As the 15th Congressional District race gets closer to its midpoint, it’s at this point (or perhaps even sooner) where Democratic candidates have laid out a platform they hope can resonate with voters of the district that covers virtually the entire Bronx.

The Norwood News reviewed all the positions of confirmed candidates to that were made available on their websites. Here’s the list, which out of fairness, is an unedited, straight cut-and-paste look at their positions, complete with syntax and grammatical errors:

Ydanis Rodriguez: Rodriguez’ campaign website, doesn’t explicitly lay out a policy agenda, though the language used on his site indicate he’ll be a fighter for the poor. His website reads, “It is no secret that the 15th Congressional District is the poorest in the country. Our schools are in desperate need of funding. Our train stations are in disrepair. These needs don’t happen in rich neighborhoods, they happen here because we are largely a district of immigrants. No one has fought more for social justice than I have. This is not a time for three piece suits or trust fund kids. These times require a street fighter.”

Councilman Ruben Diaz Sr.: No website to account for after exhaustive attempts. Diaz Sr. has been featured in news articles outlining some policy proposals, but it’s unclear what his positions are regarding housing, jobs, immigration, and healthcare, among the many topics the rest of the candidates touch on their websites.

Marlene Cintron: True, Cintron has a website, though it’s devoid of a specific page devoted to issues. It instead focuses on her background as head of the Bronx Overall Economic Development Corporation, one of the business development engines for the Bronx. She credits her business experience, which has produced jobs for a borough that at one point had an extremely high unemployment rate that’s gone sharply down.

Councilman Ritchie Torres: Torres takes a different approach to outlining where he stands on the issues, instead relying on local and national news stories spotlighting him in action with respect to issues. Five issues—housing, jobs, healthcare, education, and good governance—take center stage, with Torres’ camp utilizing news articles to indirectly express where he stands on issues. Some themes the Norwood News picked up showed a demand to fix the beleaguered New York City Housing Authority, government transparency, a plan to address mental illness in the LGBT community, tackling segregation at public schools, and holding government accountable.

Melissa Mark-Viverito: Like Councilman Ritchie Torres, the former New York City Council Speaker relies on news clippings to indirectly express her positions on various issues, including Puerto Rico, NYCHA reforms, and criminal justice reform that included the closure of Rikers Island. Mark-Viverito touts the Rikers Island closure as among her key accomplishments as she was the legislator who first proposed the closure, which was carried out by her successor, Corey Johnson in October.

Assemblyman Michael Blake: Under the banner of “Bold Vision for Change,” the five-year Assembly legislator’s platform isn’t as verbally robust as his rivals, but features some interesting insights:

EDUCATION: Advocating for a Marshall-like plan to reform the nation’s publicsystem so every child in The Bronx has access to the resources and programs necessary to receive a high-quality, equitable education while supporting the elimination of college student debt.

HOUSING: Making a historic investment in public housing to ensure every bronxite can live with dignity by having access to a safe, affordable home through a shift from Area Median Income to Neighborhood Based Income.

HEALTHCARE: Fighting for affordable, quality healthcare by building on the Affordable Care Act — so that every resident of The Bronx has access to the care they need.

IMMIGRATION: Fighting to protect immigrants like his Jamaican parents by reforming ICE with a new, more humane agency and working to rebuild the infrastructure to prevent hate crimes from The Bronx to the border.

JOBS: Securing long-overdue investments to create new jobs and drive economic growth for local businesses in The Bronx, especially for Women- and Minority- owned Business Enterprises through pursuit of a Minority and Women Business Enterprises Bill of Rights.

CASH BAIL: Eliminating cash bail, investing in a second chance program, and ensuring The Bronx implements effective community policing so all residents are safe and secure in their neighborhoods and homes, and pushing Congress to pass sensible gun control measures.

Patrick Delices: Delices’ website ranks very low on Google, with the only way to access it is through his Facebook page. Delices’ platform runs largely on community-driven issues, with the mantra of “Building a safer, stronger, and better Bronx!” But one issue caught our attention:

ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT: The 15th Congressional District is one of the poorest districts not only in New York City, but in the United States. Therefore, economic empowerment by way of economic democracy and justice (employment opportunities, job training, educational access, educational affordability, business partnerships, business ownership, mentorship, networking, debt reduction, equitable share of business contracts from our own government, etc.,) is my top priority in BUILDING A SAFER, STRONGER, & BETTER BRONX! 

FAIR AND TRANSPARENT: At the state level, our politicians have sold us out to corporate interest and other interest groups which situates our community in socio-political disarray and dis-functionality  as illustrated in our high crime rates, high truancy rates, high illiteracy rates, high drop-out rates, high asthma rates, high HIV-AIDS rates, poor health facilities, poor educational services, poor housing, poor policing, dirty parks, dirty sidewalks, dirty streets,  littering,  loitering, and simply poor quality of life. As the People’s Politician and a Rational Republican, I will never sell out because I am invested in BUILDING A SAFER, STRONGER, & BETTER BRONX – a Bronx that politicians, corporations, and interest groups cannot dumped on nor manipulate – a Bronx where vendors of color can get their fair share of city/state business contracts and where government can be not only transformative, but transparent.

BRING HIP HOP BACK TO BRONX: The Bronx is the home of Hip Hop and as your Congressman, I will bring Hip Hop and other aspects of our culture back home to the Bronx.  Currently, there is a cultural vacuum in the Bronx in spite of the cultural richness that the Bronx has given to the world. Under my watch, the cultural richness and dynamism of the Bronx will be acknowledged and the misappropriation of that culture will cease as I will secure funding for the arts along with investments for cultural programs, centers, and after school activities.

DEMAND BETTER EDUCATION: The school system is failing our children (the future) where test scores are low, illiteracy rates are high, students are underachieving, teachers are underperforming and underpaid, classrooms are jam-packed, and the cafeteria lunch is rancid and unpalatable as Democratic politicians simply do not care about the children in the South Bronx and the future of New York.  Hence, within the schools in my district, students rather kill each other than learn from each other, while teachers rather sell drugs, molest, and beat up students than teach our students.  As your Congressman, together, we can save our children, save our schools, and save the future of this great city, state, and nation by simply investing in our children and providing them with more resources and options while we exposed them to a worldview beyond the cold, deadly streets of the Bronx.

BETTER TRANSPORTATION: The Bronx is the hub of transportation in New York City. You can get to any other borough and state from the Bronx, but our transit system is deplorable and disgusting; while, our highway system is congested.  This must be fixed and someone must be held accountable.  Under my watch, transportation in the Bronx will improve – cleaner subways, better train/bus services, less congestion, and alternative transportation models and routes will be incorporated along with special discounted fares for all riders of NYC transit.

CLEAN PARKS: The parks in the Bronx are not only deplorable and disgusting, but unsafe and not user friendly and unsuitable for our families and the community.  We want safer parks that are clean – free of drug dealing and addicts, free of dirty needles, free of dog feces, free of prostitution, and free of crime. We want parks that are green, environmentally sustainable, clean, and safe. We want our parks to be full of life with exercise equipment and cushioned padded foams where people can run, jog, or walk without risking injuries.  We want our parks to be full of activities and joy for our children. We want parks that are welcoming and inviting. We want a park, not a “hang-out” spot.

