The continuation of American democracy.

The Washington Post reports that Pentagon has funneled almost $700 million of COVID-19 relief funds intended to build up *medical equipment supplies* to massive defense contractors for things like jet engine parts and body armor.  This is corruption, pure and simple — and all of us ARE already paying the price of the Pentagon’s waste. These funds could’ve shored up the severe shortage of N95 masks at numerous U.S. hospitals. Or supported desperately needed vaccine distribution infrastructure. Instead, they were funneled to defense contractors and spent on things like jet engine parts and body armor. There is only one solution: the Pentagon needs to pay this money back. Urge your member of Congress to demand that the Pentagon pay back the nearly billion dollars in COVID funding it misspent.

It is important to be transparent with the residents of the Seasons about what their hard-earned income pays for each month. While many amenities are completely shut down and others have limited hours with reservations, the cost of rent remains the same. THE RENT IS TOO HIGH!

Hispanic immigrant business owners face significant exposure from the coronavirus-induced economic downturn. They accounted for 51% of all Hispanic-owned businesses in 2016, shares similar to the percentages of Hispanics who are immigrants. They are now closing their businesses at a staggering rate. Historically, there are racial and gender inequalities in business ownership. Nationally, people of color represent about 40% of the population, but only 20% of the nation’s 5.6 million business owners with employees. The U.S. could have millions more businesses if women and minorities became entrepreneurs at the same rate as white men. Now, with the COVID-19 crisis, millions of “missing businesses,” are facing a massive potential disruption and some risk permanent closure. There is not the same urgency to address it—COVID-19’s impact on minority-owned small businesses—, because it is already established that’s been built up over decades, even if closing these disparities would result in the creating of millions of new small businesses.

In addition to hundreds of thousands broken families, the economic costs to American society from mass deportations are in disproportion to the economic benefits that Latinos bring to the US economy. While direct costs to taxpayers amounts to about $70 billion in enforcement agents, detention facilities, immigration judges and transportation, the Center for American Progress estimates that approximately $4.7 trillion is lost in economic output, nearly a trillion dollars in lost tax revenue over the next decade, while the conservative American Action Forum calculates some $2.6 trillion in lower GDP over 10 years, according to Unidos US. The increase in apprehensions has come as a growing number of migrants seek asylum. The demographic profile of those crossing the border has changed, too: People traveling in families, not single adults, accounted for the majority of those apprehended last year (56%). And most of those apprehended were from the Northern Triangle countries of El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, which have struggled with violence and a lack of economic opportunities.

Corporate America is one of the largest supporters of anti-choice, anti-women politicians -- even those who claim they are pro-woman. Some of the worst offenders champion anti-choice candidates at the local, state, and federal level, empowering an extremist agenda that is not only anti-abortion and anti-women but antithetical to equality and justice.  As consumers, we have the power to hold corporations accountable and demand they actually stand for the values they sell in PR statements and advertisements. This is why UltraViolet is collecting the receipts and launching a major campaign calling out six of the biggest companies in America to stop supporting the dangerous anti-women, anti-justice political agenda. But we need your help to show that consumers care about reproductive rights and will not stand for corporations funding extremist politicians like Senator Ted Cruz. Earlier this month, Sen. Cruz attempted to pressure the Food and Drug Administration to continue its restrictions on medication abortion. Cruz stated, “Pregnancy is not a life-threatening illness,” despite the rising maternal mortality rate in the country, especially for women of color.  Can you join our campaign? Here are the receipts: Company giving to anti-choice candidates or their associated PACs/committees AT&T: $1,956,953 Coca-Cola: $1,028,838 Disney: $203,350 Nike: $99,000 Procter & Gamble: $144,000 Uber: $148,000 The total? Over $3.6 million. The actual total and cost for women around the country? Incalculable. The reality of the impact of these political donations goes beyond the raw numbers. Hundreds of bans and restrictions. Several lawsuits. Clinics closed. Lives disrupted. Futures denied. These corporate titans are complicit in the denial of our rights through their political giving and make these extremist views acceptable and even “normal.” But these views are not normal or acceptable. They are at odds with the majority of Americans who support legal abortion, and the millions of people who need accessible reproductive healthcare. Many of these companies have bragged about their social justice cred to consumers in the face of Black Lives Matter and the racial pandemic. But what about the Black, Brown, Indigenous, queer, rural, and young people who bear the brunt of the impact of anti-choice policy? Oftentimes, anti-choice views are a sign of a larger framework that is also opposed to racial justice efforts and to science-backed responses to the pandemic. Many of the candidates these contributions support are not just anti-women, they are anti-justice and have harmed our nation’s journey toward progress. Let’s call on these companies and demand they stand by the values they espouse where they can have real impact: their political giving. All of these corporations claim to support women in their workplaces and, sometimes, in their products or where they will do business. But you can’t say you are for women in the workplace or racial justice but stay silent on reproductive rights. Women live intersectional lives and it is time corporations center intersectional policies. As consumers, we have the power to change this narrative. Corporations know that increasingly consumers care about the social impact of corporate power and demand more from corporations than one-time donations or PR statements. Corporations have changed their policies in response to consumer pressure. Just last year, UV members organized to force Netflix to denounce the 6-week abortion ban in Georgia. This year, we made tech platforms change their moderation policies. There is a fierce urgency now. With our rights and lives on the line this election, we need to push on all fronts to ensure reproductive justice now and in the future. Can you join our #ReproReceipts campaign? Sign the petition and tell these companies enough is enough. Stop the anti-choice political giving!

