About Us

The Public Reconstruction Project

We need a project of “public reconstruction” to tackle the profound crises we face. Such a project can offer a path out of crisis and a new vision for our society. 

The national reconstruction in the aftermath of COVID-19 and last summer’s popular uprisings must be rooted in a wide-ranging agenda for democratically controlled public goods. These goods must be funded in part by shifting resources now invested in prisons, policing, and militarization. This process must involve the development of new visions of public goods and government accountability anchored by commitments to feminism, antiracism, and decolonization.

Public goods campaigns now underway have the potential to initiate such transformation. These campaigns fight for a world where the basic resources of life are under democratic, public control for the benefit of people of all races, genders, and backgrounds. Connected in a public reconstruction framework, these campaigns can gather even more force and help spark broader transformation.

The Public Reconstruction project:

• Works with leaders and staff at community organizations, racial justice groups, and labor unions to develop and sharpen public goods campaigns
• Builds networks for sharing lessons and resources for effective campaigns
• Educates organizers on the history of public goods, the role of race in attacks on public goods, and public goods campaigns
• Develops and hones campaign strategies and narratives
• Disseminates insights from public goods campaigns across movements