INDIVISIBLE Lambertville NJ / New Hope PA

Category: Call to Action

  • Say This, Not That

    Contributed by Liza Watson.

    The Trump administration has proposed a 12% reduction in education spending for 2020, marking the third straight year it has looked for deep cuts to education. Early childhood education programs are often on the chopping block, yet its been repeatedly shown that such programs pay a better dividend than investing in the stock market.  In NJ, however, Governor Murphy expanded the state’s funding of early childhood education by another 28 programs. With a new school year is starting, here are some ideas for discussing the benefits of early childhood education: 

    Say this:  Before kindergarten, a child’s brain architecture undergoes intense development, so early childhood programs help to lay critical foundations.

    Not this:  As long as kids are kept safe in daycare, learning and development take care of themselves.

    Say this:  Early childhood education is like a plugging station that parents can use to power up children’s learning opportunities.

    Not this:  Children learn by passively absorbing from their families.

    Say this:  Children benefit from remodeling our education system to build opportunities for the future.

    Not this:  The only answer is to hire more teachers and hold them accountable.

  • PennEast Pipeline Action Alert!

    PennEast Pipeline Action Alert!

    Contributed by Liz Peer, Environmental Action Group

    Comment now on PennEast’s new application to the state of New Jersey here. Comment period is 60 days from August 20, so don’t wait. Some talking points to help you are below: 

    • NJDEP has sufficient information to determine that this pipeline can’t be constructed in a manner that meets the stringent environmental standards required under state law and regulations. NJDEP should deny the permits with prejudice.  This point should be included in all communications!
    • Extensive wildlife surveys conducted by independent biologists documented the significant occurrence of long-tailed salamanders and other sensitive species throughout the proposed route. These reports were submitted to the State Natural Heritage Database.  NJDEP should rely on these data, which show that PennEast would threaten protected species of wildlife, rather than PennEast’s incomplete surveys, in order to ascertain the true impact the pipeline would have.
    • PennEast would cut through Baldpate Mountain in Mercer County, an important bird area supporting numerous migrating and breeding species, including 28 ranked by the American Bird Conservancy as birds of conservation concern. PennEast would cross or come within 100 feet of four important bird areas, posing a threat to irreplaceable wildlife.
    • Research has found that open-cut, isolated, and Horizontal Directional Drilling (HDD) stream-crossing methods for pipeline construction have damaged channel morphology, water quality, and aquatic life, and habitats.  Any of these stream crossing methods will result in unacceptable impacts to protected waterways and wildlife.
    • According to industry sources, Horizontal Directional Drilling crossings (HDDs) cause inadvertent returns or frack outs 50% of the time. It is a coin toss whether an HDD will fail or not. The Mariner East 2 project in Pennsylvania clearly demonstrates the extensive environmental damage these inadvertent returns can cause to wells and waterways. As of February 2019, there were about 240 inadvertent returns of drilling fluid to land and water along the Mariner East 2 route, and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection had issued 94 notices of permit violations.  
    • By adding impervious surface to local watersheds, construction of the PennEast pipeline would exacerbate sediment-loading in the D&R Canal – threatening a drinking water source for millions of central New Jersey residents.
    • Researchers have identified the potential for arsenic contamination in some areas along the PennEast pipeline route. The geology in areas along this route includes rock that is rich in arsenic, and disturbance of these areas could release arsenic into groundwater in an area of the state that already has high levels of arsenic in groundwater.
    • Nearly 800 drinking water wells in NJ and PA are within 800 feet of the proposed pipeline route and are at risk. Given that numerous wells were contaminated as a result of HDD inadvertent returns from Mariner East 2 construction, there is no reason to believe PennEast would produce a different result.
    • Construction of PennEast poses a significant risk to the Swan Creek Dam, which if ruptured, would result in catastrophic flooding in Lambertville.
    • PennEast would cut through over 4,300 acres of land preserved by the state, counties, municipalities, and non-profit organizations. Taxpayer dollars have been invested in these lands to protect water, natural, historic, and agricultural resources for the benefit of the residents of New Jersey. NJDEP should not allow a pipeline that would threaten this investment.  
    • A study by the Goodman Group found that PennEast overestimated by two thirds the number of jobs that would result from construction of the pipeline, and that only 10 ongoing jobs would be created in New Jersey. According to The Cadmus Group report, all forms of renewable energy – such as wind and solar – or energy conservation projects would be expected to create more jobs than PennEast – from 2,744 to 13,719 additional jobs for the same level of investment.
    • The NJ Rate Counsel found no public need for PennEast, called it “unfair to ratepayers” and concluded that the project is driven by PennEast’s opportunity to earn a 14% rate of return that would be like “winning the lottery” for the project sponsors.

  • Changing the Conversation Together: Join Us in Taking a New Approach to Canvassing

    Contributed by Cindi Sternfeld 

    Have you ever wondered if what we’ve been doing can make a difference? ILNH is constantly looking for ways to save democracy from the attacks we witness on a daily basis. You might ask: can ILNH really save democracy? 

    The answer is, maybe. 

    Maybe we can, if we find new and different ways to engage the electorate. Maybe we can, if we figure out how to bring back the checks and balances that were put in place to keep government of and for the people.  

    Over the past two-plus years, ILNH introduced many campaigns to educate, advocate and activate more citizens to get out and vote. For the most part, our initiatives fall into two categories: LEARN and DO – with a little fun thrown in for good measure. Sometimes the initiatives come from inside the group, and sometimes they come from people we’ve never met or heard of, but who have heard of ILNH.  

    A couple of months back, ILNH was contacted by Adam Barbanel-Fried, who leads Changing the Conversation Together (CTC). CTC is a group of concerned citizens that use a strategy of “deep canvassing,” which teaches volunteers to use their personal stories, empathetic listening and engaged conversations to help voters think about how their values connect with the issues of the day. CTC has used this strategy before and it worked!  

