What a Year! 🎇
Phew.
A lot could be said about 2021. Plenty of terrible things happened this year, but I don't think you need a reminder of those.
Instead, I want to take a moment to reflect on some of the amazing victories we won in 2021 — ways we came together, stood up for what's right, helped our neighbors and made our state a little better.
In the legislature, I worked with powerful advocacy organizations to pass 14 bills in 2021 — more than any of my six previous years.
Some really important ones too: take the Joe Coleman Medical Release Act, which will get terminally ill and medically disabled people home to their families instead of leaving them to die in the Department of Corrections. Or the I-DROP Act, which will get tens of millions worth of pharmaceuticals into the hands of people in need, rather than thrown away.
Or the Affordable Housing Omnibus, which directs $75 million a year in American Rescue Plan dollars to subsidize thousands of new affordable apartments and creates property tax incentives to get more built and rehabbed. Or the expansion of the Secure Choice retirement plan, or cottage foods, or wage theft protections... the list goes on! (Check it all out here on our newly redesigned website!)
But I'm just as proud of what we did here in the community. We hosted vaccine clinics starting as soon as the COVID shot was available, and we've helped thousands of people in our community get their vaccine. Our amazing staff and volunteers called thousands of community residents to offer help accessing the state's massive rent assistance program. (By the way, there's another round of rent assistance available now: if you know anyone who needs it, send them here.)
We had a back-to-school fair this summer that got 800 people backpacks, school supplies, health check-ups, food, drinks, and even a little Zumba if they were feeling it. And this fall our Community Health Fair went beyond just COVID vaccines, providing flu shots, blood pressure checks, HIV and STD testing, plus community mural painting, home gardening kits, and much, much more!
To me, it was a hopeful year. Over and over, I was reminded that when things are hard, we come together to take care of each other. When our neighbors need a hand, we lend one. When we see injustice, we fight together to remedy it.
If you're interested in volunteering with our office in the next year, click here to join our amazing crew of phone bankers, door-knockers, word-spreaders, and neighbor-helpers.
Thanks for your support. Seven years into this job, and I'm still deeply proud, humbled, and honored to represent you.