Member spotlight

Tom Mohan
Linn County

What got you involved with CCI? What keeps you engaged/motivated? Who are you fighting for?

"As a 67yr old retired public employee from Cedar Rapids, my working years were spent caring for youth and families who needed help and assistance in our area. I grew up in Sioux City. Kind of a dirtball, river rat type kid from a church going, blue collar family in a multi-racial, working-class neighborhood in my packing plant town. I lived near rivers, creeks, lakes and streams where me and my pals could swim, fish and generally ah, fool around!  This recreation, along with good old Sunday school lessons about caring for all of creation's creatures helped me learn that clean air, clean water, sustainable soil are human rights not to be used and abused for personal gain or private profit.

I’ve been a proud Iowa CCI member since the early 2000s, but became actively involved during the Bakken/Dakota Access pipeline fight around 2015. I’ve pitched in to help out in our clean water, factory farm, fair housing, racial justice and movement politics work ever since. There are many things I love and admire about our work together. Perhaps the most important to me is our NorthStar principle that the best way to defend our land, lives and communities from abusive corporate power is through the collective action of our people-powered movement. We’re bigger and better when we work together to make the big social change we demand and deserve.

CCI strengthens my hope for the future and inspires me to do more to help my neighbors in need. Our community organizing offers real help and hope to our hurting families, friends and neighbors in the communities we love. The powerful work we do together informs me, inspires me and keeps me motivated to build the people-powered movement we need to build a bigger, better American Dream that makes our hopes and dreams come true. That’s why I’m a proud CCI member! See ya at our next action! And be sure to say hey!"