New North Carolina Project Weekly Bulletin

Postpartum Medicaid expansion, Title 42 and more from the desk of our digital director, Kristen Havlik.

TAKE ACTION NOW

We're canvassing in Greensboro, Kinston and Fayetteville this weekend! Join our weekly phone bank on Tuesdays at 5pm or our Tuesday text bank at 4pm or our Thursday text bank at 6pm! 

Progressive advocate Ashley Spivey joins us as our special guest to phone bank this Tuesday, April 12 at 5pm. You don't want to miss it!!

Don't want to knock doors, make phone calls or send texts? Fund someone who will, because this work that we are doing on the ground is so necessary. 

Follow the New North Carolina Project Foundation on Social Media!

Biden Administration Finally Ends Title 42 in May

During the Trump administration, the former President enacted Title 42 which restricted the number of immigrants seeking asylum during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The policy banned immigrants at the Mexico/US border due to rising health concerns. But the CDC director Rochelle Walensky stated last week that immigrants at the border have "ceased to be a serious danger to the public health" and that is why Title 42 will come to an end on May 23. The end of Title 42 comes as a rise of Ukrainian immigrants seek asylum at the US/Mexico border. 

Do You Have a Plan to Vote in May?

The May Primary will be here before we know it! Getting engaged in #EveryElectionEveryTime is important for us to have a democracy on every level. Make sure you and everyone you know has a voting plan! The following deadlines are important for the 3 ways you can vote- in-person early voting, in-person voting on Election Day or vote by mail!

1. 1. Registration Deadline to vote in-person on May 17 is April 22!
   2. In-Person Early Voting starts on April 28 and ends on May 14. You can also same day register or update your voter registration during early voting.
   3. The Absentee/Vote by Mail ballot request portal is open NOW! The NC State Board of Elections will start to send out absentee ballots on March 28. The last day to request an absentee ballot is on May 10, but we highly recommend requesting NOW and returning your ballot ASAP due to lengthy mail times. Vote by mail ballots have to be postmarked by May 17 in order to be counted.
   4. The Primary is on May 17 and polling places will be open from 6:30am to 7:30pm.

Who can vote in the NC Primaries?

1. NC citizens who will be 18 years old by the November 2022 General Election can vote in this election- must be pre-registered to vote. Learn more about that HERE.
2. Unaffiliated/independent voters can still vote in the primary- you will need to choose a ballot when voting- either Democrat or Republican.

A photo ID is still not required to vote in NC

Worker Power in the US

The COVID-19 pandemic showed us so far that essential workers are not treated or paid as if they are essential. NC is a "right to work" state, so unionizing is not a common measure for workers to seek power in their workplaces. Unionizing is not something that is often talked about publicly by our elected officials statewide, but workers are done letting corporate greed exploit their time and labor. Everyone deserves real living wages and workplaces that give them dignity and respect. 

Last Friday in Staten Island, NY, an Amazon warehouse voted to unionize. Their union was led by a former Amazon employee, Chris Smalls, and this warehouse is the first Amazon warehouse in the country to successfully unionize. There have been other Amazon warehouse employees that have tried to seek power in their workplaces but have been unsuccessful due to Amazon's anti-union fear tactics.

So why is this relevant to NC? The Amazon Labor Union (ALU) sought help and guidance from union leaders and workers across the Nation that was similar in size to their union. The ALU brought in Gene Bruskin, who helped organize the 5,000-worker Smithfield, NC plant that they worked at in 2008, which was one the highest-profile union battles of the past 50 years. 

Last month we talked about the Starbucks Store in Raleigh, NC that is hoping to unionize, despite Howard Schultz's anti-union efforts towards all Starbucks partners. More workers in NC are interested in unionizing and we expect to see more efforts to come up this year.

US Senate Confirms Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson as Supreme Court Justice

A glass ceiling was broken yesterday when the US Senate voted to confirm Ketanji Brown Jackson to be the next Supreme Court Justice. She will take the seat of Justice Stephen Breyer after the current SCOTUS session ends in June. Justice Brown Jackson is the first Black woman and the first public defender to serve on the court. Congratulations Justice Brown Jackson on this momentous occasion!

Beautiful illustration by OMG Vote from our Women's History Month collaboration!

Postpartum Medicaid Expansion in NC

While the NC Legislature still has not expanded Medicaid as a whole for 500,000+ North Carolinians, they did expand medicaid coverage for people that are in the postpartum of their pregnancy, which previously covered 60 days and is now extended to 1 year after giving birth.  This expansion was included in the budget that the NC General Assembly passed and that Governor Cooper signed last fall. 

This expansion will help to bring make sure pregnant people stay healthy - our maternal mortality rate which is 21.9 out of 100,000 births in North Carolina. 

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Check Your Voter Registration

We’re no stranger to voter suppression in our state. So we encourage you to check your voter registration often as board of elections offices purge voters from time to time.

Help us reach our goals in 2022

With your generosity, we are able to build a permanent infrastructure that will increase voter registration and turnout as well as take care of our communities of color, in and outside of election cycles.

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The New North Carolina Project
6012 Bayfield Pkwy
Suite 142
Concord, NC 28027
United States  

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