Dear Neighbor,

Saying it’s been a tough year is an understatement, but we can still find reason to celebrate each other this holiday season.

Despite the challenges, so many of you stepped up to organize and volunteer like never before. In all my life living here, I’d never seen our community come together to look after each other like this. Thank you.

The lessons from the pandemic have been many. We give each other hope in the darkest of times and that kindness we’ve sowed here must reverberate in the halls of our State Capitol with people-powered policy and action. As this year comes to a close, let’s reflect on what we've achieved together while we look at better days ahead:

We joined together to honor the labor of our essential workers, dedicating their lives in service to protecting the health and welfare of our neighborhoods.

We organized to fight food insecurity, connecting families to fresh-produce and locally-made food.

We passed paid sick leave for all employees at the peak of the health crisis.

We rallied to tax the rich and support our excluded neighbors, advocating for social and economic justice within our city's most vulnerable professions. 

We never stopped working to advance our vision for a better, fairer New York.  

An inclusive and fair recovery will be a formidable challenge. We already see big corporations spending millions of dollars to stop billionaires from paying their fair share or to stop workers from organizing. We will need to mobilize and bring in even more neighbors to our fight.

For now, I want to wish you and your loved ones a safe, happy and healthy holiday season.

 

In solidarity,

Jessica Ramos