Onward!

Dear Members of the Legislature,    In this time of crisis, instability, and fear we look to you for leadership—and the lives of Bay Staters will literally depend on it. We are grateful for the role the legislature has played over the past two weeks, from moving legislative offices to remote function, to encouraging Governor Baker to close schools and daycares statewide, to waiving the 1-week waiting period for unemployment assistance. However, this moment requires more from the legislative branch, and on a rapid timeline.     Even as workplaces across the Commonwealth shutter and paychecks disappear, individuals’ expenses are increasing due to the demands of this emergency. And as we saw vividly in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, when disasters strike, it is people of limited means who bear the…

PDM is excited to present Ben Grosscup. Ben uses the power of song to amplify and accentuate the ideas and values of the transformative social movements he is part of. Ben plays at rallies, picket lines, conferences, coffee houses, and house concerts, and works tirelessly to enable many other musicians to be heard as well. His mission as an activist folksinger is to make music a vibrant part of social justice-based resistance movements. As a song leader, he helps groups sing as one. In this practice of embodied solidarity, people breathe in unison as they affirm their commitment to struggle together. As a songwriter and song interpreter, he inspires people to question oppressive ideologies and broaden their political imaginations toward greater levels of freedom. Based in Greenfield MA, Ben serves…

America once had a vigorous system of vocational education, apprenticeship, and workforce training, both in and out of schools. Other countries, like Germany, still do, but over recent decades we have disinvested in such programs. Part of the reason is the rise of the “college for all” mantra, reflecting the belief that a college degree is the ticket to success in the contemporary economy.  ~ Robert D. Putnam, Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis    VOCATIONAL EDUCATION IN MASSACHUSETTS  The Need: Our current vocational education program (CTE)* is inadequate both for students and for our economy: Massachusetts lacks the skilled labor necessary for a stable and healthy economy and fails to provide desired educational opportunities for many students. Employers complain of acute labor shortages in the construction trades and in…

STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE STATE HOUSE, BOSTON, JULY 2, 2019....A new coalition, inspired by the success of groups who advocated for last year's paid family and medical leave law, is working to develop a plan to give Massachusetts families easier access to affordable, high-quality early childhood education and care. In a letter Tuesday to lawmakers on the Education Committee, the coalition made up of community, faith, labor and business groups, plus early educators and parents, said they are working to explore ideas including extended hours for early education and care programs, varying fees based on family income, and boosting pay and training for early educators. While the group works out its details, it is backing "placeholder legislation" filed by Rep. Ken Gordon of Bedford and Sen. Cindy Friedman of Arlington…

Forum on Career Technical Education in Essex County, 10 am – 1pm, Saturday, May 4 at Essex North Shore Agricultural and Technical School (ENSATS), 565 Maple Street, Hathorne, MA. Sponsored by the Education Working Group of Progressive Democrats of Massachusettes. How can Massachusetts educate the workforce required to fill the jobs of the future?  How can we provide educational opportunities that meet the needs, interests, and aptitudes of all our high school-aged students?  Is it acceptable for there to be thousands of young people languishing on wait-lists to get into the public schools that meet their needs?”  To learn more about these questions, please join us for a forum about the needs and opportunities for Career and Technical Education (CTE), (vocational education), sponsored by the Education Working Group of Progressive…

This particular agenda was developed on the basis of the input received from an open poll of our entire membership and a conference call of interested sustaining members. Ultimately,  the agenda was endorsed by at least two-thirds of the sustaining members who voted on the question. As you will note, we've identified several specific pieces of legislation to support, as well as a number of issues where we plan to work, through our own Working Groups and/or in coordination with allied organizations, to develop specific legislative priorities. PDM endorses the following legislative campaigns for 2019-2020: Placing the Fair Share Amendment on the November 2022 state ballot (S.16) Enactment of the Promise Act to reform the state's foundation budget system for K-12 education (S.238) Passage of the Safe Communities Act (S.1401 and HD.1520) Passage of…

Some educator friends of mine asked me to moderate two forums organized in Cambridge and Lexington for the Fund Our Future campaign. Fund Our Future is a campaign to see public education in Massachusetts, from PreK-12 and higher education, funded at appropriate levels. Attendees are asked: What if all public schools and districts had all of the Chapter 70 dollars they deserved? How do we access those dollars? The growing coalition seeks equity and fairness for every student and to end the systemic underfunding in Massachusetts gateway cities, urban districts, and communities of color. Forums are being held in communities across the Commonwealth. Each is an opportunity to understand the state of funding public education in Massachusetts and to learn about options for revenue, plus two legislative proposals that attempt to fix the problem: PROMISE and…

Environmental and Energy Justice advocates were in good company at the Massachusetts State House today for Mass Power Forward's (MPF) lobby day. Focus of the lobby day was threefold: Share our vision Get co-sponsorships, especially from House Reps Show solidarity with Weymouth You'll recall that the MPF coalition, of which PDM is a part, succeeded in advocating for powerful energy and environmental policy changes last legislative session. All were unanimously supported in the State Senate. Those bills have been "refreshed" for a second round this legislative session, strengthened by a commitment to environmental justice and against racism. Leaders of MPF note that many of our communities, especially those with a majority of people of color and low incomes, have had to bear the brunt of decades of fossil fuel pollution and are most at risk…