Dear Supporter,

While activists in New York fill a park on Wall Street to demand an end to austerity measures, activists in Peace Action are filling Town Halls across the country to bring a simple message: Move the Money from wars and weapons back to our communities.

Through our Move the Money campaign, people like you are making their voices heard at every level of the budget debate. We've written letters to the editor, we've flooded the Super Committee with suggestions, and in Town Halls over the past month, we've brought our message to local officials too: Move the Money!

Left to right: Marc Elrich, County Councilman of Takoma Park, MD; Elbridge James, Director of Maryland NAACP, Chair of Progressive Maryland; and Barbara Henderson, President of the Montgomery County Young Democrats. Photo courtesy of Edward Kimmel.

In Maryland, organizers with the Fund Our Communities, Bring the War Dollars Home coalition are hosting Town Halls throughout the state to take back the budget debate. The coalition of over 60 community organizations was formed by Peace Action Montgomery and recently pushed the U.S. Conference of Mayors to adopt a "Bring the War Dollars Home" resolution over the summer.

On September 10, North Carolina Peace Action marked the last decade of war with a Town Hall to ask tough questions about the state budget. Durham Mayor Bill Bell and U.S. Representative David Price fielded questions from the packed church.

Durham Mayor Bill Bell addresses a packed Town Hall organized by North Carolina Peace Action.

On September 20, Fund Our Communities packed the Silver Spring Civic Center with over 400 attendees. Moderated by Elbridge James, Director of Maryland NAACP, the panel of speakers included State Senators and Representatives as well as local experts. Following the panel, the crowd divided into action teams to discuss ways to take on the budget crisis. One week later, the coalition hosted a second Town Hall in Baltimore, with a third on the way.

In Washington, D.C., Peace Action is cosponsoring War Voices, a unique forum exploring the impact on our communities of ten years of war.

Together, we can take back our budgets.

In the next week, we'll be publishing a tool kit, your guide to Moving the Money from wars and weapons back to our communities.

In the meantime, if you haven't already, you can still write a letter to the editor, send your suggestions to the Super Committee, or check out Upper Hudson Peace Action's guide, How to Organize a Town Hall Meeting.

Humbly for Peace,

Kevin Martin
Executive Director
Peace Action