SAFER BRONX FOR OUR FAMILIES: In regards to public policy and service, nothing is more important, aside from one’s health and economic well being, than perhaps one’s safety. With that said, the Bronx, in particular the South Bronx, has the highest crime rate than any other borough in New York City. The relationship between law enforcement agencies and the community is abysmal.  And that relationship must change! Law enforcement agencies must be invested in serving and protecting our community. And our community must be invested in working collaboratively with law enforcement agencies. Together, we can provide better and safer spaces for our elderly, children, homeowners, residents and non-residents. Thus, to achieve BUILDING A SAFER, STRONGER, & BETTER BRONX is when law enforcement agencies become one with the community and the community becomes one with law enforcement agencies. Simply put, to properly serve and protect a community, you must be part of that community! Moreover, to BUILD A SAFER, STRONGER, & BETTER BRONX is to inject and invest in education, vocational training, and employment opportunities which will alleviate not only crime, but also poverty.

David Philip Franks Jr.: Under a slightly non-sequitur dubbed “People of the Bronx,” Franks Jr. has a 12-proposal platform that doesn’t quite elaborate on how he looks to carry out these proposals, including:

• NYCHA government oversight- air condition, heat, hot water and mold free!
• The Metropolitan Transportation Authority overtime should not be on our dime. PLUS  no fair hikes before 25 and over 55 years of age
• More Speed bumps and Stop signs for our streets!
• Healthcare – free or keep private.
• Teachers and Nurses – fair pay, pension, and safety!
• Paid Leaves
• Fund and Follow-up Mental Health
• No guns No gangs!
• Pollution and Graffiti Free!
• FREE Public College- Earn your degree without instant debt. Save for your home, car, travel…and more
• All this without raising YOUR taxes
• 4 Day work week to destress: Spend another day with your family! Same salary, same benefits!

Jonathan Ortiz: The director of Phipps Neighborhood Financial Empowerment Center, who was the first candidate to declare well before current seat-holder, José Serrano, announced he won’t seek re-election, boasts a platform featuring eight issues impacting the district.

Affordable Housing Access: Access to affordable Housing is on top of Jonathan’s agenda.  The Bronx is flooded with brand new buildings but our community members are not getting into the very buildings that were made to improve their quality of life!  Jonathan fervently advocates for legislation that will allow real access to affordable housing.! Some of those initiatives includes getting rid of the requirement we call credit.  In his experience with hundreds of New Yorkers, he knows that this is the number one reason why many are rejected- including those in the shelter and those, who due to their loss of employment or lackluster payment history on their student loans, have less than perfect credit histories.

Additionally he believes that the only way for affordable housing to be affordable is to eliminate the policies of basing one’s portion of the rent on the gross income. He believes that by changing this to the net income ( income available after taxes are deducted) we will be able to improve our economy and every American’s way of life.

Financial Education Across America: As speculated by the top economists in the country, the student loan situation will be the next major economic disaster unless we fix it now.  The Bronx has some of the highest default levels in the city- not because we do not want to pay but because many cannot afford to pay or do not have the right counseling services to determine what will work for them!  Jonathan will work on legislation that will provide easier access to payment plan options, student loan forgiveness programs, and widening the loopholes on bankruptcy options for those who really cannot pay. If failed business can file for bankruptcy- someone, who invested in a University that has not yielded results should be able to do as well.

In order to prevent further generations from ever falling into the trap of debt- Jonathan wants to empower them from an early age. By providing personal financial education programming starting in Elementary school and concluding in their senior year in high school, our future will be brighter than ever! Part of the educational program agenda will be a wrap-around service that will also counsel parents on how to improve their financial health!  Schools are the heart of America!

Healthcare Access for All: As experienced by all of us in The Bronx- our healthcare system is in urgent need of a revamp!  From ridiculous wait times at the emergency rooms, to understaffed clinics and insurance companies charging you the price of a kidney for a band aid it is no surprise why our communities are suffering.  There is no reason why the wealthiest country in the world should have the most expensive medicine. Jonathan will be working on legislation that will give every American citizen the health care they deserve.  You should not have to be concerned about seeing the doctor because of the bills!

Jonathan will also be proposing legislation to promote the creation of Mental Health Care Urgent Care Centers. He believes that the current situation calls from around the clock care from professionals in the field of mental health and our current system does not have the capacity to take care of those most vulnerable.  These services will be part of his plan on healthcare for all! If we are paying for health care there is no reason why we should be bouncing from doctor to doctor, referral to referral- you need to live your best life now and Jonathan will hold insurance companies accountable regardless of your insurance, income level, or location of necessity. Health care is a human right! 

Small Business Entrepreneurship Investment and Guidance: Whether one chooses to invest in a college education or chooses to be a small business owner- the rules are never explained as clear as when you are at the bank trying to receive funding for that great idea you want to create.

Jonathan will propose legislation that will create an Entrepreneurship and guidance office.  This office will assist our Bronx entrepreneurs with their ideas and bringing them to life.  Technology moves fast and we should be pumping more funding into technology instead of allowing our community’s dreams to fade due to the lack of investments they have made! 

Liveable Wage: Jonathan believes that a federal minimum wage of $15.00 is just a start!  With rents rising and the lack of affordable housing available- (think about it-if we cannot rent what makes people think we can buy.)  He will work on the implementation on transparency and an increase in minimum wage every year instead of every decade!

Retirement Options: Our current situation also calls for retirement options that work! In the past and in the current with only certain employers, pensions are fading away!  Unless we invest in 401k or Roth IRA’s our future generation will never retire! Contributing from our incomes into a 401k or an IRA only takes away from what we are able to afford!  Jonathan calls for government investment in the creation of a national pension plan that will allow us to retire on another source of income not called social security.

Immigration Rights: The civil rights of immigrants have to be the equivalent of every single one of us that has stepped foot into our country!  From health care, driver’s licenses and the opportunity to apply for governmental subsidies- Jonathan will create legislation that will provide every single immigrant a bill of rights.

We will never allow a family to be separated at the border. That is not what America is, was, or will ever be. We are a nation of immigrants united, working, and fighting for one cause: freedom.

Greener Bronx, Greener America: Jonathan loves the environment! Whether it is walks in St. Marys Park, or using a reusable cup for his coffee, he is determined to work on ideas that will sustain our country.

He will push legislation on renewable energy and will do his best to ensure that The Bronx will be healthier by creating restrictions on pollution creating companies.

Samelys Lopez: The community organizer recently endorsed by the Democratic Socialists of America, has the most ambitious platform of the candidates, laying out a whopping 17 issues with a socialist bent (much like Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) she hopes to address if voters send her to Washington, D.C.:

HOMES GUARANTEE: Secure housing as a universal human right, institute universal rent control, fully re-invest in public housing, build 12 million units of social housing to end homelessness in America especially as children and veterans are concerned, de-commodify housing to put an end to real estate and land speculation, establish a People’s Housing Commission, National Tenant Bill of Rights, reparations to reverse the impact of generations of redlining.

LABOR: Support a national ban on Right to Work through the repeal of the Taft-Harley Act, unions for all workers, pass the Workplace Democracy Act, raise federal minimum wage to $15 an hour, protect Davis-Bacon, stand with trade unions against wealthy developers and union busters, fight for passage of Domestic Workers Bill of Rights Act, reject trade deals that hurt the working class, create pathways for the community to access union apprenticeships.

JOB CREATION & INCOME INEQUALITY: Fight for a federal jobs guarantee, generate living wage jobs through the Homes Guarantee and Green New Deal with mandatory community hiring requirements. End IRAP’s to protect worker safety and training standards. Support Universal Basic Income with a provision to keep existing social entitlement benefits intact, postal banking, worker cooperatives to ensure communities have direct ownership and control over the job creation process, fight for infrastructure development to be unionized. Advocate for passage of Work Act, fund states to raise the youth employment rate and provide training in diverse upcoming fields to set up an entire generation for success.

