Statewide Coalition Urges Recovery for All Budget

 The Recovery for All coalition of community, faith and labor organizations has called on Gov. Lamont to craft a budget that reduces income inequality and ensures that Connecticut’s economic recovery is shared by all.

“Right now, Connecticut residents are hurting,” reads the letter from the coalition to the Governor. “COVID-19’s pain has been deep and widespread, but it has not been equally felt. People of color have been disproportionately infected and hospitalized. They’ve also had higher rates of job loss. Working class residents across this state were already struggling to make ends meet before the pandemic. Now they battle to keep a roof over their heads, pay their bills and feed their children.”

Recovery for All called on Gov. Lamont to reduce income inequality by progressively redistributing tax burdens, making historic investments in education and workforce development, and building a strong economy where everyone in the state can thrive.

Connecticut Voices for Children, a researched-based advocacy organization, published a report last month that found the poorest families in our state – those making less than $53,000 a year – pay an effective tax rate that is more than triple that of the wealthiest families – those making over $680,000 a year.

“We encourage you to lead by putting the vulnerable first and providing every resident, including essential workers who have toiled on the frontlines to protect and serve our communities, with dignity and certainty that they can enjoy the basic qualities of life their wealthier neighbors take for granted – a living wage, affordable healthcare, affordable housing and high quality preK-12 and higher education,” said the Recovery for All coalition.

While infection rates have started to come down and revenues have improved, the slow economic recovery has mostly benefited the wealthy in the state. In the last week, reports have shown the depth of food insecurity for many as massive lines for food assistance built up in East Hartford, Norwich, and many other cities and towns across the state.

In a survey, Foodshare found that 70% of the people seeking assistance had never used a food pantry before COVID-19. The same percentage reported that they had to choose between buying food and paying other bills in the past month.

“On behalf of those we represent, we urge you to be bold and remember those who are suffering as you develop your proposed budget,” said the letter to Lamont. “We cannot assume the federal government will save the day… Even if federal government does eventually act, that relief will act as temporary band aids on budget holes. It will not undo the long-term structural challenges we face.”

The coalition also addressed the state’s improved finances, which eliminated the current fiscal year’s deficits but left a $2.5 billion hole over the next two years.

“While we welcome the news of improved state revenue projections, they could easily change direction as the virus continues its post-holiday surge. Deep deficits continue to exist in the outyears. Our state cannot afford to make the same mistakes of austerity we made in the aftermath of the 2009 recession.”

The letter was signed by 29 organizations, including Black Lives Matter 860, Connecticut Women’s Education and Legal Fund, Connecticut AFL-CIO, Unitarian Universalist Society: East, End Hunger Connecticut, SEIU Connecticut State Council, and others. Recovery For All formed last year to bring diverse constituencies together to ensure the Governor and legislature focused on reducing the widening income and wealth gaps, which have only been made worse by the pandemic.

Click here to see the letter sent by the Recovery for All coalition to Gov. Lamont.

African American History Month Arts and Writing Competition 2021

Arts and Writing Competition for Students Grades 8 to 12 

 Sponsored annually by Connecticut People's World Committee to remember the lives and dedication of Dalzenia Henry and Virginia Henry to the youth of New Haven and to make a better future.

Georgia On My Mind: The Third Reconstruction

Black women voters led the victory in Georgia that elected the first Black and Jewish U.S. Senators in the deep South since slavery. The historic organizing, which included Latinx, immigrant, Native American, Asian and union members, overcame every vicious white supremacist and corporate effort at voter suppression.

“More than 100,000 voters who did not participate in November are voting in this election, have already cast their ballots, and they are disproportionately voters of color and disproportionately young voters,” said Stacey Abrams who led the grass roots mobilization.

The election in Georgia represents a call for fundamental reconstruction to finally uproot the poisonous legacy of slavery. There is a new understanding of the horrors of systemic racism coming out of the pandemic and the police murders of Black people which gave rise to mass protests across the nation and world last summer.

“If the Reconstruction of the southern states, from slavery to free labor, and from aristocracy to industrial democracy, had been conceived as a major national program of America, whose accomplishment at any price was well worth the effort, we should be living in a different world.” said the great W.E.B. DuBois in his book “Black Reconstruction in America 1860-1880” (1935).

The first Reconstruction briefly flourished after Emancipation, and the second Reconstruction ushered in meaningful progress in the civil rights era (1960's). But both were met by ferocious reactionary measures that severely curtailed, and in many cases rolled back, racial and economic progress. This Third Reconstruction is a profoundly moral awakening of justice-loving people united in a fusion coalition powerful enough to reclaim the possibility of democracy—even in the face of corporate-financed extremism says Rev. William Barber of the Poor People's Campaign author of “The Third Reconstruction.”

