NEWSLETTER OF THE CENTRAL NEW YORK CITIZENS IN ACTION, INC.
(ESTABLISHED IN 1997)
You can view newsletter on:
https://cnycitizenaction.wordpress.com
HEADLINES
Calling all Progressives!! March in the Utica July 4th Parade!
Income Inequality Summit – July 14
Local Residents To Attend
Justice Works Conference
Local Residents To Attend
Justice Works Conference On July 23 & 24
8 Solutions To Promote A Fair Economy
Calling all Progressives!! March in the Utica July 4th Parade!
The Central New York Citizens in Action, Inc., the Working Families Party, progressive Democrats, and our allies and coalition partners will be marching in the Utica July 4 parade this coming Monday. Please join us to spread the progressive message. We will be celebrating our victories such as raising the minimum wage, the successful Verizon strike, and paid family leave.
We will be passing out literature and candy!!! Please arrive by 9:30 a.m. and report to the PURPLE GROUP on Lower Barton Ave. behind the Our Lady of Lourdes Church (2 Barton Ave, Utica, NY 13502, off Genesee Street in South Utica). The parade will start at 11 a.m. sharp. The parade travels north on Genesee Street to the Memorial Parkway, turns right on to the Parkway and ends at Oneida St. (Recreation Center). Please RSVP.
We are proud that America stands for basic democratic values — economic and social equality, mass participation in politics, free speech and civil liberties, elimination of the second-class citizenship of women and minorities, a welcome mat for the world’s oppressed people. The reality of corporate power, right-wing xenophobia and social injustice makes progressives work even harder to achieve these principles. As Martin Luther King said in a speech during the Montgomery bus boycott in 1955, “The great glory of American democracy is the right to protest for right.”
You can make this event a success by: marching, providing a car or truck we can use, bringing items to decorate the vehicle, donating candy, bringing signs to promote economic and social justice, performing music (playing drums or kazoos or making a donation). You may pass out candy (just throw it down to the ground)
Thank you for your support!! Please contact John Furman at cnycitizenaction@gmail.com or calling 315-725-0974.
Income Inequality Summit – July 14
Thursday, July 14th -6 pm-8 pm
Unitarian Universalist Church of Utica
10 Higby Road, Utica, NY 13501 (off Genesee Street in South Utica)
(Light super will be provided.)
New York State has the greatest income inequality in the country
The wealthiest 1% of NYS residents receive 35% of all income and significant income gains over the last two decade. Over the same time the wages of most New Yorkers have remained virtually stagnant.
Almost half of our children in Utica live in Poverty (48%)
The economy is a mess for everyone except the super-rich. Those with power and money have designed a system to take the wealth from our communities and leave us all behind.
It DOES NOT have to be this way!
Join us to look at the root causes of runaway inequality and its effects on race, education, housing, criminal justice and all community services.
We are the solution to runaway inequality!
Please Join Us – for questions or RSVP
cnycitizenaction@gmail.com , 315-725-0974
cnycitizenaction.wordpress.com
This is a non-partisan event.
Co-Sponsored by (list in formation) Central New York Citizens in Action, Inc. Citizen Action of NY, Fiscal Policy Institute, Restore the American Promise, Statewide Senior Action Council
Local Residents To Attend
Justice Works Conference On July 23 & 24
On July 23 & 24, hundreds of New Yorkers, including residents of Central New York, who fight for justice will join together in Albany. Regardless of the issues you work on or how you work on them: if you’re an organizer, a volunteer, a door knocker, a blogger, a policy wonk, or all of these things – Justice Works is the conference for you. Nationally-renowned speakers, expert panels, and intensive skills and issue workshops will cover: Racial Justice • Community Organizing Social Media • Living Wage Jobs Immigration • Renewable Energy Educational Equity • Volunteer Recruitment. Our keynote speaker will be Dr. Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, Assistant Professor, African American Studies, Princeton University. She is the author of “From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation.” If you would like to join our Utica contingent, please contact the Central New York Citizens in Action at 315-725-0974 or cnycitizenaction@gmail.com. Scholarships and transportation are available.
