Voting details:
Where: 2125 Canoas Garden Avenue, #100, San Jose, CA 95125
When: Saturday, 1/12/19, 10:30 – 1:30pm.
What: I respectfully ask for your vote to serve as your AD27 ADEM delegate. Below are my stances on some of the major progressive issues we will face in the next 2 years and what I have done to act on them in my community. Connect with other supporters here!
Pro-Immigrant
I grew-up in East Palo Alto and San José and know in my bones that whether my neighbors came to Silicon Valley as produce pickers or programmers, everyone deserves a 5 year, transparent path to citizenship. As Chair of the San José Human Services Commission, I trained as a Rapid Responder. That means when I get a text that ICE is nearby, I jump in my car and go to document what I witness and provide evidence that could help save my neighbors from deportation.
Impact: As an ADEM delegate, I will press federal candidates seeking endorsement on how they will work to abolish ICE and reform our immigration system.
Pro-Choice
When I was an undergrad at Carnegie Mellon, every other Saturday morning I woke up at 6am to take a bus downtown to volunteer as a Planned Parenthood clinic escort. I walked dozens of women past 15-150 screaming protesters.
Impact: Candidates will need to convince me they will protect the reproductive rights of all people.
Anti-Violence and Anti-Harassment
My 1st job out of college was running online communications for a DC-based anti-human trafficking nonprofit. I built tools to track traffickers, raised $500K/yr online, and ran dozens of successful advocacy campaigns. As FDR said, we have a right to freedom from fear; today, that includes fear from labor abuse and workplace harassment.
Impact: I believe victims, whether they are women, non-binary folks, or men.
Pro-Government
On my 3rd day staffing the Chair of the Washington state legislature’s Appropriations Committee, I answered a call from a constituent with disabilities who had been unable to access the state insurance exchange. Working with exchange staff, we saved his insurance. I remembered that experience when I served as a scheduler for now-US Senator Kamala Harris (2015-2017).
Impact: I know that policy work takes time and grit; one person cannot pass a bill and coalitions require compromise and patience. I also know how many allies we activists have in government, if only we take the time to look. As an ADEM delegate, I will continue to respect the work and time of elected officials and staff.
Pro-Criminal Justice Reform
As I write this, my Mom is in jail. She teaches theology at Elmwood Jail two nights a week and has for 3 years. At her church, I sit beside the men she has taught who have made it out and stayed out. I know how powerful rehabilitation and through her eyes I have seen how our justice system punishes those who are poor, experience addiction, or were prevented from accessing education.
Impact: I will work ensure our state party platform endorses greater funding for rehabilitation in jails and prisons, civil and criminal defenses for those who cannot pay, and better funding for mental health services (jails are currently the #1 mental health providers in many counties).
Pro-Affordable Housing
After the ugly display at the Hayes Mansion in August of 2017, I opened my home to bring together members of my South San José community, local elected leaders, and affordable housing advocates. We built plans to advocate for increased housing for our homeless neighbors. I testified at City Council hearings and pushed the Housing Department for more humane policies through my role as the Chair of the San José Human Services Commission, policies proposed and endorsed by my friends who are formerly homeless.
Impact: In conversations with state-level candidates seeking endorsements, I will ask directly about how they will work to protect and provide stable housing for low-income and homeless people.
Pro-LGBTQ
As a bi woman and chair of the San José Human Services Commission, I am working with the City to redraft the Women’s Bill of Rights to ensure it includes transgender and non-binary people. I was recently a member of a US State Department Silicon Valley women to Nigeria, as part of the TechWomen program. During the delegation, we connected with 2000 women and girls in 5 days; I met powerful, brilliant women in tech and was reminded of how transformational access to computers is for so many in our world. One of the hardest parts of the delegation for me was going back in the closet, because Nigeria criminalizes being publicly queer with up-to 14 years in prison and it has been years since I had to pretend to be straight. It reminded me of how fiercely we must protect the rights of all people to love, live, and work free from discrimination.
Impact: I will press federal candidates on how they will work to add transgender and LGB people as a protected class under federal non-discrimination law.
Pro-Universal Healthcare
My little brother has disabilities and without being able to keep him on my parents’ insurance until he was 26, our family would have faced difficult choices. But after his 26th birthday, we hit the same cliff. My family who live in Vancouver don’t spend hours and hours every year struggling to understand the tricks and twists of private health insurance plans to keep their children healthy and neither should our families.
Impact: I will push for a full-throated endorsement of universal healthcare at the convention to signal to all California representatives, regardless of party, what the people of the golden state expect of our government.
Pro-Environment Justice
Like being anti-violence and pro-LGBTQ, I wish we lived in a world where this did not have to be a plank on my platform. But as the Drumpf administration is trying to throttle the EPA and roll-back vital environmental regulations, it needs to be said: clean air and water, protection for our forests, wetlands, waterways, oceans and prairies, and immediate reduction of greenhouse gas emissions to the levels specified by the Paris Accord are big and necessary policies for our party and our elected representatives to support.
Impact: Candidates seeking my endorsement vote will need to show a track record of working for environmental justice for all communities.
Conclusion
You have just read my full platform. You can also find it here: jessicadickinsongoodman.com/ADEM
As a former scheduler for now-Senator Harris, I believe in being easy to reach. My cell is 650-804-9044. I hope to count on your vote on 1/12, 1/13, 1/26, or 1/27!