John --

Well, somehow it has been three and a half months of this pandemic.

As a community, we’ve lost thousands of family, friends, and neighbors to COVID-19, and every single one of our lives has been changed. And now, George Floyd and other victims of police violence have led to a moment of reckoning for our country regarding racial justice. It’s been a busy and tumultuous time for all of us.

My team and I have been busy -- trying as hard as we can to assist hundreds of residents with their unemployment insurance issues, getting over 35,000 masks donated in and around our district, putting together our resource guide, and holding numerous virtual events to provide resources and an opportunity for conversation about critical needs.

We have introduced bills in recent months about early jail releases, non-discrimination in health care, protecting our waterways from incidents like the Revere dock collapse, safe storage of guns, protecting worker safety and health and holding violating employers accountable, and much more. Since the start of the pandemic, we have advocated for various equity issues that have since been addressed by executive action and through the budget process, and we will keep up our advocacy.

I worked together with law enforcement and community partners to announce the Law Enforcement Transparency Collaborative (LET-C) two weeks ago. Michigan will now have an annual public report on police use of force incidents across the state! And I’m working with colleagues and stakeholders to develop legislation to address police oversight, accountability, use of force, and more. Did you see the op-ed I co-authored recently about the need to reimagine our response to crime, by involving more social workers?

Know that Team Chang is working hard. And we understand that, now more than ever, our residents deserve transformative solutions to our toughest challenges.

In solidarity,

P.S. During the pandemic, my baby turned into a toddler! She was 9 months when COVID-19 hit Michigan, and is now a year old and walking all over the place.