Biography – Peter Phillips
“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke” Isaiah 58:6
Peter Phillips is the founder of Sunshine Advocacy, an independent consulting firm. Peter was the founding Executive Director of three federations of congregations fighting for racial and economic justice. in Mobile, AL, Pensacola, FL, Orlando FL, and the founding Director of PICO United Florida (People Improving Community through Organizing) a statewide network of 260 congregations and community organizations.
Peter’s journey began as the son of a military family growing up in Washington, D.C., but living in Hawaii, Italy, California, and Chicago gave him a wide multicultural experience. , The interest in community organizing began following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, in 1968. In a senior high school English project Peter published a photo essay of life in DC within a five mile radius of the French Embassy one year after the DC riots. The contrast between the rich in Georgetown living within a few miles of poor families stuck in burned out store fronts, painted the stark reality of injustice that still drives Peter today.
For over 30 years Peter has a track record of leading local campaigns of congregations and community leaders, engaging state, city and county elected leaders to adopt policies to help low and moderate income families. Peter has a disciplined organizing process that values inclusion of impacted families and providing them the training to mobilize their community and effectively speak for themselves. A builder of consensus, Peter believes in inviting the participation of all in negotiations and public actions, and to first attempt to engage public decision makers to build a relationship and understand their position their position before any public action. Based on this approach Peter has been able to help lead and create opportunity across multiple groups of people.
Representative accomplishments include:
- Passage by the Senate of a bill expanding health care insurance to 1.2 million uninsured using state and federal dollars (2013).
- Defeated (58%/42%) of a 2010 state ballot initiative, Amendment 3, that would have restricted state income and led to cutbacks of state social, education, health, and law enforcement funding (2012).
- Defeat of home foreclosure bills that would have resulted in expediting foreclosure for thousands of underwater homeowners (2011), won Attorney General Pam Bondi’s support for principal reduction as part of Florida’s settlement of $8 billion with the big banks illegal mortgage processing.
- Adopting charity care policies for a Shands Hospital, Gainesville. Informed uninsured of assistance they could receive from the hospital and costs before being admitted (2009).
- Staffed the Florida campaigns with the PICO National Network that organized to pass federal reauthorization of the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) in 2008 and the Affordable Care Act in 2009.
- Expansion of Florida’s KidCare program by 5,000 children (2006),
- Reducing youth recidivism, expanding recreation programs in Orlando (2000),
sunshineadvocacy.com 