This report, Beyond Coverage: Putting People First in Pennsylvania’s Healthcare System, tells the story of Pennsylvania’s healthcare system from the perspective of the people of the state. Through surveys of over 300 people in 43 counties and stories from five courageous individuals, Beyond Coverage reveals the critical ways in which the state’s private, for-profit insurance system is failing to […]
Purpose: Political Education
What’s Up with the Insurance Markets? Questions and answers on why costs keep going up and what can be done
In 2016, problems with the health insurance marketplaces that were set up by the Affordable Care Act became too big to ignore. Here are are talking points on the market turmoil, the problems with treating healthcare as a market commodity, and how universal, publicly financed healthcare offers the solution.
People’s Convention Facilitator’s Guide (excerpts)
These three Facilitator’s Guides were created for and used at Vermont’s People’s Convention for Human Rights in 2012. The Problem Tree workshop gets participants to map out their experiences of the human rights crisis in their communities and to identify the root causes of these problems. For Facilitator’s Guide, click here. The Principled Vision workshop […]
Human Rights Principles and Vision Workshop – Facilitator’s Guide
A facilitation guide for a workshop that presents the human rights framework as a way to articulate our vision for a different kind of world and to increase our understanding of the human rights principles. The idea of the workshop is to “exercise the muscle” in our brains that helps us think about these principles […]
Human Rights Tree Workshop
This exercise is designed to get folks thinking about the root causes of the problems they experience and see in their workplaces and communities, and to introduce the concept of doing “root work” to transform the underlying systems.
Economic, Political and Social Movement History
This educational timeline moves from the 1600s up to the 2000s and traces key moments in economic, political and social movement history in both the United States and the world.
Teeter Totter
This exercise is designed to get participants wrestling with how power relationships work in our society. It offers a simple way to understand how decisions are made in our current political system and how that changes when we organize.
Leadership Development Questions for Committees
This leadership development tool is intended to be used by committees in their leadership development awareness raising, assessment and planning.
Leadership and Leadership Development in Put People First! PA
This article by Put People First! PA defines leadership and speaks to its importance in grassroots organizing. It also describes how Put People First! PA seeks to develop members as leaders.
After Meeting Debrief Questions for Leadership Development
This list of debrief questions, prepared by the Vermont Workers’ Center, is intended to assist organizers and committee and team coordinators in thinking about the organization’s members and creating concrete next steps and plans for their ongoing leadership development.
Lessons from the Healthcare Fight
This article presents the responses of 6 organizers from around the country to the question: “what can left organizers learn from the fight over healthcare?”
The Vermont Workers’ Center Leads Breakthrough on Healthcare
This article discusses the history of the Vermont Workers’ Center and their movement for universal healthcare.
Voices of Maryland’s Healthcare Crisis and the Rising Human Rights Movement
This report from HCHR-MD and NESRI documents Maryland’s healthcare crisis and highlights the HCHR campaign. The report draws on HCHR-MD’s survey and the stories of several Maryland residents.
Healthcare Is a Human Right – Maryland Campaign FAQ
This fact sheet by HCHR-Maryland answers frequently asked questions about human rights, the human rights framework for healthcare reform and single payer. It contrasts publicly financed healthcare with market-based health insurance, explains the basics of the Affordable Care Act, and addresses issues relevant for labor unions.
Healthcare Is a Human Right MayDay Rally
On May 1st, 2009, the Vermont Workers’ Center brought the human right to health care to the nation’s attention with its first large Mayday rally at the Statehouse in Montpelier. The Healthcare is a Human Right rally was endorsed by over 100 organizations, including NESRI, faith and labor leaders, and other national and state-based organizations. […]
Fighting for Universal Healthcare at the State Level: Vermont Workers’ Center Healthcare Is a Human Right Campaign
Because the federal health reform package fails to make health care truly universal and equitable, human right to health care advocates across the country are pushing their state legislatures to implement more effective and comprehensive measures at the state level. In Vermont, for example, the Vermont Workers’ Center’s Healthcare is a Human Right Campaign has […]
Vermonters Demand an Equitable Health System
As a universal, equitable health care system is within reach for Vermonters, the Healthcare is a Human Right Campaign (run by the Vermont Workers’ Center) has released this short video of Vermonters demanding an equitable health care system. The Vermont legislature is considering a bill for a roadmap to a single-payer system in Vermont.
