How the Fairness Project Changed the Lives of Over 17 Million Americans in Our First 5 Years
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
BREAKING THROUGH AT THE BALLOT BOX How The Fairness Project Changed the Lives of Over 17 Million Americans in Our First 5 years BREAKING THROUGH AT THE BALLOT BOX How The Fairness Project Changed the Lives of Over 17 Million Americans in Our First 5 years Building a Movement to Support Working Families at the Ballot Box 3 TFP 2020 Campaigns Inspired Activism 4 Empowering Voters to Expand Health Care 4 Shifting the Political Math on Health Care 5 Making Health Care a Constitutional Right During a Pandemic 5 Guaranteeing Paid Leave 7 Ending Poverty Wages 7 Combating Systemic Racism 8 Winning Leave Policies that Support American Families 8 Responding to the COVID Pandemic 9 TFP’s Impact Record: Over 17 Million Lives Changed 10 TFP’s Ballot Initiatives Helped Define the 2020 Election— And Redefine What’s Possible 11 The Best Investment in Politics Is Also the Fastest Path for Change 13 Ballot Initiative Campaigns Bring Huge Results 14 The Fairness Project Builds and Supports Campaigns 15 Missouri Case Study: From Concept to Victory 16 www.thefairnessproject.org TWITTER fairnessproject• FACEBOOK-F projectfairness• instagram thefairnessproject Hundreds of volunteers in Oklahoma helped put Medicaid expansion on the ballot BUILDING A MOVEMENT TO SUPPORT WORKING FAMILIES AT THE BALLOT BOX Since its founding in 2015, no organization has a better track record of winning progressive issues at the ballot box The Fairness Project is now 20–1, winning 95 percent of its ballot initiative campaigns at a time when partisan gridlock and special interests have stymied progress at every level of government We put political power directly into the hands of voters and are solving some of the biggest economic and health care problems facing working families across the country THE FAIRNESS PROJECT 3 Empowering Voters to Expand Health Care When the Affordable Care Act was under attack and most at risk of being overturned, The Fairness Project responded by going on offense, launching Medicaid expansion ballot measures in red and purple states across the country In 2017, The Fairness Project worked with partners in Maine to win the first- ever Medicaid expansion ballot measure In 2018, we incubated and drove similar victories in Utah, Idaho, and Nebraska And in 2020, our work allowed voters in Oklahoma and Missouri to cast ballots for more health care, too These wins are making it possible for more than 830,000 additional Americans to see a doctor, get medical treatments, and receive needed prescription drugs, and they’ve proved that voters everywhere want more access to lifesaving care The victories helped secure the nation’s landmark health care program at a critical time, and are delivering a lasting impact for low-income families and communities of color who face significant health care and economic disparities TFP 2020 Campaigns Inspired Activism 3,643 volunteers 9,127 volunteer shifts 3 million calls and texts to voters 4 THE FAIRNESS PROJECT Shifting the Political Math on Health Care This truly is a game changer for my family MEMBERS OF CONGRESS REPRESENTING MEDICAID EXPANSION STATES and others like me 2017 (before TFP campaign) facing a lack of health 62% 38% care coverage for MEDICAID EXPANSION NON-EXPANSION ourselves and our loved 2021 (after TFP campaigns) ones. We are already facing stress and 73% 27% MEDICAID EXPANSION NON-EXPANSION financial hardship, and now with this COVID -19 pandemic, our anxiety Making Health Care a Constitutional Right is at an all-time high. During a Pandemic The opportunity to In 2020, The Fairness Project took its movement for health care expand Medicaid to new heights as the deep red states of Oklahoma and Missouri became the first in the country to constitutionally guarantee the coverage can save lives. expansion of Medicaid The transformation in the two states is staggering Prior to Victoria Altic, expansion, Oklahoma had the second highest uninsured rate in a Springfield, MO mother the country, and Missouri possessed one of the highest maternal in the coverage gap mortality rates in the nation with Black women three times more likely to die as a result of pregnancy complications Rural hospitals in both states were shuttering their doors at an alarming rate, making access to emergency care a growing challenge for entire communities, and essential workers in both states continued to go without health care — even in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic After a decade of political obstruction, voters in Oklahoma and Missouri had seen enough They collected hundreds of thousands of signatures, set new records for civic engagement, and turned out in huge numbers to expand Medicaid and ensure that their health care could never be taken away by politicians again This June I found out my son has stage four cancer. I cannot tell you how devastating that is for a mother to hear. I had to make a choice of caring for my son or working, and I cannot