Dear Friend,

Yesterday New York State passed a budget with a historic investment in our communities!

- $2.1 Billion for Excluded Workers,

- $2.4 billion in rent and homeowner relief,

- $2.4 billion for child care,

- $1 billion for small business recovery,

- $29.5 billion in school aid owed to our schools for three decades!

We also stopped an attempt by the Real Estate lobby to use the state budget to gut New York City’s Green New Deal law and increased taxes on the ultra-rich!

This is nothing short of a historic victory! And none of it would have been possible without the tireless work of our organizers, coalitions, allies in the legislature, and especially our members!

Thank you to everyone who sacrificed time, energy, and effort to make this possible! In particular, we want to honor the Hunger Strikers, who went three weeks without food, at enormous risk to their health, to draw attention to the injustice facing excluded workers.

The budget is not perfect. It should not have taken a year of organizing and a multi-week hunger strike to win basic relief from a global pandemic. And there are eligibility requirements that will make it hard for some of the people who need these funds to most to get them. The budget also does not address the needs of the record 93,000 homeless New Yorkers who weathered a pandemic without adequate access to shelter.

There is still much work to do. We must ensure that the funds allotted reach the people who need them. We must continue to fight to end homelessness in New York. And we must continue to hold accountable Governor Cuomo and moderate democrats who failed to be champions for the people.

It's an honor to be in this fight with you!

Best,

Jonathan Westin

NYCC

P.S. If you would like to see more victories like these, please consider making a recurring contribution to our work. Click here to donate.