HEALTHCARE: Universal healthcare coverage for all is a moral obligation in the wealthiest country in the world. We need to replace for profit insurance companies with a single payer federal government healthcare fund to ensure universal coverage and move towards a democratically public owned pharmaceutical sector. With this fund we will be able to reduce costs per capita and for the first time negotiate with pharmaceutical companies bringing down the cost of prescription drugs, thereby eliminating out of pocket costs like co-pays, deductibles, and premiums, companies, unions and individuals will see cost reductions throughout a fair transition. Savings employers generate would be applied towards union member benefits. In addition to passing Medicare for All, I will strongly advocate for passage of the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Act, Affordable and Safe Prescription Drug Importation Act and Prescription Drug Price Relief Act.

NYCHA: Demand full federal funding for NYCHA, fight to pass the Fair Chance at Housing Act, advocate for moratorium on RAD, protection of Section 3 status, convert NYCHA land to Community Land Trusts, decarbonize NYCHA by passing Green New Deal for Public Housing Act, create a space for NYCHA residents to oversee the rehabilitation and construction process to ensure contractor accountability, hold congressional hearings in NYCHA developments, fast track federal funding to have NYCHA comply with 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act, provide targeted grants for community development, raise awareness about home ownership opportunities under HUD’s Public Housing Homeownership Section 32 in the community, link NYCHA re-investment to a Homes Guarantee.

FAMILIES & REPRODUCTIVE JUSTICE: In addition to striking the Hyde Amendment to allow low income women on Medicaid to have the right to choose, we need Medicare for All, funding of public hospitals, community clinics, invest in doulas and culturally sensitive healthcare access to eliminate racial disparities largely responsible for the black maternal mortality crisis, fight for universal: childcare, paid family leave, pre-k, free school lunch, child allowance to make it easier for families to rear their children in the community.

PUERTO RICO: We need a permanent exemption of Puerto Rico from the Jones Act, investigate response to Hurricane Maria, audit and cancel Puerto Rico’s unconstitutional debt, repeal Congress’ Fiscal Control Board (P.R.O.M.E.S.A.), end Puerto Rico’s Medicaid crisis and disenfranchisement by ensuring full-federal funding, investigate and penalize Wall Street profiteers who are profiting off of Puerto Rico’s economic crisis. As a member of the diaspora, I commit to centering and amplifying the collective actions of Puerto Ricans living on the island specifically as it relates to self-determination.

INTERNATIONAL: The United States must cease interference in the democratic processes of other nations, whether through the use of unilateral coercive measures (sanctions), forced imposition of neoliberal austerity plans through the IMF, or through both covert and overt warfare. In every corner of the world, frontline communities are innovating responses to food scarcity, housing shortages, and climate change. These solutions have the best chance of building toward a liberated future since they are time-tested, sourced locally, and implemented through collaboration.

RE-ENVISION FEDERAL BUDGET: Fight excessive military spending and redistribute savings to domestic social programs that address the root causes of poverty, divest from financial institutions that invest in the military/prison industrial complex, instituting a universal Participatory Budgeting program at the Federal level as a way of creating a path for our communities to have more decision making power over the budget appropriations process.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORM: End cash bail, solitary confinement and private prisons, invest in language justice, institute community oversight board for communities disproportionately affected by police brutality and mass incarceration. Institute oversight for prosecutors at the federal level, decarcerate women and children, restore voting rights, legalize marijuana to promote economic justice in black and brown communities disproportionately impacted by mass incarceration related to marijuana, invest in restorative justice practices to prevent people from ending up in the prison system to begin with, put a moratorium in place for new jails until these conditions are met.

DISABILITY RIGHTS: Advocate for passage of Disability Integration Act in every State to make independence a real choice for people with significant disabilities to restore their dignity so they can decide where to obtain/receive the care they need. Promote policies that reduce work disincentives for people with disabilities to protect their entitlement benefits, double the length of the Social Security Trial work period, double, make Medicaid eligibility permanent, regardless of income, for anyone needing long term care, ban sub-minimum wage, require nation-wide mandatory training for law enforcement on how to interact with people with disabilities, appoint disabled people to top administrative posts.

VETERANS RIGHTS: There are thousands of homeless veterans per night due to PTSD and substance abuse stemming from lack of family support and a social network which has led to high rates of suicide in our veteran population. Military training and occupations are often times do not transfer to mainstream society placing the veteran at a disadvantage in employment. Veterans do not obtain the support system they need in training and vocational options prior to discharge along with a mental health screening to determine who is at risk of PTSD and unable to hold employment. Veterans need a just transition into society leading up to their discharge. Passing the Access to Home for Heroes Act of 2019 is a step in the right direction.

ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE, TRANSPORTATION & INFRASTRUCTURE: Strongly advocate for a Green New deal following the leadership of front-line environmental justice communities in the South Bronx. Fully fund federal resiliency projects to protect the Hunts Point peninsula under the federally sponsored Rebuild by Design initiative. Achieve decarbonization of NYCHA, reduce dependence on fossil fuels and promote multi-modal transportation infrastructure, reverse environmental racism surrounding interstate highways. Re-imagine Federal Right of Ways to reduce personal auto use and prioritize green commerce and transportation. Gain democratic control and own our energy sources.

LGBTQ & TRANSGENDER RIGHTS: Halt all discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identification, mandate organizations receiving federal funding to commit to non-discriminatory practices, expand civil rights testing to determine discrimination in the delivery of services and accessing entitlements; with a Homes Guarantee, address the homelessness crisis being experienced in the LGBTQ community. Fight for a federal equivalent of New York State’s Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act (GENDA), prevent weaponization of religion to discriminate against and harm LGBTQ community.

EDUCATION JUSTICE: Fully invest in public schools, end the privatization of our public schools and school to prison pipeline, cancel all student debt, hold lenders and the federal government accountable for issuing loans to students with limited to no background in financial literacy. Stand with teachers to demand a starting salary of $60,000, support CUNY’s $7K or strike movement, push for culturally responsive education that centers the contributions of black and brown communities in the development of this country.

MONEY IN POLITICS: End the corruptive force of big money in our local politics, introduce public financing matching program at the federal level, advocate for Congressional term limits, reject corporate PAC money, campaign contributions from predatory real estate developers, landlords and contracts that steal wages from our workers so that elected leaders can have the independence to put the needs of our communities first, not the lobbyists or corporate elite.

Tomas Ramos: Ramos’ platform reads like a committed progressive Democrat would, but it stops short of delving into real fixes. While three positions are given meaty coverage, others are mere mentions.

Criminal Justice Reform: We need criminal justice reform and the end to systemic racism that disproportionately incarcerates people of color. We need to stop looking at cages as an answer. Restorative justice practices must be holistic. We need to end cash bail, abolish private prisons, revamp the probation system and put an end to mandatory minimums.

While this district struggles with the implementation of the borough based jail plan we must stay committed to closing Rikers and any other facility that symbolizes the dehumanization of our peers. We must demand significant community investments, and make sure that those are distributed in a way that ensures future generations are free to achieve what many of our parents couldn’t.

Education Reform: This district has placed last in every marker too many times. When I joined Bronx River Houses I could not have foreseen the challenges my students face daily. We have become a safe space for them, and their families. As a child living in the suburbs of Philadelphia, I experienced what it is to have a good education. Where you live should not determine the quality of education you are receiving. This is why our public education system needs to change.

Curriculum and institutions must adapt to ensure our high school graduation rate increase. We must also equip schools with the tools necessary to ensure they can serve our children holistically. Upon graduation our teens should have multiple options! Trade schools are as important as college because both can lead to careers. We have to make the options desirable to our teens, and create the infrastructure necessary to make sure they can thrive.

