Building Some Community Power Before the Unpredictable Election
Lily Baran, a performing arts professional turned activist, describes her and Minaberry’s idea behind creating the recent leftist fair in a Reno park as a way to “get all these organizations to try to help social justice things and community things. And we just thought that this would be a good way for all of us to actually talk to each other and build some community power before the election to not feel hopeless and helpless after the election.”
Baran says she wanted to help non-profits and other groups coordinate with each other and form a collaborative environment where a free market of ideas would flow.
“It was like ‘hello.’ We’re creating this space. If you would like to join: here’s a form to fill out and B.Y.O. (bring your own) table, and we will be there. It’s important because that’s the future we want to move to.”
Working in an open environment, the organizations and participants developed ideas of “how to help each other, how to form mutual aid and coalitions to make sure that we can continue to function because we are the only ones who care about us.”
For Baran, the key to Reno forming a more robust community is to embrace our differences and understand that the community can have a more significant impact than those in public office. “I’m really proud of Reno. I’m really proud of like, seeing all these different people, like Reno Burrito Project … all these people are really coming out and showing up and supporting each other. And it feels as if, even though our city officials and other governing bodies aren’t really doing everything they could, the community is finding its power, and that is much better.”
Neighborhood Power
The creation of A People’s Summit was an idea that had inhabited the minds of Baran and Minaberry’s for a while. “It got to a point where there were so many non-profits that I was like, ‘We have to figure this out. Like we have to get to know everybody and everybody has to know who’s here,’” Baran said.
Barab believes Reno has potential and that a “better Reno is possible.” Building a healthy support system of like-minded groups, she says, is a significant step. Assembling neighborhood power by maximizing efforts in delivering education, mutual aid, and a welcoming environment is crucial, she adds.
As Reno continues to change and rebrand, Baran stresses that the community needs to stick together more than ever.
“I am hoping that right now, more of us are actually like putting truth to power and putting action into motion for office because Reno is unlike other cities I’ve lived here long enough to know that it is very possible to change. It is very, very possible that we can take our government and our city and make it work for people.”
As more and more tables popped up and curious Reno residents who had heard of the event through social media showed up, distributing materials and discussing ways to curb the steep ascent of housing costs, how to help the unsheltered, how to push for police change, and how to make Reno greener, the initial goal of the informal outdoor summit had been met.