What are you most concerned about? Your college education? Your child’s school? Your local senior center? Please see our downloads and links for information that you can choose from to empower you and your community. We are calling on people to engage in teach-ins throughout the Wall Street area, whether it’s in a park, a sidewalk, on some steps or in the street! You can choose a company to expose, get the facts/ talking points and props/visuals and offer quick teach-ins to people passing by. Click on a Topic to Find Out More about the May 12 Teach-Ins:
- Peace
- Public Transit/ Energy
- Immigration
- Jobs
- Housing
- Higher Education/ Students Unite
- Human Services/ Safety Net
- Education
Meet Up: Thursday May 12 4PM at New York Vietnam Veterans Memorial 55 Water Street New York, NY
RSVP on Facebook! 
What's at stake: While here in New York and across the country we are seeing our jobs disappearing and our safety nets cuts we have been at war for over a decade and continue to pump billions of dollars into our military presence in Iraq and Afghanistan and Libya. At a time when we are being told that our country has "no money" to support our own citizens how can we continue to justify these seemingly endless wars.
Who's Affected: The City budget currently allots $2 million of our education budget for the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC)program in New York City High Schools and New Yorkers alone have contributed $39 billions and counting in federal tax dollars to pay for the wars.
What the Mayor Must to Do: The Mayor needs to reroute funding for JROTC programs into the academic and enrichment programs that are on the chopping block and sign on as a co-signer to U.S. Council of Mayor's resolution calling for congress to stop spending money on war and use savings to focus on our cities and towns.
Meet Up: Thrusday May 12, 4PM at 1 Bowling Green Place New York, NY
RSVP on Facebook!
What's at Stake: After losing 3 subway lines and 36 bus routes last year, New York City cannot take another service cut. But if the Mayor does not make funding public transportation a priority, we will be facing not only more service cuts, but a fair hike that raises the price of a single ride MetroCard to $3.00 by 2013!
Who's Affected: Millions of New Yorkers rely on Public Transit to get to and from work each day. Higher fairs and service cuts will hurt almost every working family in New York City.
What the Big Banks Must Do: Pay their FAIR SHARE! We cannot allow New Yorkers who rely on public transit to pay more for less service while the big banks continue to skip out on corporate taxes.
What the Mayor Must to Do: The Mayor needs to increase city funding for the MTA in order to restore service cuts and raise new revenue dedicated to the MTA's operating deficit to ensure that we don't face another fair hike in 2013. End Big Bank subsidies now and demand repayment of unearned and excess subsidies. Ensure Fair-Share taxes and eliminate tax loopholes for millionaires, hedge funds, and private equity firms. Demand that Big Banks stop harmful practices that cost NYC money. And CUT NYC CONTRACTS WITH THE BIG BANKS!
Meet Up: Thursday May 12 4PM at Battery Park (corner of Battery Place and State Street)
RSVP on Facebook!
What's At Stake: A lack of English language proficiency is a huge roadblock on the path to citizenship for immigrants. Poor English skills also contribute to work place hazards and an inability to get good paying jobs. Yet before any of the catastrophic cuts to English as a Second Language Programs proposed in the Mayor's budget only 5% of immigrants who want English classes are able to get a seat.
Who's Affected: Currently immigrants and their children make up 2/3 of NYC residents. It is unfair for the Mayor to cut these critical programs for millions of New York City residents and their families and thereby restrict their access to the naturalization process, higher paying wages, and safer work places.
What the Big Banks Must Do: Pay their FAIR SHARE! We can not allow immigrants to lose access to vital services because the big bank are paying ZERO dollars in corporate taxes. What the Mayor Must Do: The Mayor needs to revise his budget to include the 4.5 million in funding to the Immigrant Opportunities Initiative which supplements the city's core adult literacy program funds that were restored by City Council this year. End Big Bank subsidies now and demand repayment of unearned and excess subsidies. Ensure Fair-Share taxes and eliminate tax loopholes for millionaires, hedge funds, and private equity firms. Demand that Big Banks stop harmful practices that cost NYC money. And CUT NYC CONTRACTS WITH THE BIG BANKS!
What's at Stake: While the cost of living sky-rockets, the Mayor and City Council continue to award hand outs to corporations in the name of "economic development subsidies." JP Morgan Chase, Morgan Stanley and Citigroup have all received billions of dollars in subsidies for job creation but have fallen short on the number of jobs created. Developers have been given subsidies to create shopping centers to attract big box retailers, who often pay minimum wage and do not provide health insurance. This is not "economic development" it's subsidized poverty.
Who's Affected The lack of quality jobs in NYC affects not only the 317,000 low wage workers in the New York Metro Area or the thousands of workers relying on unemployment, but also every single tax payer. We cannot allow the Mayor and City Council to spend our tax dollars rewarding huge corporations for running mom and pop shops out of business and then spending even more of our money on public assistance because these corporations pay poverty wages, and don't provide healthcare and we can not allow the big banks to keep reaping tax payer subsidies with out creating the jobs they promised us.
What the Big Banks Must Do: Pay the tax payers back for jobs they have not created! We can not allow New Yorkers to continue to struggle to find decent jobs when the same banks that caused the economy meltdown are getting paid for not keeping their promises.
What the Mayor Must Do: The Mayor needs to support the Living Wage Act, Prevailing Wage legislation and Paid Sick Days bill to ensure that every worker in New York is receiving a fair days pay for a fair days work and stop stuffing the pockets of greedy corporate executives with our tax dollars who continue to treat New Yorkers like dirt. End Big Bank subsidies now and demand repayment of unearned and excess subsidies. Ensure Fair-Share taxes and eliminate tax loopholes for millionaires, hedge funds, and private equity firms. Demand that Big Banks stop harmful practices that cost NYC money. And CUT NYC CONTRACTS WITH THE BIG BANKS!
