Our vision

At Citizen Action of New York, we envision a world where every person’s basic needs are met. It’s a world filled with love and respect for its people and the planet. It’s a world where democracy reigns and each person is able to reach their fullest potential. It’s a world where equity is the norm and oppression, in all forms, is eradicated. It’s a world without war, violence, or the threat of climate destruction. The world we want is possible, but it will only exist if we work together.

Below are our 2022 Justice Agenda priorities. Please click here for a downloadable version.

Our 2022 Legislative Agenda priorities are also available!  Please click here for a downloadable version.

To achieve this vision, we have to understand two very important ideas:

The things we care about because they affect our everyday well-being – like housing, education, and health care – are not isolated from each other. It’s all interconnected.

Where you live determines where you can go to school. How far you go in school affects your long-term health. Your ability to find affordable health care affects the very length of your life. So if we care about one of these things, we have to care about all of these things. If we want to fix one of these things, we have to fix all of these things.

We are battling against racial capitalism, the interacting oppressive forces of racism and capitalism that show themselves through inequality and bigotry.

Greed, racism, patriarchy and other systems of oppression permeate the very fabric of our lives – through economics, education, housing, technological advancements, healthcare, climate policy, and our criminal legal system. If we are to create the world we envision, we have to dismantle racial capitalism.

These are the priorities we’re working on this year to make our vision a reality

Ending Mass Incarceration

Every person has inherent dignity and all people, including those who cause harm, are worthy of healing and love. So we must:

• Seal and expunge past convictions to make it easier for those who served time to find work and housing opportunities.
• End forced labor in prisons.
• Make parole fair, timely, and humane.

Gender and Worker Justice

Everyone should have the ability to take care of themselves and their families in the way they decide is best. So we must:

• Provide affordable child care for every family.
• Expand paid family and sick leave.
• Require fair and livable wages for all workers.

Housing Justice

Everyone deserves guaranteed housing that is safe and dignified, regardless of their income or social status. So we must:

• End retaliatory evictions and predatory rent hikes.
• Eliminate tax subsidies for wealthy developers.
• Invest in community-controlled housing.

Democracy

We must strengthen and expand our democracy, which means protecting the rights of every single person to participate in it. So we must:

• Fully implement the new small dollar matching program for state elections.
• Make it easier to vote.
• Draw fair district lines so voters get to pick their representatives, not the other way around.

Climate Justice

Everyone deserves to live in a healthy and resilient community, protected from extreme weather and pollution. So we must:

• Eliminate greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change.
• Transform our state to a renewable energy economy.
• Prioritize Black, Brown and other vulnerable communities that have suffered disproportionate effects of the climate crisis.

Education Justice

Every child, regardless of their zip code, deserves a high-quality public education system in which they are able to grow emotionally, mentally, culturally, and creatively. So we must:

• Ensure the $4 billion in foundation aid reaches school districts in need.
• Create a positive school climate free of police that reinforce the school-to-prison pipeline.
• Implement age-appropriate restorative discipline instead of relying on suspensions.

Health Care Justice

Health care is a human right. So we must:

• Provide quality coverage for all necessary medical services with no out-of-pocket costs.
• Ensure quality care for every person and end health care discrimination.
• End abusive billing and collections practices.