The BREATHE ACT is crucial for our society to move forward and break the chains of our past, to accept accountability and start down the path to real change, real healing and a real reconstruction. WE MUST STOP, The Violence, the Over Policing, the School to Prison Pipeline and Over Mass Incarceration and all the unfair practices of our systematically racist system that has been failing its people and causing unbearable, unreasonable, unfair harm. The BREATHE ACT's own summary explains this perfectly! *(From - https://breatheact.org/learn-more/) “IMAGINE : Schools free of police and full of trained counselors and restorative-justice programs, where all our children are kept safe and their needs are met. IMAGINE : Easy access to trained, trauma-informed interventionists who can be called on in domestic-violence situations and who are equipped to facilitate long-term safety, healing, and prevention. IMAGINE : 911 operators dispatching unarmed mental-health experts instead of police in situations involving behavioral health crises, and callers being allowed to request responders that connect to the gender identity of the person in crisis. The BREATHE Act offers a radical reimagining of public safety, community care, and how we spend money as a society. We bring 4 simple ideas to the table: Divest federal resources from incarceration and policing. Invest in new, non-punitive, non-carceral approaches to community safety that lead states to shrink their criminal-legal systems and center the protection of Black lives—including Black mothers, Black trans people, and Black women. Allocate new money to build healthy, sustainable, and equitable communities. Hold political leaders to their promises and enhance the self-determination of all Black communities. Uprisings around the country changed what was possible. What felt impossible two months ago is being accomplished now; what seems impossible today is doable tomorrow, and we will be the ones to make it happen. We are our ancestors’ wildest dreams.” *From: ( https://breatheact.org/learn-more/) Please sign and share this petition and demand that Senate Democrats that this is NECESSARY NOW, ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!

WHY: The Job Center opened in September 2020 and SETA is recommending defunding it. We CANNOT close its' doors. If ever there was ever a need for a Sacramento Job Center, it is NOW, especially coming out of the pandemic when more than ever the black and brown community is looking for work! Now more than ever we need a Job Center serving Oak Park and surrounding neighborhoods. Proposed Talking Points: 1. Oak Park is a critical community where a Job Center is needed. It is in the Promise Zone, Opportunity Zone, and designated an Enterprise Zone by HUD. 2. COVID 19 has significantly impacted Oak Park and has left many of its residents jobless and homeless. Having a Job Center in this area will be key to assisting residents find employment in order to provide for their families. Job Centers are designed to provide opportunities and resources to those most impacted by social determinants and racial equity. 3. The Fruitridge Career Center is part of a collective of non-profit organizations that work to develop the Oak Park community by reducing social and health disparities with children, adults and seniors. 4. SETA compared the performance of the newly established Fruitridge Career Center after seven (7) months of operation, during the pandemic, with the performance of Job Centers that have been open for decades, while acknowledging that even those centers under-performed because of the pandemic. 5. Pivot Sacramento as part of GoBiz operates an employment program that is consistent with the Job Center that targets people reentering from jail or prison. Through that program, we enrolled approximately 760 participants over 18 months, most enrolled during the pandemic. 6. The Fruitridge Career Center has developed relationships with employers and other community stakeholders, including the Black Child Legacy Campaign, CPS, DHA, Alchemist, River Oaks Resource Center, Unite Us and many others. 7. The Fruitridge Career Center partners with the Aggie Square Committee and Community Engagement Department at UC Davis to create employment opportunities for the Oak Park community. The termination of the Fruitridge Career Center will terminate those relationships. 8. SETA claims that funds are allocated to provide activities and services that assist unemployed and underemployed individuals to gain the skills necessary to enter high demand careers in the region. Closing the Fruitridge Career Center in Oak Park which has a high number of unemployed and underemployed individuals, especially as we near the end of the pandemic, contradicts those claims. We need you to SHOW UP and GET LOUD! MAKE A PUBLIC COMMENT ON JUNE 3RD (10AM): ~Make a verbal public comment during a meeting. The public comment phone line will open 15-minutes prior to the start of the meeting. ~Refer to the agenda and listen to the live meeting to determine when is the best time to call to be placed in queue to make a public comment (ITEM III-B – 3 – ACTION). ~Dial (916) 263-3827 and follow the prompts to be placed in queue for a specific agenda item (ITEM III-B – 3 – ACTION) on or off-agenda matter. Each agenda item queue will remain open until the public comment period is closed for that specific item.

For the first time, there is legislation in Congress to ensure that no US tax dollars fund multiple human rights violations carried out by the Israeli government against Palestinians. We need you to take action today to ensure that your representative is on this bill. The Palestinian Children and Families Act (H.R. 2590), introduced by Congresswoman Betty McCollum (D-MN), states that the U.S. will not fund the Israeli government's imprisonment and torture of Palestinian children; theft and destruction of Palestinian homes and property; or any further annexation of Palestinian land. This legislation couldn't come at a more critical moment. The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed systemic injustices across the globe, intensifying the harms of state violence and discrimination - Israel is no exception. During the pandemic, the Israeli government has continued to imprison Palestinian children under a military court system, putting them in grave danger of contracting COVID and separating them from their families. Horrifyingly, at a time when we are all asked to stay at home, the Israeli government has actually increased the rate at which it is demolishing Palestinian homes. Now is the time: The U.S. must stop funding the Israeli government's human rights abuses.