Vermonters Demand a Universal Health System
As a universal, equitable health care system is within reach for Vermonters, the Healthcare Is a Human Right Campaign (run by the Vermont Workers’ Center) has released this short video of Vermonters demanding a universal health care system. The Vermont legislature is considering a bill for a roadmap to a single-payer system in Vermont.
Vermonters Demand an Accountable Health System
A universal health care system that’s accountable to the people is now within Vermonters’ reach. The Healthcare Is a Human Right Campaign (run by the Vermont Workers’ Center) has released this short video of Vermonters demanding an accountable health care system. The video is part of a series, all featuring Vermonters calling for a new […]
A People’s Struggle for Universal Healthcare
A universal health care system that’s accountable to the people is now within Vermonters’ reach. The Healthcare Is a Human Right Campaign (run by the Vermont Workers’ Center) has released this short video of Vermonters demanding an accountable health care system. The video is part of a series, all featuring Vermonters calling for a new […]
Vermont Workers’ Center: How we Won Healthcare for All
Vermont Workers’ Center organizers Mary Gerisch, Kate Kanelstein and Sarah Weintraub visit Oregon and talk about the Healthcare is a Human Right Campaign and how the campaign succeeded in bringing universal health care to their state.
VT Breakthrough! How the Healthcare Is a Human Right Campaign Is Winning a Healthcare System that Puts People First
This video tells the story of a successful grassroots campaign organizing for our human rights. This video is co-produced by the National Economic and Social Rights Initiative (NESRI) and the Vermont Workers’ Center, with thanks to Media Mobilizing Project, Nate Adams and Mindi Mumaw. Music provided by: “Shovel Ready” by Flat Top Trio, Jeremy Sicely […]
Closing the Gap in a Generation: Health Equity Social Determinants
This is the final report of The World Health Organization’s Commission on the Social Determinants of Health. It contains a plethora of recommendations for all countries, including a call for universal, equitable health care.
Healthcare Is a Human Right: Lessons from the Vermont Model
In this 2014 Left Forum presentation, NESRI’s Anja Rudiger sums up the strategic lessons from Vernont’s Healthcare Is a Human Right movement and explains the domino strategy of health care wins across the country.
Using Human Rights for Health Care Advocacy
This presentation sets out the basics for using a human rights approach to develop broad-based campaigns and advocacy initiatives for health care reform, illustrated with examples of lessons learned from Vermont’s Healthcare Is a Human Right Campaign.
Toward a Unified Policy Approach for Healthcare Is a Human Right and the People’s Budget
This document outlines how the key policy positions for universal healthcare, as formulated by Vermont’s HCHR campaign, are aligned with policy demands for a People’s Budget, i.e. human rights-based budget and revenue policies that meet people’s needs and raise revenue equitably.
Community Voices on Causes and Solutions of the Human Rights Crisis in the United States
This report summarizes the discussions and conclusions at two community-based human rights convenings, at which a broad range of grassroots organizations developed a critical analysis of the human rights crisis in the United States, defined common goals, and identified common strategies.
Human Rights and Public Goods
This presentation explores how human rights and public goods interact in health.
Vermont Declaration of Human Rights
Vermont’s People’s Convention for Human Rights, held in September 2012 with over 40 organizations participating, adopted this declaration of human rights, which outlines the current human rights crisis, its root causes, and the vision for realizing human rights.
Human Rights Assessment of Single Payer Plans
This report provides an in-depth human rights assessment of single payer health care proposals, along with a framework for assessing legislation. It compares single payer plans to the market-based insurance model and finds that a single payer approach is able to meet most human rights standards.
Realizing the Right to Health
In this third volume of the Swiss Human Rights Book series, leading international experts in human rights and health address issues such as access to essential medicine, HIV/AIDS, trade and health, SARS and malaria, and human rights approaches to other key health challenges. They address the role of governments, non-state actors and healthcare practitioners, the […]
Role of Single Payer Proposals in the Human Right to Healthcare
This fact sheet compares single payer health care proposals to market-based approaches, based on human rights principles, and finds that single payer proposals are far better at meeting human rights standards. Download the factsheet below, or read the full report on single payer and human rights here.