Sustainable Housing: For 30 years Public Housing has seen disinvestment. 90% of families living in the district are renting their homes. Our district suffers because of this concentration. As congressman for the 15th Congressional District I will work to ensure investment in public housing is restored to numbers that will make public housing a springboard for its residents. We must create a pipeline from public housing to home ownership!

No explanations are given on why he supports these policies and how he would see them implemented, but Ramos backs Medicare For All, Green New Deal, Tuition Free College, Immigration Reform, Women’s Rights, LGTBQIA+ Equality, and Tax Reform.

Frangell Basora: While it seemed as though Samelys Lopez and Jonathan Ortiz had lenghty position platforms, Basora, who once interned for Serrano, has them beat:

GRANTING HEALTHCARE ACCESS TO ALL; HEALTHCARE FOR LOW-INCOME AND WORKING-CLASS AMERICANS AND NEW YORKERS: In the greatest nation in the world, access to excellent healthcare for absolutely everyone, especially for our most low-income, should be part of our daily identity as Americans and as New Yorkers. Competitive healthcare from the government that prioritizes all of our people is necessary. We need to build a system where healthcare is directly focused on our people and on our communities.

Access to quality healthcare should not only be granted to those who can afford it. Frangell is running in the most low-income urban congressional district in the country and will prioritize the needs of his District, as well as the needs of our most low-income and working-class constituents throughout the United States. Healthcare is the foundation to a thriving society and the path to a great nation. Not only will he and the campaign fight hard to ensure that all of the people of New York – 15 and the Bronx have access to excellent and affordable healthcare, but he will also work hard to ensure that our nation’s most pressing issues regarding healthcare access are being addressed and no longer ignored.

If elected, in addition to providing excellent healthcare for our most in-need communities, Frangell’s first legislation in Congress will be an overhaul of how mental health is addressed in our most low-income neighborhoods and in our country. Living in poor or low-income communities has been linked to an increased risk for mental health difficulties in children and adults that may continue throughout life. Families in poverty are least likely to be connected with high-quality mental health care. In order for all of our people to be able to move forward and live fulfilling lives, our nation needs to address our communities’ mental health crises and the disparity in specialized healthcare access. Frangell’s legislation will put an end to and address this health disparity in our most vulnerable communities.

Investment in mental healthcare facilities and professionals in New York – 15 and the Bronx and in low-income communities throughout our nation will be greatly increased. Our systemic approach to caring and addressing mental health will change and become a daily habit in our nation and among our professionals and our people. Professionals who are trained in mental health will either replace or greatly support our police as first responders that involve mental health crises. Social programs with supportive employment that would not require individuals to be in active recovery will be greatly supported. Frangell will expand community education programs that will help destigmatize mental health difficulties, support people who use substances, provide treatment and harm-reduction services. There will be a focus on behavioral therapy treatment for all of our children and adults. Frangell will also work to invest in mobile health clinics and improve underfunded hospitals and medical care facilities in New York – 15 and the Bronx and throughout the United States.

There will be increased transparency in data on how these services are affecting our communities, and review and improvement will be made quarterly. Our nation will invest in workforce development that will appropriately staff all supportive and treatment facilities, recruit African-American and Hispanic and lower-income Whites with the necessary education and training to serve in leadership positions in the healthcare industry.

The United States of America will, once again, reclaim its role in serving as a world leader in providing unmatchable healthcare to its citizens and especially to lower-income and vulnerable people. To rise from poverty and be able to achieve the American Dream, as our beloved nation promises its people, and to keep the ethos of what an American can truly accomplish with hard work and resilience, is to address our most vulnerable communities’ systemic healthcare communities. There is no America without comprehensive healthcare. This begins in New York – 15 and will continue in the rest of our nation.

EMPLOYMENT AND ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY FOR NEW YORK – 15 AND THE BRONX AND FOR ALL AMERICANS: In the greatest nation in the world, economic vitality and success cannot be measured solely by the nation’s unemployment rate, but by whether or not the nation’s economic and employment success is reaching our nation’s most vulnerable and in-need communities. Unfortunately, the nation’s recent economic success and growth are not being felt in New York – 15 and in the Bronx. Too many of our people are existing outside of the nation’s economy, preventing our borough from rising and our people from progressing economically. Frangell is determined to turn our District’s economy and economic opportunities around and in our favor. The people of the Bronx deserve to be full members of our country’s great economy; we are no longer going to tolerate New York – 15 and the Bronx’ high levels of unemployment and underemployment.

The poverty crisis in New York – 15 and in the Bronx needs to be addressed. Current politicians have failed to rightfully bring real solutions to this poverty crisis. At times, they have contributed to this crisis by normalizing poverty, so as opposed to championing policies that eradicate and improve the poverty, they, too, sit in it, falling complacent to the issues and failing to bring real change to our communities.

In Congress, Frangell will stop normalizing poverty and implement practical and real-based solutions that will help uplift all of our people. Frangell proposes a Federal Jobs Guarantee for New York – 15 and the Bronx and for our nation’s most low-income communities, with viable employment that begin at $15 per hour. The Federal Jobs Guarantee would be tailored specifically for New York – 15 and the nation’s most low-income districts and most marginalized workforce. Our nation will invest in the people that it has grown used to forgetting.

The Federal Jobs Guarantee will come with benefits that are aimed at empowering this marginalized workforce, including education opportunities to advance workers’ skills and knowledge, applied healthcare that will address health-related difficulties that make it difficult for workers to continue working (e.g., addressing mental health, etc.), permanent housing opportunities for the government-employed, respectful language and immersion classes, and other incentives to lift the people of New York – 15 and the Bronx and low-income communities throughout the nation.

Frangell pledges that we, as a people, will rework how employment and economic opportunities are approached for our most low-income and disadvantaged communities. Frangell understands first-hand the difference that a quality job can have in a family’s trajectory. His mother has spent her years in the United States working in New York – 15 and the Bronx’ small business and immigrant, entrepreneurial sector, sustaining a family of four by working in beauty salons throughout the borough. Frangell pledges to protect and empower small businesses in the Bronx and give small business leaders the tools to not only succeed, but thrive in our nation. We will build a national program where small businesswomen and men in low-income communities will receive funding and assistance for their establishments.

This campaign is committed to empowering everyone and changing how opportunities are approached. Employment in America is to be a fundamental human right, and we will begin implementing policies that grant this right to our nation’s most forgotten people in its most low-income communities.

EDUCATION REFORM: MAKING EDUCATION A VIABLE PATH FOR NEW YORK – 15 AND ALL AMERICANS: Frangell has experienced first-hand the difference that education can make in one’s life and the potential that it holds to lift even our most disadvantaged communities to incredible and unimaginable heights. Born and raised to a low-income, first-generation and Hispanic, single-mother family, education allowed Frangell and his family to rise through fatherlessness, through homeless shelters, and difficult and uncertain circumstances to serve the communities in New York – 15 and in the Bronx that have provided him and his family so much.

Frangell attended PS 156 in his childhood Concourse Village neighborhood until the age of 11. It was during the fifth grade that he and his family lost their apartment on the Grand Concourse and entered New York’s homeless shelter system. After moving to various sites in New York – 15 and the Bronx and Manhattan, his family eventually settled in the Msgr. Robert Fox Memorial Shelter, a transitional housing unit for women and their children, in East Harlem for one year before returning to Mt. Hope Place in New York – 15 and the Bronx. It was here that Frangell was enrolled in and attended PS 96. He found solace during these difficult and uncertain experiences in his education, and renewed his focus, eventually graduating as salutatorian and attending Cardinal Hayes Memorial High School for Boys, the all-boys, Catholic independent high school on the Grand Concourse, in the Bronx.

