A Year in Review for the Movement for 

Economic, Climate, and Racial Justice

Powerful coalition building is how movements win big, and building powerful coalitions is what we do best. In 2023, our coalitions made strides to move New York toward a sustainable clean economy, increase worker protections and livable wages, and launch powerful initiatives that will build our movements. We’re incredibly proud of what we won this year, so we’ve highlighted five big wins by five powerful coalitions. We can’t wait to build and win more in 2024. 

ALIGN can't do it alone. Our donors were key to our 2023 successes. Now we need your support to sustain our movement and keep winning in 2024. Can you make a donation to fight for our vision for economic, climate, and racial justice?

This year our Raise Up NY coalition brought together 30+ labor unions, 160+ community groups and workers’ rights organizations, and businesses across the state to fight for a higher minimum wage. After a hard-fought budget season, Governor Hochul and NYS leadership approved an increase to the minimum wage—$17 downstate and $16 upstate by 2026, then annual increases for inflation. In the face of skyrocketing cost of living, these increases will help lessen the economic burden on New York’s working families. But these raises are far from enough, and the fight for livable wages continues.This coming year, Raise Up NY will work to ensure statewide minimum wage parity and repeal harmful loopholes that would deny workers a raise in years of increased unemployment.

Our New Yorkers for a Fair Economy coalition won the Warehouse Worker Protection Act (WWPA), which officially took effect this year to bring transparency to exploitative productivity quotas in the warehouse industry. This is a big win for New York warehouse workers, who experience high rates of injuries—four times more than the average New York worker. But even with the most abusive quotas limited, workers can still experience injury in poorly designed workplaces, so the coalition is fighting for the Warehouse Worker Injury Reduction Act in 2024 as the essential next step in protecting thousands of New York warehouse workers.

Going Big and Winning

Big on Climate

The Climate Jobs and Justice Package is the biggest legislative package the NY Renews coalition has ever fought for. While we couldn't win it all this year, we secured several major victories. Through the Climate and Community Protection Fund, we won targeted financial support for New Yorkers struggling with utility bills, money for improving state infrastructure and public transit, game-changing labor standards, and clean energy job training and support for impacted workers. ALIGN worked hard to bring labor to the table through sign on letters and worker-climate town halls. The passage of the Build Public Renewables Act will become a national model for building publicly-owned renewable energy that is tied to strong labor standards. In addition, the NY HEAT Act, the Climate Superfund Act, and Just Energy Transition Act passed the Senate. We look forward to bringing these bills to the finish line this coming legislative session.

Launched a new budget campaign for Green, Healthy Schools

This month, we launched a new campaign for Green, Healthy Schools with the Climate Works for All coalition at City Hall Park. NYC 3K-12 students, teachers, parents, and school staff deserve safe and healthy workplaces, and Climate Works for All is calling on Mayor Adams to fund Green, Healthy Schools so all students can breathe clean air and attend school safely — regardless of zip code. On the heels of Mayor Adam’s drastic cuts to public schools, the coalition is calling for a sustainable alternative to his austerity budget: 

• To electrify and upgrade air quality and ventilation for 500 public school buildings by 2030, prioritizing schools in environmental justice communities,

• And to commit NYC’s Department of Education to become a zero emissions school district by 2040.

City Council Recognized 

Powerful Climate Coalition Building

The NYC City Council honored Transform Don’t Trash (TDT), the coalition that won Commercial Waste Zones in 2019, reimagining the waste industry to reduce pollution, prioritize union jobs, and make NYC a safer, healthier place to live. ALIGN and our TDT partners NYC Environmental Justice Alliance, Teamsters 813, Natural Resource Defense Council, and New York Lawyers for the Public Interest will continue to ensure that commercial waste zones are implemented justly in communities across NYC. NY Renews was also recognized for New York’s nation-leading Climate Act (also won in 2019), which set the standard for so much of our continued climate work, with clear benchmarks to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, ensure a just transition for fossil fuel workers, and center the needs of environmental justice communities.

Bonus Win! New Executive Director and Staff Members

ALIGN made big moves and celebrated big wins in 2023, and our dedicated staff is behind it all! We invested in building our team to meet the needs of our work with three new positions on our operations and climate teams, and we finished our search for a new executive director to take ALIGN into the future. Here’s an overview of what they bring to our movement:

Theodore Moore (he/him) is our new Executive Director, setting the organization’s strategic vision for worker power and climate justice, leading engagement with campaigns and movement partners, and supervising a team of nine staff members.

Jenille Scott (she/her) is our Climate Director, leading the green team and overseeing climate justice coalitions, renewable energy initiatives, and policy campaigns. 

Matrice M. Sherman (she/her) is our Operations Manager, supporting office administration and financial management to sustain New York’s community-labor movement for social and economic justice.

Faiza Azam (she/her) is our Climate & Labor Organizer, engaging labor unions in city and state climate campaigns to support an intersectional, inclusive climate justice movement. She co-coordinates the NYC-based Climate Works for All coalition and chairs the labor committee for the statewide NY Renews coalition.

From all of us at ALIGN, happy new year and thank you for supporting our work! An end of year gift would help us jumpstart 2024 and the exciting work ahead. Join our movement:

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