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Please note—You are now at the INACTIVE website page of the ORIGINAL 15 Now Tacoma.  The Original 15 Now Tacoma project closed up shop nearly 4 years ago. It lasted from early 2014 until late 2015—roughly 2 years. This page now serves as a record of this historic fight, which for months was the central focus of local politics for a period of months.

But now, we are attempting again to raise the minimum wage in Tacoma, and we have a new site. We’ve learned a lot and hope you will participate. To see our new website, please go here.

Stories and Storytellers
Here are a few of the many personal stories supporters of the $15/hour minimum wage have to share with you. These storytellers are workers, often low-wage workers. They’re students in debt for life, retirees, the unemployed, the underemployed. They are part-timers, the people who need to hold several jobs. They are parents of young children, struggling to feed, to educate, and to keep their kids safe. They are adults caring for their housebound and elderly parents. They are the face of 15 Now Tacoma. In fact, they are the face of America today.

Here are their stories:

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For almost 1-1/2 years, 15 Now Tacoma has been making news headlines. With very little money and a lot of energy, we’ve managed to rock Tacoma’s political establishment. For months now, 15 Now Tacoma has been a major topic of political conversation in this town. The Chamber of Commerce, the City Council, and the Mayor are on the defensive.

Doug Nielson assembled a list of just under 60 news stories about us, spanning from early 2014 to the middle of 2015. He originally put this list on an experimental website. Doug has now given 15nowtacoma.info permission to edit and use it. Our editor fixed some of the broken links,  made some minor corrections, and put together this introduction.

Thanks to Doug for assembling the original list, which documents the remarkable news coverage of our story.  We hope you find this list of links to be useful.

————In The News

Matt Driscoll: 2nd ballot measure on wages creates plenty of questions TheNewsTribune.com -July 15, 2015. 15 Now Tacoma has emerged victorious. It’s not the victory the group is ultimately after, of course. In fact, I’m sure they still feel slighted and disrespected, so

Tacoma Voters Will Face Two Minimum Wage Initiatives On The November Ballot KPLU News for Seattle and the Northwest – ?Jul 15, 2015?: Tacoma is ground zero for the state’s next big minimum wage battle. The city council voted 7-1 to put an initiative on the November ballot to hike the minimum wage in phases over the next three years, reaching $12 an hour in January 2018. After that, the minimum wage would rise every year at the rate of inflation.

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