Open Letter To Congress: Save Gen C
Open Letter To Congress: Save Gen C
[/text_output][image alt=”” href=”” title=”” info_content=”” lightbox_caption=”” id=”” class=”” style=”” src=”1827″][text_output]
The following open letter to Congress was released on August 3, 2020 by over 10,000 parents, educators, medical professionals, thought leaders and concerned citizens.
[/text_output][text_output]
We, the undersigned, call on Congress to pass a Rescue Plan for Gen C, the generation of children living through the COVID-19 crisis.
If Congress fails to act quickly, a generation of kids — particularly Black, Brown and low-income children — could suffer irreparable, lifelong harm. Right now:
- Millions of families are running out of money for food and rent. One sixth of kids don’t have enough to eat.
- Anxiety, grief, social isolation, and food insecurity are contributing to a health crisis — both physical and mental — that will have long-term consequences for kids.
- Tens of millions of children have been left behind by remote learning, because they lack devices, internet access, academic support, or an adult with the time and skills to help them learn. Because of longstanding systematic discrimination, Black and Latinx students are suffering the most, and may start the next school year almost a full year behind. The state and local budget crisis will make this worse, by forcing schools to slash teachers, counselors and other needed supports, with cuts falling hardest on the schools that can least afford them.
- Our childcare system is on the verge of collapse, with 50% of childcare slots likely to disappear permanently by fall. Meanwhile, parents lucky enough to have jobs are being asked to do full-time work AND full-time childcare, putting both parents and kids in an impossible bind.
- Kids’ lives and education have moved online. But the platforms they’re using aren’t designed to keep kids healthy or safe. One example: reports of online sexual exploitation have gone up by 4X since February.
For some, the pandemic has piled trauma on top of trauma. Because of racism in our economic and health care systems, Black and Latinx kids have been more likely to see parents lose jobs and relatives die. Against this backdrop, hundreds of thousands of young Americans have risen up to demand safety, dignity, and the protection of Black bodies. Yet even as our young people take to the streets, our government is allowing their families to run out of money and their schools to fail. Gen C has been abandoned.
As parents, teachers, caregivers and advocates, we cannot stand by and allow this to happen. We call on Congress to:
- Give families ongoing support so that every child has a stable home and enough to eat.
- Double down on education. Rather than forcing schools to make deep cuts, pour support into schools as the frontline to helping our kids navigate and survive this crisis, giving focus to making schools more equitable and ensuring children of color, low-income kids, and children with learning challenges don’t get left behind.
- Provide emergency support to childcare programs and centers to make sure all families with babies and young children have safe, affordable care to return to — and pay childcare providers for the valuable work they do.
- Make sure every child and family has access to healthcare — including free mental health support.
- Demand tech companies design their platforms to support, not hurt, children.
- Make sure these benefits are available to all families regardless of immigration status — and release the migrant families in detention who are threatened by COVID-19,
- Support efforts to shift funding from police to social services — because Black and Brown children will not be safe until their bodies are safe from police violence.
We urge Congress to embrace these priorities and act with urgency. Children are suffering NOW. To be clear — we don’t just want to go back to a broken status quo. Because the system was already failing too many children. But the good news is, the steps that will get us out of this crisis — like supporting family incomes, strengthening schools and investing in childcare–are also the stepping stones to a brighter future for all kids.
[/text_output][text_output]
This letter has been signed by over 10,000 parents, educators, medical professionals and concerned citizens, including:
*Organization listed for identification purposes only.
