Dear friends,
In 1914, Henry Ford started paying his workers five dollars a day, doubling wages and raising the bar in the industry. Last week, Dolly Parton made her Henry Ford move, and I hope her efforts reshape employee benefits.
Dollywood’s parent company announced Tuesday that Dollywood will pay 100 percent of the tuition costs, fees and books for employees who pursue higher education.
Beginning on February 24th, her 11,000 employees — full-time, part-time AND seasonal — will be eligible for the education benefit. Dolly is a class act.
Locally, we’re on the verge of an important employment reform: beginning three months from today, most job listings in the city will have to include salary range information. This change is a triumph for pay transparency, which protects employees from inequitable pay disparities.
The ultimate in inequitable pay disparities was the long history of forced, unpaid labor — slavery — in the US.
to examine the impacts of the institution of slavery, subsequently racial and economic discrimination against African-Americans, and recommend appropriate remedies.
as well as “federal and state laws that discriminated against freed enslaved Africans and their descendants during the period between the end of the Civil War and the present.”
The state of California has a reparations task force and the Boston City council is considering legislation to create their own commission.
The numbers tell a story of wealth robbed from people.
In 2019 the median white household held $188,200 in wealth—7.8 times that of the typical Black household ($24,100).
While most people don’t yet support reparations, thinking people find the idea hard to dismiss once they look into it. So, New York needs to look into it.
Let your state legislators know that you support the creation of a state commission on reparations.
Don’t wait for the state! Join the Reparations Movement.
Our justice work is about securing the good things for everyone in the society.
Canadian doctors are now prescribing time in nature, along with national parks passes.
“There’s almost no medical condition that nature doesn’t make better,” said Melissa Lem, a family physician and director of the PaRx initiative, which partnered with Parks Canada to help distribute the initial batch of 100 passes. While similar programs elsewhere have offered regional or local park visits, Lem says this is the first such initiative with a national annual pass.
The program now serves four of Canada’s ten provinces. It’s been a rough couple of weeks in Canada, so I expect demand will grow.
To my surprise, the idea of a park prescription originated in the US! We have not gone as far as our northern neighbors and we need to figure out how to move the idea forward.
It is estimated that the streetscape could accommodate 250,000 more trees; the rest of the new plantings would be in parks and other green spaces.
There are communities that are greatly in need of more street trees for cooling shade, beauty, and climate resilience.
Take a moment to tell the mayor why he should support a new tree-planting initiative!
On Friday, South Fork Wind broke ground on New York's first offshore wind project. Deb Haaland, Secretary of the Interior, was there. She said:
America's clean energy transition is not a dream for a distant future - it is happening right here and now. Offshore wind will power our communities, advance our environmental justice goals, and stimulate our economy by creating thousands of good-paying union jobs across the nation.
One wind farm is a start.
Sign up to lobby legislators for climate investments with NY Renews!
Call your legislators about NYS legislation to invest in more renewable energy! There is a call script from Sane Energy Project.
And finally, because we must have bread and roses, there’s a program called Creatives Rebuild New York (CRNY) that is funding artists directly.
Apply to Creatives Rebuild New York for Guaranteed Income for Artists and the Artist Employment Program.
Have a great evening!
with love,
L