He worked hard at Hayes and gained admission at Columbia University in the City of New York, where he majored in Political Science, with specialties in International Relations and Political Theory.

Education has allowed Frangell to experience our nation’s promise of the American Dream, from attending an incredible high school and graduating from an esteemed university to travelling the world and allowing him to live in service of his communities in his home borough of the Bronx and the rest of our city of New York through life-changing opportunities.

His pledge to New York – 15 and to our most vulnerable communities in New York and in the United States is to make education a viable path for absolutely everyone at all costs. Education needs to serve as a national force that helps uplift low-income communities.

In Congress, Frangell and the constituents of New York – 15 will work hard to address the education crisis in our district’s public schools. We will implement national change that will change how our federal, state and local governments address under-resourced and in-need public schools. It will be an ambitious legislative act that will serve as an overhaul of how schools are operated in America. Our schools will receive equal and improved national funding; our educators will receive better attention and professional training; low-income students will be moved to better facilities and school buildings, and will be given access to our nation’s greatest resources; we will build social programs that address students’ home and family lives and that will provide families with the tools that they need in order to build a safe home that is conducive to positive learning environments; we will responsibly address the learning difficulties that our low-income students have; we will provide them with uniforms and adequate personal resources; and we will hold school administration responsible for our children and young adults’ learning and progress. Frangell and the constituents of New York – 15 will desegregate schools and we will no longer criminalize families’ efforts to gain access to better resources.

Our election will mark the beginning of a new educational age in America, where students in low-income communities in America will no longer be held back by their social class; education will be impervious to social class and background as our most vulnerable students will have as much if not a better chance to succeed through education than their more privileged peers. Education will serve as the higher authority that will not be affected by income or our nation’s man-made poverty and other social difficulties. One of the reasons that Frangell is running for Congress and not other legislative bodies is that this legislative and moral overhaul can only happen from the federal government. Our nation’s education and poverty crisis is our modern-day civil rights movement and our modern-day Great Depression, and it will certainly be treated as such; the movement begins in New York – 15 and in the Bronx and will be felt throughout the United States of America.

In Congress, Frangell vows to work with other congressional leaders to reshape our nation’s higher education system so that it caters to the struggles of low-income and working-class students and families. Frangell firmly believes that making public colleges and trade schools accessible and debt-free for lower-income families is essential for the success of these students. This will be done by building a partnership between the state and federal governments and making public higher education accessible and affordable for all lower-income families through a series of initiatives and social programs.

Frangell pledges to cancel the debts of citizens and residents who borrowed from low-quality, for-profit programs and invest in minority-serving institutions and institutions that serve low-income students and their families (e.g., CUNY colleges and schools, etc.).

Education is the hallmark of our American society and it will be reshaped so it shall continue to be so for absolutely all Americans and New Yorkers and not just the privileged few.

In Congress, Frangell and the constituents of New York – 15 will work hard to address the education crisis in our district’s public schools. We will implement national change that will change how our federal, state and local governments address under-resourced and in-need public schools.  It will be an ambitious legislative act that will serve as an overhaul of how schools are operated in America;

Our schools will receive equal and improved national funding; Our educators will receive better attention and professional training; We will hold school administration responsible for our children and young adults’ learning and progress;

Low-income students will be moved to better facilities and school buildings, and will be given access to our nation’s greatest resources;

We will build social programs that address students’ home and family lives and that will provide families with the tools that they need in order to build a safe home that is conducive to positive learning environments;

We will responsibly address the learning difficulties that our low-income students have;

We will desegregate schools and we will no longer criminalize families’ efforts to gain access to better resources.

Frangell firmly believes that making public colleges and trade schools accessible and debt-free for lower-income families is essential for the success of these students. This will be done by building a partnership between the state and federal governments and making public higher education accessible and affordable for all lower-income families through a series of initiatives and social programs;

Frangell pledges to cancel the debts of citizens and residents who borrowed from low-quality, for-profit programs invest in minority-serving institutions and institutions that serve low-income students and their families (e.g., CUNY colleges and schools, etc.).

HOUSING FOR ALL / IMPROVING AND PROTECTING NYCHA: ENDING CORRUPTION AND RESTORING DIGNITY: Permanent, secured, reliable, and dignified housing is a human right and, if elected to Congress, Frangell will prioritize permanent affordable housing and he will fight against the institutionalized prejudice and classism that stands against the constituents of New York – 15 and lower-income Americans.

Frangell and his family lost their childhood apartment on the Grand Concourse when he was eleven years of age after ongoing financial difficulties. They entered the homeless shelter system in New York, moving to various sites in the Bronx and Manhattan, before settling in Fox House, a transitional housing unit for women and their children. There, he met women and children whose families were victims of domestic violence, had been overcrowded from others’ apartments, were recovering from substance abuse, had lost their employment and main source of income, and learned about the various reasons why families in New York and in the greatest nation in the world would lose their homes. After a year there, he resettled on Mount Hope Place, by the Grand Concourse and East Tremont, where he spent the great years that were his adolescence, and he and his family have lived in Section 8 Housing since.

In the greatest nation in the world, no family should struggle to maintain their home. In the greatest nation in the world, housing will become a human right for all, and especially for New York – 15 and for our most vulnerable communities. Frangell is committed to protecting all of our residents from experiencing housing insecurity and from the politicians who have jeopardized or endangered our people’s right to a secure and permanent living environment.

We will protect NYCHA from politicians’ attacks and their attempts to privatize our public housing complexes, which completely disregards tenants and tenants’ rights. The privatization of our public housing has resulted in an alarming increase of tenants being evicted at higher rates through the housing court, enabling community-wide gentrification and our constituents’ displacement, and gross injustices against our tenants. We are going to address and fix the procedural deficiencies of NYCHA’s administrative hearings and other processes that target and silence our residents. We will address the corruption in the contracting and in NYCHA’s dealings with private companies. Private companies and managers will no longer benefit from our people’s need for housing and our city, our state and our nation will choose the people.

We will champion, defend, and introduce legislation that caters to low-income and working-class people and that expands and guarantees dignified and reliable housing.

Homes Guarantee for poor and low-income and working-class Americans that will guarantee housing as a human right, implement universal rent control, end homelessness in America by constructing millions of housing spaces;

Full state and federal funding for NYCHA and affordable housing through the nation; Pass US Senator Kamala Harris’ Fair Chance at Housing Act of 2019;

Protect NYCHA from politicians’ attacks and their attempts to privatize our public housing complexes, which completely disregards tenants and tenants’ rights. The privatization our public housing has resulted in an alarming increase of tenants being evicted at higher rates through the housing court, enabling community-wide gentrification and our constituents’ displacement, and gross injustices against NYCHA tenants;

Address and fix the procedural deficiencies of NYCHA’s administrative hearings and other processes that target and silence our residents; Address the corruption in the contracting and in NYCHA’s dealings with private companies. Private companies and managers will no longer benefit from our people’s need for housing; Champion, defend, and introduce legislation that caters to low-income and working-class people and that expands and guarantees dignified and reliable housing;

Prioritize permanent affordable housing and fight against the institutionalized prejudice and classism that stands against the constituents of New York – 15 and lower-income Americans.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORM: AS A NATION, WE WILL HEAL AND WE WILL COME TOGETHER: Our nation’s criminal justice systemic is fundamentally broken and disproportionally affects and targets African Americans, Hispanics, and lower-income Whites, reflecting our nation’s healing history of discrimination, prejudice, classism, and crusade against low-income people. Frangell believes that we, as a people and as a nation, need to move to abolishing our criminal justice system and reconstruct how it addresses all of our people from the ground up. Frangell pledges to end mass incarceration, the war on drugs, and the war on poverty. He will address the school-to-prison pipeline that unfortunately exists in predominantly lower-income neighborhoods.

