Since January of 2021, I’ve been volunteering with NYC Mayoral Campaign of Dianne Morales, or Team Dianne. After reading an article about the various candidates, I read more about Dianne’s life experience and approach to policy, and signed up to volunteer. As I was welcomed into the Beloved Community of her organizing team, I began to burn with questions like:
What if I my vote didn’t have to be an act of harm mitigation?
What if it could my vote could be an act of collective liberation?
That’s why I’m asking you to please support Dianne with a donation before the matching funds deadline of March 11th.
Why do I support Dianne? Sure, a big part of it is WHO she is: an Afro Latina; a single mother and former NYC public school teacher; a survivor who will stand-up for survivors; and someone whose family lived in NYCHA and worked hard and still needed food stamps. She’s also the former Executive Director of The Door, where she launched a street outreach program on the Christopher St. Pier for homeless LGBTQ+ youth.
How can I not show up for someone who has ALWAYS been showing up for queer and trans youth?
But it’s not just who she is; it’s also WHAT she stands for. Here are just a few of her policies that are important to me:
Defund the Police; Fund the People: Dianne is the only candidate who has proposed a plan to divest $3 billion from the NYPD. With resources freed from the NYPD budget, her administration will make deep investments to provide quality, affordable and accessible housing to address homelessness and housing insecurity, increase the number of mental health counselors in schools and remove police officers, provide job training & internships for youth, and expanding the violence interrupters programs to address increasing gun violence.
Guaranteed Housing for All: I believe that housing is a human right. She has a detailed plan to end homelessness; to restore dignity and democratic principles to NYCHA; and so much more.
Green Jobs, Green Food, Green Justice: Dianne has signed the Green New Deal Pledge, and she weaves climate justice into her approach to housing justice, labor justice, gender justice, and economic justice. She understand they are all connected. A Morales Administration will ensure that NYC is a leader in enacting the Green New Deal!
Gender and Sexual Equity: From her support of reproductive justice to decriminalizing sex work to expanding resources for LGBTQ+/TGNCNB, Dianne has plans, y’all.
I could go on, but she has a website with all the deets.
Here’s what’s important right now: Team Dianne needs to raise $250K to unlock city matching funds by March 11th. With city matching funds, if you donate $10, it is matched 8:1, so $10 = $90! The minimum donation to qualify for matching funds is $10.
Can you please, pretty please with sweet liberation on top, please give to Team Dianne? You’ll be in good company. Over 30% of her donors are unemployed, showing how even in a crises, people are still choosing the future they deserve and refuse to go back to the way things were.
And one last reminder: with ranked choice voting, you select your top 5 candidates. In the past you probs felt like me, like you had to vote for the “lesser of two evils,” because your favorite candidate was less likely to win. Now voters can honestly rank the top candidates of their choice, and know that if their vote doesn’t go towards their first choice, it will go towards their second choice instead.
So there’s no reason to not dream big and vote for our collective liberation. Can you please help us get there?
Corinna Schulenburg 