8 Solutions To Promote A Fair Economy
If you are applying in a game where the rules turn out to be rigged, you need to change the game. Here are eight practical solutions the Central New York Citizens in Action and the Institute for Policy Studies have identified in order to win greater equality and fairness for all:
#1 Tax Wall Street – Boost Low-Income Households
Thirty-one percent of the Utica’s population and 48% of its children below age 18 live below the federal poverty level. A tax on Wall Street could support a federal “Baby Bond “Program that would grant every American born into a wealth-poor family a trust fund accessible at age 18. This would go a long way to help eliminate poverty in cities like Utica.
#2 Close Capital Gains Tax Loophole – Fund Universal Pre-K
The Utica and other area school districts have suffered huge cuts in education funding. Ending all preferential treatment for capital gains income could raise $600 billion over 10 years – enough to ensure universal pre-K for the next generation of Americans. Universal Pre-K would help to ensure educational opportunity for all.
#3 Tax Concentrated Wealth – Make College Debt-Free
Many local graduates of colleges have enormous amounts of student loan debt. Taxing the wealth of our richest 1% would raise some $260 billion annually – Enough to cover tuition cost for public college and eliminate all existing student debt over a 10-year period.
#4 Organize Black Workers – Narrow the racial wage gap
The rules that govern labor relations substantially limit efforts to empower black workers and other persons of color. A movement linking civil rights with the right to organize would narrow the racial wage gap.
#5 Surcharge on luxury goods – Fund transition to clean energy economy
Upstate New York is threatened by oil trains which contribute to global climate change. A carbon – hog tax designed to help underwrite a “just transition” superfund would benefit displaced workers and frontline communities damaged by extractive fossil fuel industries.
#6 Cap tax-deferred retirement accounts – Fund adequate long-term care
Many local nursing homes face funding shortfalls and face challenges in providing high quality care. Capping IRAs and other tax-deferred retirement accounts at $3 million would raise nearly $9 billion over 10 years, which could fund a federal grant program for state-level long-term care and pilot programs.
#7 Crack down on Tax Dodgers – Help budget-strapped localities
Tax havens prevent the federal government from providing needed assistance to localities. This will help communities’ like Utica to give them the funds to fix potholes, repair housing, and modernize infrastructure.
#8 Cap performance pay tax deductions – raise federal revenues
Merely denying corporation a tax deduction on executive pay over $1 million would raise federal revenue by billions of dollars a year. This would prevent cuts to necessary federal programs like rental assistance, affordable housing, food and nutrition, and crime prevention programs which help local residents.
The Central New York Citizens in Action, Inc. will be sponsoring in September a community-wide meeting to discuss what steps we can take on a local, state, and national level to address income inequality and poverty.
PLEASE SUPPORT THE WORK OF CENTRAL
NEW YORK CITIZENS IN ACTION!
Your support today is an important investment in the progressive advocacy, education, research, organizing, and consumer protection work that we do to lift up the engine of our economy -hardworking Central New Yorkers and the families.
Please send your check to:
Central New York Citizens in Action, Inc., P.O. Box 411, Utica, NY 13503-0411. Because we are an advocacy group, donations are not tax deductible.
Thank you for your support.
NEWSLETTER ARTICLES ARE NEEDED
Please submit your articles, news items, and calendar listings to cnycitizenaction@gmail.com.
CNY PROGRESSIVE ACTION is published by Central New York Citizens in Action, Inc., P.O. Box 411, Utica, NY 13503-0411 Our Office is located at 500 Plant Street in Utica, NY at Cornerstone Community Church./315-725-0974315-725-0974 cnycitizenaction@gmail.com https://cnycitizenaction.wordpress.com
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