Frangell will work to reduce the number of people who are incarcerated by at least 50%. The war on drugs is certainly not over and our people who are struggling with substance abuse will be diverted to drug courts, rehabilitation and preventive treatment, Furthermore, the money that will be saved by reducing the number of incarcerated individuals will be brought back into our communities and be invested in preventing measures and in our people’s futures.

Frangell is determined to end the fear that African American and Hispanic families feel toward our justice system. We will address our nation’s police brutality crisis and honor the officers who are honorably and fairly serving in and with our communities.

Frangell and New York – 15 will end private prisons. No one is to profit off of our nation’s compromised criminal justice system. The existence of private prisons is a moral issue in our country.

Frangell and New York – 15 will decriminalize poverty in our nation’s lower-income neighborhoods and reconstruct our justice system to protect and serve our nation’s most vulnerable people against real dangers, not target them. We will take pride in our people’s protection and upliftment.

Mass incarceration is the modern realizing of decades-long policies that have disproportionally affected African Americans and lower-income Whites; not only will Frangell and New York – 15 address it, but, as a nation, we will heal, we will come together, and realize that we all have more in common than in difference.

We will address crime and keep New York – 15 and the Bronx safe. Junior’s death was one of the reasons why Frangell decided to run for Congress in his home borough of the Bronx. Junior’s death was preventable and should not have happened. We run in his memory and in the memories of all of the people that we have lost to criminal activity and ruthlessness. Our campaign’s justice reform will include addressing and preventing the injustices that occur against our people in our district. We thank and we love all of our brave families who continue to lead the way to continue to stay strong against the odds. Frangell holds them dearly in his heart and thanks them for holding onto faith and staying strong for all of us.

In New York City, Frangell greatly opposes the building of new jails in our most vulnerable communities. Although he is in favor of closing or remodeling Rikers to reflect our need to end mass incarceration, he believes that building jails in low-income districts that have been historically targeted by our governments is not the correct approach.

Our nation’s criminal justice system will defend and honor our low-income and most vulnerable communities; it will no longer target our people. We have what it takes to reshape decades-worth of legislation and identity that has targeted and undermined our people this generation.

End mass incarceration, the war on drugs, and the war on poverty; Address the school-to-prison pipeline that unfortunately exists in predominantly lower-income neighborhoods;

Reduce the number of people who are incarcerated by at least 50%; The war on drugs is certainly not over and our people who are struggling with substance abuse will be diverted to drug courts, rehabilitation and preventive treatment; Furthermore, the money that will be saved by reducing the number of incarcerated individuals will be brought back into our communities and be invested in preventing measures and in our people’s lives;

End the fear that African American and Hispanic families feel toward our justice system;

End cash bail that primarily targets low-income Americans;

End private prisons; No one is to profit off of our nation’s compromised criminal justice system. The existence of private prisons is a moral issue in our country;

Decriminalize poverty in our nation’s lower-income neighborhoods and reconstruct our justice system to protect and serve our nation’s most vulnerable people against real dangers, not target them;

Address crime and keep New York – 15 and the Bronx safe. Junior’s death was one of the reasons why Frangell decided to run for Congress in his home borough of the Bronx.

IMMIGRATION REFORM: CHOOSING TO RESPECT, HONOR AND REAFFIRM IMMIGRATION IN OUR NATION: Frangell’s grandmother and his father were the first in his family to arrive to America. His grandmother took a leap of faith, crossed the waters from the Dominican Republic to Puerto Rico, before being joined by her son, Frangell’s father. Frangell’s father spent his teenage and early adulthood years travelling between Puerto Rico and his native Dominican Republic, partly to visit Frangell’s mother, before permanently settling in New York and in the Bronx as a US permanent resident. Frangell’s mother joined her then-husband on the Grand Concourse, recognized as the Boulevard of Dreams; the Grand Concourse is where Frangell would be raised, visiting the Dominican Republic in his youth and having a wonderful upbringing in New York – 15 and in New York.

Frangell is committed to introducing and passing comprehensive immigration reform. What makes the United States of America the greatest nation in the world is that, since its birth, it has served and continue to serve as the beacon of hope, faith, strength, and opportunity for millions from around the world. The USA stands as the future for populations throughout the world, and if we wish for our nation to continue to be the greatest, then we, as a people, have to choose to respect, honor, and reaffirm immigration and the incredible history that immigration has had in our country. Immigrants make us stronger in every sense of what that means, and in all aspects of our nation, from education and our economy to our culture and our politics, and all else.

Frangell pledges to restore our nation’s moral integrity. Children in detention centers and in cages constitute one of our nation’s greatest moral dilemmas and failings in modern-day history. Family separation, children separated at the border, and Zero Tolerance Family Separation will end upon Frangell’s election. We will pass and implement legislation that prevents this from ever happening again in the USA. Our nation will no longer stand for this and we will work hard to undo the negative consequences that this policy has had among the people and on our American legacy.

Frangell and New York – 15 will pass and implement legislation that protects US permanent residents from poverty criminalization. Immigrants’ use of our nation’s social programs will not serve as a means for the revocation of their legal status in the USA. We will decriminalize poverty and immigration in absolutely every sense of what this means.

Frangell pledges to reintroduce a more comprehensive and daring version of the DREAM Act and work with legislators to pass it. Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) will be reinstated and Dreamers will be protected and lifted.

We will secure our borders responsibly and morally. We will renovate land ports of entry and staff them properly to protect especially against illegal drug trade. We will reevaluate and reconstruct ICE and prevent our immigration agencies from infringing upon human rights, while honoring those who are serving at the border with dignity and respect.

Refugees will be accepted and protected. The USA has a moral responsibility to the people who are fleeing violence and poverty, and we will, once again, assume this responsibility.

Comprehensive immigration reform will mean that the USA will resume its leadership role over global immigration and stand as a global leader for responsible policies that protect both, the nation and the people.

WOMEN’S RIGHTS & GENDER EQUALITY: Frangell was raised by a single mother who was also raised by a single mother. The first raised her three children in poverty in New York and the second raised her five children in poverty in the Dominican Republic. Both women rose through incredibly difficult circumstances, stood strongly, and stood victoriously. The women in Frangell’s family are among the most powerful and are consistently showing the world that women are among the most powerful and greatest force that our world has even seen. The women that Frangell has learned from and has been raised by have broken through incredible barriers as mothers, as educators, as entrepreneurs, and as role models, graciously exceeding expectations and shattering through our society’s invisible laws that attempt to subdue the woman’s strength and power. Where men have failed, the women in Frangell’s family and upbringing have succeeded and outdone and, today, Frangell and his family stand strongly and powerfully because of the sacrifices, the hard work, and the audacity to defy the odds that these women have presented throughout their lives and continue to present.

Women, as a political and moral force, do not need men; they have and will continue to accomplish with or without a man’s help. With this understanding, the following is Frangell’s promise: Women’s Rights will forever be held and treated as Human Rights. The fight for gender equality is far from over, but together, we can all continue to make incredible strides.

Women deserve equal pay, equal educational opportunities and attainment, equal hiring and employability, leadership positions in absolutely all sectors of our nation, respect and the dignity that all people deserve and are naturally born with, and full protection from discrimination; in Congress, Frangell with fight to lift the voices of women in our nation’s most influential settings.

