"The American Dream and Promise Act" would help immigrants, strengthens our economy, and keeps families together. For too long Dreamers have lived in a state of limbo with their legal status in jeopardy. It is time to protect DACA from future challenges against the administration and provide a path to citizenship.

(Español Abajo) For many years, we have been taught that Christopher Columbus discovered the American continent, and with his great finding, civilization followed. However, this portrayal of history is all wrong. When Europeans invaded the continent, they murdered many of the original residents on this land, destroyed entire cities, and infected entire communities with diseases. Their colonization led to the arrival of enslaved people, who were taken from their native lands on the African continent, and forced to work in this country. As a community, we commemorate the memory of all the indigenous people that were devastated by colonization especially the Quinnipiac, Wapinger, and Paugussett peoples whose land we reside on now. We also celebrate their traditions and our heritage as descendants of the original inhabitants on the continent. Additionally, we want to acknowledge that many immigrants who live in New Haven, are in reality travelers who are walking through stolen land similar to those histories of their own nations and ancestry. Having acknowledged this, we reject any sort of celebration of the individual who brought so much death and destruction to our land: Christopher Columbus. We reject any institution that glorifies this violent history and American colonization. We demand that the school's name be changed in honor of indigenous people and the New Haven immigrant community. Located in the Fair Haven neighborhood, the Christopher Columbus Family Academy is a monument to the genocide of indigenous people that began in 1492 and continues to this day. The neighborhood of Fair Haven is home to a significant number of immigrants. Several of them are directly from indigenous communities whose first languages are not Spanish and are currently in resistance in Latin America. Our community knows that not only is the name inappropriate, but completely offensive to who we are as descendants of genocide survivors- and that we continue to experience violence in the form of racism. For all the aforementioned reasons, we demand that the school be renamed IMMEDIATELY. Both New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker and the Board of Education need to do everything in their power to change the name. Durante muchos años, nos han enseñado que Cristóbal Colón descubrió el continente “americano” -Abya Yala- y que con su gran hallazgo llego la civilización. Sin embargo, esta representación de la historia está completamente equivocada. Cuando los europeos invadieron el continente masacraron a los residentes originales, destruyeron ciudades enteras e infectaron a comunidades enteras con sus enfermedades. Su colonización condujo eventualmente a la llegada de personas esclavizadas, que fueron secuestradas de sus tierras nativas en el continente africano y obligadas a trabajar en estas tierras. Como comunidad, conmemoramos la memoria de todos los pueblos aborígenes que fueron devastados por la colonización, específicamente los pueblos Quinnipiac, Wapinger y Paugussett en cuyas tierras vivimos ahora. También celebramos sus tradiciones y nuestra herencia como descendientes de los habitantes originales del continente. Además, queremos reconocer que muchos migrantes que vivimos en New Haven, en realidad, somos viajeros que caminamos por nuestras tierras, tierras llenas de historia de robo y saqueo y lo cual no cesa hasta el día de hoy. Habiendo reconocido esto, rechazamos cualquier tipo de celebración del asesino que trajo tanta muerte y destrucción a nuestra tierra: Cristóbal Colón. Rechazamos cualquier institución que glorifique esta historia violenta y de colonización. Exigimos que se cambie el nombre de la escuela en honor de los pueblos indígenas del norte y del sur del continente. Ubicada en el vecindario de Fair Haven, la Academia de la Familia Cristóbal Colón es un monumento al genocidio de los pueblos indígenas que comenzó en 1492 y continúa hasta nuestros días. El vecindario de Fair Haven es el hogar de miles de migrantes. Muchos de ellos son comunidades aborígenes, cuyo primer idioma no es el español. Provienen de territorios que están en resistencia en el sur de la frontera. Nuestra comunidad sabe que el nombre no solo es inapropiado, sino completamente ofensivo para quienes somos descendientes de los sobrevivientes del genocidio, pero que seguimos experimentando todavía la violencia del saqueo y el racismo. Por todas estas razones, exigimos que la escuela cambie su nombre INMEDIATAMENTE. Tanto el alcalde de New Haven, Justin Elicker, como la Junta de Educación tienen el poder de hacerlo.

