As we reopen our schools, we must also support the safety and economic stability of our local communities by ensuring that frontline workers are valued with living wages, family health care benefits, and access to quality, affordable child care and education. We must take this opportunity not just to recover from the COVID-19 crisis but to reset the course of investment in education. We must also begin to tear-down the systemic racism that denies all children a quality education and make fundamental changes to ensure all students and employees can learn and work in safe, clean, and supportive schools – now and into the future. To do so, plans to reopen our schools must be guided by these principles: **Distance Learning Until It is Safe to Reopen Health experts recommend 14 days of no new cases before resuming school in person. All the school districts that do not have low community spread of COVID and adequate resources for a full reopening should be able to continue virtual learning. We call upon local counties and the state government to support virtual learning with community resources and technology support. **Maintain Local Control Local school boards have the constitutional power to make educational decisions for their communities and should be free to do so without threats or punishments from state and federal authorities. School boards are uniquely suited to make the best decisions for their communities, as they are elected leaders who work in conjunction with local organizations to best serve their community. Local school boards should work with a panel of local health experts during the reopening process to make reopening decisions without interference from the State government. **Cover ALL employees wages and benefits as budgeted All workers are essential. As soon as it is safe, School Districts will resume in person learning. In order to maintain continuity and availability of an experienced workforce, we are calling for the School Districts to continue to cover ALL employees wages and benefits as budgeted. The State should call on the Federal Government to allocate additional resources for School Districts struggling during this financial crisis. **Focus on our communities The pandemic has laid bare how much working families depend on schools for food, child care, wellness and other basic needs. Community organizations that support families by becoming “safe havens” for children during working hours should be fully supported by the school district. As communities recover, schools must more fully engage parents and front line workers to identify neighborhood needs and appropriately target the expansion of meal programs, after school activities, health care access (including COVID-19 testing) and other safety-net services. **Ensure full support and resources for our most vulnerable students The shutdown of our schools has disproportionately impacted students of color, immigrants and students with special needs, as well as the essential classified school workers who provide them with critical services. As School Districts are considering reopening plans, learning-loss and achievement gaps must be addressed immediately through expanded instructional assistance, full access to technology for all, counseling and other services that support vulnerable students. School boards need the flexibility to work with individual families and staff to best meet the needs of students, including home visits or other workable solutions. School boards must provide language and translation services for non-English-speaking parents **Prioritize safety and cleanliness for all In the past, the regular sanitizing of classrooms and campuses has long been regarded as a “wish-list” item for schools rather than a priority. As a result, maintenance budgets have suffered the greatest budget cuts, staffing levels have been drastically reduced and school districts have struggled to maintain basic cleanliness standards. We are calling for a SAFE reopening of schools, which will require proper protective equipment for all, training, testing and appropriate staffing of maintenance workers to protect students in every environment where they learn – from school buses to classrooms to playgrounds and cafeterias. CDC Guidelines should be fully adhered along with advice from local health experts. **Training and Technology Support School Districts must invest in providing training on new safety protocols as well as training on new technology. The schools should also provide technology support for the staff who are expected to perform duties virtually during this time. Staff and families also need additional training on best practices to reduce the spread of COVID and other germs. **Recognize and respect the role of essential school workers As most of the world has sheltered at home, custodians, food service workers and other essential school staff have risked exposure to COVID-19 to maintain the safety and well-being of our communities. But their recognition as heroes of the pandemic has also highlighted the low-wage, part-time nature of this predominantly Black and Brown workforce. As we rebuild our schools, we must also support the economic stability of our local communities by ensuring that the contributions of frontline workers are valued with living wages, family health care benefits, and access to quality, affordable child care. **Bold investment in our schools and communities Our response to this unprecedented pandemic cannot be budget cuts and business as usual. We must challenge elected leaders to create a more progressive fiscal system. We must create new revenue streams where the wealthy pay their fair share and our budget is not balanced on the backs of school custodians, cafeteria workers, special education assistants and other essential employees. We must put equity for all of our students and staff at the center of our rebuilding efforts.

