Dr. Quintessa Hathaway 
Candidate For Congresswoman 
Arkansas District 2 (AR-2)
2022

Prekindergarten-Secondary Education

We must seek to be the dream that our forefathers and foremothers wished for, and procreate generations that are the definition of academic excellence.

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It is up to us as policy makers, educational experts, and leaders to advance the cause of education. Each has to work collaboratively to build a transformational educational agenda for the future. Educational attainment is mandatory. It is going to take more than a high school diploma to have a decent quality of life in this country.

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Education is the fastest way to pull oneself up the socioeconomic ladder. Like the economy, the American educational system has had many peaks and valleys, periods of expansion and contraction, and has grown in expectations. It is like no other. American education is the most ethnically, nationally, and racially diversified in the world. It is inclusive and the students have ability levels that range from genius to intellectually disable who are all in one schoolhouse.

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School leaders and educational experts play a key role in improving schools and district outcomes. Their influence reaches through every fiber of our society. School leadership is a policy priority around the world; and as nations advance, the challenges will demand higher stakes. With increased school autonomy and a greater focus results, we have forced nations and districts to reconsider the role of how we educate children. It has become essential for educational leaders to transform systems in a short tenure. It can be done and it must be done.

We are able to:

Continually support and fund of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), the “nation’s education policy”

National base salary of $40,000 for all prekindergarten through twelfth grade educators

Continuance of the public service loan forgiveness program

Increase funding for Race to the Top recipients

End social promotion

Universal prekindergarten at age three (3)

Cap class size: Seventeen (17) pupils in elementary and twenty-five (25) pupils secondary

Parent/guardian to complete a minimum of ten (1o) service hours per school year

Meet the expectation of No Child Left Behind (NCLB), all students graduate at grade level reading/ national grade level reading initiative

Mandate that students are proficient on state criterion-based assessments in order to graduate from high school

Mandatory summer school for students that failed two or more classes (core or elective) if they did not recover credit during the regular academic year

Student are proficient on the U.S. Naturalization Test; which should be taken while in elementary school social studies and high school government or civics class

Require educators to participate on the assessment creation and curriculum committees, serve on textbook adoption committees, present a conferences, attend mandatory professional development which is linked to licensure

100% of high school graduates take a college entrance examination

90% of high school students graduate in 4 years

High school dropout reclamation program from age at point of separation to age 21

National marketing campaign and thrust to promote adult education

All state department of education employees that meet the criteria of an educator or paraprofessional to substitute at a local school each semester at a high performing school and an underperforming school

All local, state, and federally elected officials substitute at a local school each semester at a high performing school and an underperforming school

Grant teachers tenure or permanence after two (2) years of service

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Higher Education
In order to overcome higher educational disparities and shrink the income gap, America must take ambitious steps. The cost of higher education must decrease and the nation and students have to see greater returns on this investment.

Education starts in the mother’s womb, and be reinforced in households. Education must be considered as the lifeblood of a people. It can light up the darkest most desolate places of our lives. Education is one of the most potent weapons that can be used against an oppressor. Education can pull one out of poverty and lead to economic prominence. Education can shape one’s worldview and deconstruct ignorance. Education is able to create social justice and break down walls of bigotry. Education can fortify a family and cultivate a community. Education will employ political power if a people seek it wholeheartedly.

We must realize that the status of minority education is a 400-year long problem and there are no quick fixes or magic bullets. We must create awareness that post-secondary educational attainment is one of the best things that one may seek; and that youth cannot simply go to college but must graduate. We must increase consciousness that there is a linkage between educational advancement and socioeconomic mobility. We must state to our youth that we are engaged in a regional, national, and global competition. We must recognize that there is emotional pain and trauma attached to the plight of the undereducated.

