Joni Earl, Paul Lawrence to be honored with Lynn Allen Awards at NPI’s 2017 Spring Gala

As pro­gres­sives, we believe in cham­pi­oning polit­i­cal progress for all peo­ple — it’s why we call our­selves progressives.

We believe that our soci­ety’s laws should be based on nur­tu­rant val­ues like empa­thy and mutu­al respon­si­bil­i­ty. As com­mit­ted pro­gres­sive activists, we work every day to advo­cate for poli­cies based on these values.

It’s not easy being a pro­gres­sive activist right now. The news is full of grim devel­op­ments and the oppo­si­tion has con­trol of our fed­er­al gov­ern­ment and most of the states, too. But if we want to secure a bet­ter future for our­selves and our chil­dren, then we must per­sist — espe­cial­ly when the oth­er side warns us not to.

If we want to win and restore pro­gres­sive gov­er­nance, then we’ve got to learn how to orga­nize and mobi­lize for our caus­es more effec­tive­ly. Pro­gres­sive vic­to­ries, whether elec­toral, leg­isla­tive, or judi­cial, don’t hap­pen by acci­dent… they’re made pos­si­ble by ded­i­cat­ed lead­ers doing hard work, often qui­et­ly. We will be more effec­tive if we study the tac­tics and strate­gies of our most suc­cess­ful lead­ers, and allow our­selves to be inspired to fol­low in their foot­steps and do likewise.

Under­pin­ning every pro­gres­sive vic­to­ry is a sto­ry… a sto­ry of peo­ple knock­ing down bar­ri­ers and over­com­ing obsta­cles, often over a peri­od of many years.

These sto­ries deserve to be told, and their heroes celebrated.

That’s why we at NPI have decid­ed to cre­ate the Lynn Allen Awards. Named for our found­ing board­mem­ber Lynn Allen, who trag­i­cal­ly died of ovar­i­an can­cer in 2011, these awards will hon­or peo­ple who have made extra­or­di­nary con­tri­bu­tions to pro­gres­sive pol­i­tics and pub­lic pol­i­cy. Each year, we’ll rec­og­nize two recip­i­ents of dif­fer­ent gen­ders with Lynn Allen Awards. Lynn was a big believ­er in thank­ing peo­ple for their work, so it is tru­ly fit­ting that these awards are named for her.

Read­ers, we invite you to join us on Sat­ur­day, April 29th, as we present the inau­gur­al Lynn Allen Awards to Joni Earl and Paul Lawrence at our 2017 Spring Fundrais­ing Gala.

Here are the details for this year’s gala:

• What: NPI’s 2017 Spring Fundrais­ing Gala
• Where: Mer­cer Island Com­mu­ni­ty and Event Cen­ter, 8236 SE 24th Street, Mer­cer Island, 98040
• When: Sat­ur­day, April 29th, 2017 | Recep­tion at 6 PM; pro­gram at 7 PM
• Who: Join the NPI team and Lynn Allen Award recip­i­ents Sound Tran­sit CEO Emer­i­tus Joni Earl and Paul Lawrence of Paci­fi­ca Law Group
• Why: Because an effec­tive resis­tance needs orga­ni­za­tions test­ing pro­gres­sive ideas and build­ing per­ma­nent infrastructure

Joni and Paul have each made incred­i­ble con­tri­bu­tions to pro­gres­sive caus­es going back many, many years. It is thanks to Joni that Sound Tran­sit was able to get back on track and ful­fill its mis­sion of deliv­er­ing Link light rail, Sounder com­muter rail, and ST Express bus ser­vice to the peo­ple of Puget Sound.

And it is thanks to Paul that a slew of right wing ini­tia­tives that threat­ened our com­mon­wealth and our pub­lic schools (includ­ing many of Tim Eyman’s) have been struck down as uncon­sti­tu­tion­al by our courts. Notably, Paul led the legal team that pre­vailed in LEV v. State, LWV v. State, and Lee v. State.

I’m thrilled to announce that both Joni and Paul will be join­ing us on April 29th to accept their Lynn Allen Awards. I hope that you can join us to meet them and learn from the impor­tant vic­to­ries that they helped secure for us.

Be inspired to con­tin­ue work­ing for a pro­gres­sive future for our region and coun­try: join us at our 2017 Spring Fundrais­ing Gala on Sat­ur­day, April 29th! Just fol­low this link to secure­ly buy your indi­vid­ual, house­hold, or liv­ing light­ly ticket.