Bend the Arc: NY volunteers are organizing for justice at the local, state, and federal levels.
Here's how:
We're standing in solidarity with immigrant communities
When Trump was elected, our chapter members promised to stand in solidarity with the communities most impacted by his hateful agenda.
In June 2017, our chapter members unanimously voted to take on immigration solidarity as a primary campaign focus.
We're fighting alongside our partners at Make the Road NY for statewide legislation to help protect immigrants from mass detainment and deportation, including drivers licenses for undocumented folks and the NYS Dream Act.
We're also part of Bend the Arc Jewish Action's national Jewish Campaign for Dreamers. We're advocating for a clean Dream Act by mobilizing phone calls to key legislators and taking action in the street. In January, our members joined Let My People Stay, a historic Jewish civil disobedience in our nation's Capitol to demand Congress' action to protect Dreamers.
We're fighting for criminal justice reform in NY State
When we fight for local criminal justice reform, we fight for a New York that stops criminalizing vulnerable communities — and we directly oppose Trump and Sessions' regressive national law and order agenda.
In 2017, we were part of the coalition that helped win Raise the Age, crucial juvenile justice legislation to stop New York's practice of prosecuting 16- and 17-year olds as adults.
Now we're part of the #FREENewYork coalition to reform New York's money bail system and ensure that everyone has the right to a speedy trial to achieve real solutions to New York's statewide jail crisis. Our coalition has bold legislative demands — and our members are bringing the Jewish community to the fight.
We're holding elected officials accountable
Bend the Arc leaders across the state are leading local Turn Congress 180 campaigns to hold Representatives Lee Zeldin and John Faso accountable for enabling Trump's hateful agenda.
During the high holidays, we stood with partners and allies outside Faso's and Zeldin's offices to wake them up with the blast of the shofar. We demanded that they support a clean Dream Act and take real action against white supremacy.
In December, when news broke that Steve Bannon was headlining Zeldin's fundraiser, we led a coalition to collect over 5000 signatures on a petition demanding that Zeldin disinvite Bannon. Over 100 constituents delivered the petition to Zeldin's office, and when he failed to cancel, we brought our moral outrage to the streets and protested outside his fundraiser.
In 2018 our work to hold Reps Zeldin and Faso accountable continues — and we're going on the offensive in advance of the midterm elections to register voters, make phone calls, knock on doors, and talk to our neighbors about the issues they care about.