Article
Landecker Democracy Fellow Manny Yekutiel is the owner of Manny’s — a physical civic gathering space in San Francisco that combines a non-profit restaurant, bar, coffee shop, political bookstore, and civic events space. The purpose of the Manny’s is to create a place to go to become a better informed and more involved citizen.
Using the model of Manny’s, which organizes events that address topics of social justice and political activism as well as bring in local and national activists, experts, and politicians, Manny’s project is to create a set of pop up social-civic events in a new city. The goal of the pop-up series is to showcase programming that is both fun to attend, informational, inspiring, and a first step into civic involvement.
Each event will involve a different topic:
- One night will involve a fireside chat with an elected official,
- another night will be on a topic of importance that involves local government,
- and a third will be at the intersection of culture and politics.
The goal is to reframe what a “political event” looks and feels like and engage folks where they are.
Manny is still figuring out the city where these pop-up events will be located. Based on the host city, he will tailor events towards the most prominent local concerns or movements.
Updated December 2021.