Enough is enough. From the exposure of the racial discrimination lawsuit in our countywide police department to black and brown people being used as BOTH punching bags and target practice by those that are sworn to protect us. PGCHANGEMAKERS and its' allies say NO MORE to police brutality in Prince George's County! WARNING - These videos are triggering. Viewer discretion is advised. https://www.instagram.com/p/CCwcmizBy8M/ https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=2707963206105717 https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=pg+police+beat+downs&docid=607990734244021592&mid=50FC9D5356C4EF95491F50FC9D5356C4EF95491F&view=detail&FORM=VIRE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMk4L9iaE7o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrOnhcBpEFE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBsQfk-iEew https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o75_fjwtkfE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Xf6oLSPB10 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UqziDwXJSU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0doXRLkv8E https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zo6m8AP5odA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CF-UatpD44k https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08OR_Dr1l8s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOa1rFM9T-0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKzigsYQn58 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRi_smnYaCY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5L3FyfbZVaM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKFfybKIaGw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfEhPjyBPDg

In the information age, all Mississippians need fiber-to-the home broadband and our EPA is the only one who can do it for 100% of us. On July 18th 2020, FIFTEEN Mississippi electric co-ops submitted applications for over $73,000,000 in grant funds. However, our EPA was not one of them.

In the information age, all Mississippians need fiber-to-the home broadband and our EPA is the only one who can do it for 100% of us. On July 18th 2020, FIFTEEN Mississippi electric co-ops submitted applications for over $73,000,000 in grant funds. However, our EPA was not one of them.

Parents, students, teachers and school employees want to be back in brick and mortar schools as soon as it is safely possible. We are calling on you, our county commissioners to shut down all non-essential businesses immediately to slow the community spread of COVID. We are calling for a substantial increase in testing and contract tracing. We are calling for maximum transparency on COVID data, including which local child care centers are dealing with a COVID outbreak. We are calling for a carefully measured reopening that does not begin until we have 14 days of declining cases in a row AND a positivity rate of 5% or less. We are calling for financial and community support for furloughed workers so they can continue to provide for their families during the necessary shut down. We are calling for a moratorium on evictions and rent relief for furloughed workers and affected businesses. We are calling for a county wide limit on all indoor gatherings to 10 people or less. We are calling for adequate PPE protection for our social services workers so that they can continue supporting families and investigating abuse allegations during the shut down. We are calling for adequate PPE for our front line healthcare workers so they can safely take care of our community.

While high tech companies and corporations are profiting upwards of millions to billions of dollars during the pandemic, CTCs are preparing for the upcoming academic year with furloughs, laying off faculty, and discontinuing tenure tracks. Our CTCs and their faculty, staff, and students deserve better, especially our students of color. While long term investments centering racial equity support our CTCs and students, austerity will only hurt them. Our CTCs have always been pillars of higher education in Washington state, but they are now even more important as our state faces the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic consequences. Currently, 1 in 7 Washington workers are unemployed. As more and more workers are being pushed into unemployment, we need both a strong workforce and support for our most vulnerable communities who are disproportionately affected by the pandemic. CTCs can be the key to recovery for both Washington’s economy and its communities. Investing in CTCs keeps CTC faculty and staff employed while providing the resources needed to train and retrain Washington’s students and workforce. We urge state Senators and Representatives to consider CTC budgets from an equity lens, especially as CTCs provide more accessible resources to Washington’s communities of color. 45% of Washington CTC students are also students of color, and COVID-19 has already had a disproportionate effect on people of color. Systemically racist forces such as redlining, racial housing segregation, and limited resources on reservations contribute to higher rates of infection in these communities. Budget cuts due to COVID-19 would only affect these communities even more negatively. Washington’s CTCs serve 60% of our students while only receiving 40% of the state funding for higher education. Our CTCs already receive less of a share of the state funding compared to private institutions. CTCs are not only an affordable source of education for communities of color as well as low income students, but they also provide the support they need through programs such as TRIO, diversity and multicultural programs, and academic and career counseling. We also know that when budgets are cut at CTCs, diversity programs are cut first. It’s already difficult to attend school, especially as a student of color, and these programs are vital resources for students to find a supportive community while in school. Budget cuts will lead to both the defunding of these resources vital to student success and an increase in tuition, making CTCs even more inaccessible at an especially critical time. Our students need investment now more than ever.

