Jacob's Year End Fundraiser for PPF 2025

Here's a bit of what I have to say, and then there's quite a bit about PPF below.

A dear mentor of mine says, "There's nothing nobler than struggling to elevate the human condition." I think about that every time I feel frustrated and hard up about this work - fighting to abolish poverty, to win healthcare as a human right, to combat the terror that we're living through. PPF is my political home and my north star. Participation in it and developing as a leader through the struggle shapes who I am and pushes me every day to strive further towards that goal. I have discovered a faith in myself, in people, and in God through this work. I know times grim and dark - but the efforts of everyday people propels history forward. Dimes and dollars, what we've given for the hours of our life, really count. Any amount you can give is generous and I want to say thank you for joining me in the struggle.  We are in dark times, but as you know, there is singing in the dark times. 

Snippet from the fundraising concert Zevi and I put on last year, fully available if you go to my channel.

Put People First! PA is a politically independent organization of everyday people from across PA uniting for Healthcare As A Human Right!  Our organization is 13 years old, and we are completely member-led and staff free. Our funds go toward things like our annual Membership Assembly and Winter Steering Committee Retreat; helping leaders through periods of crisis with Community Care Funds; travel and transport across 67 counties to build our regional Healthcare Rights Committees; sending delegations across the country and internationally for schools, conferences and exchanges, and of course the everyday costs of our organizing - Zoom lines, printing, food, childcare, and more!

We’ve just completed another powerful year of organizing in Pennsylvania and helping to lead the national Nonviolent Medicaid Army in 12 states. As the economic crisis deepens and political conditions shift, there are significant dangers but also important opportunities. Our work to identify, develop and unite leaders in the movement to end poverty led by the poor is more necessary than ever. 

With the Great Medicaid Purge beginning in 2023, the Biden administration signed off on a bipartisan decision to end pandemic protections and cut 25 million people from Medicaid. Over the next 10 years, the Big Beautiful Bill for Billionaires passed by the Trump administration will conservatively cut an additional 15 million people off of healthcare. The war on the poor has gone on for far too long and we won't be silent any more.

We’re not just lifting up the plight, but also the fight and the insight of the organized poor. Here’s some of what we’ve been up to in 2025:

• We’re building the art and culture of our movement with a new Nonviolent Medicaid Army digital and print songbook that includes many original compositions from leaders in our movement. Singing is part of how we build our unity as people who have been purposefully divided for hundreds of years, and this process strengthens the connectedness of the Medicaid Army across PA and the nation. 
• We coordinated with 17 simultaneous actions across the country for our National Day of Action for Medicaid on September 6, 2025. After years of organizing around hospital closures in Southeast PA and several meetings with the Governor’s office, we conducted our first civil disobedience as an organization, taking over the shuttered Chester-Crozer Hospital just a stone’s throw from where MLK Jr. attended seminary. 
• We helped coordinate over 800 calls to Congress in February and March, educating and organizing folks across racial and geographic lines in PA and other states.
• We held our annual Membership Assembly in October with over 180 participants and 40 children, including leaders from partner organizations from over 17 states taking up the task of building the unity of the poor and dispossessed through human rights struggles. We also are proud to have been able to bring international guests and coordinated to have a fully bilingual space to advance our Unity Across Language. 
• We continued our fight to restore the Adult Dental Benefit to Medicaid, building on the successful passage of legislation in the PA House and pushing on the Senate to finish the job. 

We know these are difficult times and any amount truly helps. We appreciate all of our coordinators, leaders, mobilizers, our extended network of supporters, and the working class a whole. Thank you for all you do to Put People First!

Donations are tax deductible and will be processed through our sibling organization and fiscal sponsor, United Workers. Their tax ID number is: 20-4345458