Link to Website: https://planevada.org/

Contact Information

Las Vegas Office

Location: 2330 Paseo Del Prado C109 Las Vegas, NV 89102

Phone: (702) 791-1965

Reno Office

Location: 1475 Terminal Way Suite C2 Reno, NV 89502

Phone: (775) 348-7557

Northern Nevada Immigration Office

Location: 495 Apple St Suite 108 Reno, NV 89502

Phone: (775) 800-1851

The Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada (PLAN) was founded in 1994 to bring together diverse and potentially competing organizations into one cohesive force for social and environmental justice in Nevada, and continues to do so!

Since 1994, our organization has grown from 12 original founding member groups to a current membership of nearly 30 organizations!

We build power with our community through strategic organizing and policy advocacy to build a strong and fair Nevada that puts people and planet first.

Our main issues:

• Civic Engagement
• Economic Justice
• Environmental Justice
• Immigration
• Indigenous Rights
• Mass Liberation

Civic Engagement

The changes in Nevada related to racial gaps in voting have been remarkable. White working- class voters are down 24 percent since the 1988 election, while voters of color increased 19 percent. The Latino share of all Nevada voters grew from 12 percent in 2006 to 15 percent in 2010, the largest increase in the western US.

COMBATING VOTER SUPPRESSION

Every election year, tales alleging widespread or systematic voter fraud arise in the public dialogue. In over six years of investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice, from 2002 to 2008, only 140 people had been investigated for voter fraud nationwide; despite this, rumors still abound. In recent Legislative sessions, bills that might appear innocuous are introduced to try to prevent voter fraud. Unfortunately, these bills not only do little to address voting irregularities-often the result of oversight by registrants and/or elections officials-but also restrict the franchise.

Currently, voters must show identification only when registering by mail and voting for the first time. Several bills were introduced this session to impose additional identification requirements for voters. All of these bills fail to increase the security of elections while adding barriers to voting which will disproportionately disenfranchise people of color. For example: African Americans have been found twice as likely to lack a driver's
license as whites, and only 22 percent of African American men between 18 and 24 have a license. There are a range of options other than state-issued photo ID that can be used for this purpose, including utility bills, paychecks and bank statements.

PLAN is dedicated to protecting the right of the franchise for all eligible voters and worked with others to oppose a record eight voter suppression bills in 2011, none of which left their originating committees. PLAN will continue to protect and expand the both the accessibility and integrity of Nevada's elections, opposing voter ID and early voting restrictions and also pushing for expanded voter registration and election administration policies.

LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT

Part of our obligation as a progressive organization is to foster volunteers through a pathway to leadership. We need more people to take action in order to achieve a more just society and we need to develop new leaders to apply fresh and creative perspectives and more work forward as others phase out. As we often say, "Our goal should be to put ourselves out of business." If we aren't passing the torch, we are dropping the ball, and we need leaders throughout the community to take progressive practices and knowledge and apply them to their lives and careers.

PLAN collaborates with partners to provide a variety of leadership development opportunities for progressives in Nevada. Through our internship program, we work with students from high schools and colleges to give young people hands-on immersion in social justice work while earning school credit. We've worked to provide developmental opportunities to social service recipients, transforming them into community advocates. Every year we send a diverse group of local activists to AMP, a weekend training in Portland, OR put on by our friends at the Western States Center. Through our Dismantling Racism workshop, we train people to see issues and experiences through a racial justice lens. Additionally, we put together trainings on timely topics and have sent activists to numerous other trainings in order to develop a talented corps of community leaders in our state.

Economic Justice

Economic Justice is the basic concept in which the fairness in official policies must be equal to all participants in an economy.

PLAN's Economic justice campaigns includes: Fight for $15, Payday lending, and Supporting social safety net programs (e.g. Medicaid).

Fight for $15

The fight for $15 began in 2012 when two hundred fast food workers walked off their jobs to demand $15/hr in New York City. Here in Nevada, PLAN supports this movement because the minimum wage fight is not a new fight, and we fight for $15 because workers deserve a livable wage. 