Keep Cheyenne's students safe! Install a flashing, lighted, pedestrian crosswalk between East high school, Brimmer Park, and the City Bus stop. This stretch of roadway is extremely dangerous and students' lives are at risk in attempting to cross the road here. The location in question is just far enough from the Pershing Boulevard traffic light/cross walks where many motorists start to accelerate. Yesterday, I had to cross this section of road with 10 special education students from East high school, and I had a challenging time trying to get motorists to yield for us. As educators, we are teaching students to utilize city resources and how to navigate as young, independent adults. Both adult and student community members deserve safe and accessible access to and from this bus stop, East high school, and the city park. Tell Mayor Collins and Cheyenne City Council Members to officially support this proposal and commit to the prompt installation of a flashing light, pedestrian crosswalk as soon as possible. We have NO lives to spare and next year can be too late.

So many people don’t have access to sufficient internet which disproportionately effects poor people, people of color, people in rural areas. Students have been meeting at fast food restaurants to do homework and attend classes, in parking lots of libraries and town halls. Anyone who is without good internet access is at a major disadvantage for so many things like access to information, education, health care, government services, essential goods.

Police brutality against African Americans in the United States of America has gone beyond reproof. It is beyond time for there to be sensible legislation that affords African Americans the same rights and privileges that American citizenship offers other Americans. We have witnessed: Little to no repercussions for police officers’ blatant murder of African Americans; Perjury in court and/or to grand jury, where officers grandstand on their “fear” of African American citizens they are called upon and paid with taxpayer dollars to protect and serve; A lack of de-escalation techniques employed when interacting with African Americans; No repercussions for individuals who fraudulently call police on African Americans that lead to the harassment and, in most instances, murder of our beloved people. This is highly unacceptable and intolerable. We believe that, in every instance, life should be preserved, which is in accordance with our right to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” as dictated in the Declaration of Independence and our 14th Amendment right to “due process under the law.” In cases regarding African Americans, we are rarely afforded that constitutional right. We believe that the colors of our skin should not be weaponized against us and should not come with an automatic guilty verdict. The legal right to “equal protection of the laws” is also a right that is afforded to us under the 14th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. However, in cases regarding African Americans, we are rarely afforded that constitutional right.

First Class Mail continues to provide an affordable and secure method of communication for millions of Americans. The Delivering for America Plan diverts resources and equipment away from letter processing to prioritize package services. This betrays the mission of the Postal Service to be a vehicle for communication that binds the nation together chasing profits for the private companies that are proposed to handle mail in the expanded implementation of Surface Transfer Centers. Diverting mail outside the Postal network is already creating service delays and increasing the incidents of lost mail as the Postal Service no longer maintains custody of mail throughout the delivery process. Individuals, small businesses, and local governments rely on First Class Mail to exchange information and ideas, receive remittance payments, or issue legal notices. Allowing Postmaster General DeJoy to bull doze the implementation of these changes past the public will forever alter the network that has been built to provide the excellence that has become synonymous with First Class. Do not settle for adequate when the opportunity for excellence is still attainable. Demand more!

Child care facilities remain on the brink of closure! Please tell Colorado to give their child care facilities the funds Congress allocated for them. Please ask the US Department of Health and Human Services Office of Child Care to provide better oversight of these funds. Please ask the General Accountability Office to investigate misappropriation of these public funds.

There are a number of reasons why remote access to meetings should be preserved. First, it allows more people to attend meetings. This method has been necessary and is overdue - to remove it is discriminatory. There are those who cannot physically attend meetings for myriad reasons. Lack of transportation, caregiving, illness, age, etc. can all keep folks from in-person attendance. Second, following CDC guidelines in the meeting room means that attendance will be limited and, therefore, that fewer folks will be able to participate. To have meetings with only physical attendance and a limited number of attendees diminishes the public's ability to participate in decisions that involve them. Neptune had a hybrid meeting style in place. Third, NJ is still a highly at-risk state in terms of Covid infections. As of 9 April 20, cases were up 20% from a month ago. Monmouth County has the fourth-highest number of new cases. The Covid Tracker at the NY Times, updated on 10 April 21, states, "Monmouth County is at an extremely high risk of exposure to Covid-19." With these facts in mind, the reality is that there are those who will neither be able nor choose to participate because of health concerns. To deny the public remote access to meetings is exceedingly undemocratic and, at this time, medically unsafe.

Let's be frank. These days, everyone needs more places to play outside. The reality of the 2020-21 pandemic has shown us, as residents of Middletown, that our outdoor space could be better utilized. This rings particularly true for school-age kids who have outgrown the playground or don't play organized sports. Skateboarding is a great outlet for those kids. This will also have a positive and inclusive impact on our community. Skateparks are incredibly popular. They are used by skateboarders, rollerbladers, roller skaters, those in wheelchairs, scooter riders and stunt bikers. Visit any public skatepark and you will see an incredibly high use of public land per square foot. A skatepark will increase the use of our public, tax-funded park. It will also provide an outlet for the ever-growing sport of skateboarding and showcase Middletown as a place where the community comes together to support this great sport.

We have way too many people that have been given abusive sentences.

In 2017, the government of Michigan signed into law a number of exemptions regarding the disclosure of body camera recordings by public-records request. Unfortunately, the truth is that less than 0.1% of police body camera video files are ever reviewed. There is simply too much data for a human to automatically review. However, this data contains valuable insights that can be used to generate police performance metrics. The technology exists for these files to be scanned and analyzed to make reviews and reports an efficient and effective process. Wearing body cameras alone is not enough to instill trust in law enforcement transparency. The audio data needs to be analyzed through natural language processing that can identify the areas police departments need to improve to build community approval levels.