Animals matter! New Yorkers care about animals! Thousands of wonderful companion animals suffer in our NYC ACC animal shelters. They are frightened, confined in cages, becoming stressed, falling ill and are unjustly condemned to death. There is little concern for the shelter’s responsibility and for the animals’ right to a safe and loving home. We must demand accountability and change! We must challenge the status quo and demand reform of the failed and dysfunctional NYC ACC. Killing is not the solution! “What is an animal “shelter” that does not protect, care for its own, nor show them respect. What is a “shelter” that treats those that live there as if they had no rights at all. There are many names for a place like this, but a “shelter” it should never be called!” Karen Lyons Kalmenson Below are several typical descriptions, comments and narratives, among many thousands, of animals killed at NYC ACC: June 26, 2022 - Guinness was killed! “June 25, 2022: ‘Happy ray of sunshine’, Guinness #139794, just 2 years old with the 2ND BEST behavior score. Found tied up and abandoned in a park.” May 22, 2022 - Luna was killed “24 months old. She was highly social, seeking attention, wiggly, and excited to greet everyone at the shelter, which is a testament to her personality. Luna loved people she didn't even know.” July 2, 2022 - Rambo was killed “Jun 30 2022- ORDER TO KILL Rambo #146031’s owner was unable to find him a new family, so now he dies in @NYC ACC anytime…a smart 2yo puppy willing to learn. A target to die, HELP!” And Rambo was killed even though at least 2 offers of homes were received. Twitter reactions: * “Still a puppy. What is wrong with @GovKathyHochul @NYCMayor Why won't they stop this?? RIP sweet baby, you deserved better.” * “Can nothing be done? It's a total disgrace and shame on New York. What about their reputation - It's becoming known throughout the country! Uncaring killers!” * “This breaks my heart. 2 years old. RIP Rambo. You didn’t have a chance at that place.” New Yorkers are fed up with the lack of concern demonstrated by elected officials and their appointees. We care about animals and WE VOTE! Please join us as caring New Yorkers in urging Mayor Adams and the NYC Council to TAKE ACTION NOW!

With 2.9% of every company's earnings contributing to the SSA, I am urging the decision-makers to consider the welfare of such a diverse community of citizens who are so in need of a hope to hold on to. By making one small step for man, we can rest assured that addressing this issue head-on is the most important leap for mankind during this prevailing crisis. By increasing policies to aid the crisis itself, I believe that taking action will create a domino effect in which others will want to be apart of. It is not too late to make a difference, sign this petition to propel this initiative forward and enact change in our country today.

The Autistic community, like the LGBTQIA+ community, has been wrongfully pathologized and oppressed. In fact, the very same people who attempted to convert gay children into straight children began by attempting to convert Autistic children into neurotypical children. In 1961, Norwegian psychologist Dr. Ole Ivar Lovaas was hired by UCLA to investigate the perceived behavioral problems of Autistic children. Inspired by the work of Harvard psychologist Dr. Burrhus Frederic Skinner, Lovaas developed Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) to make Autistic children “indistinguishable from their peers.” More than a decade later, in 1972, Lovaas and his team of researchers used ABA to “treat” gay children in the government-funded Feminine Boy Project. Fortunately, the queer movement was able to mobilize and force the American Psychiatric Association (APA) and World Health Organization (WHO) to remove homosexuality from their lists of mental illnesses, which, in turn, shifted public discourse towards banning conversion therapies for LGBTQIA+ children. Unfortunately, the Neurodiversity Movement, in its infancy, has not been able to build up the same kind of popular support for demedicalizing the neurocognitive style of Autism, so conversion therapies for Autistic children still persist under the guise of “treatment.” Indeed, even the public school system employs ABA practitioners to “help” children in special education courses, which are just another manifestation of segregation (in this case discrimination against neurominorities). But if the queer and Autistic powerhouses unite under the same banner, we can show the Minnesota Legislature that, by neglecting to prohibit ABA and its derivatives—Early Intensive Behavioral Intervention (EIBI), Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS), “social skills training,” and so forth—it is actively legitimizing autistiphobia. Furthermore, because Autistics are more likely to identify as LGBTQIA+, when so-called allies of the queer community permit medical assistance coverage of ABA, they are, in effect, sentencing the very children they claim to support to suffer through conversion therapy in its original form. To this we say “No more.” Sign and share this petition to show the Minnesota Legislature that ABA has no place in the land of 10,000 lakes! ••• To learn more about the unjust pathologization of Autistics, the evidence against ABA interventions, and the international effort to ban them, please read the following sources: https://neuroqueer.com/autism-and-the-pathology-paradigm/ https://therapistndc.org/applied-behavior-analysis-aba/ https://www.researchgate.net/publication/322239353_Evidence_of_increased_PTSD_symptoms_in_autistics_exposed_to_applied_behavior_analysis https://autcollab.org/projects/ban-of-conversion-therapies/ https://our.actionstation.org.nz/petitions/inquiry-into-the-consequences-of-conversion-therapies-for-autistic-children

Over 6 million children in the US live with food insecurity. The expanded child tax credit, combined with the USDA program that provided free meals for all school children were a lifeline for hardworking families struggling to put food on the table. The double whammy of both these programs expiring, combined with rising grocery prices, puts America's children at further risk of hunger. No child should go to bed hungry. And we know that children can not learn if they are not fed. Universal free meals is the moral thing to do. It ensures our kids grow up healthy and well educated, which benefits us all.

