Guilford For All
Over 100 folks came out this past weekend to put on power in our votes. This is a testament to the people power we’ve built this election season across Guilford County. Voting as a community shows we’re strong together and are capable of choosing the future of Guilford that we want to see – a Guilford that has wages we can live on, homes we can afford, and strong public schools.
Guilford for All and other Carolina Federation Chapter members from across the state voted to endorse Kamala Harris for President with a majority of members and the Federation Council choosing to endorse the Harris/Walz ticket.
Vice President Harris becoming the official Democratic Party nominee shifted the energy around the presidential race in dramatic and hopeful ways. Winning in North Carolina within reach for the Harris campaign, making NC one of the most important battleground states this election. The Carolina Federation and our partner organizations have a real opportunity to defeat Donald Trump in NC and block his MAGA extremist friends from statewide office!
The Harris/Walz ticket supports tangible changes that so many North Carolinians are hungry for: making sure that corporations and billionaires pay the taxes they owe, raising worker wages, restoring the child tax credit expansion, and investing more federal dollars in things like childcare and preschool.
At the same time, we are clear that there’s work to do to push Harris and Walz toward a fuller progressive policy agenda and a commitment to ending weapons funding for Israel’s genocide against the people of Gaza. Using our collective powerto get Harris and Walz over the finish line in NC strengthens the possibility of these future wins.
In 2020, Donald Trump won North Carolina by just 74,483 votes. This year, between our Vote Power Squads, canvass, and phone programs, we’re on track to talk to more than 100,000 voters! That is more than enough to win North Carolina decisively – but whether we pull it off will depend on our actions together over the next nine weeks!
Beyond the presidential race, state and local elections have big impacts on our families and communities. It’s vital to build power together and elect candidates who will work for all people.
Across the nation, our state, and in Guilford County, we are fighting for a resourced and responsive government. We are ready for our government to ensure people’s human rights to education, healthcare, safety, housing, and clean air and water.
Who we elect to political office matters deeply to our ability to win tangible, transformative change for ourselves, our neighbors, and our communities.
Teams of members from Guilford for All and our partners at Carolina Federation’s county chapters have researched, interviewed, and scored dozens of candidates running for statewide and local offices in 2024. We deliberated, dialogued, and debated which candidates would give us the better chance of organizing toward our vision of a state where every North Carolinian – no matter our skin color, gender, or zip code – can access freedom, safety, dignity, and belonging.
We are excited to announce our 2024 endorsements for the general election this fall. Learn more about each candidate on our Endorsements Page.
Board of Education
District 3
Board of Education
District 5
Board of Education
District 7
County Commissioner
District 5
County Commissioner
District 4
Guilford County Superior Court
District 24B
Register of Deeds
Carolina Federation Chapter members from across the state and elected Federation Council have voted to endorse the following state-level candidates in the Primaries:
Governor
Justice Allison Riggs
NC Supreme Court
NC Superintendent of Public Instruction
Attorney General
NC Commissioner of Labor
State Auditor
State Treasurer
NC House
District 59
NC House
District 62
President of the United States
During the Greensboro City Council meeting this June, there was an entire section of the seating area s filled with people wearing green, purple, and yellow shirts representing the Keep Gate City Housed campaign, clapping loudly.
We clapped because the city council of Greensboro decided to approve a budget that included $440,000 for the Tenant Education Advocacy and Mediation (TEAM) Program, resourcing it full time and an additional $1.47 million to be earmarked for cash rental assistance.
We clapped for the city council making the right decision, but we were also clapping in celebration of all of the people who made this effort happen through the work of organizing in a coalition led by our friends at the AFSC of the Carolinas. Simply put, organizing is the act of courageously coming together with people you do and don’t know, in solidarity, to build people power and make change towards a shared purpose.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever heard people clap for a city budget vote before,”
– Mayor Nancy Vaughan
In the summer of 2023, Guilford for All (G4A) and the Carolina Federation spoke with hundreds of our neighbors and invited them to join us to help us craft our People’s Platform. During this process, access to affordable housing was identified as the most pressing issue in Guilford County and across North Carolina. At this same time, our friends at the American Friends Service Committee of the Carolinas (AFSC) were deeply engaged in policy research on the issue of housing and beginning the formation of a campaign to address some of the issues of housing.
After their research, our partners at the AFSC asked us if some of our volunteers and members might be interested in supporting the Keep Gate City Housed campaign to demand that our city council use our city budget to fully fund the TEAM Program. We said yes to this in December, and then in February, G4A hosted a Teach-In for our members and volunteers. On March 3rd, after collaborative discussions with AFSC, our members voted overwhelmingly for G4A to formally join the Keep Gate City Housed campaign alongside the AFSC, faith community partners, and others.
After voting to approve the campaign, Guilford for All leaders joined coalition partners at City Council and County Commission budget town halls and one-on-one meetings where the coalition identified elected champions. We worked with AFSC to host an awesome campaign kick off.
We knocked doors and invited people to community conversations in which we identified neighbors who were impacted by housing and were willing to speak out in front of City Hall. Some of them did, bravely sharing their stories in front of our elected leaders. Other members participated in eviction court watch, participated in a mock eviction court, attended delegation meetings with city council members and engaged in many other efforts led by our coalition partners. We talked with over 300 neighbors who signed pledge cards supporting the campaign, and sent over 150 postcards to elected officials supporting the demands.
Lauren Cunningham shares her personal experience with housing insecurity and why we’re fighting for more support for our neighbors facing eviction.
This collective work of all the Keep Gate City Housed coalition partners led to nearly $2 million dollars in our city’s budget to go to supporting renters and prevent evictions that wouldn’t have been included otherwise!
While we celebrate this win, Guilford for All and the Carolina Federation knows there’s more work ahead of us to win the Guilford County and North Carolina we dream of.
Let’s transform how evictions work in Guilford County
We are organizing in partnership with AFSC North Carolina to fully fund local programs to prevent homelessness and stop evictions. Together, we’ve been consulting with city staff, county officials, service providers, and recruiting community volunteers to have conversations with hundreds of Greensboro residents over the last three months. We are urging city council to expand access to legal resources and rental assistance.
Last year, about 16,000 Guilford County residents had eviction notices filed against them. Only 10% of those tenants had legal counsel, whereas 90% of the landlords in housing court were represented by attorneys.
In most cases, renters without attorneys—who often owe as little as $200, or are behind on their rent by only a few days—do not know they can appeal their evictions, keeping them housed long enough to repay back rent. They don’t have the basic information that would help them avoid eviction.
By ensuring renters have equal legal representation as landlords, we can significantly decrease eviction rates. For example, UNCG’s TEAM Tenant program provides free legal representation that helps around 30% of tenants avoid eviction in court.
Other cities around the nation realize that eviction prevention is a worthwhile investment. Louisville’s $400,000 investment is motivated by anticipated cost savings. Cleveland invests $3.1 million to collaborate with organizations in offering legal counsel and rental aid.
It’s time for Greensboro and Guilford County to work together to Keep Gate City Housed—we have the opportunity to set an example for the rest of the state, for using our resources to make our neighborhoods safer, more stable and keeping kids in their homes.
Come to the Keep Gate City Housed: City Council Budget Action
Tuesday, June 4
5 – 7:30pm EDT
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Attend a Community Conversation
May 25 or Jun 11
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