Seattle DSA is committed to playing a much bigger role in 2023. But to do this, we need to be better organized and have a bigger megaphone to reach our supporters and the broader working class.
In October our chapter voted to hire two part-time staff members – a major milestone for Seattle DSA. In January, Guillermo Zazueta began work as our new Campaign Organizer and Ty Moore stepped in as our new Communications Organizer. The two staff will help activate our 1,500 members, build our presence in South King County, and ramp up our chapter’s communications and media.
To make these new staff positions sustainable, we have launched a fundraising drive to increase our monthly income by $3,500/month, but it’s going to take everyone pitching in what they can to achieve this ambitious goal.
We Can Make a Difference
Already, Guillermo has helped to launch Raise the Wage Renton – a ballot initiative to increase the minimum wage there to $19/hr – and has begun building a South King County branch of DSA. With its multi-racial working class, South King County is fertile ground for our socialist movement. Raise the Wage Tukwila won with 82% of the vote last November, showing that voters are ready to unite in support of workers. We are building on the strong points of support DSA established in the area during Stephanie Gallardo’s 2022 campaign for Congress.
To make a substantial impact on Seattle/King County politics we also need to develop our own socialist media. We are up against the conservative Seattle Times and TV news stations, and liberal publications like The Stranger and The Urbanist do not offer a reliable voice for working people or our social movements. Hiring our own Communications Organizer is linked to an ambitious plan to begin building our own media infrastructure—but that also costs money.
Please Give What You Can
The drive to increase the chapter’s income by $3,500/month is within our reach, but only if DSA members and supporters all give what they can. Just last year, our Chapter raised $15,000 to send DSA members and Starbucks workers to Labor Notes and the Socialism Conference. We raised over $4,000 to put on the Oct 8 Abortion Rights rally, and we raised thousands to support striking Starbucks workers. We’ve proven we can do this!
So far, we’ve increased our local income by $935/month: that’s 27% of our goal of $3,500/month, which we need to reach by the end of February!
If 128 of our nearly 1,500 members each donated $20 a month, we could raise the $3,500 a month we need.
If 64 people pitched in $20/month tonight, we’d be nearly halfway to our goal!