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.

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.

Download a printable version of Our Justice Agenda 2025 Prioties.

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

HOUSING JUSTICE

Everyone deserves guaranteed housing that is safe and dignified, regardless of their income or social status. We will protect tenants and invest in community ownership by:

• Passing the Housing Access Voucher Program to fund state level vouchers that actually pay rents and include those who are unhoused and those with varied documentation status.
• Passing the Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act to fund tenant purchases of properties that go up for sale.
• Passing the Social Housing Development Authority and Tenant Power Act  to create state agencies to develop not for profit, permanently affordable housing and tenant union protections.

HEALTH CARE EQUITY

Health care is a human right. We will shrink the racial divide in health care, expand access to mental health care, and stop corporations from profiteering off patients by:

• Passing the Primary Care Investment Act to ensure services critical for maintaining good health and preventing disease.
• Passing the NY Health Act to establish guaranteed overage for all New Yorkers through a universal, single-payer system.
• Protect Medicare, Medicaid, CHIP, and the ACA by defending attacks on funding for existing federal health care programs.

DEMOCRACY

We must strengthen and maintain the integrity of our democracy, which means protecting the rights of every single person to participate in it. We will make elections accessible for all New Yorkers by:

• Preserving and strengthening Public Campaign Financing to ensure elected officials are accountable to people, not special interests.
• Passing the Democracy During Detention Act to ensure people who are detained pretrial have the right to access their freedom to vote.
• Passing the Democracy Preservation Act to get foreign influence out of electoral campaigns.
  

CLIMATE

We must address the climate crisis. Everyone deserves to live in a healthy and resilient community, and the ability to afford their energy bills. We will prioritize frontline communities, low-income communities, and communities of color by:

• Implementing the CLCPA (Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act) to force the Governor and state agencies to meet the greenhouse gas and climate justice goals in the law, and oppose any efforts to weaken the law.
• Keeping utility rates reasonable and making the Public Service Commission address the climate crisis.
• Passing New York Heat Act to force utility companies to reduce gas sales and cap prices.

EDUCATION & EARLY CHILDHOOD

Every child, regardless of zip code, deserves access to high-quality and affordable child care and public education in which they are able to grow emotionally, mentally, culturally, and creatively. We will ensure this by:

• Increasing funding for childcare providers to ensure those providers are compensated equitably so that child care is available regardless of zip code.
• Advocating for fully funded schools by defending against cuts and maintaining existing public school funding.
• Passing Baby Bucks by ensuring that direct cash payments are sent to low income mothers during the last three months of pregnancy and the first 18 months of a child’s life.

REVENUE

Every New Yorker should be able to thrive. We will prioritize public goods and services, not corporate handouts by:

• Passing the IONY package to increase taxes on the wealthiest corporations and ultra rich.
• Funding programs that provide vital services and public goods.
• Reforming the Temporary Disability Insurance system.

ENDING MASS INCARCERATION

Every person has inherent dignity, including those who cause harm. We will end the system of modern-day slavery in New York by:

• Passing 13th Forward to end forced labor in prison and improve wages and working conditions for incarcerated New Yorkers.
• Passing Gate Money to send direct cash payments to individuals upon release from incarceration.
• Protect Kalief’s Law to ensure access to evidence and speedy trial dates.