I told him I did not want the police to keep killing people. I told him I did not want Donald Trump to be president. He was taking time from his work with Movement 2016, and Vote Mob to let me pick his brain. When I first got Upski on the phone, the revered Chicago activist wanted to know my intentions. I’m fairly nihilist in a non-cynical but practical way. Upski’s books Bomb the Suburbs, No More Prisons, and Please Don’t Bomb the Suburbs have hugely impacted and influenced Hip Hop culture, and grassroots activism.Ģpac and Vic Mensa have both mentioned reading Upski.
Originally from Chicago, Billy lives in Western Massachusetts with his family and two children (who out-organize him on a daily basis).I emailed Upski last month because I wanted guidance about the current political climate. His work has received numerous honors, including a Firecracker Book Award for “Best Political Book of the Year,” “Best Feature Story” from the National Association of Professional Journalists’ Chicago Headline Club, The Source Magazine’s “Power 30”, Utne Magazine’s “Utne Visionary”, Finalist for “Organizer of the Year” with the New Organizing Institute, and a “21st Century Innovator” award from Midwest Academy. He has been invited to speak widely, including at Stanford, Yale, Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, and MIT’s Graduate School of Architecture and Planning. He is the author or editor of six books on social change and his writing has appeared in the Chicago Tribune, Washington Post, The Nation, and Vibe. He has consulted with numerous organizations including the 2008 Obama Campaign,, Rock the Vote, the Ohio Democratic Party, and Green For All. Founding and building Movement Voter Project (and its c3 counterpart, Movement Voter Fund) has been the culmination of decades of work to support movements and progressive electoral and social change.īefore MVP, Billy co-founded several efforts, including Gamechanger Networks, League of Young Voters, Generational Alliance, Ready for Warren, Solidaire Network, Coffee Party, VOTE MOB, Student Power, and Rebuild the Dream. Over the years his work, in partnership with many others, has helped to swing hundreds of close local, state and Federal elections and to pass hundreds of progressive policies. He prides himself on talent scouting, offering nurturing support and coaching, and facilitating a spirit of strategic collaboration.
Billy has more than 25 years of experience in journalism, philanthropy, organizing, and social entrepreneurship, and has advised hundreds of donors to strategically invest tens of millions of dollars in hundreds of organizations and initiatives in 48 states, often with crucial seed funding to start, to scale, to launch c4s and PACs, and to voterize their work.
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