We are able to:
Lead Minority And Culturally Responsive Education
Take preventative measures that ensure students prekindergarten through secondary education are fully equipped to learn prior to reaching post-secondary education and training
Address attitudes about higher education within our families and promote educational advancement
All college and university students are to enroll and pass a course on minority or women’s studies prior to graduation

Academic
Create and/or sustain an initiative that is modeled after the AVID program at the higher education level
Set goals and objectives that reflect the variability of the needs and abilities of remedial and developmental learners
Require remedial and developmental learners to attend instructional labs
Create and/or sustain a program with freshmen that are classified as “at-risk”
Have college and university pair each student with a mentor/mentee
Require students to complete verifiable community service hours (within a 15 mile radius of the institution) as a graduation requirement Mandate students to study abroad (non-vacation destination) for a minimum of 7 days; fee is a part of cost of attendance
Students are to complete a verifiable minimum of fifty (50) community service hours each semester
Mandate that all students enrolled in teacher preparation programs read and are assessed on the Coleman Report, A Nation at Risk, and Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) and the reauthorizations

Financing
Increase PELL Grant funding
Institutions offer PELL Grant year-round
Increase funding to Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU)
Free higher education for the first four (4) year

Enrollment
Increase African American, Hispanic, and indigenous people’s enrollment in institutions of higher learning

Graduation
Set goal for national average four-year college graduation rate to 60% in five years
Set goal for national average graduate school graduation rate to 50% in five years

Urban America

America is on a quest to improve the quality of life and advancement for citizens in urban areas. There are grave concerns about the rehabilitation and economic advancement of dilapidated communities. From an emerging city to a megalopolis, their growth is potentially the most transformative issue of a nation. It is one that must be addressed strategically, methodically, and with the objectives of stabilizing forgotten and blighted neighborhoods.

As citizens and those in positions of authority, we are mandated to use our collective voices and power for the greater good. Government officials and stakeholders ought to build consensus and capacity to address areas of concern in urban localities. More must be done to improve the lives of all people, but particularly those in “beloved communities.” Citizens, elected officials, developers, and the like must employ all resources in their toolboxes. There has to be full-throated, intentional, and expeditious efforts to do more than create a discourse, but a plan of action on the issues of sustainability and improvement. Too much is at stake and lives are being transformed based on the decisions we make today.

We are able to:
Create and execute a comprehensive plan to revitalize the parts Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Street and other streets that are named after prominent historical figures; as well as reverse the decline of their surrounding communities that have been vandalized, underdeveloped, and polluted
Maintain urban sustainability while simultaneously tackling urban sprawl
Increase affordable housing while maintaining the integrity and beautification of the communities in which it is placed
Expand commercial development while preserving the history of communities
Mobilize community members to be engaged in the rehabilitation and transformation of their locality
Attain and maintain positive socio-environmental conditions associated with urbanization
Balance the infrastructure in both affluent and low socioeconomic sections of cities
Federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies target crime equally in established and affluent communities as well as in impoverished communities

Infrastructure
There is a direct correlation between a nation’s deteriorating infrastructures, economic health, and public safety. While this nation's infrastructure is ebb and flow, other industrialized nations have gotten into the race. If America is going to sustain itself and remain competitive in this global economy, there must be a domestic industrial revolution.

The most successful economies in the world have large scale and efficient infrastructure. It is time for America to create ostentatious development projects.

We are able to:
Fund the improvement of municipal drainage systems beginning in low income and minority communities
Expand aid to municipalities for public transit in urban areas to a twenty-five mile radius of city’s center
Create a high speed transnational rail system and expressway
Create a transcontinental railway system
Extend funding for American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to modernize federal infrastructure
National high speed internet program (5 Year Plan)
Review Waste-To-Energy and sewage programs
Ground all electricity lines (10 Year Plan)
Improve the nation's power grid
Re-implement Net Neutrality
Increase cybersecurity

Poverty
There has always been an underclass in this nation. The American economy was built on free labor. Underserved and underrepresented groups have been linked to poverty since America’s inception.
 
Low wealth has lasting and long term consequences even after an individual as risen the economic ladder. Poverty is not limited to the economy. Therefore, sociopolitical policy is needed to address the issue from a broader perspective.
 
There is real economic injustice which is felt by hard working citizens. Ownership is a key to their advancement. An economic floor must be created for the poverty stricken on the topics of saving, entering the money market, owning stocks and bonds, obtaining a mutual fund and certificate of deposit, homeownership, and monitoring credit and restoration.
 
