PPT Victory Party Photos! We Boogied Down for Transit Justice.

Image Description: PPT Members post at the photo booth. Everyone is smiling and wearing wonderful outfits, bright colors and fun, shiny clothing. The photo booth backdrop is silver streamers, silver ballons and a handmade sign that reads: “THIS BUS IS FOR ALL OF US”.

This Bus Is For All of Us! PPT Members celebrated our year in style.

After a long year of successful organizing and after 3 years of virtual gatherings, PPT Members were ready to have a good time at our Victory Party & Year-End Celebration last Friday!

We had a lot to celebrate! We won a major milestone during the fall when it was announced that Allegheny County would launch a Discount Transit Fares Pilot Program – and that 14,000 SNAP-EBT households in Allegheny County would be able to participate. It was such a big win, in fact, that it was awarded “Best Advocacy Campaign of the Year” by TransitCenter! (TransitCenter gave PPT a big red sash as an award, which brought on the party’s theme: pageant. So members wore fabulous outfits to celebrate). This summer we celebrated the adoption of our 100-Days Transit Platform into Mayor Gainey’s transition plan. And in the spring, had a massive victory on a years-long campaign to stop the Mon Oakland Connector and re-direct that funding towards affordable housing and traffic calming.

We also celebrated the launch of a new-and-improved PPT Membership Program – and we’re up to 250 active members who are participating in our organizing.

These victories are only won when we have folks invested in this movement. Become a PPT member today and join our fight for transportation that all can access.

Join as a PPT Member

“I am fighting for my friends, my children, my neighbors, I am fighting for all of y’all!” – Ms. Teaira Collins, PPT Member

We really are fighting for every community to have better access to the things we need to thrive.

We want to send some big love and thanks to all of the PPT Members who joined and made our celebration so beautiful. Special shoutout to everyone who gave speeches at the party: Ricardo and Lorena for their bi-lingual opening remarks about the importance of transit to Allegheny County’s immigrant communities, to Barb for talking about how the Mon Oakland Connector’s community organizing led to her winning a PGH City Council seat, to Teaira for sharing about what fueled her fight to win the Discount Transit Fare Pilot Program, and to Dean for putting together an INCREDIBLE video on some of PPT’s history.

Thanks to all the members who took on different jobs to pull off the evening: Mona, Andrew, Verna, Cheyenne, Tracy, Bonnie, Jess, Mayor Nesby, and others.

Thanks for PRT Bus Operator Khristian Sheard for providing the catering (you can book her by sending an email or Facebook Message) and to DJ Frank Nitte for spinning A+ tunes all night (send DJ Frank an email djfranknitte412@gmail.com or check out his facebook to book him).

AND OF COURSE, HERE ARE SOME PHOTOS! See the full album here on Flickr.

image description: below are 50 photos from PPT’s Victory Party & Year-End Celebration. There are lots of people in these shots. Photos of colorful food. Colorful outfits. Many smiles. Dancing. Wonderful transit-themed artwork. Feather boas, and crowns. A sash that says “Frequency Award”, delicious food, balloons, shiny tinsel wall decorations, and all-round fun times with loving community.