Reclaim Philadelphia’s Caucuses

Caucuses are groups formed within Reclaim Philadelphia to enable community building within self interest, develop political education and bring their caucuses lens to endorsements, narratives and Taskforce campaigns. While only Taskforces can launch Reclaim campaigns, caucuses can join coalitional campaigns with an approving vote by Steering Committee.

Our caucuses are issue based - Climate Justice

and identity based - White Anti-Racism Caucus

Issue based causes are open to everyone.

Identity based caucuses are spaces for people who share the named identity of the caucus.

Reclaim membership is not a requirement to join any caucus or Taskforce within Reclaim.

 
Featured
Updated 2022 Budget Request Letter to Councilmember Katherine Gilmore Richardson from Reclaim Climate Justice Caucus

Dear Councilmember Gilmore Richardson,

We are writing to you as a budget-focused working group within Reclaim Philadelphia’s Climate Justice Caucus with requests for the next City budget. The budget will affect the lives of every resident, worker, business, and visitor to our city. Budgets are moral documents - they reflect what we prioritize and value.

What Philly needs to know about the dangers of Liquified Natural Gas Train Transport
What Philly needs to know about the dangers of Liquified Natural Gas Train Transport

As we face irreversible climate change, including unprecedented wildfires, heat waves, and hurricanes, a new destructive plan to prioritize profit over the planet and humanity looms large in Pennsylvania: the transportation of liquefied natural gas (LNG) by train. Unless President Biden acts soon, this incredibly hazardous and extremely flammable and explosive material is set to be transported from Wyalusing in North Central Pennsylvania to Gibbstown, NJ (across the Delaware River from the Philly airport), passing directly through Philadelphia. This LNG will be produced by fracking, with significant pollution, methane leakages, and harms to the health of Pennsylvania communities at every stage.

The Fight For The Planet is the Fight For Justice
The Fight For The Planet is the Fight For Justice

For too long, climate change has either been ignored or framed as a matter for technocratic and technological fixes. But that notion is starting to crumble. For many Philadelphians, it is becoming clear that climate change is inextricably connected to fights for social, racial, and economic justice. To ensure a livable future for our city, we must link these movements in our organizing. Here at Reclaim, our members have already begun this work. Climate justice is increasingly integrated into a wide range of organizing activities, from fighting to stop evictions to organizing against austerity for our public schools to demanding a reduction in the bloated police budget.



 
 
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Climate Justice Caucus

Our newly formed caucus shapes Reclaim’s analysis and platform on Climate Justice. In the coming year we’ll be developing political education pieces and connecting with lobbying efforts and coalitional actions centering the need for a Green New Deal. Join us!

 
 
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The White Anti-Racism Caucus is a group of Reclaim Philadelphia leaders committed to ending racism and addressing the ways the white supremacy culture shows up within society, within ourselves, in our organizing, and within Reclaim Philadelphia. 

We recognize that racial hierarchy has been used to divide the working class and keep us from building political power to take on the 1%. Whiteness is a construct upheld as the status quo and white people have had to shed their humanity to fit into the white cultural norm. Shame is used to keep white people from taking action and building multiracial political power. 

Doing work within the white anti-racism caucus is a tool, not an end goal.  We know that multiracial organizing is the way to build power and create the kind of world we want to live in. We seek to build a political movement that centers black people and black womxn while working to end the oppressions of patriarchal racial capitalism.