“Our model of moral fusion comes out of Reconstruction, when black and white people after slavery got together to reconstruct the south and to rewrite constitutions and to implement policies that would address the post-effects of slavery...We also use Dr. King's model that racism, poverty, and militarism are the triple evils destroying the America society.”

Express in artwork, essay, poetry, rap or song:

• In this third period of Reconstruction what legislation should be enacted to uproot racism, given that Kamala Harris, the first African American female vice president, has the historic tie breaking vote in the Senate?

• What organizing did it take to get people out to vote in Georgia in spite of the massive voter suppression and intimidation tactics used by the right-wing targeting people of color?

Requirements + Digital art work, drawings, paintings, collage, prints, photographs, etc.

                        + Essay, poem, rap or song – Not longer than 2 pages

Deadline Entries must be received by 5 pm on Friday, February 19, 2021 MUST INCLUDE:

Entry title, Name, address, phone, e-mail, age, school, teacher's name (where applicable)

Submission E-mail all entries to: ct-pww@pobox.com

Prizes Gift cards ($100 first place, $50 second place, $25 third place) and books

Presentation Prizes and recognition for all entries will be presented Sunday, February 28, 20221 at 4 pm at the virtual 47th Annual African American History Month Celebration hosted by the Connecticut People's World Committee.

Information e-mail to: ct-pww@pobox.com Phone messages can be left at: 203-624-8664

MLK Day rallies call for a Peoples Recovery for those who need it most

Rallies for a People's Recovery will mark the official Martin Luther King birthday on Monday, January 18 in Fairfield at 11 am and in New Haven at 5:30 pm (register below).

 In Fairfield, at the I-05 Northbound Plaza at 11 am, a socially distanced rally will be held in solidarity with Connecticut service plaza workers. Most earn less than the Connecticut standard wage, often with no benefits or sick days, and many have suffered harassment as they organize for better working conditions and a union. Meanwhile, McDonald's, Subway, Dunkin Donuts and their Connecticut franchise owners pocket millions in profit and government support. 

The workers have been organizing with SEIU 32 BJ to ensure the super-rich pay their fair share, and Black, brown and white working people receive the support they deserve. Along with the Common Good Coalition, they are demanding that the Connecticut legislature support a People's Recovery in it's virtual session that has just begun. 

The Common Good coalition of community organizations held a press conference at the Capitol last week to demand full funding and expansion of essential services, including public education, childcare, mental health services, affordable health care, long-term care, housing, environmental protections and livable wages and benefits for all working people. 

 The coalition includes the SEIU State Council, SEIU 1199, Connecticut State Employees Association (CSEA), the Congress of CT Community Colleges (4Cs), Connecticut Employees Union Independent (CEUI), Connecticut State University American Association of University Professors (CSU-AAUP), UAW Region 9A, SEIU 32BJ, New Britain Racial Justice Coalition, CT Working Families, and other organizations and individuals. 

 In New Haven at 5:30 pm, New Haven Rising and the Unions at Yale are hosting their annual Martin Luther King Day of Solidarity virtually. You can RSVP here.

 “We started 2020 with a call to Change the Maps of segregated development and systemic racism. Against the odds we stood up and took steps towards this goal; in 2021 changing the maps requires a just recovery,” said Rev. Scott Marks in an invitation letter. 

 “We will gather to honor Dr. King's legacy and call on Yale, Yale-New Haven Hospital, and our elected leaders to recognize the urgency of this moment by making commitments that ensure all families in our city can recover from this crisis. But we must also recognize the status quo was already a crisis for many of our communities. In 2021 we must make bold moves toward true equality and freedom. Together we can emerge from this crisis a stronger and more just community,” added Marks. 

 He concluded, “Join us for this year's MLK Day event as we build on the victories of last year. Amidst a pandemic that has ravaged our community, we have seen many rays of light—we won political victories in the Presidential election, delivered amazing work on the ground in Georgia, and the board of alders declared racism a public health crisis. These efforts show us the path forward. 2020 has reaffirmed how much stronger we are when we stand together. Join us in our mission for racial and economic justice and a better city for all.”  

On Friday, January 15, the actual birthday of Martin Luther King, the New Haven Peace Council hosted a zoom event and public reading of King's speech “Beyond Vietnam” delivered at Riverside Church in New York on April 4, 1967, exactly one year before he was assassinated. In the speech he developed his theme of the triple evils of racism, poverty and war.