In Part 1, you learned how two people, four books, and the Poor People’s Campaign served as my inspiration for The People’s Pizza Party. In Part 2, we’ll get into implementation. Because it’s one thing to say, “Hey, KJ! That’s a cool idea!”, it’s a completely different thing to make it happen in real-life. And since I recently expressed my displeasure with there being no structure to the recent calls for corporate boycotts, it felt disingenuous not to, at least, try to make a playbook of my own. So today, you’ll read about the “Five Ps” of hosting a successful People’s Pizza Party: Problem, Place, People, Products, and Pizza. That way, as you plan your party, you’ll have a “cheat sheet” that you can refer back to.
NOTE: If you have not read Part 1, DO NOT go back and read it. Instead, read through this first. If you like what you see, you can always go back to get the context behind it all.
DISCLAIMER.
I don’t know if I actually need to say this but, just in case: this is not intended to be considered legal advice. Secondly, I’d like to remind everyone that these ideas should be taken as a guide and not the gospel. If this plan doesn’t accommodate all of your needs, modify it—I want you to make this your People’s Pizza Party.
WHAT IS THE PEOPLE’S PIZZA PARTY?
The People’s Pizza Party is a very political, non-partisan postcard writing pizza party! It’s a pizza-fueled community engagement event designed for everyday citizens to gather, eat pizza, and write postcards addressing their concerns to local officials. This guide was made for local issues, however, if you think this framework can help you speak truth to a regional, state, national, or even International issue—go for it! Just keep the main thing, the main thing: Be very political, be non-partisan, and punish piles of pizzas.
THE FIVE Ps.
Consider this both your table of contents and roadmap for how to host a People’s Pizza Party. They are as follows:
- Problem
- Place
- People
- Products
- Pizza
Keep reading for a brief explainer of each pillar. At the end, you’ll have the opportunity to download a “menu” to help you keep track of things as you go about planning your pizza party.
PILLAR #1: IDENTIFY A PROBLEM.
You’re not here just to eat pizza. You can do that all by yourself. The reason you’ll be buying supplies and inviting people to come together, is to be politically active with likeminded individuals. In order to do that, you’re going to need to identify a problem that you want to bring to the attention of you local government and/or elected official(s). There are a couple ways to go about this:
- PRE-DEFINE A PROBLEM: Rally the troops around a predetermined issue. Examples include the banning of a specific book at your children’s school, trying to get that infamous pothole on your street fixed up, a desire for your county to fund the remediation of a brownfield, or preventing yet another liquor store from popping-up in your community. Something that people are upset about that doesn’t have anything to do with political affiliation. Because at the end of the day, both Democrats and Republicans hate potholes!
- SOURCE THE PROBLEM: With a new calamity befalling us, seemingly every single day, it’s easy to understand why there may be many issues swirling around your mind. Invite your chosen community to a pizza-fueled brainstorming session where everyone can discuss and deliberate over what issue to write about. How y’all go about selecting your problem is totally up to you. What’s important is that you select a topic that everyone sees as an issue and everyone wants to bring resolution to.
Personally, I’m a fan of option one. You spend less time in deliberation and more time getting to that action! Now, this does require that the host(s) do some of upfront research on the topic. But that’s a good thing! Hosts should be fairly knowledgable on the issue, so they can help answer any basic questions an attendee may have. It also allows the host(s) to look up the mailing address of the person, or people, in charge of whatever the issue is. You’ll need that address for later.
Lastly, make sure you have a specific demand or ask. Any form of protest that doesn’t include a list of demands is nothing more than a glorified temper-tantrum. However, if all you have is the problem, start with that. Once you get everyone in the room, together, y’all can develop an ask.
PILLAR #2: PICK A PLACE.
Where you host your People’s Pizza Party is important. Where you host the party can either be a draw or a deal breaker. Say you’re organizing a People’s Pizza Party around the issue of public transportation. You probably want to select a spot that has access to whatever public transit options your town has.
If you’re hosting an event that’s just for friends and family members, then invite them into your home. But if there’s going to be people you don’t know then pick a public place like library study room, coffee shop, or community center. Somewhere other than were you lay your head. Considering who all gon’ be there will inform you of where this event should be held. Speaking of who all gon’ be there…
PILLAR #3: INVITE THE PEOPLE.