We must bring centrist, liberals, and conservatives together around the issue to eradicate poverty according to a realistic and strategic timetable. Poverty reduction has a correlation to long-term economic prosperity at the microeconomy and macroeconomy levels. We must do more to create stability, security, and opportunity for current and future generations. It is going to take a serious and concerted force to pull the impoverished out of their condition. The message of wealth accumulation is going to have to be taught by parents and in the pulpit, in schools and in the streets, and from womb to tomb. This message has to convict one’s conscience.
 
It is going to take a collective to correct it. It is going to take wealthier members of society and the one percent to jump on the bandwagon to preach, teach, and mentor those in low wealth communities about finance and do more than “living comfortable.”

We are able to:
*Encourage marriage among groups that are in an economic crisis
*Promote dual earner household incomes
*Raise the living wage
*Promote entrepreneurship
*Provide supports to small and medium-sized enterprises
*Implement a national pension program
*Grow the middle class
*Reduce the number of youth not in employment, education, or training (NEET) rate, especially in minority communities and populations. *Critically address home values in majority-minority communities
*Expand the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)
*Fully support and provide resources and means to state and local governments to revitalize communities, fund transportation, greenbelts, and world class prekindergarten through twenty (PreK-20) education
*Use the bill authored and sponsored by Congressman Jim Clyburn titled, "10- 20-30;" ten (10) percent of federal resources are directed and targeted to communities where at least twenty (20) percent of the population has been living below the poverty line for thirty (30) years or more.
*Strengthen Social Security
*We must invest in one another, buy in our communities and circulate monies in one’s community several times before it exits.
*Poor socioeconomic areas and regions, and financial institutions ought to preach and teach one another about proper financial management from the womb to the tomb.
*Provide rehabilitation and reentry support to those free from incarceration
*Broaden investments in youth employment, infrastructure, manufacturing, and clean renewable energy

Human Rights
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights standards serve as the world’s conscience and guidepost for human rights. Presently, over one hundred fifty (150) countries and territories worldwide follow its goals of combating discrimination, inequality in all forms, and political repression. It ought to be without saying that each nation must make the Declaration a reality and not simply rhetoric for its citizenry and globally.
We are able to:
Continue to gather credible intelligence that keeps nations and territories under the microscope which have a history of human rights abuses; as well as, swift action on new cases of human rights violations
Utilize preventative measures to address civil, political, social, cultural and economic unrest in the the United States and abroad
Investigate and campaign against human rights violations
Promote freedom, expression, activism, engagement, and empowerment across all religions, faiths, socioeconomic and political statuses, and orientations
Employ the criminal justice system at the local, state, national, and international levels to convict human rights violators (i.e., individuals, nations, regions, and etc.)
Do not allow political expediency and gridlock to hinder or undermine the Declaration or other human rights treaties
Sound the call regarding the progress of human rights; as well as, the violations equally.

Housing
Across this nation, housing is considered a basic need and it the obligation of any administration, local, state, or national; to ensure policy is enacted and executed to meet desirable ends. The nation has to improve the overall quality and access to fair housing in this country. Housing equals human flourishing, because it has the ability to determine: wealth creation and assets, ownership, detterence of criminal activity and involvement, improve graduation rates and educational quality, life expectancy, household income, health, and the like. The government, residents, and developers are expected to create inclusive communities which are strong and sustainable.

We are able to:
Expand Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds
Expand the current Fair Housing Act by ending discrimination against members of protected classes, LGBTQIA+ citizens, those unmarried, and housing subsidy recipients.
Re-implement civil rights oversight of the Fair Housing Act
Restore the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing Rule (AFFH Rule)
End discriminatory practices and policies of redlining and develop ways to mitigate it
Reduce rent burden
Increase home ownership
Create an initiative to eradicate homelessness
Increase awareness via a variety of mediums to Housing Rehabilitation Programs

Armed Services
America is great because our servicewomen and servicemen protect and promote our fundamental freedoms of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Those that wear the uniform and their family members are our heroes and heroines. They are valuable and are honorable.

