Organizing A New Economy

“We have a serious history in the United States of economic policies that disproportionately burden communities of color. Not only is this wrong, it hurts all of us.”

Liz Loeb, Leader in TakeAction's Economic Justice Program

“For too long wealth has accumulated in fewer and fewer hands while the bottom has fallen out of working people’s living standards. It’s time we put economics – and just plain decency and common sense – to work for us.”

Phillip Cryan, Organizing Director, SEIU Healthcare Minnesota

“I learned that my voice counts and that I can do something about the current problem.”

from our meeting on the state budget deficit – St. Paul’s East Side, November 20, 2010

Take Action!

Who we are


Our state’s economic problems did not start with this recession.

For thirty years the consolidation of wealth by a few has left our state less equal and less stable. For generations before that, women, people of color, Native Americans, immigrants, and the poor were systematically excluded from full participation in our state’s economic and civic life. As the population of Minnesota ages and becomes more racially diverse, our future together depends on our ability to capitalize on the talents of every Minnesotan. We need to develop sustainably-funded systems of opportunity that include people of every race.

We believe the way to realize this change is for grassroots leaders to vie for economic power in our workplaces, in banking & finance, and in our public institutions.

If we do not arrest control of our economy from the 1% that currently directs it, we risk being ill-prepared for our future. The focal point of this negotiation has been (and will continue be) the revenue crises we have faced at every level of government. Securing new, progressive revenue is necessary if we hope to take on the challenges we all face: old age, ill-health, and taking care of our kids. Beyond this, securing new, progressive revenue is necessary if we hope to re-democratize control of our common wealth. If we can do this, return economic power to the hands of Minnesotans, we can organize a new economy that is more robust, more inclusive, more sustainable, more democratic, and more humane than any we’ve had before.