Welcome On Board, Board.

Pittsburgh League of Young Voters Launches Statewide Expansion Drive
First Official Board Meeting of Pennsylvania League

Pittsburgh, PA – The Pennsylvania League of Young Voters announces the inaugural meeting of their Board of Directors.  The meeting, held at the Union Project in Highland Park, kicked off at 7:30 this morning.

This meeting represents the official change from the Pittsburgh League of Young Voters to the Pennsylvania League of Young Voters.  The statewide expansion comes thanks to the awarding of the Homegrown Political Innovators Grant to the PA League in January.

 

“We are really proud to have such an accomplished and talented group of individuals guiding our organization at this pivotal juncture.” stated Khari Mosley, Director.  “Expanding state wide will allow us to continue our work engaging, educating and empowering young and disenfranchised voters all over Pennsylvania. We have the opportunity to make a powerful impact on the state-wide political landscape and with these individuals on board I have no doubt we will accomplish this.”

 

The board includes representatives from both the private sector and the public sector and reaches for geographic, gender and racial balance. The Board of Directors includes:

Max Beier

Georgia Berner

Hon. H. Scott Conklin

Gabe Morgan

Hon. Valerie McDonald-Roberts

Hon. Curtis Jones

Hon. Bill Peduto

Hon. Tony Payton Jr.

Hon. Chelsa Wagner

Jeremy Burnworth

Rev. Eugene Blackwell

Sonya Toler

Hon. Eugene DePasquale

Bonnie Young Laing

Tags: pa league of young voters

Campaign to Stop the Bus Cuts to County Exec: OPEN THE BOOKS!

< Watch the video of Onorato addressing the crowd >

At noon on April 27th, approx 200 distressed citizens gathered on the steps of the County Courthouse downtown to demand that the Port Authority open its books to the public. 

Khari Mosley kicked things off getting the crowd riled up with chants of “stop the cuts” and a call to “open the books.”

But Khari wasn’t the only Leaguer to speak.  Even some of our seldom-seen took the mike to express their feelings about the cuts.

  

Our super volunteers got into the act too!!!

 

(Carl spoke too, but we were so surprised we missed the picture!)

 

And then the County Executive came out and accepted the 20,000+ signatures from our own Mr. Nish Suvarnakar…

And a good time was had by all!  (Except maybe the county exec and his staff, the Port Authority board, and anyone else who thought they could take our public transit without a fuss!)

Tags: bus cuts, pa league of young voters, public transit

Hittin’ the Streets

Canvassing…It’s what we do! The election is just weeks away and we’ve been pounding the pavement. Watch out for Leaguer’s in your neighborhood. So far we’ve hit Homewood, East Hills, Belzhoover, Garfield, Allentown, Morningside, Stanton Heights, Mt. Washington and more! We’re not done yet. If you want to join us in a neighborhood near you contact our office at 412-728-2197, email at pittsburgh @ indyvoter . org or just stop by our office in the Union Project.

 Super-Volunteer Antonio Burton spread the election word on Mt. Washington.

 

 NOBODY can get enough of Ms. Wallace,
tireless canvasser, super duper volunteer & office sage.

 

Young volunteers Minrose and Tyler canvassed in Stanton Heights

 

Mikhail and Brandon put the “organized” in organizing!  Thanks guys!

Tags: canvassing, pa league of young voters, vote

Equal Pay Rally

Nationally, women earn an average of 77 cents for every dollar a man earns. But here in Western PA the situation is worse, with women earning an average of 69 cents per male dollar. Not surprisingly women of color make out worst of all, with Hispanic women earning a mere 58 cents per white male dollar. 

PA State Director Khari Mosley spoke at the Equal Pay rally calling this a moral issue and challenging the audience to make Equal Pay a priority.

Khari Mosley gave a shout out to his sister in a moving tribute to all the strong, intelligent women in his life.  Lots of Leaguer’s were there supporting equal pay and handing out voter guides too!

Mayor Ravenstahl said that his administration would work for equal pay to increase diversity in his administration.

Heather Arnet, Executive Director of Women and Girls Foundation gave a heartfelt speech that got the crowd riled up (and look, there’s Mikhail!)

 

 

We applaud Bill Peduto and Doug Shields, who made a strong pledge to ensure that city government would institute Equal Pay as a policy.

