VCS Progress Report to Potential Investors & Community Members:


We want to update Backbone supporters, fellow Vashon Islanders and potential investors on our proposed Vashon Community Solar (VCS) project at the King County Transfer Station on Vashon.

Since late October we have been working with a multi-departmental team at the County. We’ve identified an empty expanse of land north of the Vashon recycling centre as ideal: excellent solar exposure, easy access to the main panel, reasonable security, and no conflicting plans for other usage. The site is large enough to permit installation of the largest size solar array permitted under the legislation, generating up to 75 kW, and thus will have good economies of scale.

VCS is far along in working through legal, financial and accounting issues and will be poised to sign up investors quickly when we get the green light from the County, thereby maximizing the remaining production incentive period. We still plan on offering investment units in multiples of $1,000 (with $1,000 as the minimum).

The County have a mandate to increase their use of renewable energy but they have advised that they will only put the effort into installing community solar if it has the potential to be a large-scale, multi-site program. They are in the process of identifying likely sites and devising template agreements that can:

1. be executed as quickly (because of the fixed-term incentive period) as County procedures permit, and
2. apply at every site.

The County must obtain approval for each specific site. The discussions are taking rather longer than we would wish, but the excellent site and the ground-breaking nature of the project keep ‘our eyes on the prize’.
Vashon’s project is the furthest along, and has been a helpful prototype to the County for fleshing out various issues. We’re excited at the idea of this positive, public-private partnership and are striving to install the array in time for the long sunny days of summer. Your support will be essential in bringing the project to reality. We thank the hundred-plus people who have taken the VCS survey and encourage everyone else to do so, at www.vashoncommunitysolar.org

Stay tuned!


with gratitude,

Carol Eggen & Bill Moyer
Vashon Community Solar
(A project of the Backbone Campaign)

Trespassing with Light at BofA HQ


Support this creative work by becoming a member of the Backbone Campaign TODAY!

Last week (May 8-10) in Charlotte, NC the Backbone Campaign was able to play a central role in the protest outside the BofA Headquarters. Rod Tharp, Bruce Wilkinson, and I brought out and deployed our giant Debt Ball with shackles and chains through the streets of Charlotte, where rumor has it that people haven't taken the streets in decades... someone said 40-50 years! Our Giant Debt Ball and the hundreds of fearless protestors made it nearly impossible for the police to deny us the streets or to take back the intersection outside the Bank of America tower where shareholders were meeting. Press coverage and photos abound!

We also projected on the BofA HQ, their stadium and more, getting a couple great photos and a compelling video. The action captured on video was particularly powerful thanks in large part to artist John Hulsey of Boston who provided an audio track for the action and then edited the above action video. More on that adventure below. See Trespassing with Light.

After protesting BofA, we attended the Right to the City conference of community organizers and organizations from across the country working on eviction protection and more. We built a new Eviction Free Zone banner there for our allies in Boston, City Life/Vida Urbana in a record time of 2.5 hours.

As usual it was not only a lot of work, but also a GREAT time connecting with AMAZING people.

Gratitude
Besides Rod and Bruce, special thanks is owed to Barbara Turburton for travel support, Bob Powell for GOBOs, Don and Cathy (our Charlotte hosts), and Laura Farley whose energetic organizing and creative vision helped us play a meaningful role. The great shot of the Dislike button is by photographer Tracie Williams.

Support this creative work by becoming a member of the Backbone Campaign TODAY!

Trespassing with Light
We also pulled off three projection actions as part of our skill sharing and action fun in the heart of the BofA beast, downtown Charlotte, NC. The first action was the night before the protests, placing a "Dislike" button above the main entrance of their HQ. Another was projecting Foreclosed onto the BofA Stadium. The third, and my favorite was at the end of a long day of taking over the streets during the BofA shareholder meeting. After packing up and fueling up, we hit the streets again.

This time we had a mobile sound system in the van and an amazing audio track created by John Hulsey for City Life/Vida Urbana‬, featuring the compelling voice and writing of underwater homeowner Presley Obasohan of Boston.

Charlotte has a ridiculous ordinance against projecting that was used to shut down our artful freedom of speech action near to the hotel where the Bank of America shareholders were staying. The security you see in the opening of the video are private security brought in by BofA in honor of the protests. The officer in the video who asked us to stop the action is a Charlotte, NC police officer. (We did not get his name and rank.)

The audio component added a tremendous amount of poignancy to this particular projection action. So did staying stationary and inviting the "authorities" to confront us. Rather than acting like criminals, we experimented with merely exercising our freedom of speech in a respectful and beautiful action.

