Urgent COVID-19 Recovery

Leaders in Washington are stuck in tense negotiations over the next round of COVID-19 recovery stimulus. We need to push for a recovery bill that delivers real help to our communities – from safe and reliable public transit, to broadband for all and urgent help for currently and formerly incarcerated people.

There are worrying indications that the current proposals aren’t enough – especially when it comes to people impacted by our broken criminal justice system. Negotiations are ongoing, so we urgently need to raise our voices.

**We ask for your complete address so that we can identify your members of Congress.

Your letter to your senators and representatives:

Dear Member of Congress,

I urge you to ensure that any final COVID-19 response legislation includes provisions delivering real help to people who are currently or formerly incarcerated, provides equitable access to broadband, and strengthens investments in green energy and public transportation. I also strongly urge the inclusion of moratoria on utility shut-offs and evictions. It is also essential that this legislation stop utility shut-offs and extend the moratorium on evictions.

This crisis has also accelerated budget deficits at the state and local levels, leading to a dramatic decrease in transit funding. As people rely on public transit to get to work and fulfill other essential tasks, I urge you to ensure that public transportation funding is included in this legislation by providing the $32 billion dollars needed to keep public transportation services running. These transportation services are not only essential for working Americans, but help to combat many of the climate concerns raised by our nation’s reliance on more wasteful personal vehicles.

Regarding criminal justice reform, Congress must pass legislation that provides grants to state and local governments to assist these jurisdictions in reducing their overcrowded prison and jail populations by releasing vulnerable incarcerated people who are not a security risk. We must also dramatically expand testing and treatment for coronavirus in those facilities. It is imperative that as people are released from confinement, the critical service providers, both community-based organizations and government agencies, have the funding they need to ensure safe and successful reentry and reintegration to society. I also stress the urgent need to fix eligibility criteria for the Paycheck Protection Program loans that lock small business owners with criminal histories and those who are on probation, parole, community supervision out of receiving funding that saves jobs. There are three recently introduced measures that would fulfill these critical needs: COVID–19 Correctional Facility Emergency Response Act of 2020, the COVID-19 Safer Detention Act of 2020, and the Paycheck Protection Program Second Chance Act.

Finally, as this crisis has changed the ways that Americans receive education and work, this legislation must include a substantial credit for broadband internet services which are used by American students and workers, as well as funding for the provision of necessary devices like computers and wifi hotspots to ensure that all Americans can remain engaged in their work. And finding and maintaining a job and keeping up with schoolwork are also thwarted if a household loses power or most devastatingly, their home. Preventing utility shut-offs and evictions are essential to people trying to recover in this economic and staying safe during this health crisis.

This crisis has impacted every American, but Black, Brown, and low-income people have been hit first and worst by the COVDI-19 pandemic and rising unemployment. It is critical that these communities do not benefit last and least from any legislation Congress passes. Thank you for your work on this important issue.

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