At DJJ we hold many partnerships with the greater organizing community in Metro Detroit.
Every year or so we ask our partners about their political plans and take a wide-lens look at the local political landscape of Metro Detroit. Then we synthesize those responses, and our staff and leaders come together to commit to honing in on a handful of particularly important issues.
This year we are holding two teams — Immigration and Democracy Defense — to focus our impact and build cohesive organizing hubs to fight for racial and economic justice in Metro Detroit.
Immigration
The DJJ Immigration Team is a collective of DJJ-niks working with our partner organization, the People’s Assembly, an immigrant community defense org in Southwest Detroit. Our team focuses our efforts on whistle kit assembling and distribution, Migra Watch, and mutual aid work for our neighbors in need of support.
Contact Stevie to find out more and get involved at [email protected]
Democracy Defense
We are recruiting Jewish folks and allies from across metro Detroit to volunteer as nonpartisan poll challengers, host early vote parties, educate nieghbors about their voting rights, and more! We'll also be training in de-escalation and peace keeping skills that we can take beyond this year's midterm election.
In coalition with Michigan Voices, the ACLU Fund of Michigan, All Voting is local and 40+ other organizations across the state, DJJ is part of the largest nonpartisan election protection program in Michigan (one of the largest in the country)! Safeguarding our democratic institutions means exercising and enforcing our democratic rights, like voting.
Other partnerships
Our leaders and staff are organizing around other issues with our partners, including:
- A statewide coalition of disability advocates strategizing for a hub for disability rights information alongside Detroit Disability Power and other partner organizations
- Protecting Black homeownership in Detroit by stopping unconstitutional property tax assessments with the Coalition for Property Tax Justice
- Advocating for water affordability by passing legislation at the state level to ensure water is accessible to all, no matter your income, with the People's Water Board Assembly
If you would like to be involved in other issue areas, email Lisa at [email protected]