The livelihoods of center teachers, directors and owners are under threat, and as families return to work as the state moves through the four phases, childcare is ESSENTIAL to ensuring the workforce is able to restart. Issues that may appear to be temporary, e.g. frontline teachers and directors becoming ill and sites shutting down, threaten to cause permanent damage to the early learning system. As capacity decreases, children are withdrawn from care and parents are unable to go to work. The cost of purchasing PPE and reducing group sizes has further impacted how many children can access care. Without immediate state intervention, the COVID-19 pandemic will push the child care industry to economic collapse. Families with young children NEED our support! Lack of access to child care impacts first responders and frontline workers - they NEED our services more than ever! Child care NEEDS an IMMEDIATE influx of grant monies and Washington State has funds that can be released to help alleviate the fiscal fallout from this public health emergency. Governor Inslee MUST authorize the Office of Financial Management (OFM) to release the remaining $29 million in CARES fund monies as direct grants to ALL providers! DO NOT use this vital resource to fund WCCC increases. The increases MUST come from the approved budget as outlined by the legislature during the last session.

This issue strikes home and is of utmost importance because I am an American citizen of Latino descent that cares about the welfare of my people and humanity in all regards; regardless of color, religion, or background. My brother in-law Edgar Antonio Guerra has been detained for over a year; enough is enough. I implore to ask yourself, What would Jesus do?...

Countless families have been torn apart by ICE. Our country cannot continue to separate families, warehouse people, and perpetuate nationalist violence. Immigration detention is always immoral, unnecessary, and unjust. But with COVID-19, it is also deadly. After multiple deaths of inmates, nurses, and corrections officers since the pandemic started, New Jersey's jails and detention centers are obviously at extreme risk of spreading COVID-19 and infecting those inside. Social distancing is not substantially possible there. Reports indicate that supplies like soap and quality food are sometimes inaccessible. These are incredibly dangerous places. Justice means removing the most violent and dangerous law enforcement operations from our communities, and we need to start right here in Essex County. Tell Essex County Board of Freeholders to vote YES on a resolution that releases every person detained by ICE in ECCF.

If he is not immediately removed from office (and subsequently arrested for his multiple crimes against humanity), this country, with all the immense challenges it is facing, will not survive until November. He has made it abundantly clear he will not cede control of the office of president, regardless of the outcome. He has sanctioned the murder and open violence against the majority of the electorate by his sharing the despicable vitriol of a supporter stating "the only good Democrat is a DEAD Democrat". He has openly called for the unlawful and illegal suppression of our constitutional rights to redress our grievances and lawful assembly- as he did in his phone address to our Nation's Governors on June 1st, 2020.

This is to save what is left of the United States. We as Americans have to do our part in making sure we save our country.

This action is important for so many reasons, such as Mr. Trump and his administration’s: 1) racist and violent rhetoric; 2) dangerous refusal to sufficiently handle the current COVID-19 pandemic and its numerous associated issues; 3) shameful detention of immigrants and their families; 4) purposeful raiding of taxpayer funds to benefit the richest segment of US citizens; 5) flagrant unethical and unlawful behaviors; and 6) other issues too numerous to mention. - - - We must make our disapproval unequivocal. Please lend your voice to this political action. - - - “There is a power that can be created out of pent-up indignation, courage, and the inspiration of a common cause, and that if enough people put their minds and bodies into that cause, they can win. It is a phenomenon recorded again and against in the history of popular movements against injustice all over the world.” ― Howard Zinn, You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train: A Personal History of Our Times