Payday Lending

Payday lending was created as a means to help consumers pay their bills until their paychecks arrive. However, in return for the loan the consumers have to pay a post-dated check for the amount borrowed plus a fee. This fee can have a high influx rate thus trapping hard working Nevadans into debt. It is important that the money remains in the pockets of hardworking Nevadans and out of the the pockets of wealthy corporations.

Social Safety Net Programs

Social safety net programs are for those who are in poverty which disproportionately impacts communities of color, immigrant communities, and low income households. Until the fight for livable wages and healthcare for all is achieved these social safety net programs are needed. 

Environmental Justice

PLAN believes everyone has the right to live in a clean and healthy environment, regardless of their race, income or immigration status. Addressing our dependence as a nation, and especially in Nevada, on an extractive economy, is central to our Environmental Justice campaign.

Currently, poor and marginalized communities are disproportionately affected by pollution and climate change, while dirty fossil fuel and mining corporations rake in millions in profits.

Mining Accountability

Sweetheart Tax Deals Open-pit mining accounts for 90% of mining operations in Nevada, with the majority of gold extracted by two of the largest transnational mining corporations in the world, Barrick Gold and Newmont Mining. Last year Nevada mining corporations raked in 6.4 billion dollars in profits for their CEOs and shareholders.

This special treatment for corporations has consequences. Nevadans have long paid for foreign based mining corporation's prosperity through failing schools and poor healthcare across the state. There is wealth in the state to invest in Nevadans, and the mining industry has an opportunity to work for the Nevadans they depend on for their massive profits. 

Climate and Clean Energy

People, Planet First Environmental Justice demands that public policy be based on mutual respect and justice for all peoples, free from any form of discrimination or bias, and affirms the sacredness of Mother Earth, ecological unity and the interdependence of all species, and the right to be free from ecological destruction.

A Little Background

Environmental justice is one of PLAN's core founding principles. Our campaigns seek to enact concrete local and state policy changes that put People and Planet First.

Fighting the Good Fight

The Silver State is in the bull's eye of some of the most unconscionable and environmentally destructive projects in the world. Nevadan's are still paying with their lives from above-ground nuclear weapons explosions in the 50s and 60s. We're proud that Nevadans rose up in the early 1980s to defeat the military's proposal to turn five million acres of our fragile Great Basin into an MX missile base. And we're still winning our 30-year fight against the nuclear industry's efforts to dump nuclear waste here. That fight, like others, requires that we continue to train and bring up new leaders who will be vigilant in the decades to come.

Las Vegas, SNWA Water Grab

PLAN opposed the Las Vegas Water Grab, which was a victory that was won in 2020. The pipeline would have created a Owens Valley wasteland across a wide swath of the state, destroying the economy of rural Nevada and ranching as a way of life. Learn more about the victory and defeating the water grab through the Great Basin Water Network.

Hardrock Mining

Many Nevadans are aware of the painful and bitter past and present history related to mining and the Western Shoshone people. Elder Carrie Dann and her family live next to Barrick's Cortez Hills mine, one of the largest gold discoveries in North America. Barrick is currently mining beneath the white cliffs of Mt. Tenabo, a sacred place in the creation beliefs of the Western Shoshone. PLAN stands with the Western Shoshone in their efforts to reclaim their land and cultural resources.

Serving the Northern Nevada Immigrant Community

Immigrants are an important part of the fabric of Nevada's society. They are fundamental to our primary industries and quality of life. For immigrants, life in Nevada may provide more opportunities than before, but it is still very hard. Many parents work two or three low-wage jobs, sacrificing today for a better tomorrow for their kids.

Undocumented Nevadans are especially vulnerable and are often forced to live in the shadows. Children live in constant fear that their parents will be deported. PLAN believes these families deserve to live openly without fear, and be recognized as contributing members of our communities. PLAN supports immigrants' rights to legal status and advancement to citizenship, and it works to change policy to protect immigrant families.

For more information and services available in Northern Nevada - e.g. Adjustment Status, Assistance at CIS, Interviews, Deferred Action (DACA), EOIR, Family Petitions, Temporary Protected Status, (TPS), etc.