It is in the nations forefront to engage in diplomacy. We seek to negotiate, expand the lines of communication, gather and share intelligence, and implement foreign policy that benefits stakeholders. We seek to continue to beat the drum of freedom and champion democracy. We seek to respect individuals and commit to increasing opportunity for every human being. America has a mission to transform futures in a positive way and playing a prominent role on the world stage. With our current and future allies, we can obtain the unfathomable. We can make peace and put back together pieces.

If those things fail, we will employ further diplomatic and military faculties. All phases of U.S. military operations are designed to provide safety and security to citizens and institutions both domestic and abroad. At times, our country must take direct action against terrorist targets within our borders and internationally in areas of active hostilities. Only when there is an imminent threat, the nation will engage in armed conflict.

When those days arise, we are able to:

-Develop a comprehensive plan to identify domestic terrorist
-Increase intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) systems on the contemporary battlefield
-Conduct anti-terrorism awareness training with civic leaders
-Implement and promote a regional, national, and global peace movement
-Formulate a committee to implement a peace plan
-Increase information sharing across each of the armed forces branches
-Renovate barracks on all military bases
-Improve safety and security protocols for soldiers during Basic Training and Advanced Individual Training (AIT)
-Implement a weight and strength training program as a component of the physical fitness test for each of the armed forces branches
-The United States shall continue its agreement as a member of the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF)
-Deduce United States military presence in nations the country were once at war with (i.e., Germany and Japan)
-Eliminate the usage of military-grade weaponry by local police forces
-Prioritize and expedite applications for individuals seeking naturalization through military service
-Construct and implement an international educational curriculum that promotes peace, inclusivity, diversity, and tolerance
-All school districts officially observe Veterans Day by having no school on the holiday
-Students are to use the observance of Veterans Day as a day of service at local Veterans Administration Hospitals, interview family members or friends in military, visit nursing home or school campus, participate in a parade, evidence of a kind deed for a veteran, collect donations to give to former members of the armed forces, and/or to a project-based learning and literacy exercise
-Instill a regional and national movement that is committed to peaceful protest and conflict resolution
-Construct and implement a local and state educational curriculum that seeks to eradicate racism, sexism, homophobia, xenophobia, transphobia, classism, ageism, and other forms of oppression and prejudice
-Create and strategically implement a vision to end war both domestic and foreign
-Reduce and ultimately terminate airstrike campaigns in Southwest Asia, North Africa, and Middle East nations
-Advise and coordinate with foreign forces and providing training, equipment, communications support, intelligence support, and other support to select elements for security forces
-Reduce involvement in foreign conflict using a calculated and methodical plan
-Increase transparency with the public on the status and circumstances of its use of military force overseas
-Close Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp and transport all detainees to facilities in the United States
-Expand marriage equality rights for servicemen and servicewomen and their spouses
-Remove all barriers to transgender individuals serving in the military
-Mandatory service for federal elected officials’ children; minimum one (1) child. If child is under eighteen, a contractual commitment must be made that is adhered to while parent is either in office or after departure. Child must serve one (1) tour of duty on deployment. While child is on deployment, he or she must go “outside the wire” to the battlefield.
-If federal elected official does not have a child, the official or their spouse or partner must complete Basic Training, Advanced Individual Training (AIT), or register with the Selective Service
-Reduce American militarism
-Offer higher severance pay for those that seek early termination of military contract
-With intentionality, stop incidental civilian casualties
-Publicly report civilian casualties in foreign battlefield areas and domestic hostile areas
-Increase transparency to the public on the billions of dollars in foreign military assistance
-Holistically, implement a victim advocacy, harassment, sexual assault prevention program that is consistent across each branch of the armed forces
-Provide subsidized medical cost to members of the armed forces using self-selected physicians
-Provide college education benefits for retired service members and expand benefits for active service members (Benefits should cover cost of attendance from junior college through graduate and professional school)
-Construct mixed housing, rehabilitation, and employability facilities for homeless veterans.
-Create an attainable and sustainable plan to eradicate veteran homelessness.
-Eliminate VA Home Loan Funding Fee (Phase out in a 3-5 year span)
-VA Home Loan may be used for second home or investment purchase

