to the city. As the biggest landlord of Durham, owning about 11% of the city’s properties, Duke University is able to skip on paying their fair share of taxes due to their status as a non-profit institution. Based on their endowments, they would be paying up at least 50 million dollars per year if they were paying at the rate of every other property owner in Durham, which would be essential in securing critical needs such as raised wages for city workers, affordable housing, public education, and public education.

After brief introductions, participants were able to learn more about the importance of communication efforts and messaging in grassroots organizations and brainstorm further action in mobilizing and recruitment. Then, they worked together on an activity where they had time to discuss and begin mapping out a mission statement, goals, target audiences, and advantages of the campaign. Avoiding division and future disagreements between current and future members, a broad mission statement was created for the coalition which is to, “To fight for a sustainable and equitable economy.” 

One of the main goals decided in the workshop was to articulate the economic effect of Duke on the Durham community, a majority Black and working class city. Durham, where cost of living only keeps rising and wages remain stagnant. Another goal was to connect this issue to the broader problem of economic inequality. Duke’s actions are only one example of the unjust system that we live under. Recognizing racial justice in the campaign is crucial since black and brown workers are disproportionately affected by the rise in the cost of living. Another main goal is placing pressure on Duke to pay the taxes out of their own will, something that will take mass effort and community support. In order to do this, Urquiza and Cheung-Miaw brainstormed the possibility of further community outreach, marches, and protests such as they did on May 1st, International Workers Day.  In terms of communication, goals included a campaign dates calendar, the possible use of billboards and yard-signs, going on a local radio show, going to small businesses and putting up signs to express support, all while considering funding and people capacity available. 

Having attended a reflective and rewarding experience, Urquiza most enjoyed being able to hear about other people’s work for their organizations and see what social justice work others are doing around the state. When talking about the importance of workshops like these, Urquiza shared, “For small organizations, communications usually falls on the backend,” in which he appreciated the opportunity that the workshop provided him to think about how to improve existing communication efforts in the coalition in which he participates.