After Passing Green Light, Here’s What’s Next

We are at a critical moment in history. The administration is violating human rights throughout every corner of this country, harnessing hatred and fear to build a powerful base of support.

At the same time, millions of people are standing up in opposition. Here in the Hudson Valley, thousands are joining us to resist hate and build a movement to win a world where all of us are free to live, love, and work where we choose.

Over the past year, we’ve won and launched municipal IDs in 5 cities, changed statewide law, and registered thousands of new voters. Read our report to see what you’ve helped make possible in 2019!

After an incredible year — winning both our short and long-term campaign goals — the question on all of our members, volunteers, and supporters minds is: what’s next?

In the midst of intensifying gentrification, health crises, ICE persecution, and crumbling public infrastructure, the reality is that there are countless fights that need to be taken up. As a member-led organization, we need to identify what issues our members feel most deeply and what fights are most likely to move people into action.

That’s why we’re launching a survey project to talk with 1,500 members across Kingston, Middletown, Newburgh, and Poughkeepsie. Our members and volunteers will be canvassing almost every day until December to help us identify our next campaigns. In the process, our members will go through political education and leadership development to help us level up for 2020!

In just two weeks, over 25 members and volunteers have already collected 350 surveys.

An ever-expanding crew of over 100 interns, volunteers, and members have been hitting the streets over the past four months to register voters — and our collective work has paid off! With just days left before the October 11th deadline, we’ve registered over 1,650 voters.

We’ve registered new Americans on their way out of naturalization ceremonies. We’ve registered people who learned about their right to vote after incarceration. We’ve registered young people just turning 18. We’ve registered people who have never voted before, people who said no to registering with us twice before, and more.

We are building a new and powerful electorate that can shape a local and state politics that works for all of us. Now, we’re going to talk to tens of thousands of people to Get Out The Vote before the November elections.`

Since the five Municipal ID programs we won started implementation this summer, over 3,000 ID’s have gone home with our friends, neighbors, and coworkers. This means there are 3,000 more families in the Hudson Valley who can finally pick up their children from school, get medicine from a pharmacy, and interact with law enforcement more safely. 

We will continue to deepen the impact of the Municipal ID programs — starting with a sixth program expected to pass in Woodstock soon!

Thank you for investing your hope, energy, and time with us in this work. We are so lucky to share it with you!