Rural America
Rural America is more than grassy prairies, rolling hills, leveled farmland, and airy pastoral landscapes. It is the heartland. It is a political force which ought not be ignored. It is far from monolithic or homogeneous. Rural America is a complex and growing mix socially, economically, and its demographics. The fate of rural and urban America is interwoven. Therefore, the robustness of these regions is significant. This cross-section of the country must be spoken for, spoken to, and an agenda should be set. Rural America has the potential to lead this country to new economic heights. Our local, state, and federal governments must do more research and development, improve the efficiency of resource use, and reduce the environmental impact in the rural sector. As pastoral communities depopulate and age due to limited economic and social opportunities, the nation will be at a loss. The country will face an inflection point and a crisis will loom large.

Before we arrive at such a time, we are able to:
 Modernized rural prekindergarten through twelfth grade public educational facilities
 Fully finance the Rural Education Fund
 Create new business opportunities for rural investments (i.e., microlending programs, simplify public and private grant-in-aid applications)
 Increase availability of critical services like health care and emergency management
 Implement a 5-year universal internet connectivity and broadband service plan beginning in rural areas
 Pass and execute the Green New Deal and food safety regulations
 Offer perspective and current rural educators three (3) waivers for teacher certification assessments
 Implement downtown or town center revitalization program
 Create an initiative to ground electrical power lines in 5 to 7 years
 Fund the improvement of drainage systems beginning in low income and minority communities; as well as rural sectors
 Increase educational program offerings (i.e. STEAM courses, economics, agriculture, agricultural biotechnology, vocational/technical programs, entrepreneurship, and finance)
 Ensure solvency in America's agriculture industry will continue to be a strategic industry for years to come
 Vote by mail in remote areas
10% of all local, state, and federal government contracts allocated to individuals who reside in rural communities
 Address the critical teacher shortage by offering sign-on bonuses and offering housing incentives to licensed educators to teach in rural areas
 Establish a “Critical Needs Teacher Scholarship Program” awarding full scholarships to pre-service and licensed educators who render services in remote and rural areas
 Promote local and state marketing campaign and town hall meetings for perspective and current farmers

Women's Rights
The woman is a life giver, life breather, life feeder, and holds up a society. Dr. Mary McCleod Bethune states, “The true worth of a race must be measured by the character of its womanhood.”

Through advocacy, blood, sweat, tears, childbearing, litigation, and the like; women have gained access to quality healthcare, educational attainment at all levels, civic participation, and broke economic barriers. In the United States of America, generations of women were treated as the lesser gender. Despite gains in gender equality over the past centuries, women are still victims of harassment, assault, and discrimination in the workplace and at home.

It is time to broaden the conversation and legislation about women’s rights, increase public consciousness about women, and truly acknowledge women’s history and contribution to this American experiment with democracy. Every contribution a woman makes, a society makes. Therefore, the role of a woman cannot be pigeonholed into a single set of issues or solutions. Her reach is social, political, economic, and cognitive. 
We are able to:
 Ratify a 21st century Equal Rights Amendment
 State governments, local school boards, and college boards offer and enroll students in gender studies courses at the elementary, secondary, and collegiate levels
 Increase protections of women in tribal, indigenous, and native government jurisdictions
 Expand access and increase quality healthcare to incarcerated pregnant women
 Methodically and intentionally close the gender gap
 Promote feminist philanthropy at the state and local levels
 Fully enforce and fund laws on the books which are related to violence, equal protection, due process, employment protections, and healthcare
 Craft and execute legislation to end female genital mutilation
 Protect reproductive and sexual rights and access to contraceptives
 Restrict abortions to twenty-eight (28) weeks, except where it is detrimental to the mother
 Grant new mothers and fathers a minimum of eight (8) weeks of paid leave from their employers
 Eradicate trafficking of forced laborers and sexual slaves
 Grant women one-third (1/3) of all local, state, and federal government contracts
 State and federal legislation to "Bring The Man Back In The House," which is a counter to the Aid To Families With Dependent Children (AFDC) policy, "No Man In The House" Rule

