Like so many of our neighbors, my family and I know what it's like to worry about keeping a roof over our heads. Housing is a human right. Rhode Island has a moral obligation to make that right a reality. We must make a deep investment in public housing by building 10,000 green affordable & low-income homes and extend the eviction moratorium to ensure we end the pipeline of houslessness in our state. We must continue to make a deep investment in public housing and the residents and use public funds to combat homelessness and house all Rhode Islanders. We know that stable housing is the backbone of a safe community.

Every Rhode Islander has a right to be safe, and to feel safe. This means rejecting right-wing fear-mongering and reimagining public and community safety. Our government must invest in community-based solutions that we know can work to prevent senseless violence, which can save lives. We must take a new approach, and change how police engage with communities, and what they should be responding to. Police are tasked to respond too much, and it has been detrimental to police, community, and how they interact. By creating a mobile crisis intervention team, focusing on mental health, substance abuse, and serving people where they are, we can address non-violent crimes with non-violent responses. 

In the midst of the continued social unrest of the past few years, over names like George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Aubery, and countless other names of Black individuals who have been murdered to police brutality in our nation, the Law Enforcement Officers Bill of Rights has emerged as a consensus among those who are looking towards true police accountability. The Repeal of the Law Enforcement Officers Bill of Rights will ensure that the rights of officers will not be above the rights of Rhode Islanders.

All Rhode Islanders have the right to safe, free, health care. In Rhode Island alone, well over forty thousand people lack health insurance. Rhode Islanders should have the ability to receive the care they need without being subject to the whims of companies seeking to profit off a broken system, regardless of their place of employment, immigration status, or the size of their bank account. We must enact single-payer universal health insurance so that everybody is covered.

Rhode Island must meet the climate crisis with bold policies that ensure that we can grow up in a safer, greener, and more sustainable future. A Rhode Island that looks to completely remove fossil fuels from our energy system by building public, renewable energy sources, like wind and solar farms. We must collaborate with all levels of government, creating a Green New Deal for all with real community engagement, upgrading our infrastructure to protect ourselves and the environment while creating tens of thousands of good, union jobs, green affordable housing, and expanding our public transportation by electrifying all buses free of charge. We must shut down polluting industries that are disproportionately harming low-income Black and Brown communities with just transitions for the workers. Together, we can become the first state in the nation to run 100% on clean energy.

From Pre-K through college, we must invest in equitable education, and remove the barriers that have barred so many from accessing opportunity. All of us have a responsibility in how we ensure that our next generation has the highest quality education possible, regardless of your zip code. It is up to us to demand that our government provides the financial and infrastructural support necessary to make that possible. We must rethink the way we keep our students and school staff safe—by continuing to reinvest in our future, ensuring that students and teachers are entering buildings that are accessible and promote the physical and mental well-being of all.

While many Rhode Islanders can’t make rent or put food on the table, the wealthy continue to become richer. For too long, as a result, decades-long policies in Rhode Island’s working class have been shortchanged. A statehouse that has benefited the top super-wealthy and harmed the working and middle class. Our economy will only fully recover when working-class people have money in their wallets. That means Rhode Islanders top 1% here in Rhode Island must start paying their fair share in taxes, resulting in policies that start investing in the working class. We can recover from this crisis, rebuild our schools, support struggling small businesses, and protect immigrants, renters, and students. We can have a Rhode Island, where everyone earns a living wage and can afford quality services such as healthcare, housing, and food. We must finally pass a truly living wage of at least $19 an hour to ensure that all workers in our state can afford their basic needs of survival.

We must ensure all Rhode Islanders' voices are heard and their votes counted. Our state, voting laws, continue to disenfranchise Rhode Islanders, particularly our most marginalized groups. The last election showed that we must expand voting rights by allowing all voters to vote by mail and expand early voting, giving everyone a chance to be heard. With Republicans, throughout the country and here in Rhode Island taking anti-voter measures that threaten our elections and disenfranchise individuals and populations, we must repeal our discriminatory voter ID laws, which require voters to bring photo identification to the polls.

Every single Rhode Islander deserves safety, freedom from discrimination, and healthcare that meets their needs and affirms their identity. Our state’s LGBTQ+ community, especially our transgender community, has faced serious discrimination, hate, and barriers in accessing basic necessities like housing and healthcare. Everyone must be free to love who they want to love and to express their gender how they choose. We must listen, protect, and fight with our LGBTQ+ siblings from discrimination and ensure their access to healthcare, housing, jobs, and all the building blocks of a stable, safe, fulfilling life.