Hi all,
I just joined the Debt Collective this week, and am graduating in February from the UMass Amherst Labor Center. I’ve set a New Year’s Resolution to write a postcard a day to my Representative and Senators for them to call on Biden to cancel all student debt. Today I’m working on writing up a resolution for the Western Mass Area Labor Federation to call on Biden to cancel all student debt, and have begun being in communication with my town councillor in Amherst about the process of getting a resolution passed. She’s been quite supportive so far. I’m interested in getting my union of graduate employees (GEO-UAW2322) to pass a similar resolution before I graduate next month.
I’m from Pennsylvania originally, and I have $20,000 in student loan debt. I’ve been in the field of education for ten years, primarily preschool and early childhood education, and am passionate about organizing around access to education at all levels. I’ve also been organizing around prison abolition for about 13 years, and believe that the future of the Labor movement must be an abolitionist unionism. I’m very glad to see the efforts that the Debt Collective has made in cancelling $3.2 million dollars of carceral debt. Excited to join the Debt Collective!