Educate a woman and one educates an entire family, is the understanding, and Frangell firmly believes in this. Frangell is a proponent of legislation that focuses on improving women’s educational opportunities and attainment. Frangell will also serve as an advocate for labor laws that protect women against discrimination and unfair treatment in the workforce.

Frangell will champion work benefits that cater to working parents and especially mothers, including access to childcare, healthcare, paid family leave, and other initiatives that take into account the woman’s incredible role in caregiving. When we, as a people, take into account the complexity of a woman’s role – as a mother, as a leader, as an employer, for instance – then it benefits our entire nation. As a nation, we will no longer impose structural, societal and systemic barriers to the woman.

African American women are among the most disrespected citizens in our nation, and with our election, this will change. Frangell will serve as a champion for one of the most powerful beings in our world, African American women. African American women have served as the foundation to our nation and it is time that we elect a leader that will acknowledge their contributions to New York – 15 and to our nation and will help them and their families rise.

Trans women of color will find protection in Frangell’s election. He is dedicated to protecting them from our nation’s abuses of power against gender-nonconforming individuals. With Frangell’s election, trans women of color will be respected as equal citizens under our laws.

Reproductive rights are human rights. Frangell will serve as an advocate for a woman’s right to choose and fight against current legislation that wishes to compromise or limit this right. Roe v. Wade will be upheld and respected. It is incredibly important to note that this does not mean that Frangell, our campaign, and New York – 15 are for or pro-abortion. To be pro-choice and to advocate for reproductive rights does not mean that one is pro-abortion; it means that, in a moral society, the incredibly difficult decisions and challenges that women must face and overcome need to hold a respectful space among us. Furthermore, as a people, we need to acknowledge that restrictions that are placed on reproductive rights and access to choice disproportionally affect poor women and especially poor women of color.

As a people, we need to take our efforts further and we need to work to alleviate the man-made social and systemic difficulties and standards that target women and lead them to have to confront these difficult decisions and challenges. This is why our efforts to empower women need to have a holistic approach: access to reproductive rights need to also come with access to education, to increased jobs and economics opportunities, to social and fiscal equality; to removing the barriers that we, as a society, continue to place that attempt to limit the modern and complex woman. As the son of a single mother, Frangell pledges to carry, champion, and accomplish these attempts and goals in Congress.

PUERTO RICO AND THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: Frangell has always and will always love Puerto Rico very dearly. Puerto Rico is where his family’s journey in the United States started. His grandmother crossed the waters between the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico to provide a better future for her adult children and for her grandchildren. Puerto Rico is where Frangell’s father’s journey in the United States started, before relocating to New York and bringing his wife. As a son of the Bronx and of New York – 15, Frangell grew up with Puerto Rican culture, singing the beautiful island’s songs and music, and growing up with Puerto Ricans, and having family members in Puerto Rico who are half Puerto Rican. Beautifully, Dominicans and Puerto Ricans are brothers and sisters, descendant of the same Latin people, and equally contributing to New York, to our wonderful borough of the Bronx and the great District of New York – 15.

Frangell pledges to bring the strength of Washington to Puerto Rico and committing himself to restoring the island. In Congress, Frangell will pass legislation that will invest billions of dollars in restoration to Puerto Rico. We will address the aftermath of Hurricane Maria and other disastrous climate catastrophes, and rebuild the island after its political struggles and corruption.

The billions of dollars that will be granted as federal aid to our wonderful island of Puerto Rico will see the reconstruction of schools, homes, infrastructure, energy, businesses, and all other aspects of the island. Frangell will fight to cancel the debt that Puerto Rico holds, which is an institutionalized form of holding the island back.

Puerto Ricans will be respected as the Americans that they are. Frangell and New York – 15 will help Puerto Rico to great heights, and its prosperity and strength in our nation’s capital and within the island shall remain permanent. God created one of the most beautiful islands on Earth and among the most beautiful people on Earth in Puerto Rico and in Puerto Ricans, and Frangell will fight to their rise and for their respect in our nation and in the world.

Frangell will explore the building of a respectful relationship between the USA and the Dominican Republic that mutually benefits both nations.

VOTING RIGHTS: Frangell and New York – 15 will restore, protect, and fight for voting rights against voter suppression and expand voting access to our most vulnerable and marginalized members our of communities.

It is time to acknowledge that our fight to maintain the right to vote in our nation is far from over. African Americans, Hispanics, low-income Whites, and poor and low-income communities throughout our nation are seeing their right to vote and to be heard be endangered by legislation and policies that target them. The survival of our nation depends on all of our people and especially our most marginalized people being able to vote.

Frangell and New York – 15 will introduce automatic voter registration, allow for online and same-day registration, make Election Day a paid holiday, restore voting rights to the formerly incarcerated, make sure that people with disabilities have access to all voting sites, make sure that voting is protected on tribal and indigenous land, and make sure that false information is curbed and eliminated.

Voting will become a means to empower all of our individuals.

Frangell pledges to work with state and federal legislators and agencies to remodel how the United States Census is conducted, make it more efficient, and ensure that people in marginalized communities are no longer undercounted or discredited.

We will implement more engaging ways to inform the public on elected officials, make officials’ legislative histories as transparent as possible, and greatly encourage especially our younger adults. Frangell and New York – 15 will lead a campaign that aims to making voting part of the daily identity in our borough of the Bronx and in low-income neighborhoods throughout the nation. Voting is how we will reclaim our power.

VETERANS: Frangell firmly believes and acknowledges that veterans and their families are among the most important groups of people in our beloved nation. Our nation continues to fail its veterans and Frangell and New York – 15 will put an end to Washington’s undermining of our great warriors and heroes.

Frangell and New York – 15 will invest in veterans’ healthcare, education, housing, and long-term well-being and stability. Frangell pledges to increase access to and the quality of our nation’s Veterans Health Administration healthcare system. This will include addressing veterans’ mental health and fully supporting them as they and their families return home and reenter our communities. We will also focus on establishing the housing program that identifies homeless veterans and helps them gain access to permanent and affordable housing.

It is time that our veterans take center-stage in our politics and that, as a nation, we relearn how to cherish and support them. Frangell, the campaign, and New York – 15 honors and salutes our veterans and thank them for their service to our country.

Pictured on the left is Army Ranger, Spc. Etienne J. Murphy, 22-year, who died on May 26th, 2017, in Al-Hasakah, Syria, while participating in Operation Inherent Resolve. Frangell and our campaign honor Spc. Murphy and all our fallen heroes and their families. The memory of Spc. Murphy, as well as the memories of all of our heroes, empower this campaign; our service is in dedication to our fallen men and women, and may their sacrifices never be forgotten or undervalued.

LGTQ+/GAY RIGHTS: If one would like to see what world peace may have a chance to look like, just turn to the beautiful gay community. Frangell is in full support for LGTQ+ and gay rights and equality. He believes that the USA should serve as a world leader in LGTQ+ and gay rights, certainly taking its advocacy and protection for the rights of our gay brothers and sisters internationally. A nation’s stance and protection for gay rights should be taken into account in its alliance or relationship with the USA. Gay rights are human rights and, with Frangell in Congress, the USA will denounce nations that criminalize, outlaw, and punish people based on their sexual and love orientation and gender identity.

Frangell and New York – 15 will fight for the passage of the Equality Act in Congress, which would outlaw discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity nationally.