I am very proud of our courageous crew, especially Rod Tharp who sat in the hot seat having to provide th
e officer with his driver's license. As Rox ran sound, Laura worked the spotlight ($15 rental at local production company), and John captured the action on video. (Me? I just sat there and enjoyed the beauty of the speak such profound truth to such foolish power... Until the officer seemed intent on enforcing their trespassing with light ordinance [they don't call it that - but the officer - in an un-taped portion thought that was a very creative description ;-] Thank you as well to my friend and collaborator Bob Powell for give generous provision of GOBOs (the light stencils used in these actions.)

Learning new tactics
Projection as protest is a fun and easy tactic to master. It's relatively cheap and potentially super effective. We will be instructing in this and a vast spectrum of other nonviolent creative tactics at the 4th annual ‪Localize This! artful activist and organizer training camp. Sign-up to attend at http://LocalizeThis.org

Support this creative work by becoming a member of the Backbone Campaign TODAY!

Here are some more great photos from our Charlotte adventures. Great footage of our Giant Debt Ball figure prominently in CNBC coverage HERE.

Read more at LocalizeThis.org

Artful Activism - Strategy, Creative Tactics & Community Organizing Intensive Where: BEAUTIFUL Vashon Island, WA (20 min. Ferry from Seattle) When: July 29-August 4 Cost: Sliding scale $200-$400 for all 8 days (No one will be turned away for lack of funds*) Per day $25-$50 (suggested) All Camping, Trainings, and Food are included! (Bring a tent & sleeping bag.) REGISTER HERE TODAY! Contact Backbone Campaign if you have questions: 206.408.8058 This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. * FYI - The real cost of camp for Backbone is over $350 per person. Please consider increasing your payment to $400 or more in order to help us cover the cost of scholarships. Skill Sharing & Building All Week Long! Grand Strategy & Creative Tactics Community Supported Organizer Skills Action Planning & Earned Media Anti-Foreclosure, Eviction Protection & Buy-back Strategies (by City Life-Vida Urbana of Boston) Organizing from a Human Rights Framework (by United Workers of Baltimore) NVDA, Tripod, Blockades Training Rappelling, Kayak Safety & Water-Based Tactics Giant Puppet & Banner Building Economic Democracy Strategies Drumming, Flash Mobs and More! Friends and Allies,   Join us on our beautiful home base of Vashon Island for the third annual Localize this! Creative Tactics for Land and Sea Artful Action Camp. We had such a great time the past two years that we want to host another gathering of committed, action-oriented activists. This year we are honored to announce that we are expanding the program with the help of some of the most exciting community organizers working in the US today. This year, Camp will be held at the amazing Vashon Youth Hostel, which is within minutes of the beach where we hold the water-based trainings on Puget Sound. We'll be organizing kitchen & other volunteers, as everyone pitches in with camp chores. There are enough tent sites for hundreds and teepees for rent at extra cost. We are expecting 75-150 of our movement's finest (including you!) to make this part of their summer plans. For those who cannot attend the entire week, Please REGISTER anyway and indicate which days you plan to be there. Forward Together! Team Backbone Contact Backbone Campaign if you have questions: 206.408.8058 This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. "The only war that matters is the war against the imagination All other wars are subsumed by it." ~ Diane di Prima

This camp is made possible by the generous support of the: Nathan Cummings Foundation, Puffin Foundation West, and others. Please Join them in supporting this movement building work. If you would like to support our camp scholarship fund, sponsor an activist or delegation from your town or organization Donate HERE or Contact Us. Partner with Us! If you would like your organization listed as a Partner, please call the Backbone Campaign office 206-408-8058 Last Year's Localize This! Action Camp came to an amazing finish with song and dance and almost 2 million views on Youtube. Angry at Target's donation of over $150K to Tom Emmer, a conservative candidate for Governor of Minnesota (one of the first donations under the infamous Citizens United case), the Backbone Campaign and Agit-Pop produced a flash mob at Localize This! that descended on the big box retailer and sang! "Target Ain't People". (Thank You to all those who performed and worked so hard to make camp and this awesome action successful. We hope to see you all again this year.) Team Backbone Photos from 2009 & 2010 below: Check out the strategic media coverage of our 2009 camp: Larger versions of slideshows from 2009 and 2010 camps:

 

Last year's schedule to get a sense of what to look forward to:

Sunday, April 29, 2012 CBS Morning featured our March of the Student Debt Slaves action in DC as part of their report on the student debt crisis:

We are excited to share with you this podcast and resource page built from the information gained and resources assembled for our recent interview:

Student Debt Jubilee & Why Higher Education Ought to be Free.

On this, the 84th podcast in our Conversations with the Cabinet series, we learned from expert organizers about effectively challenging the unjust phenomenon of student loan debt, as well as why free higher education for all at our two- and four-year public universities is a common-sense, fair and affordable alternative.