Once you have your problem identified and place selected, its time to make a guest list! Invite people from all aspects of your life because, remember, this isn’t about any one political party—this is about organizing around a shared, local issue of interest. If you can, include some allies; individuals who may not exactly fit the description of who should care about your problem but they do. For instance, if your People’s Pizza Party is covering an issue that affects women, invite a man who has a history for speaking out on behalf of women’s issues because he’s a certified GIRL DAD of the year. Or if you’re fighting for something that disproportionately affects Black communities, invite a non-Black person with a history of leveraging their privilege on behalf of that community.
Or not. I mean, it’s your event. But whoever you invite, it’s important that they be a stakeholder; someone who is currently (or will soon be) affected by whatever topic is on the docket. That person is more likely to participate with future actions.
NOTE: You should have future actions in place or at least an idea of what the next steps should be. If not, CREATE THE NEXT STEPS WITH YOUR FELLOW PIZZA PARTIERS. They obviously care, otherwise they wouldn’t be there. Giving people something to look forward helps keeps people engaged even after all the pizza is gone.
PILLAR #4: PROCURE YOUR PRODUCTS.
You can’t have a party without supplies. You already know you’ll need pizza but outside of that you’ll definitely need other stuff like postcards, pens, and stamps. And I said this before but you’ll also need the name and mailing address of whomever you’ll be sending these postcards to. Other things to keep in mind: Are you allowing people to utilize your dishes or do you need to pick up some paper plates and napkins? Do you need ice and if so, do you already have a cooler or do you need to get one? Did you plan on having a sign-making station as well—well what supplies do you need for that?
Lastly, while the party is centered around pizza, consider adding additional snack options and complimentary beverages, if your budget allows. I know I like to eat fries or potato chips with my pizza so those are items I’d add to the food rotation, should my budget allow.
NOTE: If you are working with co-hosts or volunteers, see if they will help you purchase supplies. They might have supplies already, which is great because it keeps your cost low. The People’s Pizza Parties are not created to be a financial burden on anyone.
PILLAR #5: PICK YOUR PIZZA.
Once you’ve secured a location to host your People’s People Party, created your guest list, and a outlined of all the supplies you’ll need, the next step is ordering the pizzas!
Seems simple enough, right? WRONG! You can plan the perfect party but if you invite your friend with Celiac disease and don’t have at least one gluten-free option, they won’t have the same experience as everyone else. The only worse than not being able to eat pizza is having to watch other people eat pizza in your face. Remember, you want everyone to participate so they’ll feel like a part of the fun and want to return if you do another one. So once you settle on a guest list, take the time to ask your attendees whether or not they have dietary restrictions or allergies. Because even the most careful of us doesn’t always have an Epi-Pen on hand.
This is also the time to figured out what kind of pizza’s you’ll be bringing to the party. If available, chose a local pizza parlor to procure your pizzas from. They’ll appreciate the business and, if you will feel good about keeping the money within the community. If you need help finding a local pizza shop to support consider using an app like RESY or if you’re looking for a Black-owned spot, download EatOkra.
THE PEOPLE’S PIZZA PARTY CHECKLIST.
You thought I was just gonna tell you the five pillars and peace out? Of course not! I’ve taken the liberty to create a Google Sheets document with four planning tools:
- TRACKER – Use this to jot down information from your “Five Ps”. Stuff like:
- What’s the Problem?
- Mailing Address for Official(s).
- Is The Space ADA compliant?
- What’s the Parking Situation for your venue?
- Which Pizza Shop Are You Supporting?
- TO-DO – A running list of all the task associated with your event and who OWNS them. Like who’s responsible for making a playlist or renting tables (if needed), or securing the venue, or making the Ice Breaker question.
- TEMPLATES – I created three templates for you to modify as you wish. One is for inviting guests to your People’s Pizza Party, copy from a sample postcard (for an issue I completely made up), and a sample mailing address.
- TIMELINE – I made a template for you to list your tasks for 3+ weeks out, one week out, 3 days out, the day of the People’s Pizza Party, and the day after.
Was this helpful at all? Please let me know. And if you decide to host a People’s Pizza Party, send me some photos! I want to see this thing in action.
PEOPLE’S PIZZA PARTY TRACKER [GOOGLE SHEETS]
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