[/text_output]
Adam & Shira McKay
Ai-jen Poo
Director
National Domestic Workers Alliance
Ailen Arreaza, Bethany Robertson and Justin Ruben
Deputy Director and Co-Directors
ParentsTogether Action
Alec Baldwin
Alysia Reiner
Brian Kettenring
Co-Executive Director
Center for Popular Democracy
Debra Messing
Dorian Warren
President
Community Change
Eli Pariser
Co-Director
Civic Signals*
Elizabeth Galicia
Vice President, Advocacy
Common Sense
Emma Ruby-Sachs
Executive Director
SumOfUs
Ilyasah Shabazz
Ilyse Hogue
President
NARAL Pro-Choice America
Jaya Chatterjee
Assistant Legislative Director
Service Employees International Union (SEIU)
John Jackson
President and CEO
Schott Foundation for Public Education*
Leah Greenberg
Co-Executive Director
Indivisible
Lily Eskelsen García
President
National Education Association
Matt Glickman and Gabe Hakim, Promise Ventures
Co-Founders
Promise Ventures
Maya Soetoro
Peace Educator, Consultant
Obama Foundation
Moe Mitchell
National Director
Working Families Party
Natalie Foster
co-chair and co-founder
Economic Security Project
Nicole Boxer
Nina Perez and Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner
National Early Education and Care Campaign Director and Executive Director / CEO
MomsRising
Patricia Arquette
Rahna Epting
Executive Director
MoveOn
Sanjeev Sriram
Dr. America
Shaunna Thomas
Executive Director
UltraViolet
Sophia Bush
Tabitha St. Bernard-Jacobs
Director of Community Engagement
Women’s March
Tisha Campell
Yvette Nicole Brown
Deepak Bhargava
Distinguished Lecturer
CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies*
Jennifer Ching
Executive Director
North Star Fund
Judy Conti
Government Affairs Director
National Employment Law Project
Philip Fisher
Professor and Director
Center for Translational Neuroscience, University of Oregon
Ana Flores
CEO
#WeAllGrow Latina*
Fatima Goss Graves
President & CEO
National Women’s Law Center
Myra Jones-Taylor
Chief Policy Officer
ZERO TO THREE
Dan Leeds & Elizabeth Sullivan
Project Directors
Education Champions
Hassan Hassan
CEO
4.0 Schools
Stacy Kono
Executive Director
Hand in Hand: The Domestic Employers Network*
Alex Lawson
Executive Director
Social Security Works
Veronika Geronimo
Founder and Executive Director
Revolution English
Talia Milgrom-Elcott
Executive Director and Founder
100Kin10*
Angela Peoples
Director
Black Womxn For*
Angelica Salas
Executive Director
Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA)
LaShawn Warren
Executive Vice President of Government Affairs
The Leadership Conference*
Lauren Windsor
Executive Director
American Family Voices
Deidre Anderson
CEO
United Inner City Services*
Steph Amaya Mora
Digital Community Organizer
Project Pulso*
Dr. Kira Banks
Raising Equity
Blue Carreker
Statewide Campaigns Manager, Gender and Worker Justice
Citizen Action of New York*
Carol Burnett
Executive Director
Mississippi Low Income Child Care Initiative
Doyle Canning
Co-founder
Center for story-based strategy*
Amy Cohen
Organizing Director
Hand in Hand: the Domestic Employers Network
Julia Cohen
Co-Founder and Managing Director
Plastic Pollution Coalition*
Stosh Cotler
CEO
Bend the Arc: Jewish Action
Angelica Gonzalez Apple
Program Manager
Global Catholic Climate Movement
Sherylls Kahn
Director
School Readiness Consulting
Firuzeh Mahmoudi
Director
United for Iran
Susan McPherson
Founder and CEO
McPherson Strategies*
Jumesha Wade
Director of Education & Family Engagement