Millions of people are either being denied any Federal CARES Act relief or having the federally issued emergency COVID-19 relief payments issued to help them and their families seized, taken, and used for other intents and purposes --- to pay non-emergency debts. This amounts to institutional and state THEFT of federal emergency relief payments made to help the people of our country during a time of global emergency and national crisis - for PROFIT and GREED. As one example, millions of divorced parents, their families and their children are having the federal emergency relief payments issued to them unlawfully treated as income and seized by the states. Their payments are being seized to pay back "child support" - even if the parents are making regular payments. The states are seizing and taking their emergency relief payments, treating the money and income - and using it to line state coffers and to enrich the states. In effect, this is allowing states to engage in criminal profiteering from the global pandemic. This is the nightmare scenario now unfolding across this country for millions of parents and their families. Parents are losing their jobs and sources of income as a result of business and government shutdowns. Millions of these parents are finding themselves unable to continue paying “child support” (in addition to being denied equal access to their children). Under normal circumstances, these parents would be able to file a motion for modification with the court and state. But our courts have shut down indefinitely because of the crisis. So divorced parents have no way to modify their support orders debts, and interest penalties mount for them each week. As they fall behind, with no access to the courts, their driver's and professional licenses can be suspended and they can be jailed (at state taxpayer expense), making it impossible for them to find new employment. When potential employers do background checks, they don’t care why someone was jailed – all they see is that the person was jailed, so why would they hire you? The state is profiteering because the federal government pays the state matching dollars for every dollar of “child support debt” the state manufactures and reports it as collecting to the federal government (See SSA Title IV-D.) You can be behind or defaulted in student loan payments to the federal government and get a CARES Act emergency relief check. You can be defaulted and behind in your IRS taxes, and get a CARES Act emergency relief check. You can be a convicted felon in jail, and receive a CARES Act emergency relief check. You can be DEAD or a foreign national, and receive a CARES Act emergency relief check. But if you are one of millions of parents who owe even a dollar of back “child support,” you and your family with receive NO CARES Act relief. This included parents who are often paying expenses for TWO households, years after their divorces were final, even if you are paying support in accordance with court orders! Divorced parents and their families and children are not second-class citizens to be unconstitutionally denied Equal Protection of our Laws. Parents married to immigrants and their families and children are also not second-class citizens to be unconstitutionally denied Equal Protection of our Laws. Millions of small business owners have received NO relief. This injustice must be corrected!

As COVID-19 forces NYC's immigrant communities to grapple with death and economic devastation, they may now also face widespread disenfranchisement at the exact moment their voices need to be amplified. In advance of primary elections, the NYC Board of Elections created an online application for absentee ballots on May 5, but failed to provide it in any language other than English. As a result, hundreds of thousands of immigrant voters, afraid to visit polls and unable to vote by mail, could be shut out of primary elections. According to the Mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs, more than half of the 1.6 million immigrants living in New York City are citizens, and 853,000 people residing in the city speak languages other than English. NYC Board of Election may also be violating Section 203 of the federal Voting Rights Act, which requires the Board to translate all materials into certain minority languages. See: https://www.justice.gov/crt/language-minority-citizens Tell the Board of Elections and our elected leaders to PROTECT immigrants' voting rights!

Health care workers are getting paid $5000 a week prn,cna lpns. RNs are getting $10000 a week. in new Orleans. An $10000-$20000 a week in new York. Unknown for every where else. But truckers are risking their lifes and health to keep the economy going. They are losing pay freight dropped extremely. Some cant go home due to the virus. Something have to give. Or the next pandemic is when truckers go on strike.

The American economy has taking a huge hit with unemployment skyrocketing over March and April 2020 due to the Coronavirus pandemic and the numbers will continue to rise. We are witnessing a domino effect of massive job loss. Businesses close, then the taxpayers have no income to report to the IRS and no taxes to be paid. Of course no income means a steep decline in the agriculture industry, food processing, banking, and mortgage industries just to name a few. Our tax dollars are what makes this economy rise or fall. It is the government's spending of this money which determines what programs are funded or not, and what is considered valuable. Well, now it is time for our government to show its appreciation to loyal American taxpayers by helping us through one of the most financial difficulties in current times. Way too often, large companies such as banks receive MILLIONS OF TAXPAYER MONEY so they will not collapse even though CEO's receive million dollar bonuses and the company makes millions in profits. The government is EAGER to provide them with tax breaks and trillion dollar relief funds at American taxpayer expense. Millions of American taxpayers are working making under $30,000 a year, many more are working 2 jobs, such as teachers, just to somewhat survive. The cost of rent, utilities, food, gas, etc., continues to grow except incomes. A basic income of $2000 a month for American taxpayers age 18 and older and $500 a month for children would give a great start in boosting the economy. Once this financial difficulty has lifted, the economy won't take as long to recover.