William Lipton

1996

William Lipton

Central Brooklyn Neighborhood Network

New York, New York, United States

Community Improvement & Economic Development, Housing

The Bold Idea:

The organization assists low-income, limited equity housing cooperatives in joining together to buy in bulk and develop political power.

Biography:

Bill Lipton is a founder of the Working Families Party (WFP), a community-labor coalition party active in New York, Connecticut, Delaware and South Carolina. The WFP is a "fusion" party, and some observers consider it the first sensible progressive third party effort in decades. Bill's work has enabled the WFP to pass state legislation to raise the minimum wage, reform right-wing drug laws and make the state tax code more progressive.

Of course, everyone has their shtick. Bill's is that non-profit organizations and community leaders too often shy away from the crucially important political struggles that determine our society's priorities. Bill works with leaders to develop legal, commonsense strategies to engage in the electoral process.

His current career priorities include developing a practical strategy for holding local and national Democrats accountable to a progressive policy agenda, building a "staff and shop stewards" training institute to assist union and community leaders, and further development of a "blue-green" alliance between labor, communities of color and environmentalists.

Bill has a Masters in Political Science from Columbia University, and has won fellowships from Echoing Green, Charles H. Revson and the Rockwood Institute. Bill is also an avid bird watcher, and is among the most accomplished table tennis players on the American left since the end of the Second World War.