Looking for Leverage in the Choice to Act
The choice to act is so often better than doing nothing, and especially when we see the opportunity to leverage power to open up new paths to winning.
When organizers in Baraboo, Wisconsin got word that Federal Trade Commission Chair, Lina Khan, would do a townhall with them, but they had to do it in a week, they had a choice. The issue at hand was fighting back the push to privatize their beloved county-owned nursing home, a push that was on the verge of going through.
They easily could have said, well, her office doesn’t have jurisdiction in this fight, and it’s only a week’s notice. It will be a mad rush to get a hall, fill the room, develop an agenda, get media there, and so much more, all for someone who can’t say yes to our demands.
They decided to do it anyway. Here’s a look at some of what they got out of that decision.
They scrambled to get 93 people to show up for a meeting in a 12,000 town. Of the 93 people who came, about half were new. They’ve had that many people together before. The new folks probably came because of Lina Khan.
The leadership team got the invaluable experience of pulling together a high stakes meeting on short notice, and the leaders who had public roles, have now taken on roles on a larger stage.
As far as advancing their campaign, though the FTC had no direct role in the matter, Lina Khan’s presence brought the media, including statewide media that local organizers had not yet been able to get. The best hit was from Wisconsin Public Radio (it’s worth reading!), and this piece put pressure on the the buyers - as they and their dismal track record were brought into the open and on the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, who has the power to not approve the transfer of the nursing home license because the buyer has a poor track record.
Oftentimes the choice to act is better than doing nothing, and in this case a local group decided to act because they were clear on how the presence of a leader of a federal agency would leverage attention to their issues in ways they had not been able to do alone. That’s good organizing.
Today we released the third episode of To See Each Other, where we follow these incredible small-town seniors in Wisconsin, fighting off privatization of their 5-star county-owned nursing homes, and for a better future for us all. You can listen on ITunes, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts, including YouTube.