This action is for everyone who lives in New York’s 12th congressional district. (Not sure which district you live in? Look it up here.)
We want to organize people to put pressure on members of Congress (or people who are running to become members of Congress) to cancel all student debt and make public universities completely free. This can take many forms. Reach out to each other, start talking and making plans. Here is some information that you might find helpful.
New York’s 12 congressional district is a bit unusual. The current representative Carolyn Maloney (D) has already co-sponsored both H.R. 3448 Student Debt Cancellation Act of 2019 and H.R. 3473 College for All Act of 2019. This is great news! It isn’t just important to put pressure on members of congress to support real solutions, it is also important to thank them when they do the right thing. Please thank Rep. Maloney for supporting a free higher ed and student debt jubilee!
Rep. Maloney’s support might have something to do with the fact that there are three other people running for her seat, all of whom are running explicitly on making public universities completely free and a student debt jubilee. NY-12 is an embarrassment of riches.
These candidates include Lauren Ashcraft ( D ). From her website:
Education as a Human Right/Student Debt Forgiveness
As someone who has lived and studied abroad, Lauren has experienced and appreciated the high quality tuition-free universities available in other countries. Lauren supports Bernie Sanders’ plan to make college free and to forgive all student debt. Lauren believes that education is a human right, and that nobody should be burdened financially for the rest of their life for wanting to learn.
DSA member Peter Harrison (D) is also running for this seat. As far as we know he is the only candidate anywhere in the country who is explicitly running on not just canceling all remaining debt, but on reimbursing past payments. From his website:
Free Our Schools
Guarantee free public college and continuing education
Cancel outstanding student debt and reimburse paid debt
Erica Vladimer (D) is also running for this seat. From her website:
When in Congress, I will work with colleagues to ensure access to:
a debt-free start by forgiving the over $1 trillion in student loan debt that holds hundreds of thousands of people back from starting their families
Use the comments below to plan and coordinate with each other on a state-wide level.
Resources
The Indivisible Guide provides good advice about how to set up a meeting with your members of congress (or the people currently campaigning for office), how to show up at town halls, how to write letters to the editor, etc. We can do all of that and more. Feel free to get creative and come up with your own plans in addition to these tried and true methods.
Use this data sheet 
StudentDebt_NY12.pdf (1.1 MB) about student debt for New York’s 12 congressional district.
Use this study by economists at the Levy Institute which outlines several positive effects of canceling all student debt.
The Young Democratic Socialists of America (YDSA) have a great resources about organizing for College for All. If there is a YDSA chapter near you please reach out and coordinate with them.
