Justice In Action #2 Happy Black History Month, LEOBOR, State Budget, etc
by Corey Jones
Happy Black History Month! Our first email I accidentally sent it at 11pm instead of 11am. Mistakes happen, but thanks for the new folks who signed on. Thank you to the folks who read the first one when they had a moment. An if you weren’t able to see the first one don’t worry! You can go to www.coreyjonespvd.com/newsletter and see it there!
At The National Level
As mentioned in my last newsletter if you don’t already know I’m a huge advocate for Community Violence Intervention (CVI) programs. CVI is the most evidence based policy solution to reducing crime. It’s multiple strategies that together drastically reduce crime when done right. A success story in CVI is 2012-2017 in Oakland California under an effort labeled Ceasefire, Oakland saw a large reduction in homicides. A new report says that the recent rise in violence in Oakland is due to the demise of that program. As I try my best to do you can click this link and read the article yourself. The Council of Criminal Just (CCJ) an organization dedicated to advance understanding of criminal justice policies, released their year-end report that takes study cities and evaluates their crime data. The take away most interesting to me is that violent crime declined but was still higher than before COVID-19. Click here to read more about the CCJ Year-End Report. Resources like CCJ don’t end at the Year-End Report, please explore their website and see if they can be helpful to any advocacy work your doing.
While this isn’t something I’d usually talk about in this newsletter theres a really important issue that the Supreme Court has ruled on. The dispute with the Texas Border which is being supported by 25 GOP Governor’s. Texas has seized control of a portion of the border covering the entire area in razor wire which has created a dangerous situation. The legal battle begin because Texas sued the feds for removing parts of the razor wire. Texas won the first big case in court, but while their injunction was won it was later overturned by the Supreme Court. Texas' response was alarming because they cited that the federal government has broken the compact with the state. A theory that's been used to justify succession. And now Texas is defying the Supreme Court's ruling. This moment shows how fragile our democracy really is. If we take it for granted it could be gone, or damaged beyond repair. The Supreme Court has certainly made some rulings I didn’t like in the last few years but instead of succeeding from the country Democrats have proposed Supreme Court reforms. The Supreme Court’s upcoming decisions on theories like Trump is pushing in court that presidential immunity is absolute could very well determine if we remain a democracy or slip into authoritarianism.
Here In The Ocean State
With session started the Senate President and Speaker have listed their priorities as housing and health care access. The first big piece of legislation in the session was a bill to reform the Law Enforcement Officers Bill of Rights introduced by Representative Raymond Hull and President Dominick Ruggiero the press release detailing how they would tweak the membership can be found here. Click here to see the bill. The problem with the Law Enforcement Officers Bill of Rights is that it grants polices’ an extra layer of protection by doubling do process. I’m a believer of the saying “don’t let perfect be the enemy of good” but I’m not even sure I’d classify a reform that wouldn’t have led to the firing of Officer Dolan good. Either way kudos to the General Assembly for making this top priority this year. After the reckoning of the murder of George Floyd it’s long overdue. Representative Jose Batista also introduced a Law Enforcement Officers Bill of Rights legislation that would have been more impactful in a case like Officer Dolan. Because it would have allowed for Officer Dolan to have been fired if his Police Chief made that determination with an appeals process available if he believed he was unjustly fired. Read his press release here and click here to read the bill. My Senator Tiara Mack has released a Repeal of the Law Enforcement Officers Bill of Rights which would put police in the same category as doctors, lawyers, and other professionals that are found guilty of misconduct or breaking the law. Representative June Speakman introduced HB 7062 a bill to boost housing by expanding accessory dweller units also known as in-laws. My Representative Rebecca Kislak and Representative Marry Ann Shallcross introduced a right to repair bill. Protecting the rights to repair your own belongings. Read the press release here. Last, The General Assembly has refurbished their website including a new weekly round up on legislative highlights. I used this feature to write my summary on what they’ve been working on. Check it out.
Governor McKee had his State of the State and later released his budget a reflection of his priorities including $100 million dollar bond for housing, $16 million towards multilingual learning, new pre-kindergarten classrooms, 6,500 reduced meals to free meal, and $8 million for the iconic cliff walk. Those were some of the highlights for me in the budget. You can see the budget and the summary here. It’s a large document but the reality is after an influx in covid dollars the state has a hard job of balancing the budget. The Governor does that while keeping his principle to not raise taxes.
A young man I’m privileged to know on the Governor’s Young Adults Committee wrote an op-ed about chronic absenteeism. It’s a great read and an issue I’ve been following nationally and locally. We’ve got a lot of work to do to transform our education system this young man’s experience and perspective is valid and valued.
In Providence, this Thursday the city council passed two monumental resolutions. Council President Miller, Councilman Sanchez, and Councilman Goncalves introduced the Pathway To End Gun Violence Advisory Council, a milestone in a fight to end violence in our city. I worked with the city council and staff for over a year and a half turning a campaign promise and report I released in my race for Ward 3 city council a step closer to reality. This group will coordinate resources at the local, state, and federal level to individuals and families exposed to gun violence. The second monumental resolution was the resolution authorizing Project Weber/RENEW to open and operate an Overdose Prevention Center (OPC) at 45 Willard Avenue. Shout out to Project Weber/RENEW on their amazing work.
Time To Advocate
Time To Advocate volunteered with the Pawtucket YMCA’s Youth Equity Leaders. We introduced an exclusive video we’ve yet to release publicly “How To Testify” and gave a lesson on how to navigate the Rhode Island Legislative bill tracker. Working with young people and meeting them where they are rather it’s the community or the classroom is how we plan to create more advocates in Rhode Island. Our content transcends states providing tools to anyone who’s looking to be an advocate. If you’d like to make a donation to Time To Advocate click here to make that contribution! If you’d like to make a donation to Time To Run you can at this link! Contributions at this time are vital as we spending are time and efforts applying for grants and not fundraising. We still have to pay for our administrative cost. Things like our website, quickbooks, and our accountant add up quick. So please consider making a contribution so we can focus on programming not fundraising.
This newsletter and previous ones will be available on my website. Please, email me if you have ideas on what I should include in the next one. Hope everyone is well and thanks for reading some of my policy thoughts for this month!
Thanks,
Time To Advocate and or Time To Run checks can be sent to 214 Howell St. Providence RI 02906
