Do You Want To Be PUSH Member?
- March 23, 2021
- 4:45 pm
Would you like to join a white organization?
Do You Want To Be a PUSH Buffalo Member?
Lol. We heard that PUSH Buffalo wants to get to a ‘goal’ of 300 new members this year of 2021. There was a time years ago that PUSH had nearly 500 or more members. Now they’re struggling to get 50 or 60 real members. They fell off for the past few years, because they forgot about the Buffalo low-income, people of color (POC) community, the things that mattered most to them that they could’ve easily organized around like land ownership on Buffalo’s West Side outside of PUSH owning the land, and living wage job creation outside of their failing Hiring Hall. Instead, they focused more on making money by lying and pretending. The community, particularly the West Side of Buffalo, has responded and shown them that PUSH Buffalo membership is not important to them by not engaging at all.
As a result of their lazy and inattentive community organizing efforts, PUSH has lost community support and interest. They have become irrelevant to the average person in the city of Buffalo. PUSH doesn’t do anything for the local Buffalo community but great marketing.
PUSH is a membership based non-profit. According to their non-profit charter, PUSH must have a certain number of ‘members’ on the books to be able to operate, and make important decisions like who will be PUSH Buffalo board members and how to operate every year. The problem is that in recent years, because of the local community’s disengagement from actively participating in the activities of PUSH, they have had big trouble in attracting new local Buffalo members and retaining previous members, particularly members who are POC and youth.
If you look at one of their online or Zoom monthly meetings, which usually happen the third Saturday of every month, you can see what we’re talking about. Their membership and meetings look quite frankly mostly old and white. There’s nothing wrong with that, but when you’re an organization that preaches new school social inclusion, it is not a very good look. It is a look that will cause POC to ignore you, ignore whatever ‘message’ you’re selling, and find something else to do.
Why is PUSH having this trouble in attracting new energy? Because they forgot who and what they are, they forgot where they’re going, and they aren’t able to figure out how to get back. Is PUSH investing more in the community it claims to work with and for or in it’s marketing which is dictated by the executive team? Do you want to be a PUSH Buffalo member?
Do you have any stories of witnessing or experiencing being a PUSH member? We want to hear from you! Please reach out to us using the contact form – you can give us your name, or submit your thoughts and stories anonymously. We value your privacy and understand that livelihoods are at stake.
Do You Want To Be PUSH Member?
- March 23, 2021
- 4:45 pm
Would you like to join a white organization?
Do You Want To Be a PUSH Buffalo Member?
Lol. We heard that PUSH Buffalo wants to get to a ‘goal’ of 300 new members this year of 2021. There was a time years ago that PUSH had nearly 500 or more members. Now they’re struggling to get 50 or 60 real members. They fell off for the past few years, because they forgot about the Buffalo low-income, people of color (POC) community, the things that mattered most to them that they could’ve easily organized around like land ownership on Buffalo’s West Side outside of PUSH owning the land, and living wage job creation outside of their failing Hiring Hall. Instead, they focused more on making money by lying and pretending. The community, particularly the West Side of Buffalo, has responded and shown them that PUSH Buffalo membership is not important to them by not engaging at all.
As a result of their lazy and inattentive community organizing efforts, PUSH has lost community support and interest. They have become irrelevant to the average person in the city of Buffalo. PUSH doesn’t do anything for the local Buffalo community but great marketing.
PUSH is a membership based non-profit. According to their non-profit charter, PUSH must have a certain number of ‘members’ on the books to be able to operate, and make important decisions like who will be PUSH Buffalo board members and how to operate every year. The problem is that in recent years, because of the local community’s disengagement from actively participating in the activities of PUSH, they have had big trouble in attracting new local Buffalo members and retaining previous members, particularly members who are POC and youth.
If you look at one of their online or Zoom monthly meetings, which usually happen the third Saturday of every month, you can see what we’re talking about. Their membership and meetings look quite frankly mostly old and white. There’s nothing wrong with that, but when you’re an organization that preaches new school social inclusion, it is not a very good look. It is a look that will cause POC to ignore you, ignore whatever ‘message’ you’re selling, and find something else to do.
Why is PUSH having this trouble in attracting new energy? Because they forgot who and what they are, they forgot where they’re going, and they aren’t able to figure out how to get back. Is PUSH investing more in the community it claims to work with and for or in it’s marketing which is dictated by the executive team? Do you want to be a PUSH Buffalo member?
Do you have any stories of witnessing or experiencing being a PUSH member? We want to hear from you! Please reach out to us using the contact form – you can give us your name, or submit your thoughts and stories anonymously. We value your privacy and understand that livelihoods are at stake.