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Ready to build power in your town?
A working people's platform
WHO WE ARE
We are waiters, mechanics, and retirees. We are college students and we are people who never finished high school. We are teachers, grandparents, and single parents. We are natives of this state and immigrants to this country. We are the poor and working people of this state who make up the majority.
We are the people who work often unnoticed to make our economy run, teach our students, and care for our loved ones. We live paycheck to paycheck and under the conditions that the wealthy and politicians in Raleigh decide for us. But we are also a force so powerful that the people in power have worked for centuries to keep us divided. They have tried to make us see our differences, not our common interests.: differences of color, gender, region, and religion. We are the group with the largest political power in our communities but it has yet to be realized.
WHAT WE BELIEVE
We believe in a democracy run by and for all of us; a future where all working people are safe and secure and treated with respect and dignity; a society where our labor is valued, our water and land are cared for, and where everyone has the opportunity to thrive.
At Down Home, we value inclusion, security, respect, and dignity. By building multiracial, working-class power in our small towns and rural communities, we can win improvements now and move towards a future that reflects our needs and these values.
From low-paying jobs and unfair housing practices to the lack of healthcare and underfunded public education, the current laws and structures allow a small minority of wealthy people to make all decisions, while the rest of us struggle to survive.
We believe that to have a real, healthy, and functional democracy, we must remove all the obstacles that keep poor and working-class people from participating in our government. Regardless of our identity, experience, or ability, working-class people are real experts in our lives. We are tasked with building and re-imagining a society where everyone’s basic needs are met and where we all can live up to our full potential.
WHAT THIS IS AND HOW WE CREATED IT
This document outlines what our communities need to be happy and healthy. This platform is grounded in working-class, rural North Carolina, is informed by our members and our core values, is ambitious enough to inspire people to join our movement, and is realistic enough to get done.
While each of our communities is unique and has its own needs, we know that working people face similar struggles no matter where we live in our state. As we have knocked on doors for the last six years, our first question has always been: “What issue matters the most to you and your family?” Everywhere we go, people tell us that they are worried about having enough money to pay the bills, concerned about being able to afford the healthcare their families need, are having trouble accessing safe and affordable housing, and want to support and improve our local schools.
In 2023, we held deep listening sessions across the state We asked our neighbors to weigh in on the primary issues of housing, healthcare, education, and the economy. We explored who we thought was responsible for these issues and what we could do about them. Our members took this information and spent months debating and researching it until we were certain we had created an accurate representation of what our communities want and need. The result of this work is this people’s platform.
THE PLATFORM
Economy for All
In the wealthiest nation in history, everyone should be able to make ends meet. For too long, big corporations and the wealthy few have conspired to create an economy that keeps all the wealth and power in their hands while keeping hard-working people tired, divided, and living paycheck to paycheck. They have tactically divided us by race, gender, orientation, and religion so that we blame each other for the economic disasters that they have orchestrated.
At Down Home, we organize to build an economy for all that will deliver everyone fair wages, a safe workplace, and the prosperity we all deserve to live a happy and healthy life.
Healthcare for All
Access to high-quality healthcare is the foundation of a happy community and a thriving economy. Too many North Carolina families are just one health-related emergency from financial ruin or can’t afford to go to the doctor at all. After over a decade of organizing, we passed Medicaid expansion last year– but still that is not enough. Our current health system benefits greedy corporations and shareholders who view our people as a way to make money. This system keeps us sick, medicated, and dying so they can increase their profits. Our people have a fundamental right to stay healthy and live long lives. We support a healthcare system that puts people and families first, before shareholders and drug companies. We are organizing for a world where people have access to the care we need regardless of our income, who we are, how we identify, or where we come from.
Housing for All
Every North Carolinian has the right to safe, decent, reliable, and affordable housing. Millions of hard-working North Carolinians are paying more than half of our monthly income on housing while large corporations and greedy landlords continue to buy up local housing and increase our rents. With housing costs so high, working-class families are going into debt to make ends meet and making life-altering decisions to keep a roof over our heads. Real estate developers are extracting our resources, gentrifying our communities, and forcing generational families out.
Our members are committed to building a state where anyone can access affordable housing. We will fight policies that displace people from their hometowns, prey on the most vulnerable, and line the pockets of greedy real estate developers. We all e deserve the stability and foundation of a safe home to raise our families, be in the community, and build generational wealth.
Education for All
Every child, regardless of who or where they are, deserves access to a high-quality education that prepares them for a successful future. For generations, those in power have restricted the access of working folks and communities of color to good schools, keeping us divided and unable to prosper. Regardless of where we live or come from, all of our children deserve a public education system that will prepare them to contribute to society.
Public schools are the core of our communities. Schools are most of our county's first or second largest employer. Our public schools keep our communities anchored together across race and class. At Down Home, we believe that an honest, accurate, and fully funded education system is the best way to build a state and an economy that works for everyone.
We Believe That We Can Win!
We believe that we can win, because we have won before!
Founded in 2017, Down Home members have already changed the landscape of small-town politics throughout rural North Carolina. By combining local issue campaign organizing with electoral work, we have been busy securing working-class wins across the state, including:
Helping pass Medicaid expansion in North Carolina, bringing health coverage to 600,000 working people across the state.
Preventing local tax dollars from being used to build a new jail in Haywood County
Re-opening a local park using IRA funds in Granville County
Successfully pushing the local government in Cabarrus County to re-fund an eviction prevention program
Breaking the Raleigh supermajority in 2020 and preventing it again in 2022
Electing the first Black and Latino mayor of Oxford, NC (he’s also a Down Home member!)
Electing the first Black sheriff in Granville County and the first Black woman to serve on Burlington’s City Council
Running dozens of working-class members for office across the state
Get Involved!
Ready to join a multiracial movement of poor and working-class people in rural North Carolina?
Our work is guided by people like you. Our members have created this platform, vote on our endorsements, and steer our work.
Become a Down Home member today.
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