    Adam came to town to explain CTC and to invite us to become partners. He also met with several leaders of other Pennsylvania groups. CTC sees the Pennsylvania 1st Congressional District as flippable, and frankly, so do we.  We want to find out if we can use CTC strategies to flip PA-01. It worked in New York when they used deep canvassing to help Max Rose get elected to NY 11th Congressional district, and we believe it can work here. 

    Adam and the leadership team of ILNH explored several options to make this goal a reality.  Some of the options were large-scale and some were more cautious. After much consideration, it seems that the approach that makes the most sense is to do what we’ve done all along: LEARN and DO. 

    Our plan is to start out by training a core group of volunteers to LEARN deep canvassing, and in the very same day, send them out to DO some deep canvassing.  We are looking at dates in September to pilot the program because the clock is ticking on the 2020 election. 

    We will work with volunteers, partners and other stakeholders to co-host a CTC LEARN and DO event. We’ll gather 30-50 folks to take the next step on the road to success. It will be a full-day event that will teach you how to have conversations about values and then get you and a partner out and knocking on doors.  

    The main difference this time is that you won’t be “selling” a candidate, you will be looking to have conversations with voters about what you, and they, care about.  While our goal is to try to get a deep canvass launched once a month, for now, we want to do a pilot training and see what we can learn. 

    CALL TO ACTION!!

    Today I am reaching out to find volunteers. The coalition of ILNH and other groups is looking to create a mighty band of volunteers trained in the CTC deep-canvassing approach. The rules will be the same as they’ve been all along:  We will NEVER send you out alone; you will have scripts and all of the information you need to be a confident canvasser, and we will work with you to help you have a great experience.  

    If you want to join me in being a part of this exciting change, please sign up at this link to join our team! 

  • Some Good News (Finally) on the Census

    Some Good News (Finally) on the Census

    Contributed by Elaine Clisham

    So, the citizenship question will not appear on the 2020 census form. That’s good news! (But don’t sleep on this — there is already a push to get it included on the 2030 form!) Amid all the flurry over the question in the past few weeks, it was easy to miss some positive census developments here in New Jersey.

    The 2020 census presents unique challenges. It will be the first census to be conducted primarily online, requiring a host of new technologies to be developed and tested. There were originally supposed to be three end-to-end field tests, but budget restrictions forced that number to be reduced to one, meaning the system will not be field-tested again after any identified bugs are fixed. The threat of the citizenship question being added has eroded trust in the census and threatens a robust response, particularly among groups hardest to count. (Hard-to-count communities include communities with a traditionally lower-than target response rate, which in New Jersey is 73 percent; minority communities and communities whose first language is not English; and children under 5 years old. This year, because the census will be conducted online, another hard-to-count category has been added — older residents who are uncomfortable or unfamiliar with the technology they will be asked to use.) And, while there have been increases to the federal budget for the census, there is widespread fear that the budget for partnerships and outreach will not get sufficient funding. None of this bodes well for an accurate census.

    The good news is, New Jersey is taking several steps to try to minimize the risk of an incomplete count.

    First, last fall the state appointed a Complete Count Commission, chaired by Secretary of State Tahesha Way, and charged it with identifying steps New Jersey and local municipalities and community groups need to take in order to ensure that every resident is counted. (You can read more about the commission here; Legislative District 15 Assemblywoman Verlina Reynolds-Jackson, who represents Lambertville, is a member.)

    In June, after a series of public hearings around the state, the commission released its report (available here as a PDF). The report noted the three key advisory committees set up within the commission, and including representatives of hard-to-count communities, that will focus on community advocacy, partnerships with private entities, and education and intergovernmental coordination. It highlighted more than 500 hard-to-count census tracts in all but three counties, where it urged that extra effort — formation of local partnerships and Complete Count Committees, augmented outreach, including in languages other than English — be focused in order to ensure an accurate count. And it detailed plans for establishing a multi-lingual branding and communications campaign to support census outreach efforts throughout the state. These are all critical steps. (A good summary of the commission’s report can be found here.)

    Second, the June meeting of the New Jersey Council of Grantmakers was focused entirely on ways the philanthropic sector can support efforts to secure a complete count. The council is developing partnerships with, and training resources for, its members, and has an entire section on its website devoted to its census efforts. (A good writeup of the council’s meeting is here.) This philanthropic support will be key to successful partnerships and outreach in hard-to-count communities.

    And third, while the budget that Gov. Murphy originally proposed had only $2 million allocated for census outreach, the final version, drafted by the Legislature and now signed by the governor, includes the full $9 million that advocacy groups had requested. So while federal outreach funds may be lacking, New Jersey has now made a pledge to fill the gap.

    All of this means that census prospects in New Jersey look a little brighter than at the federal level. However, we need to take advantage of these resources and work proactively to help ensure a complete count. 

    Call to Action! 

    If you have connections in a hard-to-count community and you want to help, contact any of the members of the state Complete Count Commission about setting up a local Complete Count Committee in that community, and becoming a census outreach partner. Let’s make sure all of New Jersey counts!

  • New Jersey Dark Money Veto Murky

    Contributed by Amara Willey.

    Citing loopholes and possible Constitutional challenges, Gov. Phil Murphy conditionally vetoed a campaign finance reform bill in May. Critics suggest that Murphy’s motivation is more political than altruistic.

    A conditional veto means that the governor objects to parts of a bill and proposes amendments that would make it acceptable.  It is now up to the legislature to decide if it will follow the governor’s recommendations and rewrite the bill or try to override the veto with a two-thirds vote. The danger is that the legislature may just let the bill, NJ-S1500, languish, thus killing the chance for substantial election reform. (more…)