Quality public higher education is a right and yet this basic right has been violated for 36 million Americans who have student loan debt. In 2010, average student debt upon college graduation was $24,000 (see Huffington Post article). This year, unpaid college student loans exceeded $1 trillion for the first time, and student loan debt is now higher than credit card debt. (see USA Today article). Thus, our country is creating an entire generation of indentured servants, while offering unprecedented wealth to predatory and unregulated private lenders such as Sallie Mae (related Mother Jones and Counterpunch articles).

We were joined by Alan Collinge of Student Loan Justice StudentLoanJustice.org and author of book Student Loan Scam. We also heard from Serge Bakalian, ofDefault, the Student Loan Documentary, as well as Kyle McCarthy, Default distributor and co founder of Occupy Student Debt and Studentdebt.me.

The second half of our Conversation featured Bob Samuels, President of the University Council, AFT in California, author of Why All Higher Public Education Should Be Free and blogger at Changing Universities , as well as Samir Sonti, graduate student in government, free higher education expert.

Listen to the podcast, then check out our resource list to see how you can help end student debt and bring about free higher education for all in 2012!

Diane Wittner
Co-Producer and Host
Conversations with the Cabinet
Backbone Campaign

Listen to the Podcast:
Student Debt Jubilee & Why All Higher Education Ought to be Free

Recent Doo-Occupy Actions in DC:

Articles:
Free Higher Ed! by Adolph Reed Jr.
Here's A Demand: Forgive Student Loan Debt, by Robert Applebaum
Majoring in Debt by Adolph Reed Jr.
Why All Higher Public Education Should Be Free by Bob Samuels
Book: Student Loan Scam, by Alan Collinge

Movie:
Default: The Student Loan Documentary (Serge Bakalian and Kyle McCarthy)

Websites and Blogs:
Occupy Student Debt (Kyle McCarthy)
http://studentdebt.me/ (Kyle McCarthy)
StudentLoanJustice.org (Alan Collinge)
Forgivestudentloandebt.com (Robert Applebaum)
Changing Universities Blog (Bob Samuels)
Campaign for the Future of Higher Education (Adolph Reed Jr. and Samir Sonti)

Quotes from our Guests:

Alan Collinge:
"The cost of tuition has risen at double or triple the rate of inflation. At the same time, a very dirty and predatory lending instrument has been thrust upon students."

"The Department of Education needs to return money back to students in some way, shape or form."

"We must take steps now. There is a very active collection industry poised to do even more terrible things to students."

"Amendments to the Higher Education Act removed basic consumer protections. Defaulted loans are more lucrative than non-defaulted loans. Congress turned its back on the citizens on this issue."

"The Department of Education is a revolving door. The Office of Federal Student Aid is run by such executives as former Sallie Mae employees. This is a captured agency."

"Some predatory lenders also own collections agencies: "

Sallie Mae salliemae.com
NelNet nelnet.com National Education Loan Network
ACS acs-education.com
ECMC ecmc.org

Kyle McCarthy:
"By turning education into a commodity, we have shifted the growing burdens of higher education onto the backs of those who can least afford them. The underlying reasons for the Occupy Wall Street protests start to come into focus."

"It's a shift of wealth to the top."

Robert Applebaum: (paraphrase)

"A bailout for students would rejuvenate the economy."

Bob Samuels:
"There is no longer a sense that universities are citizen-based, public institutions that we should all support."

"Higher education has been privatized and corporatized."

"In most developed countries, higher education is free. Public universities in the US were free until recently, or fees to attend were very low. The system is now broken. America spends more money than any other country on higher education, but only 30% who start out are able to get degrees."

Samir Sonti:
"It's striking how cheap and how straightforward it would be to make two and four year public universities free for all enrolled students. It would cost about 75 billion dollars. This is two 2 percent of the federal budget, or 7 percent of what the government spends on the military now."

"This isn't big government. It's a question of political will, something we once had. We got CUNY, we got the University of California system, we got the GI bill."

"A study was done on the economic benefits to our country from the GI Bill. For every dollar that was spent on sending veterans to school, the federal government reaped about seven dollars. It's clearly a sound investment."

Sunday, April 29, 2012 CBS Morning featured our March of the Student Debt Slaves action in DC as part of their report on the student debt crisis:

We are excited to share with you this podcast and resource page built from the information gained and resources assembled for our recent interview:

Student Debt Jubilee & Why Higher Education Ought to be Free.

On this, the 84th podcast in our Conversations with the Cabinet series, we learned from expert organizers about effectively challenging the unjust phenomenon of student loan debt, as well as why free higher education for all at our two- and four-year public universities is a common-sense, fair and affordable alternative.

