This past Friday, the Yale Dems, joined by students from the University of Hartford and Trinity College, traveled to Hartford to lobby Connecticut state legislators to support various education reform bills currently before the General Assembly. To kick off the day, the Dems hosted a kickoff event where State Representatives Toni Walker (D-New Haven), Jason Bartlett (D-Danbury), and State Democratic Party Chairwoman Nancy DiNardo spoke about the importance of education reform and student involvement in the political process.
The bills (HB05491, SB0440, HB05421, SB0438, and HB05066) focus on reducing the achievement gap, alternative routes to certification for school educators and administrators, the establishment of data gathering on effective teaching methods, teacher evaluation, lifting the cap on charter school funding, and providing educational stability for foster children. Besides being efforts that will improve the state’s educational system, the plans should better Connecticut’s application for federal Race to the Top funding.
The Dems delivered petitions gathered from Yale students and New Haven residents in support of education reform to House Speaker Chris Donovan (D-Meriden) and met with legislators and their aides to speak about the importance of the bills’ passage. After doing so and leaving literature for the representatives, the Dems called it a day and headed back home. A major thanks to all who planned the event and to all who attended!
On Thursday, February 25th, the Dems hosted “Racing to the Top: Education Reform in New Haven and Connecticut” to kick off efforts for education reform in the state of Connecticut. Featuring performances from WORD, Yale’s spoken word performers, and an address from New Haven Mayor John DeStefano Jr., the event was a major success. Numerous students showed up to listen to the progress of education reform in New Haven, which is serving as a model for some in the state legislature, as well as others nationwide. Lobbying Coordinator Mike Gocksch ‘12 then spoke to the students about how they could become more involved in encouraging the state legislature to reform education, gathering petition signatures and letters from the students to send to leaders in Hartford.
At the first event in a semester-long push for education reform in New Haven, the Yale College Democrats hosted panel of education experts to discuss the upcoming reform efforts.
Panelists shared their thoughts on the prospects for reform, and what kinds of reform have proven the most effective. Garth Harries, Assistant Superintendent of the New Haven Public Schools and Yale alum, discussed his work in the New York City school reform effort. Ward 1 alderwoman and Yale alum Rachel Plattus brought a political take, and New Haven principals Dolores Garcia-Blocker of Co-Op Arts and Humanities High School and Lizanne Cox of Common Ground High school gave on-the-ground insights about how reform directly impacts teachers.
On Friday, April 24, the Yale College Democrats traveled to Hartford to lobby the legislature in support of HB 6600, a bill that would establish the SustiNet universal health care system in Connecticut.
The Dems first heard from Lynne Ide, the healthcare4every1 campaign manager, and Kevin Lembo, the Head of Connecticut’s Office of the Healthcare Advocate. They both spoke about the importance of fighting for universal health care, right now, in our own state. Next, state Reps. Gary Holder-Winfield and Elizabeth Esty. They talked more specifically about how we can be effective advocates for SustiNet when we meet with legislators. Finally, Speaker of the House Chris Donovan expressed his support for health care reform and gave us words of encouragement.
After the event, students fanned out across the state house to meet with legislators and distribute literature to aides. Directly and via aides, we contacted over one hundred representatives and senators, including state representatives Martin Looney, Gary Holder- Winfield, David McCluskey, Elizabeth Esty, Brendan Sharkey, Mae Flexer, Toni Walker, and state senators Gary LeBeau, Andrew Roraback, and Andrew McDonald.
Joining us at the capitol were members of the Yale Public Health Coalition and the American Medical Student Association, to whom we are grateful for their participation.
Last Saturday’s homelessness rally was a big success, bring over 80 people to City Hall on Saturday morning despite the weather and the early hour, and attracting coverage from a variety of news sources.
The rally kicked off with Ben Stango, the lobbying coordinator of the Dems, getting the crowd excited about supportive housing. Then we heard from state Rep. Ken Green, the sponsor of HB 5071 (the supportive housing bill), who urged us to contact our state legislators about it. The mayor and state Rep. Holder-Winfield then spoke about why this is such an important issue. Finally, the coordinators of ShelterNow disucssed their work, and the Dukesmen sang us a few songs to go out on a light note.
For those who want to learn more about the race, here’s a review of the recent press coverage and editorials relating to the ward 1 aldermanic race. Herald articles are not posted to that paper’s unfortunate lack of a working website.
If I left out any articles I did so unintentionally. Please email me with any corrections. Also, the candidates’ websites can be found at my earlier post.
UPDATE: I just added a few articles that I had missed when I posted this.
On Monday, March 2, the Dems hosted a panel on the current state our health care in Connecticut and on the national level. Demonstrating their dedication to fixing our broken system, over 60 Yalies turned out on that snowy evening to hear Monday, February 23. The panelists were Paul Wessel, Field Director for Universal Health Care Foundation of Connecticut, and Howard Forman, M.D., a health services researcher focusing on diagnostic radiology, health policy, and healthcare leadership.
The panel gave helpful insight into the problems with the American health care system and what can and may be done this legislative cycle to fix it. Photos from the event are over at Picasa.
The Yale Daily News has a great article on the Dems lobbying projects for the semester. An except:
[T]he recent presidential election permanently altered the standard for student activism. Last year, Benjamin Stango ’11, lobbying coordinator for the Dems, estimated that the average attendance for the Dems’ lobbying meetings was between 10 and 20 people. But following Obama’s election, the Dems’ leadership said it estimates the group has a core of about 30 active lobbying members, with several more students peripherally involved.
“Students become involved with lobbying in order to see the change they voted for in this election,” Stango said. “That’s really where a lot of this fire for lobbying is coming from.”
… “We’ve been saying very consistently for the last couple of weeks,” Sarah Turbow ’10 said, “it’s not the off-season, it’s the on-season.”
Well said, Sarah. Check out the full article for an in-depth look into what we’re doing.
The Dems hosted a panel on homelessness entitled “The Many Faces of Homelessness: A Panel Discussion,” on Monday, February 23. Our panelists discussed the impacts of homelessness as well as some proposals to help alleviate chronic homelessness. The panelists were Natalie Matthews, the Assistant Director of the Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness, Alison Cunningham, Director of Columbus House, Fred Morrison, Project Manager of New Haven’s 10 Year Plan to End Chronic Homelessness, and Bobby Bell, a former member of the homeless community. More photos can be found over at Picasa, where we’ll be hosting photos from now on.
The Lobbying Committee has been hard at work researching homelessness and health care reform this past month, and last week we had the chance to put our results to good use. The Yale College Democrats submitted testimony to Housing Committee’s hearing on HB 5071, the bill discussed earlier. Our testimony can be found on the hearing’s webpage, or directly here.