Tags: bill peduto, doug shields, equal pay, mayor luke ravenstahl, pa league of young voters, women and girls foundation

Pay Equity Leads Issues Facing City, Workers

Pay Equity Leads Issues Facing City, Workers

Pittsburgh, PA:          PA League of Young Voters State Director Khari Mosley called equal pay an issue of basic humanity at today’s Pay Equity Rally organized by the Women and Girls Foundation downtown in Market Square.

“Pay inequity symbolizes how we value each other as human beings, and we need to actively work to ensure that we value the work of women and men and people of color equally.”

The PA League of Young Voters stated that they were excited to work with Mayor Luke Ravenstahl, the Women and Girls Foundation, and other civic leaders to ensure that city workers benefited from pay equity.   With regional efforts to retain young people at the forefront of local concern, pay equity would be a significant measure in this direction.

“Today’s rally is a great beginning,” commented Mr. Mosley.  “We welcome the pledge by the Mayor to increase diversity in his administration and we look forward to helping him achieve these goals along with meeting his pledge for pay equity.”

The PA League of Young Voters engages, educates and empowers young and disenfranchised voters.

Tags: equal pay, pa league of young voters, vote

Young Mayor Shuns Youth Forum

Young Mayor Shuns Youth Forum

Pittsburgh, PA: After initially agreeing to attend, Mayor Luke Ravenstahl has decided to withdraw from a Youth Forum on April 16^th.

Following Bill Peduto’s withdrawal from the mayoral race, Mayor Ravenstahl is running unopposed in the May 15^th Democratic primary.  Pittsburgh’s youngest mayor had agreed to a question and answer session on the issues facing our city in lieu of a debate with Mr. Peduto.  The Pennsylvania League of Young Voters expresses concern at the lack of accountability and transparency demonstrated by the Mayor. The fact that he has not opponent does not release him from responsibility to be in communication with constituents. Much has been made of the Mayor’s youth, but he has not been responsive to Youth organizations’ requests for dialogue.

The Forum, co-sponsored by Greater Pittsburgh Student Voices, League of Women Voters, B-PEP, and the Oakland Community Council, will take place at Connections, in Oakland at Semple and Bates streets, from 6:30-9pm on April 16^th.  With the withdrawal of the Mayor, the event will feature a reception and a panel discussion on the future of Pittsburgh and candidates for City controller candidates.

Tags: luke ravenstahl, pa league of young voters, pittsburgh, vote

The League Goes to Erie

The Pittsburgh League of Young Voters is well on the way to becoming the PENNSYLVANIA League of Young Voters!

Over the weekend we went to Erie to mix and mingle with some of Erie’s hottest young professionals and elected officials.  We attended the Young Erie Professionals (yep!) Generation E awards—something like Pittsburgh’s 40 under 40.  We met all sorts of interesting folks like the Mayor of Erie.

Dave Dix, Political Director PALYV, Jennifer England, Director of Communications PALYV, Honorable Joe Sinnott, Mayor of Erie, Khari Mosley, State Director PALYV

Aside from rubbing shoulders with some pretty interesting folks,

 
David with Team Pennsylvania President Rich Hudic     Khari and Dave talk Fasy Greevy, President of yep!

 

we got some schooling from Ruby Jenkins-Husband, president of Erie City Council.  She told Roxanne and Jen about the difference between Erie’s city council and Pittsburgh’s council.

 
Roxanne Banks-Williams, Education Director, Ruby Jenkins-Husband, President Erie City Council, Jennifer England, Director of Communications

We also conducted a two day intensive Tunnel Builder Institute which was attended by a who’s who of Erie electeds!

Left to Right: Fred Rush, Erie Deputy Mayor, Hon. Gary Horton, Erie School Board, Hon. Jeanine McCreary, Erie School Board, Shawntell Hilliard, Associate Director Booker T. Washington Community Center, Hon. Curtis Jones, Erie City Councilman

Erie TBI gave Pittsburgh and Erie a chance to mix it up and share our experiences and our collective wisdom. We definitely benefited from their wisdom, experience and insider perspective as much as we contributed with our TBI curriculum!

Fred Rush broke it down, giving us a history of Erie government and politics.

 

Fred Rush, Khari and Shawntell shared a veritable cornucopia of information about alliance building and strategic organizing.

By Sunday everyone was even more excited for the PA League to really get rolling in Erie! Stay tuned for more fun from Erie… 

Tags: Erie, PA, pa league of young voters, vote