Advocacy

The current immigration system targets and tears families apart that have deep roots in our country. PLAN believes that fellow Nevadans should not have to live in fear of deportation or be perpetually criminalized. Instead, they should be recognized as contributing members of our communities because they are our co-workers, classmates and neighbors.

PLAN is committed to lifting up the voices of immigrants, refugees, and aspiring Americans to push for policies that will protect immigrant families and other vulnerable populations from deportation. We have a broad coalition that advocates for immigrant rights and works collectively to provide families with resources needed to protect themselves. Our work will ensure that we have a just Nevada that is inclusive and welcoming to all immigrant families.

Know Your Rights

It is important to know that everyone, regardless of immigration status, has certain rights under the United States Constitution such as the right to remain silent and to be represented by an attorney. Knowing and understanding your rights is crucial to protecting yourself. The American Civil Liberties Union and American Immigration Lawyers Association both have key information to further understanding what your rights are if you encounter the police or ICE agents. Learn more about our resources here.

What Do I Need To Know If The DACA Program Ends?

On September 5, 2017 the Trump administration announced they would be ending DACA. This program has helped 13,000 Nevadans and 800,000 youth nationwide that came to the US as children. Under DACA many of them have had the opportunity to work, go to school, and help their families with everyday expenses.

The Immigrant Legal Resources Center provides important information regarding these changes, as well on how to be prepared. If you or someone you know need assistance with a DACA renewal before the October 5, 2017 deadline, contact PLAN's Citizenship & Immigration Services Program of Northern Nevada.

Justice Initiatives

PLAN's roots in criminal justice issues in Nevada go back to 2003, when we organized to remove barriers in voting and employment to formerly incarcerated individuals. Today, this work is carried out through the Mass Liberation Project, a PLAN-led collaboration among community organizations and directly impacted individuals.

We seek to structurally transform Nevada's criminal justice system by organizing with people who have direct experience with mass incarceration and their families. We are also focused on intersectional advocacy since criminal justice reform also means changing harmful policies such as 287g, and because the Native American community is also disproportionately impacted by the system of mass incarceration.

PLAN's mission includes deepening democracy. This means that the work we do should not only lift the voices of those directly impacted by the issues we fight but also that we must reduce and eliminate the barriers to participation individuals face on a daily basis.

Black liberation is not only threatened by mass incarceration, but by white supremacy and neoliberal economics, which PLAN also addresses in our organizing programs. In addition to advocating for specific reforms such as ending money bail and decriminalizing traffic tickets, we also sponsor the Vegas Freedom Fund, a Mother's Day Bailout program, to highlight the gender-based discrimination of mass incarceration.

With the Legislature's recent passage of Senate Concurring Resolution 11, which creates an interim committee to study pretrial release of defendants in criminal cases, PLAN must organize community members and coalition partners to ensure an outcome that is favorable to our communities. This will require a great deal of organizing work, which will set us up for success in the 2021 session (the next time the Nevada legislature will meet). Additionally, in partnership with a cohort of other local/regional organizations and the Community Justice Exchange, we will create a community oversight plan for the introduction of pretrial risk assessment tools.

PLAN views our organizing around risk assessment as part of a larger strategy to transform the criminal justice system in Nevada by building a base of leaders who are committed to the long-term effort and by winning incremental policy reforms. In addition to winning policy reforms through our legislature, we have identified other potential leverage points such as city councils and the Clark County Commission, which have members who are key allies of PLAN. We know that good, strategic movement toward reform and liberation will be incremental. We want to build a structure to integrate this work with PLAN's other priorities, especially economic justice and civic engagement, over the long term.

Native Organizing

Native American Tribes were among the original founding member groups of PLAN in 1994, and we are proud of our long record of collaboration. Our efforts have ranged from working to stop a large mine from opening next to the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony in the early 2000's, to an Indigenous water protection campaign in 2019. PLAN has prioritized working with Tribes on voter registration and civic engagement, environmental justice, mining and water protection issues.

PLAN's Native American program has served as the local hub for solidarity actions with Indigenous movements nationally and internationally, such as bringing to light the fight of Indigenous people in Guatemala fighting a Reno-based mining company. With PLAN's leadership, Indigenous women leaders have led the Reno Women's March since 2017.