“Freedom is not given to us by anyone; we have to cultivate it ourselves. It is a daily practice.” ― Thich Nhat Hanh
This has been a very busy month of cultivation at Labor-Religion Coalition! Seeds that were planted last year among our coalition partners, faith leaders, and community members have begun to take root and emerge as calls to action. We invite you to join us via truth commissions, moral marches, and sign on letters to demand public higher education funding, fair pay for care work, healthcare for all, and an end to poverty and its interlocking injustices. No one is going to grant us our freedom - we need to win it! Thank you for being in step with us as we march, cry out justice and sing songs of freedom. The movement makes us strong! Forward together.
FUND NEW YORK PUBLIC HIGHER EDUCATION
Some of New York’s most prominent labor leaders have written to Governor Hochul, urging her to fully fund CUNY’s budget needs and support the New Deal for CUNY legislation. “This year, with a relatively modest commitment from the state,” they wrote, “we can reverse decades of racism and classism, and make CUNY the national paradigm of public, urban higher education that it once was.”
You can add your voice to this call by sending a letter to your New York State legislators, calling on them to fund a New Deal for CUNY. Click here to send a letter now!
Then on Sunday, March 6 at noon join a march across the Brooklyn Bridge to demand full funding for our SUNY and CUNY systems. RSVP at cunyrisingalliance.org/march6.
Faith for Fair Pay
1199SEIU and Caring Majority are organizing clergy and community allies to support the Fair Pay for Home Care Act (A6329A/S5374A). This Act would wipe out New York's worst-in-the-nation home care shortage within five years and guarantee fair pay and working conditions for home care workers. If you're a faith leader, please consider signing on to this letter and forwarding this to other clergy within your network!
Clergy and faith leaders throughout New York State will be speaking about Fair Pay for Home Care the weekend of February 25-27. Please view this toolkit which supports clergy and faith leaders speaking about Fair Pay for Home Care from the pulpit. The toolkit includes prayers and reflections written by home care workers, older adults, people with disabilities, and family caregivers, in addition to texts compiled by faith leaders in our movement.
We are shifting the narrative by shifting the narrators!
The Right To Health and the 3rd Reconstruction: A Truth Commission on Healthcare
At a time when an estimated 50% of insured New Yorkers lack access to basic healthcare we will gather together to hear from community members and leaders in the Hudson Valley as they share their personal experiences and call on state leaders to pass legislation providing comprehensive, universal healthcare. Covid-19 has laid bare the systemic disparities in healthcare across New York and around the nation and world, but it doesn’t have to be this way. No one should have to choose between rent, food, and healthcare in the richest nation on earth. All New Yorkers, regardless of immigration status, have a human right to healthcare.
Register here to join us on Tuesday February 22nd for The Right To Health and the 3rd Reconstruction
Join us for our Digital Week Of Action!
These amplifications will ultimately lead to generating more engagement and views of speakers' testimonies during and after the event. We aim to shift the narrative by shifting the narrator(s)!
Here is the Digital Toolkit for all interested in creating a social media storm!
The New York State Moral Monday Faith Convening
Join the NYS Poor People’s Campaign and the Labor-Religion Coalition of NYS for a statewide virtual convening of faith leaders to build community, learn and reflect on the role of religion in the movement and organize to take action together.
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