Human Right to Health and Healthcare
This fact sheet briefly explains the human right to health and health care, and lists the international treaties which guarantee these rights.
From Market Competition to Solidarity?
The human right to healthcare offers an analytical and advocacy framework for shifting the healthcare reform debate from individualist, market-based approaches to the collective responsibility for health care as a public good.
From Private Profits to Public Goods?
This article discusses the health policy proposals of the 2008 presidential election campaign and primaries, thereby offering a historical perspective on the reform positions that have shaped health policy under the Obama administration
The Vermont Breakthrough: Grassroots Organizing Moves a State towards Healthcare for All
This article tells the story of the grassroots organizing that led to the passage of Vermont’s universal health care law by changing what is politically possible through a mass organizing campaign.
Reviving Progressive Activism: A Case Study of Vermont’s Healthcare Is a Human Right Campaign
This case study of Vermont’ Healthcare Is a Human Right Campaign presents the history of the campaign and its 2011 success, analyses the rationale, strategy and tactics of the campaign, and offers lessons learned for developing transformative grassroots campaigns.
A Rights-Based Approach to Healthcare Reform
This book article outlines the history of the human right to health in the U.S., derives principles and standards from international human rights law, and offers a human rights framework for guiding health reform efforts.
The Battle of the Story Matrix – Healthcare Is a Human Right
This chart uses the Battle of the Story framework to analyze the issue of healthcare and reframe the narrative around the idea that healthcare is a human right.
The Battle of the Story Worksheet
This exercise, created by the Center for Story-Based Strategy, is intended to help grassroots activists analyze the current narrative climate around an issue and create more compelling narratives to communicate their campaigns. The Vermont Workers’ Center used this exercise in developing their narrative strategy in the lead up to their universal health care victory in […]
Using a Human Rights Framework and Grassroots Organizing to Build a Revolutionary Movement
This essay advocates for the use of a human rights framework and grassroots organizing strategy to create class-conscious solidarity and build a revolutionary movement for economic rights.
It’s Not Enough to Be Angry
This article shares lessons learned for effective organizing and focuses on the importance of uniting across issues to create a powerful movement capable of confronting the fundamental problem of economic injustice.
Teach as We Fight, Learn as We Lead (Poverty Initiative)
This article focuses on the importance of thoughtful leadership and education as the keys to an effective movement to end poverty.
Vermont Workers’ Center Mission Statement and Strategic Orientation
This document is a statement of the Vermont Workers’ Center mission and strategic orientation.
People’s Recipe Ingredients – Key Points for Facilitators
The People’s Recipe was developed by the Vermont Workers’ Center through their Healthcare Is a Human Right campaign and the Put People First campaign, and by learning from other people’s organizations and movements. The People’s Recipe highlights the key ingredients of the Vermont Workers’ Center’s organizing model. This resource provides a brief definition and key […]
The People’s Recipe (for People’s Convention)
This document explains and gives examples of seven key organizing principles.
Facilitator’s Guide to Using the Agreements
This document details the ground rules developed by the Vermont Workers’ Center for creating and maintaining a positive and inclusive environment in organizing meetings.
Solidarity School Facilitator’s Guide 2011
This resource provides a comprehensive guide and agenda for facilitators of the Vermont Workers’ Center’s Solidarity School, a two-day organizing and political education workshop held annually since 2007.
Vermont Workers’ Center People’s Toolkit
This is a comprehensive guide to assist Healthcare Is a Human Right campaign members in answering common questions, applying the human rights principles, evaluating legislative proposals and advocating with legislators.
The Tactic Star for Choosing and Evaluating Tactics
The tactic star is a tool that presents key factors for activists to use in developing and evaluating strategy.
Campaign Planning Practice
This tool describes how to use the Issue Assessment Chart to carry out an exercise in campaign planning.
Issue Assessment Chart
This chart is designed as a tool to help activists discuss the strength of an issue for organizing.
Human Rights Principles – Easy-To-Read Version
This one-page document presents concise, easy-to-read descriptions of the five human rights principles at the core of the Healthcare is a Human RIght Campaign.
Organizing Quotes
This document pulls together inspirational quotes on the power of organizing.
Facilitator’s Guide to Using the Agreements
This document details the ground rules developed by the Vermont Workers’ Center for creating and maintaining a positive and inclusive environment in organizing meetings.