What’s at stake? Skyrocketing foreclosure rates because the Big Banks refuse to modify mortgages. Loss of tax revenue for city and state services due to the rise in foreclousres. Major cuts to affordable and public housing programs will mean rent in the city will continue to skyrocket.
Who’s affected? Tens of thousands of families facing foreclosure, even though they are trying desperately to modify their loans and save their homes. Millions of hard-working NYC renters (including the 550,000 people living in public housing – a number higher than the population of Miami) who will be left wondering if they can afford to stay in their apartments in the coming years.
What the Big Banks MUST Do: Stop Foreclosures and Modify Mortgages for families fighting to stay in their homes!
What the Mayor MUST Do: Mayor Bloomberg should instruct his representative and the Department of Finance’s representative on the NYC Banking Commission to enact higher standards when they determine where the city deposits their money. The Banking Commis¬sion, when considering where to put the city’s money on deposit, must examine each bank’s re¬cord on modifying mortgages and investment and lending into NYC neighborhoods. Mayor Bloomberg should fully fund foreclosure-prevention loan counseling. Finally, the Mayor should support a City End City business with banks that won’t stop foreclosures, modify mortgages, and end practices that hurt public finances, Stop depleting $73 million in operating funds for public housing that can be used for maintenance and restoration of apartments, No more public money for luxury-only development – extend the 421a “exclusion zone” to cover all of New York City. Developers must provide 30% affordable housing at 60% of Area Median Income instead of 20% affordable housing at 80% AMI in order to qualify for the subsidy.
Higher Education/ Students Unite
What’s at Stake: At a time when Wall Street profits are soaring and CUNY is reeling from $107 million in state cuts ($95.1 million to senior colleges and $12.3 million to community colleges), Mayor Bloomberg would blow another $63.1 million hole in CUNY’s community college budget. This includes both di rect funding reductions and unfunded mandatory cost increases, such as enrollment growth.
The Mayor would also zero out funding for Val lone Scholarships, Black Male Initiative, Murphy Institute for Worker Education, Center for Puerto Rican Studies, the Dominican Studies Institutes and Creative Arts Team―programs that sustain CUNY’s mission to provide opportunity for all New Yorkers.
Who’s Affected: The thousands of CUNY students who are trying to change their lives, and the thousands of children who may not be able to attend CUNY schools in the future because of the cuts.
What The Big Banks MUST Do: PAY THEIR FAIR SHARE! We cannot allow our college students and future college students to make sacrifices while The Big Six banks are paying ZERO corporate taxes!
What The Mayor MUST Do: Put an immediate stop to these cuts! Big Bank subsidies now and demand repayment of unearned and excess subsidies. Ensure Fair-Share taxes and eliminate tax loopholes for millionaires, hedge funds, and private equity firms. Demand that Big Banks stop harmful practices that cost NYC money. And CUT NYC CONTRACTS WITH THE BIG BANKS!
What’s At Stake: Proposed termination of rent subsidies for formerly homeless families as part of the elimination of the Advantage program; Over $10 million dollars in combined cuts to homeless shelters; $2.5 million in cuts to the Domestic Violence and Empowerment (DoVE) progra...m; Over $9 million in combined cuts to Child Welfare Services; $7 million in cuts to Child Care centers; $8 million in cuts to Community Based Health Services for low income families and people living with HIV/AIDS; $20 million in cuts to Senior Centers; $60 million in cuts to youth programs; $10 million in cuts to adult literacy and immigrant services.
Who’s affected: HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of the most vulnerable people in New York City. These proposed cuts are inexcusable. Homelessness in NYC is at an all-time high, and we cannot allow our city to deny access to vital medical and housing services to low-income families, people living with HIV/AIDS, and seniors. We allow the Big Banks to prosper on tax breaks and sweetheart deals, while New Yorkers who need our help are being asked to sacrifice EVEN MORE???
What The Big Banks MUST Do: PAY THEIR FAIR SHARE! We cannot allow these necessary human services to be cut while The Big Six banks are paying ZERO corporate taxes!
What The Mayor MUST Do: Put an immediate stop to these cuts! End Big Bank subsidies now and demand repayment of unearned and excess subsidies. Ensure Fair-Share taxes and eliminate tax loopholes for millionaires, hedge funds, and private equity firms. Demand that Big Banks stop harmful practices that cost NYC money. And CUT NYC CONTRACTS WITH THE BIG BANKS!
What’s At Stake: Too many schools are already failing our children, and cuts to our classrooms will further harm the quality of education for NYC students, particularly in low-income communities of color. In New York City, only 23% of all students and only 13% of Black and Latino stud...ents graduate high school ready for college. Currently, three-quarters of high school graduates are required to take remedial courses when they enter CUNY. There are $515 million in threatened cuts to NYC schools, which will mean a loss of over 6,000 teachers and countless other programs including after school programs, arts programs, tutoring, sports, counseling, professional development, other essential services and an increase in class
Who’s Affected: Thousands of New York city public school students, particularly in low-income communities of color, over 6,000 teachers who could lose their jobs.
What The Big Banks MUST Do: PAY THEIR FAIR SHARE! We cannot allow our children to make sacrifices while The Big Six banks are paying ZERO corporate taxes!
What The Mayor MUST Do: Put an immediate stop to these cuts! End Big Bank subsidies now and demand repayment of unearned and excess subsidies. Ensure Fair-Share taxes and eliminate tax loopholes for millionaires, hedge funds, and private equity firms. Demand that Big Banks stop harmful practices that cost NYC money. And CUT NYC CONTRACTS WITH THE BIG BANKS!