afford to lose my job. No one should ever have to choose between their paycheck and being with their children in their last days. I am now putting myself at risk every other week when I go to see him. I’m at risk of losing my job, of catching COVID when flying, of not being with my son when he needs me. I was there when he took his first breath and I need to be there when he takes his last. April Kimbrough, a health care worker and nursing school student 6 THE FAIRNESS PROJECT Every month is Guaranteeing Paid Leave a struggle The COVID-19 crisis underscored just how vulnerable most Americans are, and how little access workers have to paid leave but it doesn’t have We talk a lot about supporting working families in this country, but it’s far past time to move beyond the talk and actually do to be this way. something about it The Fairness Project recognized the importance of paid leave long People who work before the global health crisis hit In 2016 and 2018, The Fairness Project helped voters in Washington, Arizona, Michigan, and San hard should be Antonio, Texas win ballot initiatives to provide paid sick leave to more than 3 million Americans able to take care of Then, in 2020, we helped win the nation’s first-ever paid family and medical leave ballot initiative in Colorado, setting up further their families—not action at the federal and state level be forced to live in The Fairness Project is committed to continuing our work to deliver paid leave to support families when illness strikes or a poverty. newborn arrives—policies the rest of the industrialized world implemented long ago but tens of millions of American workers still go without Alexis Straughter, Certified Nursing Assistant St Louis, MO Ending Poverty Wages Real wages for working families haven’t budged in decades, gender and racial income gaps persist, and the disparity between working people and those at the very top has continued to grow If we want to boost the economy and support working families, then consumers need money to spend, and that starts with higher wages Since 2016, The Fairness Project has helped working families take matters into their own hands, winning minimum wage increases in nine states, including Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Washington, D C , Maine, Massachusetts, Missouri, and Washington These wage increases have benefited nearly 10 million workers, put more than $17 billion into their pockets, and created upward pressure on Congress to pass a federal increase in the minimum wage If progressive economic issues like raising the minimum wage can win at the ballot box in red states like Arkansas, Missouri, and Florida, they can win anywhere The Fairness Project will continue the fight to end poverty wages by supporting ballot initiatives across the country THE FAIRNESS PROJECT 7 Combating Systemic Racism In the march toward equality, our country has a long way to go Systemic racism has led to corporate and public policies that undervalue, fail, and endanger the lives of people of color Communities of color are more likely to go without insurance, be underserved by our health care system, work in jobs that pay poverty wages, be denied access to personal or commercial credit, not have access to paid leave, and be killed by the police Together, we must reject systemic racism and the policies that sustain it And while we recognize that no single policy can put an end to the devastating racial disparities we see across the country, the evidence is overwhelming that the policies The Fairness Project advocates for, such as Medicaid expansion, paid leave, increasing the minimum wage, combatting predatory lending and police reform, can significantly reduce them Finding New Ways to Make An Impact The Fairness Project is working with its partners to assess and incubate ballot initiative campaigns in cities to address policing issues We look forward to partnering with grassroots leaders to create a more equitable and responsive system of justice across the country 8 THE FAIRNESS PROJECT Responding to the COVID Pandemic The frontline workers From the vulnerability of our jobs to the lack of access to paid who have sustained leave and health care, to increased attention on racial and gender disparities, the pandemic shined a bright light on issues that have us through the long impacted the American people And thanks to a number of recent ballot initiatives, voters have pandemic have made it clear what they want to see in a response: health care for all Americans, guaranteed paid leave, and an increase in the been cheered as minimum wage to support the essential workers who have been heroes — but many most affected by COVID-19 This is our moment to address these systemic issues and secure still don’t have the dignity of all workers by ensuring that everyone can go to the doctor or stay home when they’re sick, put food on the table access to health for their families, and afford the roof over their heads, no matter where they work care, paid leave, That’s why The Fairness Project is committed to more ballot or living wages.