YangGang Inspired Project Ideas
I’ve been thinking that the power of this whole YangGang spirit ought to be harnessed for good. Regardless of whether Andrew Yang wins or not, this campaign needs to be perpetual. We must continually fight for the cause of Humanity First and the Freedom Dividend, regardless of who wins the next election. This isn’t about Andrew Yang and the presidential election — this is about the philosophy and policies that Yang is promoting. We should be creating projects that promote Yang and his ideas right now, but these projects need to be built to last longer than this political campaign itself.
YangGang Food Share
One idea that I have is based on the model of Food Not Bombs (FNB). FNB is a decentralized grassroots movement. Anyone can start an FNB chapter. Decisions within the group are made democratically, on a consensus basis. FNB does vegan food shares, but they also give out “zines” (flyers or pamphlets) with information and propaganda on them. At their food shares, FNB offers food unconditionally to anyone that comes. They don’t just feed the homeless — they feed everyone! They encourage people to sit down and interact. This encourages businessmen on their lunch breaks to eat a free meal and have conversations with homeless people and activists.
Food Not Bombs usually promotes veganism and anarchist ideas, but Yang supporters could easily do something analogous to this while promoting Yang’s policies instead of promoting anarchism. For food safety reasons and for the sake of inclusiveness, it would be best to stick to serving vegan food as FNB does. There’s a serious risk of people getting sick from improperly prepared meat, but much less risk when dealing with vegan food. Also, many people have dietary restrictions for religious or ethical reasons. You can eat vegan food regardless of whether you are vegetarian, Jewish, Muslim, or Buddhist. Sharing meat will exclude certain people, whereas even meat-eaters also consume fruit and vegetables.
Yang supporters could organize YangGang Food Shares, where we get together and either purchase food or get food donations in order to prepare a community meal. You take the food to a local park or some place with a lot of foot traffic (preferably a place where homeless people happen to gather anyway), and you share the food freely. You just have a giant community meal. This can be done once a week. At the share, you talk to people about Andrew Yang and his policies. You also put info flyers on the table as you share. These flyers could just be snippets from Yang’s campaign website, telling people about Yang’s policies, but you could also self-publish little zines and flyers, consisting of blog posts by Yang supporters or things written specifically for sharing at such events.
This would be an excellent way to help feed people who are in need and to promote the philosophy of Humanity First at the same time.
End Homelessness Project
Another idea that I had, which actually occurred to me long before Yang was running for President, is to create a charity around basic income. You create a homelessness activism group. The goal of the group is not just to feed the homeless, but to help people transition out of homelessness. You go around to local churches and pitch the idea and get people to pledge to donate $10 a month (or more if they want) and use the money to provide a 6-month basic income to people who are experiencing homelessness. If you can get 50 people to donate $10 per month (or 25 people to pledge $20 per month), then you can provide one homeless person with $500 per month. As you get more donors, you can provide more people with a basic income.
You could interview people to determine who is the best candidate for rehabilitation. Then you work with other local groups and charities to ensure that the selected individual will be provided food and shelter for the period of time in question. You also work with the selected individual directly to help them find employment. The idea is to ensure that their needs are taken care of for the whole 6-month period — that way they have the ability to save some of the money. The basic income should allow them to purchase things that they need and want, while allowing them to save some too. By the end of the 6-month basic income, the individual should have been able to save up enough for a down payment on an apartment. The goal of this project is not just to alleviate the stress of the person’s struggle with homelessness but to end the homelessness that the person is experiencing.