Due to COVID-19, 194,000 people have died in the US and other 6.5 million people have become ill with the virus, without knowing the long-term consequences of the disease. Following misleading information from the Federal Government, the disdain of many made of the pandemic a political flag, and little or no resources were offered, especially in minority communities. As usual, inequality takes its toll in our “hermanas” y “hermanos.” “For low-paid employees whose work is rarely if ever glorified — the people who clean the floors, do the laundry, serve fast food, pick the crops, work in the meat plants — having the jobs that keep America running has come with a heavy price. By the odd calculus wrought by the viral outbreak, they have been deemed “essential.” And that means being a target. Along with blacks, Latinos have borne the brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic in California and other parts of the United States, becoming infected and dying at disproportionately high rates relative to their share of the population. Health experts say one of the main reasons Latinos are especially vulnerable to COVID-19 is because many work in low-paying jobs that require them to leave home and interact with the public,” said the LATimes.

These fire crews work tirelessly to serve and save our state when we're at our most vulnerable. Yet, they are denied access as they re-enter into society. They put their lives on the line for us, let's give them the opportunity to start new, serve the community, and create a new life with the skills and experience they possess.

Now is the time to have paid sick leave for all Michigan workers! The COVID crisis has magnified just how vital paid sick leave is, and how unprepared we were when the pandemic hit. Paid sick leave has been proven to be an effective policy to reduce the spread of the virus. Paid sick leave for all workers is critical as we re-open, is the best way for businesses to stay open and would help get the nation working again while supporting public health. While Congress passed emergency paid leave for many, it was temporary and limited, omitting as many as 106 million workers nationally and 1.7 million working Michiganders, many of them essential workers and on the front lines risking their lives and further exposure. Many of these workers are disproportionately people of color, women, and low-wage workers. Michigan Paid Leave for All (MiPaidLeave4All) is a coalition of individuals, businesses, community groups and nonprofit organizations that have committed to organize and fight for the right of EVERY worker in Michigan to have access to paid sick time to take care of themselves and their loved ones when illness strikes. The coalition is composed of civil rights, economic justice, faith-based, and women’s rights organizations. Together, we are united in a long-term fight in Michigan for establishing Paid Leave for All. Combined, these organizations have decades of experience strategizing, organizing, and mobilizing on behalf of racial, economic and gender justice in policy making. We firmly believe that no singular group can bring about this change. Together, however, through a coalition built on trust, we will be able to fight for and amplify policies that enable workers to have the ability to care for the families they work to support and sustain without losing their jobs, incomes, or livelihoods. As a coalition of your collective constituents, we expect our goal of achieving a public health policy that affords paid leave for all Michigan workers to be heard, listened to, and supported by you. We know that working individuals, their families and the state are strongest with time to heal from illness or injury, to welcome a new child, to help a loved one recover, or to ease their passing. We believe that everyone should be able to take time to care for themselves or a loved one without risking their job or paycheck. Being there for family is what matters—no exceptions. Right now the United States is the only industrialized country in the world that doesn’t guarantee paid sick leave for members of its workforce. Current laws have failed to keep up with the needs of our workers, families, or our businesses in the 21st century. Having widespread access to paid leave would also give workers the confidence in their employers to abate their fears and concerns about getting exposed to COVID-19 (and other likely communicable illnesses) while on the job. Despite existing protections from retaliation for workers who are exposed or who may need to take time off to quarantine because they or a close contact has been exposed, many workers are still concerned that without adequate paid leave policies, they will have to choose between risking their physical health and their financial health. It’s a zero-sum situation and lose-lose situation for our workforce and the power to rectify that is at our collective fingertips. This is a workers’ rights issue, an economic justice issue, a racial justice issue, and a gender equity issue. And as a matter of equity, it’s time for paid sick leave for all of Michigan workers, not just those who already are lucky enough to have access to it. Because of dedicated community organizing Michigan has a Paid Sick Leave law; however, the COVID-19 crisis has demonstrated that it is inadequate. We must update and expand it in the very short term in order to cover every working person, to provide paid leave for a longer period of time than the current law provides, and include health pandemics, as SB 961 sponsored by Sen. Erika Geiss does. We urge you to support SB 961 so that Michigan is never caught unprepared again, whether the crisis is national or personal.

Specifically, this legislation will: ● Require adequate transparency and approval around voting changes, including any attempts to deny voting rights or impose overtly stringent requirements for voters. ● Strengthen federal oversight and accountability around proposed changes to election procedures, particularly around specific measures and in specific jurisdictions that have a record of voter suppression. ● Grant the Attorney General authority to request federal observers be placed where racist threats to voting are prevalent. ● Ensure that “racial minority groups, language minority groups, or minority groups on Indian land” are not prevented from voting due to practices such as changing boundaries, voting locations or voter registration rolls. A recent Intersections of Our Lives poll shows that women of color voted at historic levels in the 2018 midterm election. Eighty-eight percent of respondents said the stakes were too high not to vote. Yet, 25 percent of Black, Latina, and Asian American and Pacific Islander women voters said they did not think their vote was counted accurately. Our democracy and our ability to influence decision-making that impacts our bodies, lives and families is fundamentally threatened when we are not all able to participate in the democratic process. #ProtectTheVote by signing this petition to show your support for voting rights. Urge Congress to take action to stop voter suppression. Call or email your Congressional leaders today, and let them know that you support the passing of the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act!

Music venues not only provide entertainment and a gathering place, they also improve their communities and help heal the pain so many are dealing with during these extraordinary times. If venues do not get assistance, many will have to close their doors permanently. That must not happen. Please sign our petition and show your support. Thank you.

Congress let federal unemployment benefits and other coronavirus relief aid expire, and they have no idea what they’re going to do to help millions of struggling families! How are we supposed to feed our kids or pay the bills?? Republicans blocked the extension–so they need to hear from millions of us. Will you sign my petition urging Congress to extend unemployment benefits for as long as the pandemic lasts? #ParentsAct