Stop the sale of the YMCA building at 250 Mamaroneck Avenue.

Dear Rochester Board of Education Commissioners, As you all have been notified, the following happened on August 26, 2012: Rochester Board of Education Commissioner Mary Adams, Mr. Hubert Wilkerson, and Commissioner Adams' husband, Mr. Ricardo Adams, charged into a community meeting in Rochester, NY where four Community Education Task Force (CETF) members were present. During the incident, which occurred at 6:46 PM on Sunday, August 26, 2012, Mr. Adams came in shouting, and verbally abused, threatened, and bullied the four Community Education Task Force members while Commissioner Adams stood by, watched, and said nothing. The following were Mr. Adams' exact words to us (verbatim): "If any of you mother f-ers come within 10 ft of my wife outside of a school board meeting, there's gonna be drama. I'm telling you, you're gonna have problems. Bunch of sorry, lying mother f-ers." I’m sure that you and the other Rochester Board of Education members will agree that, especially in light of the Rochester City School District's anti-bullying policy as well as ethics, morality, and civility in general, participation in and allowing this grossly inappropriate behavior is unbecoming and unacceptable for a School Board Commissioner. Commissioner Adams, Mr. Adams, and Mr. Wilkerson are aware that young children frequently attend these weekly Sunday meetings. It is fortunate that none were present on August 26th. Considering the circumstances outlined above and to prevent a harmful precedent from being set in regards to elected officials’ behavior in the community, I respectfully request that you and the other Board Commissioners compel Commissioner Adams to at least issue a written, public apology. A public apology is warranted as her involvement and participation in such reckless, irresponsible, and unprofessional action condoned the incident described above. Commissioner Adams has also caused an unnecessary hardship on a community group, the Community Education Task Force, which she helped establish, actively participated in and endorsed prior to her election. (Copied to New York State Commissioner of Education and New York State Board of Regents)

On April 28, Adjunct Professor Don Giljum was pressured by the University of Missouri St Louis to resign after his labor studies students and co-teacher were intentionally misrepresented as advocating violence by the infamous and discredited blogger Andrew Breitbart. The university has denounced Breitbart's video but refuses to grant Professor Giljum due process, much less defend him, even though his students have attested to the fact that he does not advocate violence. The university has claimed publicly that Professor Giljum resigned voluntarily. As in the similar case of Shirley Sherrod, Professor Giljum has stated that in fact the university demanded his resignation and he has publicly declared that he had no desire or intention to resign. Don Giljum is an adjunct (non-tenurable) professor. Adjuncts all over the country are as vulnerable as Professor Giljum to this kind of mistreatment by colleges and universities. The university's disturbing treatment of Professor Giljum is yet another example of the immorality inherent in the contingent academic labor system in higher education today. If the University of Missouri truly respects the right of ALL faculty and students to academic freedom, due process, quality education and a safe learning environment and stands against the dishonesty of Andrew Breitbart and his associates, it will apologize to, and reinstate, Professor Giljum immediately.

On May 25, 2020, George Floyd pleaded for 8 minutes and 46 seconds. "I can't breath..." he strained. He was arrested due to passing a counterfeit 20$ at a grocery store. Was he violent during his arrest? No. Did police need to intervene in the way that they did? No. If a social worker had aided in the intervention, to assist in identifying community needs for that individual (food banks, employment assistance, referrals to the community mental health center), could he have been saved? Yes. Police officers are, without a doubt, just not trained to handle many of the calls that are placed to them. Issues such as drug use, homelessness, domestic violence, child abuse, mental health needs cannot be addressed appropriately from those who do not have the education and knowledge to de-escalate crises. In 2019, over 1,000 individuals who shot to death by U.S. police. Thus far, in 2020, as of June 5th, 429 individuals have been shot to death by U.S. police. Per reports, conducted by Statista, overall deaths rise on a yearly basis. Multiple cities in the U.S. have proposed such changes in their police departments. In order to make this a nationwide application, "some" changes from "parts" of the nation will not fully benefit the people. The need for advocacy, for communication and re-education between social work and police professions, along with the help with citizens will be vital for creating such change.

Ralph Reed, Chairman of the Faith and Freedom Coalition is the leader of a hate group (which the FBI defines as a group whose "primary purpose is to promote animosity, hostility, and malice against persons belonging to a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, or ethnicity/national origin which differs from that of the members of the organization"). As such, he SHOULD NOT BE AFFORDED EQUAL TIME by major media outlets -- ABC News, CNN, MSNBC, FOX News, NBC News, CBS News, etc.

Outgoing Gov. Dan Malloy has decided that after 7 ½ years in office, he wants to put $10 million on the state taxpayers’ credit card to study the issue of tolls in Connecticut. Now is the time to stop this madness!

Access to information is a basic human right. The DC Jail, which holds around 1,400 people at all times, has a law library but does not have a fully operational library with books providing educational, vocational, and entertainment resources. Please join us in signing and circulating this petition to encourage Mayor Vincent C. Gray to establish an accessible, book cart-based library with a paid librarian at Washington, DC’s Central Detention Facility this budget season.

The science says that ANY development in the Ten Mile Creek watershed will pollute Little Seneca Reservoir. We urge the Montgomery County Council to not allow any development in the Ten Mile Creek watershed which will degrade the water quality of Little Seneca Reservoir. Please don’t vote to pollute our drinking water.

Symbols of hate and division have no place in our military. It's time to stand up for what's right and take down the Confederate flag!

El neoyorquino Donald Trump ha utilizado ataques racistas y antiinmigrantes para llegar al primer lugar en las encuestas para las elecciones primarias del Partido Republicano. Pero lo único que hemos escuchado de los republicanos poderosos elegidos en el gobierno estatal de NY hasta ahora es ... silencio. Dile al líder de mayoría del Senado, John Flagan, y el resto de su partido: ¡denuncie el discurso del odio de Trump!