We just hit a million calls & texts

It’s been a while. 

We hope you and your family have been keeping safe and taking care of each other.

We are just days away from a pivotal election for our country and for our State. We have spent months preparing for this moment and building the power we need to win — not just this election, but for the many fights that will come after it. Let’s get you caught up to speed. 

We just hit a major milestone: we have made over ONE MILLION calls and texts with over 550 people signing up to volunteer since June!

This is what we are making possible: 

• Sharing our progressive vision with hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers;
• Helping thousands complete the census, register to vote, and cast their ballots for progressives in swing districts;
• Bringing hundreds of everyday people into the fight for a better world!

We are fighting to elect Karen Smythe, Jen Metzger, and Michelle Hinchey because we believe that our grassroots organizing can be the difference between who wins and who loses. And we need to make sure that it’s the people that stand with working people who win — our futures depend on it. 

Here’s how you can help us win:

With competing climate and health crises, continued brutality against Black people, and a state budget that prioritizes billionaires over working people, it’s crucial we make our voices heard this November at the ballot box. We know that we need to beat Trump, but New York also needs so much more than that.

We have been fighting alongside the Working Families Party for the issues that matter most to our members. 

When you vote on the WFP ballot line, you send a clear message that you are one of the hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers that will always choose the candidate who will fight for working people whether Black, Brown, or white, and ensure that our communities get the resources we need. 

Join us in voting on the Working Families Party line!

Organizing in a Pandemic

Our undocumented friends and family members have been at the frontlines of this pandemic while being completely excluded from relief packages and support. The deepening impact of the digital divide between those who have access to computers and reliable internet, and those who don’t, has created barriers to education, support, and also, organizing. 

We are facing those challenges head on. 

We have built a team of member captains who will be leveling up their tech skills, developing their organizing capacities, and reaching out to each one of our members for in-depth check-ins. Together, we will meet each week to have 1,693 conversations to shape the future of our organizing under the pandemic. 

Here’s what our community organizer, Rene Mejia, had to say about it: 

“The members are loving this project! They were excited when we approached them and are now pumped to be doing hands on work together. It’s always powerful getting to work with members who are dedicated to the work — talking and growing together has to be one of my favorite things about it. We take on the issues that our members are facing, so listening is an important part of our work.”

We made history last year with the Green Light coalition when we finally passed the legislation that allowed all New Yorkers, regardless of their immigration status, to access driver’s licenses. 

But when it came time to finally go to the DMV, our members across Orange County faced barriers and discrimination. People were forced to start lining up at 2am to  be seen, and made to stand in a separate line. 

We fought back — and we won. This year, we worked with union leaders and elected officials to stop this discriminatory practice and increase the number of DMVs in Orange County issuing licenses to all New Yorkers. Thank you to State Senators Jen Metzger and James Skoufis, and Assemblymember Jonathan Jacobson for your work to protect our hard-fought victory. 

Since Trump took office, ICE arrests have increased by 1700% in New York courthouses. In the summer of 2020, we successfully fought for the New York State Legislature to pass The Protect Our Courts Act, which will limit ICE’s ability to detain people in and near courts.

But five months later, Governor Cuomo has still not signed this legislation into law. 

Take action for immigrant New Yorkers and call Governor Cuomo to urge him to sign the bill immediately! 

At a time when over 1 million New Yorkers have a total of $985 million of debt to utility companies, a local utility company, Central Hudson has asked New York State to approve a major rate hike. Central Hudson wants to charge families $142 million more next year and build $200 million of new fossil fuel infrastructure.

During this pandemic, the number of people in debt to Central Hudson doubled. We simply cannot afford this rate hike.

Instead of another rate hike, we need debt forgiveness and a continued moratorium on power shut-offs. At the time of the original newsletter, we urged people to attend the public hearing to share their thoughts on Central Hudson’s terrible proposals. Look out for any future hearings or updates on this topic!