VACCINE APPOINTMENTS AVAILABLE ON SATURDAY IN MONTGOMERY
The Montgomery Township Health Department is holding a Moderna vaccine clinic this Saturday, May 8, from 9 AM to Noon at the Otto Kaufman Community Center in Montgomery. The clinic is available to everyone aged 18 and older.
“New Jersey is reopening, so now is the time to get yourself vaccinated so you can confidently get back to the people and activities you love,” said Montgomery Health Officer Stephanie D. Carey.
To register for Saturday’s clinic, use the health department’s online sign-up form or call 908-359-8211 x2400. If you haven’t already, also sign up on the New Jersey vaccine scheduling system.
The MDO would like to wish you a Happy International Workers Day! During these unprecedented times it is imperative to recognize the hard work of all the workers that serve this nation. We thank all workers for the hard work that they do every single day
Happy AAPI Heritage Month! Celebrate with Jaffer for Assembly on Monday May 3 @9pm ET
Tickets available at bit.ly/JafferAAPIMonth
Learn more about the campaign at www.voteforjaffer.com
This content isn't available right now
When this happens, it's usually because the owner only shared it with a small group of people, changed who can see it or it's been deleted.Proud to support our Montgomery Democratic Organization 2021 Township Committee candidates Montgomery Township Deputy Mayor Marvin Schuldiner and Neena Singh!
Join many of your fellow MDO Members for Jaffer for Assembly's kickoff event today!
This content isn't available right now
When this happens, it's usually because the owner only shared it with a small group of people, changed who can see it or it's been deleted.Mayor Jaffer has a virtual campaign kickoff coming up as she aims to make history once again in LD-16!
This content isn't available right now
When this happens, it's usually because the owner only shared it with a small group of people, changed who can see it or it's been deleted.
Timeline PhotosWishing you all the blessings of the holy month on this first night of Ramadan.
#somersetcountynj
This event may be of interest to members:
This content isn't available right now
When this happens, it's usually because the owner only shared it with a small group of people, changed who can see it or it's been deleted.
As Women's History Month ends today, our Founder and Chairwoman Kerri Kennedy shares this Op-Ed. #WomensHistoryMonth, #ElectWomenNJ
As we approach the end of Women’s History Month, we need to reflect on how we can increase the urgency of equality and representation of women in politics and leadership in the workforce. In many ways, life has improved dramatically for women. There are more girls and women in school than ever before. Women account for 57% of all bachelor’s degrees. Last year, women were in the majority in the workplace —occupying slightly more than 50% of positions.
We can and do aspire for the highest offices. We have our first female Vice President in the White House. The 2020 Women in the Workplace report noted advancements women have made in senior management in the past five years. Between 2015 and 2020, the percentage of women in SVP roles grew from 23 to 28 percent—and from 17 to 21 percent in the C-suite. Women remain dramatically underrepresented, especially women of color, but the numbers were slowly improving. We also see the rise and power of global activism in movements like #MeToo and organizations addressing sexual harassment and toxic work cultures.
Now on to the bad news. Though women have made global progress on social, economic, and political indicators, women are 25% more likely than men to live in extreme poverty. The UN reported that the poverty rate for women had been expected to decrease by almost 3% by 2021, but projections are now pointing to a 9% increase in women living in poverty by next year. This is largely due to the COVID -19 pandemic. This global pandemic will dramatically increase the poverty rate for women and widen the gap between men and women who live in poverty globally. Before COVID-19 existed, domestic violence was already one of the greatest human rights violations. As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, this number is likely to grow.
In the U.S., the gender wage gap persists and are more pronounced between the earnings of Black and Hispanic women and white men. Though progress is moving at a very slow pace, all but 7 states have improved the gender wage gap in the past 10 years. Unfortunately, NJ is one of the 7 states that did not narrow the wage gap from 2010 to 2018.
In politics, women continue to be underrepresented in elected office. Globally, 1 in 4 congress or parliament seats are held by women. The United Sates ranks 75 out of 193 for women’s representation. While women in the US make up slightly more than 50% of the population, only 23% of the House of Representatives are women and only 8.8% are women of color. At our current rate of progress, it will be 200 years before we would have equal representation in politics in the U.S. At the glacial rate of progress we are making, our children or grandchildren will not see true gender equality - it will take many more generations.
These figures did not even account for COVID-19. Women started the year as the majority of the workplace for the first time ever in history with little fanfare. By September, women have left the workforce at four times the rate that men have. Among heterosexual couples, more than 70% of fathers think they are splitting household labor equally with their partner during Covid-19—but only 44% of mothers say the same. For the 1 in 5 women who are single parents, the challenges are even greater as they are more likely to do all the housework and childcare. Latina and Black mothers are more likely to be the sole breadwinner or to have partners working outside the home during Covid-19. Latina mothers are 1.6 times more likely than white mothers to be responsible for all childcare and housework, and Black mothers are twice as likely to be handling all of this for their families.
This is a critical moment for women in leadership in America. The global pandemic could push back women’s progress back years and possibly decades if we don’t guard against it.
Why does it matter? Research has consistently demonstrated that gender equality is good for the bottom line. Consulting firm McKinsey found that companies in the top quarter for gender diversity on executive teams were 21% more likely to outperform on profitability. We know that diversity breeds innovation. A Forbes report noted that transforming a single gender office to one that was a diverse mix of genders could increase revenue by 41%. Women in senior leadership have a positive impact on company culture and politics. We are more likely to sponsor bills, embrace employee-friendly policies and programs, and champion racial and gender diversity compared to men.
