June 2020 - chrysalis.giving

trip report: tech equity on california budget
by Igor Serebryany 21 Jun '20

21 Jun '20

i'm a member of the tech equity collaborative: https://techequitycollaborative.org/ (aside: i recommend folks join this organization) today, they had a conversation with chris hoene from the california budget and policy institute re: the upcoming california budget: https://calbudgetcenter.org/ https://techequitycollaborative.org/event/how-covid-19-gutted-californias-b… some interesting things from my notes: * california is facing a $54b budget shortfall over the original 2020/21 budget proposed in january * the governor's revised proposal cuts about $14b in spending to help cover the gap * cuts in spending are about 1/2 from education, which has a mandated formula in the state constitution due to prop 98 * additional cuts in higher education ($2b) healthcare for low-income families ($1.5b) and other services * (special to me) almost the entire environmental protection budget is cut, from $723M to $42M (a 95% reduction) * the governor and the legislature are disagreeing about how to account for potential federal aid to the states. the governor wants to cut spending now to balance the budget, while the legislature wants to pass a budget which assumes some level of federal aid, and also pass triggered cuts starting in the fall depending on the level of aid which does materialize * the legislature also wants to protect some education spending, and also increase some spending on healthcare in light of covid in short, it's a pretty grim picture. california has a pretty good budget site: http://www.ebudget.ca.gov/budget/2020-21MR/#/BudgetSummary i recommend reading at least the intro and summary pages. we're covering some of the shortfall through accounting tricks like limiting tax credits, and we're also using about half of our $16b rainy day fund on this year's budget. after discussing the budget, the conversation focused on two main topics: prop13 and the "schools and communities first" act which will be on the ballot in november, and on the defund-the-police movement. re: defund the police -- california spends about $48b on law enforcement, but most of that spent by cities and counties. the state spends $13b, mostly on state prisons and on the CHP, and this number has been flat in recent years. the remainder is coming from counties. one thing to take away from the defund movement is that timing is relevant here. the california budget must be passed by july 1st, and there's not a lot of room for either cuts or negotiations. local governments usually also have to pass their budgets by july 1st, and again the timing is pretty tight to ask for major budget revisions like defunding the police. the prop 13 conversation is relevant, because prop 13 affects county local government revenue. counties mostly spend money on two categories: * human services * public safety with some counties having smaller additional expenses, like transportation or parks&rec. most of local/county revenue comes from property taxes, which have been limited due to prop 13. tech equity is pushing for a bill in november called the "schools and communities first": https://www.schoolsandcommunitiesfirst.org/ which will change how commercial real-estate is taxed to provide some additional local money for schools. this will relieve some pressure on the state government to fund local schools. i found this site helpful: https://ed100.org/lessons/whopays <3, --igor

2 1

Collecting Funds for Affected Communities in South Minneapolis
by Gene Goldstein-Plesser 13 Jun '20

13 Jun '20

Hey folks - Dunno if this is the idea for this mailing list, but figured you'll correct me if it's not... :) See below for an opportunity to give $$ directly to a friend-of-a-friend community organizer in South Minneapolis helping folks recover from the violence there. ------ *Hi there! * *I am reaching out with an ask for support for my community right now. As I’m sure you’ve seen in the news, South Minneapolis has become a temporary food desert, as well as pharmacy and community center desert for many people. More than 100 buildings burned in South Minneapolis, where I live & where I grew up, last weekend. The destruction done to local businesses and establishments that serve the vital needs of a largely BIPOC & working-class community disappeared overnight incited largely (we now know) by violence from the police & white nationalists in response to our local uprising fighting for Justice for George Floyd and rebelling against the police state. * *Right now, the reality here is that many people are struggling to feed their families — our grocery stores are either burned down or boarded up, buses are running limited schedules, and the closest open grocery stores are far away in the suburbs. People are not only running out of food, but also hygiene & sanitation supplies, and many families don’t have fire hydrants, which is scary given that local buildings keep going up in flames. We’re providing direct support right now to fill the needs of our community, providing food, hygiene & sanitation supplies, and safety equipment to neighborhoods in South Minneapolis that have been hit the hardest, and we will as long as we can until we can rebuild our community. * *We’re collecting donations on Venmo (@alettabrady) and PayPal (clairealettabrady(a)gmail.com <clairealettabrady(a)gmail.com>). This is a concrete way to provide direct support to our community as we respond to the myriad of crises right now. So far we’ve raised almost $7,000 & have been able to serve hundreds of families here. After one of my food drops, my childhood best friend texted me that she was able to collect food saying, “Just finished bringing my grandma food!!! Thank you so much. She should be good on food for a while now ❤.” This is the type of direct impact we’re having as a community showing up for one another right now. * *Bless those of you who have already supported us these past couple weeks!! * *Love, power, and solidarity to y’all ! * *- Aletta Brady * *#BlackLivesMatter #AbolishThePolice #JusticeForGeorgeFloyd*

3 2

what are you doing for BLM?
by Igor Serebryany 12 Jun '20

12 Jun '20

hi folks, chrysalis is in the middle of a discussion about the safety of protest attendance -- more data should be available next week. in the meantime, we're trying to figure out what else we can do to help. you've probably seen the excellent write-up that topher and anna did for the chrysalis donation match project: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Hgm7HEhzsKm-BRAUe8H9Han_8BqDonCY5x6wzbl… i'm curious what other actions folks are taking/what other organizations folks are donating to at this time. ---- resources i'm aware of outside the writeup: * the #8cantwait list from campaign zero: https://8cantwait.org/ * surj bay area - i went to a town hall organized by our california assembly representative buffy wicks, hoping to learn about additional organizations, and surj was the main one that stood out during the call we've also been trying to get more involved in local/berkeley politics. one of our housemates went to a call with a city council representative (ben bartlett) and he empathized showing up at (virtual) meetings and asking for the policy changes we're interested in (defunding the police! it's gone mainstream!) if you also live in berkeley, there's a town hall opportunity tonight: https://twitter.com/DefundBPD/status/1271178422182572033 <3, --igor

1 0