Quality public higher education is a right and yet this basic right has been violated for 36 million Americans who have student loan debt. In 2010, average student debt upon college graduation was $24,000 (see Huffington Post article). This year, unpaid college student loans exceeded $1 trillion for the first time, and student loan debt is now higher than credit card debt. (see USA Today article). Thus, our country is creating an entire generation of indentured servants, while offering unprecedented wealth to predatory and unregulated private lenders such as Sallie Mae (related Mother Jones and Counterpunch articles).

We were joined by Alan Collinge of Student Loan Justice StudentLoanJustice.org and author of book Student Loan Scam. We also heard from Serge Bakalian, ofDefault, the Student Loan Documentary, as well as Kyle McCarthy, Default distributor and co founder of Occupy Student Debt and Studentdebt.me.

The second half of our Conversation featured Bob Samuels, President of the University Council, AFT in California, author of Why All Higher Public Education Should Be Free and blogger at Changing Universities , as well as Samir Sonti, graduate student in government, free higher education expert.

Listen to the podcast, then check out our resource list to see how you can help end student debt and bring about free higher education for all in 2012!

Diane Wittner
Co-Producer and Host
Conversations with the Cabinet
Backbone Campaign

Listen to the Podcast:
Student Debt Jubilee & Why All Higher Education Ought to be Free

Recent Doo-Occupy Actions in DC:

Articles:
Free Higher Ed! by Adolph Reed Jr.
Here's A Demand: Forgive Student Loan Debt, by Robert Applebaum
Majoring in Debt by Adolph Reed Jr.
Why All Higher Public Education Should Be Free by Bob Samuels
Book: Student Loan Scam, by Alan Collinge

Movie:
Default: The Student Loan Documentary (Serge Bakalian and Kyle McCarthy)

Websites and Blogs:
Occupy Student Debt (Kyle McCarthy)
http://studentdebt.me/ (Kyle McCarthy)
StudentLoanJustice.org (Alan Collinge)
Forgivestudentloandebt.com (Robert Applebaum)
Changing Universities Blog (Bob Samuels)
Campaign for the Future of Higher Education (Adolph Reed Jr. and Samir Sonti)

Quotes from our Guests:

Alan Collinge:
"The cost of tuition has risen at double or triple the rate of inflation. At the same time, a very dirty and predatory lending instrument has been thrust upon students."

"The Department of Education needs to return money back to students in some way, shape or form."

"We must take steps now. There is a very active collection industry poised to do even more terrible things to students."

"Amendments to the Higher Education Act removed basic consumer protections. Defaulted loans are more lucrative than non-defaulted loans. Congress turned its back on the citizens on this issue."

"The Department of Education is a revolving door. The Office of Federal Student Aid is run by such executives as former Sallie Mae employees. This is a captured agency."

"Some predatory lenders also own collections agencies: "

Sallie Mae salliemae.com
NelNet nelnet.com National Education Loan Network
ACS acs-education.com
ECMC ecmc.org

Kyle McCarthy:
"By turning education into a commodity, we have shifted the growing burdens of higher education onto the backs of those who can least afford them. The underlying reasons for the Occupy Wall Street protests start to come into focus."

"It's a shift of wealth to the top."

Robert Applebaum: (paraphrase)

"A bailout for students would rejuvenate the economy."

Bob Samuels:
"There is no longer a sense that universities are citizen-based, public institutions that we should all support."

"Higher education has been privatized and corporatized."

"In most developed countries, higher education is free. Public universities in the US were free until recently, or fees to attend were very low. The system is now broken. America spends more money than any other country on higher education, but only 30% who start out are able to get degrees."

Samir Sonti:
"It's striking how cheap and how straightforward it would be to make two and four year public universities free for all enrolled students. It would cost about 75 billion dollars. This is two 2 percent of the federal budget, or 7 percent of what the government spends on the military now."

"This isn't big government. It's a question of political will, something we once had. We got CUNY, we got the University of California system, we got the GI bill."

"A study was done on the economic benefits to our country from the GI Bill. For every dollar that was spent on sending veterans to school, the federal government reaped about seven dollars. It's clearly a sound investment."

Join us for our Eviction Free Zone Training in Tacoma, WA April 28 & 29, 2012.

Location: First United Methodist Church in Tacoma, 621 Tacoma Avenue South, Tacoma, WA 98402.

Join us for this incredible opportunity to learn from some of the country's leading community organizers and pioneers in eviction protection. Whether you are a lawyer, an advocate, or a community activists the folks from City Life/Vida Urbana will blow your mind and help move you and your community into action.

Let's declare all our communities Eviction Free Zones!

Registration form and poster at http://backbonecampaign.org/component/k2/item/45-trainingapril28-29-2012