The entire live event industry has been shut down plunging everyone working in it into unemployment with no end in sight. People like me who have invested 38 years of my life to be at the top of my game working on Broadway. The extra $2400 monthly has allowed me to have a grain of hope that I can hold on long enough living in one of the most expensive areas in the country. If I lose it, I will need to sell my place and move away from NYC. Hundreds of thousands more are in the same position all over the country. We are ready to work but work is not ready for us.

Parents, in times such as these, we become the voice of reason for our children. We are their protectors; the individuals they rely on to prioritize their education, health, and well-being. With the rise of COVID-19 in Florida and the Pensacola area recently being placed into the top 10 epicenters for contracting the disease, our children with health issues, such as the immunocompromised and asthmatics, need us to be their voices more than ever before. The options the Santa Rosa County School system have put in place are not structured to create an environment to educate our children due to the coronavirus pandemic. Rather, they highlight education options which were already in place prior to the breakout of the virus. This has caused thousands of families in the district to choose between their children’s mental health, physical health, and education—a decision a parent should never be asked to make. Thus, this petition has been created to highlight the lack of reasonable options for Santa Rosa County Children and the their parents and to urge the district not to make decisions based off of a survey created in the middle of the summer with out-of-date statistics, but to rework the way the 2020-2021 year will be managed based on current concerns by the district’s families and teachers. The Santa Rosa County School district has given three options; Full-Time Brick and Mortar Schooling with COVID-19 restrictions (which does not include the prioritization of masks), online schooling though Santa Rosa Online (which does not connect students to their brick and mortar teachers, rather, provides different teachers through a more rigorous program that admittedly is not designed for students who need more assistance), and homeschooling. Other school districts have shown that there are, indeed, more options available besides the three that Santa Rosa School District has offered parents. Two that we would like to bring up to the district are below: 1) Distance Learning: Allowing children to learn from home exclusively with the teacher’s assistance from the brick and mortar school they would have originally attended. This will allow students with IEP’s and/or health issues to learn safely from home while getting the education they deserve, the comfort of a face they recognize, and an environment that will not risk their health. 2) Hybrid Learning: Allowing students through logistical planning to spend certain days at their brick and mortar school while splitting the other half of their week into distance learning. This will allow teachers to better control the environment of their classrooms with smaller class sizes, but also allow children and teachers to have face-to-face contact with their students. This would greatly reduce the spread but allow students to have a sense of normalcy—necessary for a child’s mental health. Parents, through this petition, are asking to be heard to discuss other options, such as those listed above. Together, we can create an environment where we do not have to choose between our children’s mental and physical health and education. We owe it to the children of Santa Rosa County.

This modification now requires in-person class attendance to remain in the United States and continue in academic programs. These modifications are illogical as universities are providing online instruction in response to the medical reality of airborne transmission of the COVID-19 virus. The Trump administration’s use of international students to force universities to provide in-person classes is cruel, reckless, and shortsighted. International students should not have to suffer the uncertainty of their educational future and residence within the U.S., due to a politically-motivated gambit centered upon economic goals that support President Trump’s re-election. International students enrich the learning experiences of fellow students with their intellect, the sharing of personal experiences, and the richness of varied viewpoints. They live and work in our communities helping local economies thrive, and they often return to their countries using the skills and knowledge they have gained to improve the lives of those around them. Through the relationships and professional networks they build, international students are a force for global diplomacy