Frangell pledges to fight for the passage of anti-discrimination laws in employment, in the provision of goods and services, in health insurance, in schools and colleges, in hospitals, and in other state and federal institutions. In the greatest nation in the world, we will not tolerate discrimination based on love, sexual orientation, and gender identity.

Anti-bullying laws in schools, college, workplace, and other public and private institutions that will serve to protect our gay brothers and sisters will be passed as legislation.

Gay and same-sex couples’ legal rights to adopt children, form families, and have recognized unions will be reaffirmed. Same-sex marriage will be protected and reaffirmed.

Conversion therapy will be outlawed in the United States of America. This cruel and immoral practice has no place in the world’s greatest land. Attempts to practice it will be punishable according to the law.

Legal recognition of gender diversity beyond the female and male binary standard and system will be reaffirmed and passed as law and regulation.

LGTQ+ people will be allowed to openly serve in the military. Trans people will be protected in the military.

Often forgotten in the gay community, trans people and trans rights will be prioritized. Trans people will be acknowledged, respected, and legislation that protects their complete right to be will be introduced and passed.

Frangell and New York – 15 will protect LGTQ+ and gay youth and work with leaders to pass legislation that will address the alarmingly high homelessness rate, school dropout rate, and mental health crisis. Organizations that offer social programs that help gay youth, including the Trevor Project, will receive the funding and the aid that they need and deserve to continue their incredible service.

HIV/AIDS will not only be destigmatized, but we will fight to find a cure. We will educate all of our people on preventive measures and the incredible medicine that allows our brothers and sisters who are HIV-positive to remain undetectable and, therefore, unable to pass the virus.

PrEP to prevent HIV will be made available as over-the-counter, and one will no longer need prescription for the pill.

Frangell pledges to make the Bronx and New York – 15 a safe space for all members of the LGTQ+ community. The gay community is one of the greatest communities that we have; their strength is unmatched; and we will make the Bronx a safe borough for its members.

Furthermore, Trans African American women and Trans women of color will be protected from the alarmingly high levels of violence, discrimination, and inhumane behavior. Frangell pledges to fight for them and advocate for legislation that will make them equal under the law.

One of the most honorable acts that one can engage in is to fight for the right to love; Frangell acknowledges and respects the gay community’s strength, and its role helping move our world forward, and for bringing all of us together.

CLIMATE CHANGE: Climate change disproportionately affects low-income communities, communities of color, and other vulnerable communities. If climate change is not addressed efficiently, then it stands to disrupt our nation’s long-term economic growth, public health, and other aspects of our daily living. 

Frangell is committed to addressing climate change without taking our citizens’ jobs away. He firmly pledges that, as the nation moves to a more environment-friendly economy, and as our leaders move forward with addressing climate change and natural hazards, that those whose jobs are heavily dependent on our current economy will have jobs replaced and will be taken care of. Frangell will support legislation that addresses climate change when it also takes into account our fellow citizens’ livelihoods, and brings jobs and opportunities to our most vulnerable communities and workers.

The devastating hurricanes in Texas, Florida, Puerto Rico, and other parts of the nation, as well as the wildfires that California is experiencing, show how these natural disasters disproportionately affect poorer communities and citizens who do not have the resources to immediately address and recover from these challenges. Furthermore, climate change-related disasters result in rent increases in low-income communities, a reflection of the resulting housing shortages, recovery funds flowing to higher-income neighborhoods, and exacerbates people’s pre-existing health conditions.

In Congress, Frangell will support legislation that addresses these difficulties for low-income communities and our most vulnerable citizens. He will advocate for improved, fair, and long-lasting aid and for areas that have been affected by climate-related disasters. Frangell will work with other leaders to engage all sectors of our nation to assist the people who need our help the most, including Puerto Rico, Texas, the US Virgin Islands, Florida, and California. Our government will build an improved agency that monitors resources that are being brought to our hazard-vulnerable areas, make sure that they are being used effectively, for the people, and will consistently reevaluate, based on real results. We will make data and efforts transparent.

GUN REFORM/SAFETY: No more gun-related deaths. No more school shootings. No more fear. Frangell pledges to introduce and support legislation that addresses our nation’s gun crisis. This will be done in a way that respects the Second Amendment, that respects our people’s freedoms, and that honors the victims of shootings and their families.

As citizens of the United States, Frangell believes that we are entitled to two fundamental rights: the right to bear arms and the right to live. Both rights need to coexist, meaning that one right cannot take precedence over the other, but should work together. The victims of the Walmart shooting in El Paso, Texas, most of whom were Hispanics and people of color, held the fundamental right to live. The victims of the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando, Florida, held the fundamental right to live. The victims of the school shootings in our nation held the fundamental right to live.

The right to bear firearms and the fundamental right to live coexist in removing military-styled weapons from civilian streets. Both rights coexist in monitoring who gains access to deadly, high-level weapons that can result in mass murder. The Second Amendment was not intended to grant corrupted individuals the right to mass shootings, and the right to self-defense can certainly coexist with our duty and responsibility to protect all of our people from massacre.

Frangell and New York – 15 will work to limit assault weapons, high-capacity magazines, and other high-destruction firearms and items. The Second Amendment did not intend for our neighborhoods to have access to such destructive weapons. Self-defense does not mean irresponsibility and to allow easy access to these weapons is immoral. Frangell supports background checks for purchases of especially weapons that are capable of mass destruction and shootings and closing loopholes for background checks.

As with most industries, the firearms industry shall not have today’s much of a hold over our political leaders and over our nation’s politics. When in Congress, Frangell will address the power that gun lobbying holds over our lawmakers and in our nation’s capital. What the Second Amendment was certainly not intended for is the incredible wealth that people generate from the proliferation of firearms. Congress needs to divorce profit from advocacy, representation, and gun laws. For-profit industries and advocacy should not have a stake in how our nation approaches our citizens’ safety and our citizen’s rights to live and to bear arms.

In New York – 15, we, as a people, have seen what the passage of sensible gun laws has done – its has driven crime down and has saved thousands of lives. Our lawmakers need to make the American people their priority in addressing and resolving our nation’s warfare gun crisis and shooting epidemic; Frangell intends to shift the conversation to our people, to our victims, and to our victims’ families. Freedom is not taking lives away; freedom is protecting our lives while also protecting our right to self-defense. One does not come without the other. Frangell firmly believes that, for the sake of our survival, it is time that we resolve this issue in a national-wide legislation and, by doing so, save hundreds of thousands of American lives.

ELDERLY CITIZENS: SUPPORTING OUR SENIORS: Elderly and senior citizens are incredibly important to Frangell. They constitute one of the most powerful and vibrant aspects of New York – 15 and of our nation. It is important the legislative leaders introduce legislation that, in a changing and ever-developing world, focuses on their well-being and on their rights.

In Congress, Frangell and New York – 15 will introduce and support legislation that protects senior citizens from age-related job discrimination, lack of access to healthcare or medical procedures, and vulnerability to financial, physical, psychological, social, and sexual abuse.

Frangell supports all social programs that are aimed to protecting senior citizens. He will ensure that Social Security stays alive and prospers in our new age and that government continues honor a life’s worth of honorable work and contributions to our society.

Frangell will support legislation the improves elder abuse prevention, reporting and social programs that attempt to decrease such abuse, which includes, but is not limited to, physical, emotional, psychological, verbal, and financial abuse.

Frangell and New York – 15 will continue to have the backs of our elderly Americans; again, in a developing and changing world, it is more than important than ever that we, as citizens and as legislators, reaffirm seniors’ rights and prioritize their well-being.

Editor’s Note: An earlier draft of the article did not include Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez’ website. The article has been updated to included his website.