ES2NEWS

Empire State Economic Security Campaign Newsletter

August, 1999 Volume 1, No. 1

WELCOME TO ES2!

[Empire State (ES) + Economic Security (ES) = ES2]

Don’t you agree that the time has come for a statewide campaign for greater economic fairness for all New Yorkers? That’s what folks at the Welfare Reform Network (WRN) in NYC had in mind when they began organizing the EMPIRE STATE ECONOMIC SECURITY CAMPAIGN. The campaign will focus on 7 issue areas, with both a long-term vision and more immediate goals for each state legislative session. Our goals, most broadly stated, include (in alphabetical order, sort of):

High Quality, Affordable Child Care

Access to Ongoing Education and Training

Affordable, Comprehensive Health Coverage

Jobs for All Who Need Them

A Minimum Wage That is A Living Wage

Adequate Public Assistance

Affordable, Accessible Transportation

The response to our early outreach effort has been enthusiastic and energetic. At this point, over 80 groups from around the state have endorsed ES2 – and this even before we provincial NYC folks have established the extensive links we need with upstate groups and individuals who will eventually become our ES2 partners. Can you help spread the word?

Next Outreach Steps

Outreach Part 1 – We need Partners! Our immediate goal is to make ES2 a statewide effort, with leadership coming from every region in the state. For that to become a reality, we need partners. A partner is someone who has endorsed the goals of ES2 and does some or all of the following:

+Puts ES2 information in mailings

+Does local outreach to bring new groups on board

+Participates in ES2 activities, local and statewide

+Engages in other organizing, mobilizing and advocacy

Are you interested? We’ll try to get in touch with you, but if you just can’t wait, we’d be delighted to hear from you. Call Cristina Di Meo at FPWA, (212) 777-4800, ext. 357.

Outreach Part 2 - ES2 reps coming soon to a neighborhood near you! Our friends at SENSES are conducting 5 forums upstate in late August and early September concerning Welfare-to-Work issues, and they have invited us to immediately follow their sessions with an ES2 meeting and discussion. It seemed like a great opportunity since many of the same folks would be involved. See next page for forum sites (dates TBA):

Utica

Capital District

Syracuse

Buffalo

Rochester

We’ll call soon with the details to see if you can help us organize the forum in your region.

Outreach Part 3 – The Main Events – The immediate focus of our summer and early fall organizing is to bring people to 2 events:

1. Wednesday, November 3, 1999 – ES2 Mobilization Meeting. We will have a meeting in Albany of people who have endorsed ES2’s agenda and who would like to play an active and organizing role in building the coalition. Call Cristina Di Meo if interested, (212) 777-4800, ext. 357.

2. Wednesday, January 19, 2000 (yipes!) – ES2 Kick-Off. As the new legislative season gets started, ES2 supporters will gather in Albany and then go to meetings with legislators and staff to introduce and advocate for the ES2 agenda.

THINGS ARE ALREADY HAPPENING!

While ES2 is just getting underway, there are already a number of initiatives making their way through the legislative process (or is it labyrinth?) that are very much in line with ES2’s objectives.

1. Minimum Wage – Assemblymember Cathy Nolan (Queens) and Senator Nick Spano (Westchester) has a bill that would increase the minimum wage to $7.65 and then would be indexed to the consumer price index. The bill number is A. 6922/S. 4465-A.

2. Education & Training - Assembly- member Roberto Ramirez (Bronx) is prime sponsor of a bill (A. 8475) that would allow public assistance recipients to have hours of participation in work-study or internships count towards their work obligations. It would also prohibit social services districts from interfering with recipients’ participa- tion in appropriate education and training activities. Contact: Maureen Lane at Welfare Rights Initiative, (212) 650-3368.

3. Jobs – A coalition of advocacy groups from around the state have crafted legislation to establish a wage-paying jobs program for welfare and workfare partici- pants. That legislation, the Empire State Jobs bill (A. 7632), has been introduced in the legislature by Assemblymember Ramirez and Senator Spano. Contact: BichHa Pham at Hunger Action Network of NYS, (212) 741-8192.

4. Health Care – The Assembly has created Family Health Plus to expand access to health coverage. The Health Care Campaign has expressed appreciation of their efforts and hopes to work with them to further improve health care access. Contact: Christy Margelli at Citizen Action, (518) 465-4600, ext. 115.

SO, YOU WANT TO BE IN PRINT? If you’d like to contribute to ES2 NEWS, for example, an item about activities your group is involved in that help advance the ES2 agenda, we’d be delighted to include your (brief) submission. Contact Don Friedman at Community Food Resource Center, (212) 344-0195.