In a moment of national reckoning amidst continuing state violence against Black, Brown, and Muslim communities at home and abroad, record job loss, and a re-surging coronavirus pandemic, Congress seems to think it’s time for business as usual. And they are about to pass a MASSIVE spending bill that would provide the Pentagon with a record breaking $740.5 BILLION. It’s clear that too many of our Senators simply don't get it. Luckily, our champions in Congress DO — will you add your name to join with them? Senators Sanders, Markey, and Warren, joined across the Capitol by progressive allies like Representatives Barbara Lee, Mark Pocan, and Pramila Jayapal in the House, are marking this moment with bold vision. Together, they are leading on a call for a 10% cut to the Pentagon budget — $74 BILLION — to create jobs, improve education, and make housing more affordable across the country. Sign your name now to support an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act calling for a 10 percent cut in the Pentagon budget!

For years the university has ignored the voices of students from their satellite campuses when they continuously ask for more funding and financial support. For years the university has ignored the voices of their out-of-state students - even those who would qualify for significant financial assistance if they were Michigan residents - and international students. For years Ann Arbor students have been uninformed of the hardships of the Flint and Dearborn students, thus unintentionally enabling the regents to continue silencing their voices and disregarding their requests. Today and together we stand - the bodies of previous and current students merge into one in hopes of a better tomorrow as we face sickness and an economic recession. Leaders and best, let’s set an example for other universities in this country by listening to those who represent our purpose as an institution of higher learning - the students. Let us rise from hardships together, helping one another. We are all affected by COVID-19 in various manners, and can utilize our empathy and understanding for a better future with upcoming generations, our now leaders and best. These are monumental times, where we are asking for a better world that we can actually build and fulfill. Let’s work together and cultivate genuine inclusivity, so that all students can confidently and proudly say “Go Blue!” when it’s their time to graduate.

Small businesses teeter on the edge of a cliff and millions of people are waiting to see if their unemployment benefits will end this month, while Jared Kushner’s multiple multi-million dollar family businesses found a way to cash in on the coronavirus pandemic through loans intended for companies that desperately needed those funds to survive. The Kushners are an integral part of the Trump administration and must not be allowed to abuse their power for personal gain, especially at the expense of others while we all deal with the economic hardships of the coronavirus pandemic. The Payroll Protection Program (PPP) was established through the CARES relief programs Congress created to help small businesses owners weather the global coronavirus pandemic. Yet, several large entities that are part of the Kushner family conglomerate of corporations cashed in on these Small Business Administration (SBA) funds. According to the SBA—which recently released loan data on PPP loans only after significant public pressure—the Kushner family’s corporate entities received millions of dollars under the program, including between $350,000 and $1,000,000 for Observer Holdings, formerly run by Jared Kushner himself and now owned by his brother-in-law(1), another $350,000 to $1,000,000 for Esplanade Livingston, which houses the Kushner family Westminster Hotel in New Jersey (2), and between $1,000,000 and $2,000,000 to Princeton Forrestal LLC which lists Kushner’s mom, brother, and sister as owners (3). While the Kushners and many other large businesses with access and ties to the White House raked in millions, Color of Change reports that 41% of Black business owners were denied any aid. (4) We know our country has discriminated against Black businesses for generations, denying loans, redlining shops, and discrimination. And we know that massive handouts to the wealthy and well-connected are what drives inequality across the board. The Kushner family must not perpetuate this inequality - return your funds now, and allow those who need it most—more diverse small businesses—to get relief. https://www.businessinsider.com/kushner-family-firms-received-millions-in-paycheck-protection-loans-2020-7 https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/06/us/ppp-small-business-loans.html https://www.thedailybeast.com/trumps-small-biz-rescue-bailed-out-kushners-family-obamas-aides-and-other-political-elite/body https://colorofchange.org/press_release/first-covid-19-survey-of-black-and-latino-small-business-owners-reveals-dire-economic-future/