Start at Zero
Yolanda Williams and Susana Salgado
Community Organizing and Family Issues
POWER PAC*
Wendy Cole
Director
Maple Street School*
Angela DeWilde
Executive Director
Start at Zero*
Margaretha Finefrock
CLO
The Learning Project
Dahlia Goldenberg
The Women’s Organizing Network
Evie Hantzopoulos
Executive Director
Global Kids
Elle Hogan
Director of Community Engagement
Turn the Page KC*
Amie Rakosky Hood
Director
Breastfeeding USA
Meetali Jain
Legal Director
Avaaz*
Julie Kashen
Director, Women’s Economic Justice
The Century Foundation*
Liz Kaufman
Director
TRACE Collective
Susan Lob
NYC Gender Justice Task Force*
Marina Marcou-O’Malley
Alliance for Quality Education*
Elizabeth Pope
Program Officer
Davis Educational Foundation*
Tiffany Price
Founder
Hold Em Up 4 Care
Julie Schwietert Collazo
Co-founder and director
Immigrant Families Together*
Eva Stahl
Associate Director of Policy
Community Catalyst
Taren Stinebrickner-Kauffman
President
New Media Ventures*
Tom Swan
Executive Director
CCAG
C Udell
Executive Director
Utah Moms for Clean Air
Erika Washington
Executive Director
Make It Work Nevada*
Julia Wendt
Officer of Early Learning
Kansas City Public Schools*
Annie Weinberg
Founder
Amw strategies
Ashley Williamson
Community Engagement Manager
Women’s Employment Network*
Lina Acosta Sandaal
Owner/Founder
Stop Parenting Alone*
Lauren Blair, MD
Michelle Bufford
Shopping In Solidarity Cleveland*
Laralyn Bergstedt
Science Teacher
Kelly Cantwell
HR Coordinator
Jewish Community Center (Milwaukee)*
Andrea Clayton Jones
Kindergarten Teacher
Jodie Cold
Teacher
Daniela Cusack
Colorado State University*
Allison Danton
Firefighter
CFD
Laurel DiGianni
NYC DOE*
Danielle Dunn
Teacher
Eris Eady
Producer
Venia Media LLC
Crystal Fegenbush
Owner and Therapist
Solid Foundation Couple and Individual Therapy PLLC
Yolie Flores
Fellow
The Broad Academy*
Melanie Goldberg
Parent and teacher
NYC DOE*
Apollo Gonzales
Digital Grassroots Engagement Director
Christopher Hays
Professor
Fuller Theological Seminary
lison Hirsh
Vijay Jain, MD
Mindbodywellnessflorida.com
Rev. Kathleen Koprowski
Allison Krasnow
8th Grade Math Teacher
Berkeley Unified School District*
Mark Logan
Founder
idealect*
Sally Lyon
Our Gifted Online Community*
Mary Madden
Youth + Technology Researcher
Joshua Mandelbaum
826NYC*
Dr. Nancy Matus
Dr. Shannon May
Stacy McCarthy
Council Member
Coastside Families Taking Action*
Melissa McGrath
Teacher
Crossroads Academy Central Street*
Maria Elena Meraz
CEO
Parent Engagement Academy*
Heidi Ragsdale
STEM Educator Advocate
Lisa Raymond-Tolan
School-based Occupational Therapist
Rev. Tracey Robinson-Harris
First Parish in Framingham, MA*
Stephanie Roth
Consultant
Klein & Roth Consulting*
Carol Rothman
Kehilla Synagogue*
Eva Ruiz
Executive Director
Mi Casita*
Laura Ruiz
Teacher
Sarah Rydecki
MI Public School Teacher
Jennifer Sandau
Teacher
Miriam Sicherman
Teacher
NYC Department of Education*
Michael Skolnik & Paola Mendoza
Soze Agency
Jacob Stein
Laura Tanenbaum
Professor
City University of New York*
Maria Tchijov
VP of Advocacy & Membership
UltraViolet
Jeana Van Sickle
Business Owner
JVS Consulting, LLC
Reverend Doctor Elizabeth Strong
Janna Wagner
Annie Watson
Senior Associate
School Readiness Consulting
Paulette Welch
OTD, MAED, BSOT
Dr. Sarah Wise
Thelma Wong
School Readiness Consulting
Laura Dawn & Daron Murphy
Founders
ART NOT WAR
Kim Yaged
Courtney Zollinger
Paché Montessori*
[/text_output]