This is important because we need to provide children with useful knowledge that will be of use to them in life. We need to teach the subjects that will be of use to them in life. And help them earn a decent wage.

Think back to when you were 18, 19, even 21, did you have need for a automatic rifle? Or even a handgun? So, why would we sell guns to 18 year olds? With no training, little background info, and zero questioning, we let a child buy weapons that kill. Are you comfortable with this? Please help raise this ridiculous legal age limit to something other than 18.

Please help by signing this petition. We want to ensure that our unhoused citizens maintain their right to employment and resources essential for their survival and path to recovery. This petition will be presented to the Wausau City Council. By agreeing on the basic human rights of our unhoused, we can begin to work together to help.

There’s something deeply troubling when attack after attack on our schools, places of worship, and community institutions simply go on without any government response other than thoughts, prayers, and soundbites on cable tv. While there are differences of opinion on the NRA and the exact current day interpretation of the Second Amendment, we should all be able to agree that it’s inappropriate for the largest gun lobbying organization in the world to host a celebratory convention in the very same state as this week’s mass elementary school shooting. Tell the NRA and Houston First Corporation to cancel the convention.

There’s something deeply troubling when attack after attack on our schools, places of worship, and community institutions simply go on without any government response other than thoughts, prayers, and soundbites on cable tv. A right-wing racist gunned down ten community members in a Buffalo, NY supermarket. The attack on a Taiwanese Presbyterian Church in Laguna Hills, CA was carried out with two legally purchased guns and bags containing incendiary devices and extra ammunition. And the horrifying attack on Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, TX killed at least nineteen students and two adults with weapons legally purchased by the teen shooter. The gun homicide rate in the United States is 25 times higher than that of other developed countries. Congress must act to pass meaningful legislation immediately. Our families are under attack, and shouldn’t have to live in constant fear of our safety for one more moment. We cannot let the NRA’s political agenda win out over what we all know is safest for our own families and communities.

There’s something deeply troubling when attack after attack on our schools, places of worship, and community institutions simply go on without any government response beyond thoughts, prayers, and soundbites on cable tv. A right-wing racist gunned down ten community members in a Buffalo, NY supermarket. The attack on a Taiwanese Presbyterian Church in Laguna Hills, CA was carried out with two legally purchased guns and bags containing incendiary devices and extra ammunition. And the horrifying attack on Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, TX killed at least nineteen students and two adults with weapons legally purchased by the teen shooter. The gun homicide rate in the United States is 25 times higher than that of other developed countries. Congress must act to pass meaningful legislation immediately. Our families are under attack, and shouldn’t have to live in constant fear of our safety for one more moment. The United States House passed a bill years ago that would require background checks and waiting periods for anyone wanting to buy a gun. These are basic protections we need to start keeping our kids safe, but Republicans in the Senate have blocked it. The bill is up for a vote again in the Senate soon - urge your Senators to pass it - and go even farther to make sure we don’t lose even more elementary school kids.

The City’s funding is crucial to the Health Gap’s continued work of meeting people where they are to improve our health outcomes. City Council’s support of Closing the Health Gap has helped our community in the mission to close the health gap. • The Health Gap has reached over 923,000 households through the WE MUST SAVE US CAMPAIGN, COVID- 19 Community Resources website and Town Halls to provide COVID-19 resources and vaccine education to the communities. • Since 2004 The Health Gap has reached over 1,094,307 people through its Do Right! Campaigns throughout 22 targeted Cincinnati neighborhoods, teaching people how to eat, move, and live right. • Over 141,280 have attended the annual Health Expo, where over 36,000 health screenings have been performed and countless valuable health information provided. • The Health Gap’s Do Right! Kids Initiative has 3,221 students participating in in-school and afterschool activities. • Do Right! Block by Block Initiatives in Mt. Auburn has impacted 1,000 participants annually. Tell your story, sign the petition and show Cincinnati City Council why their continued support of Closing the Health Gap is important in continuing the important work of eliminating ethnic and racial health disparities in Greater Cincinnati.

Under SB 964, the California Community Colleges, California State University, and University of California systems would be required to develop accelerated programs for social work degrees, such as allowing students to combine their last one or two years of undergraduate study with their graduate work to complete both programs more quickly. Senate Bill 964 by Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) would offer $37,000 in stipends to students pursuing a master’s degree in social work who go on to work in behavioral health at a public agency while creating a state fund to increase pay and provide bonuses for licensed professionals already working in the field. We must urgently restore and revitalize the behavioral health workforce. Our most vulnerable will receive the aid they need with a rejuvenated workforce treated equitably and representing all Californians.