Organizing to win "College For All" in New York's 21st Congressional District

This action is for everyone who lives in New York’s 21st 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.

Rep. Elise Stefanik ( R ) has not yet taken a position on H.R. 3473 College for All Act of 2019 (this bill would make all public colleges and universities free) or H.R. 3448 Student Debt Cancellation Act of 2019 (this bill would cancel all $1.6 trillion of student debt). Can you force her to co-sponsor or publically support these bills?

So far Tedra Cobb ( D ) is the only other candidate who has announced a run for this seat in 2020, although there might be more who announced in the future. Can you force her to take a position on these bills and adopt them as a part of her campaign?

Use the comments below to plan and coordinate with each other on a state-wide level.

CLICK TO EXPAND FOR ADDITIONAL 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 :arrow_right: StudentDebt_NY21.pdf (1.1 MB) about student debt for New York’s 21st congressional district.

Use this study by economists at the Levi 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.

RETURN TO THE MAIN NEW YORK THREAD :statue_of_liberty:

RETURN TO THE MAIN COLLEGE FOR ALL THREAD :house:

I just ran into Tedra Cobb at the bank. She was kind enough to talk with me for several minutes about student debt and higher education policy. I don’t think she is on board with free college and a jubilee yet, but she seemed more open to understanding the issue than the last time I spoke to her about it. I’m going to try to set up a meeting with her campaign manager to make the case for taking this issue seriously and running on real solutions.

If there are any other Debt Collective members in this district, please reach out to me. I’d love to set up a group meeting with her campaign.