With the threats that COVID has made to women’s progress in the workforce, it is time for us to increase the urgency with which we address gender parity. We need to do this through policy changes, workplace initiatives to keep women in the workforce, and increase women’s leadership and representation in politics and business. When the voice and perspectives of half of the population aren’t adequately represented, our organizations and communities won’t be as strong or democratic. We are at risk of backsliding decades if we do not heed this moment with the seriousness and urgency that it demands.
Kerri Kennedy, Founder/Chairwomen, Elect Women NJ
This is why all your hard work to help elect people like Governor Phil Murphy and Assemblyman Andrew Zwicker matters. New Jersey is making voting more accessible to all.
<<New Jersey Will Expand Voting Rights, as Some States Limit Them
New Jersey, a state controlled by Democrats, will offer more than a week of early in-person voting for the first time before November’s election.
“I plan to take action to ensure that early voting becomes the law of the land in New Jersey,” Gov. Philip D. Murphy said on Friday.
By Tracey Tully
March 29, 2021
Months after a divisive presidential election pushed voting rights to the fore, the issue has become a key political battlefield.
Bills restricting ballot access are moving quickly in Republican-led states even as President Biden and his fellow Democrats in Washington press for passage of the most ambitious voting rights legislation in decades to help blunt their effect.
In New Jersey, the Democratic governor, Philip D. Murphy, is about to sign a bill authorizing early in-person voting, sending a clear signal that making it easier to vote is crucial for a healthy democracy.
It will be done in a ceremony laden with symbolism: Mr. Murphy will be joined on Tuesday in a videoconference by Stacey Abrams, whose decade-long effort to enroll voters in Georgia helped Mr. Biden win the state and cemented the Democrats’ slim majority in the United States Senate.
New Jersey lawmakers’ final approval of two bills that expand voter access were not surprising in a state where Democrats control the State House and Democratic voters outnumber Republican voters by more than one million. And the practice of early in-person voting is hardly novel: New Jersey will become the 25th state to allow voters to cast ballots in person before elections for a period that includes a weekend day.
Dig deeper into the moment.
Special offer: Subscribe for $1 a week.
But Thursday’s final votes came on the same day that Georgia became the first major battleground state to restrict voting access since the tumultuous 2020 presidential contest, adopting a law that added voter identification requirements for absentee voting, limited drop boxes and expanded the Legislature’s power over elections.
Republicans have already passed a similar law in Iowa, and are moving forward with efforts to limit voting in states including Arizona, Florida and Texas.
[...]
New Jersey’s legislation requires each of the state’s 21 counties to open three to seven polling places for machine voting in the days before an election. For the Nov. 2 contest, there would be nine days of early in-person voting, including two weekends, ending the Sunday before Election Day. The bill calls for fewer days of early voting before primaries.
“Our accountability over government, opportunities to better our lives and the chance to elect our representatives all depend upon our ability to access the ballot,” said Senator Nia Gill, a Democrat who represents parts of Essex and Passaic Counties and was a sponsor of the bill.
Separate legislation that was also approved on Thursday calls for drop boxes for paper vote-by-mail ballots to be spaced out more evenly throughout counties, ensuring that there are access points closer to residential neighborhoods.
[...]
“Across our nation, there is a concerted effort to limit access to the ballot box among eligible voters,” Mr. Murphy said in a statement. “Those efforts are un-American and fly in the face of the principles that generations of Americans, from soldiers to civil rights activists, have fought for and in many cases given their lives to defend.”
[...]
“We applaud the Legislature’s commitment to removing obstacles to the ballot in recognition of the simple truth that our democracy is better when all voices can participate,” Jesse Burns, executive director of the League of Women Voters of New Jersey, said in a statement.
Henal Patel, a director at the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice, a nonprofit that advocates racial and social justice, said the inclusion of voting on two Sundays would encourage more nonwhite churchgoers to cast ballots as part of a nationwide tradition known as “souls to the polls.”
“Early in-person voting encourages participation by more people, increases satisfaction, and results in shorter lines on Election Day,” Ms. Patel said in a statement.
During the pandemic, voting in New Jersey has occurred primarily with vote-by-mail ballots. Last fall, every registered voter in the state was sent a paper ballot, which could be mailed back or delivered by hand to drop boxes or election offices, resulting in record-setting voter turnout in November.
Under the new legislation, drop boxes would be positioned farther apart and efforts would be made to include more in poor communities.
“Passing legislation for early voting and allowing more equitable drop-box placement will expand our democracy for New Jersey’s Black voters, who have historically faced obstacles to the ballot,” Richard T. Smith, president of the state chapter of the N.A.A.C.P., said in a statement.
Ms. Abrams, the former minority leader of the Georgia Statehouse, spent a decade building a Democratic political infrastructure in the state, first with her New Georgia Project and then with Fair Fight, the voting rights organization she founded after losing a campaign for governor in 2018.
Her efforts contributed to January’s election of two Democratic U.S. senators in Georgia, Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, swinging the balance of power in the Senate back to the Democrats.>>
As Some States Limit Voting Rights, New Jersey Will Expand Them
www.nytimes.com
New Jersey, a state controlled by Democrats, will offer more than a week of early in-person voting for the first time before November’s election.A positive step to ensure easier access to voting! This is why it is important to support and elect Democratic candidates up and down the ballot.
We’re pleased to support the excellent Montgomery Township leadership and know they will continue making positive change for our community
Local Officials Outline Goals for 2021
www.themontynews.org
By Barbara A. Preston l February 9, 2021 Montgomery Township elected officials outlined their goals and priorities for 2021 — ranging from keeping residents safe during the pandemic to beautifying the entranceway to the township at the 518 / 206 intersection, where several dilapidated buildings ha...Timeline PhotosHappy Lunar New Year to everyone ringing in the Year of the Ox! May this year bring you and your family good health, joy, and prosperity.
For more news see our Facebook page.