The Newsletter for the Movement for
Economic, Climate, and Racial Justice
|
The people have spoken: Zohran Mamdani will be the next mayor of New York City. These results are more than a message — they’re a mandate for our next mayor to deliver green schools, universal childcare, and a $30 minimum wage, and to confront the cost of living and climate crises crushing working class communities of color and forcing families out of the city they call home. The Mayor-elect’s affordability agenda is not far from our own campaigns. Our Climate Works for All coalition has been fighting for Green, Healthy Schools at the City level, and after winning a higher minimum wage in 2023, our Raise Up NY coalition is continuing the fight for higher wages at a local and statewide level. As New Yorkers invest in a new vision, ALIGN is looking forward to working with the mayor elect to win the green, affordable city we deserve.
|
Fast Shipping, Slow Justice
|
Amazon is destroying our communities on multiple fronts, inside and outside their warehouses. We joined NYC Comptroller Brad Lander, Tiffany Cabán, Amazon Teamsters, and Environmental Justice organizations at City Hall to release a new report exposing the e-commerce industry’s reckless harms and solidifying our need for labor and climate regulations that make NYC work for us, not Amazon.
For too long, Amazon has been allowed to poison our city for profit, leaving behind dangerous streets, polluted neighborhoods, and injured workers. We’re calling on the City to pass the Delivery Protection Act (Intro 1396) and Intro 1130, which would require warehouse operators to reduce harmful truck emissions.
Here are some of the report’s findings:
-
Traffic incidents: When “last mile” delivery facilities open, 78% of nearby areas see more injury-causing crashes
-
Environmental Injustice: 68% of last mile warehouses are located in officially designated Environmental Justice (EJ) Areas, including Red Hook, East New York, Maspeth, and Hunts Point.
-
Worker Injuries: Between 2022 and 2024, 38 of 50 facilities (76%) identified by the New York City Department of City Planning reported injuries to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), totaling over 2,000 injuries, or an average of 678 per year.
If your organization is interested in publicly supporting the Delivery Protection Act, fill out this organizational sign-on letter form!
|
Lowering Utility Costs and Energy Reliability
With Battery Storage
|
Climate Director Jenille Scott and RETI Center Executive Director Jinean Robinson receive a Battery Storage System Training and Tour Certificate
|
Microgrid Networks in Bushwick, one of the many battery storage systems in New York.
|
You’ve probably heard of solar panels and wind turbines, but another type of green energy solution that is growing traction is battery energy storage systems (BESS). When the sun isn’t shining or the wind isn’t blowing, we need the infrastructure to store the energy for consumers to use – that’s where battery storage comes in. Councilmember Sandy Nurse has a bill that would make it easier to expand our battery storage infrastructure to support solar panels on school buildings, electrification and upgrades and make New York City’s electricity grid more resilient. Battery storage is critical for Green, Healthy Schools. Our Climate Director Jenille Scott recently toured Microgrid Networks in Bushwick where she learned how battery storage works and why it's a better alternative to fossil fuel infrastructure polluting Black and Brown neighborhoods. Expanding our battery storage infrastructure is critical to make the City healthier and more resilient, create union jobs, and lower energy costs.
|
Faiza Azam, Labor and Climate Organizer, testifies at the Committee on Fire and Emergency Management on the safety of battery storage in our communities.
|
Welcome Daisy Chung,
our new Campaigns Director!
|
We’re happy to welcome Daisy Chung as our new Campaigns Director at ALIGN! Daisy (she/her) brings over 20 years of organizing and campaign experience in the social justice movement. She returns to ALIGN after many years, having previously served as its Campaign Director and Deputy Director. Daisy's past work also includes serving as Executive Director of the Restaurant Opportunities Center of New York, a workers center dedicated to organizing workers to improve conditions in the restaurant industry, and as director of the NY Healthy Nail Salons Coalition, focused on raising workplace standards for workers in the nail salon industry. Daisy grew up in Queens after she immigrated to the U.S. as a child, and still resides in her favorite borough with her family.
|
Executive Director Theodore Moore at the 2025 Somos conference in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
|
ALIGN and community members take a tour at Microgrid Networks in Bushwick.
|
At a rally with NYSNA Maimonides Hospital for a fair contract for private sector nurses!
|
Theo speaks at a panel modernizing and expanding energy infrastructure to meet the state's climate and economic goals
|
|