Immigration
Migration of human beings dates back to the prehistoric era. Then, like now, people move for the purpose of maintaining their basic needs. The United States of America and other former European colonized nations have a unique history with migration. The pillage and genocide of the native people were commonplace. The aboriginals were coerced from their land two hundred years ago. They carried disease infested blankets in horrific weather conditions under the orders of the Jackson Administration. They were mandated to live west of the Mississippi River in enclaves; which most still reside to present-day. A once thriving presence and a spirit of a people has been erased from most textbooks and curriculums. And, they account for less than three percent of the populace.

The global Slave Trade from Alkebulan, as the ancient Romans called it “Africa,” and what historians call, "The Birthplace Of Humanity," touched the American shores. The Motherland's forced laborers endured the largest mass deportation known on the planet. Forced laborers moved more earth than any other group in this hemisphere. Forced laborers erected the structures in the nation’s capital and nearly all the capitol buildings in this country. Forced laborers were assailed and have toiled here for nearly four hundred years. In spite of it all, they rose to the highest office seat twice; under President John Hanson during the colonial period and President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2017.

Immigrants pick this nation’s food in extreme weather conditions. Immigrants monitor and raise our children. Immigrants clean away our waste. Immigrants pave our streets and manicure our lawns. Immigrants are cracking the glass ceiling in all institutions and bursting through doors of Ivy League colleges and universities. Immigrants who are first and second generation are the engine that moves American technology and innovation. Immigrants are contributing to a Social Security system which they may never be the recipients. Immigrants have and are pouring into an American dream that defers their dreams. Immigrants are shaking off prejudices and barriers. Immigrants are walking and marching in the light. Immigrants call attention to inequalities in America when they strike from work and use their collective vote as their voice. Immigrants have transformed this land and they will not be silenced. Immigrants have given more than they have taken! Immigrants are the quintessential definition of “new Americans,” hardworking and resilient.

For those reasons and many others, something has to be done to address the issue of the day, Immigration. If this dilemma continues to go unsolved, America will be at a loss. The economy will falter and talent will wane.

We are able to:
Recognize that those of Hispanic ancestry are the largest growing ethnic group in the country
Expand economic and personal freedom for all immigrants
Litigiously challenge all divisive and unconstitutional anti-immigration ordinances and statutes
Remove barriers that prevent immigrants from achieving the American dream
Expand the work visa and study visa programs
Expand job creation for federal workers to process naturalized citizenship applications and end the backlog in five years
Expedite applications for legal immigrants who are highly skilled
Implement a “Pay-To-Stay” program so upstanding “new Americans” are able to pay taxes and penalty for violating immigration laws Create a comprehensive policy for a path to citizenship for nearly twelve million “new Americans”

Voting Rights
Voting rights is a fundamental ingredient in democratic societies. Whereas, in the United States of America it is an age old issue that is one of the most contested and controversial.

The outcomes of elections determine citizenship, freedom, majority and minority status, and matters of national security, healthcare, and overall quality of life. Citizens and American inhabitants ought to have the right to be cynical about voting. In part, the frustration comes from six presidential elections not going in the favor of the popular vote. But, the citizenry have to take control of the voting reform process.

The politically aware must increase engagement and the unaware have to engage in voting and voter turnout. Because, if voting was not important men and women that sit in city councils, state capital buildings, and Capitol Hill; would not fight so aggressively to suppress suffrage rights. If it were not important, there would not have been a Civil War. If it were not important,the ancestors would have been given suffrage when the United States Constitution was written. If it were not important, it would not have been gradual for non-white males to gain access to the ballot box. If it were not important, legal action would not be taking place to protect it. If it were not important, it would easily be expanded.

We are able to:
Youth Political Engagement
-Each School District/School Implement The National Student Mock Election Or Similar Program
-Automatic Voter Registration At Age 18
-States Have The Option To Authorize 16 Year Olds To Vote

Overturn Citizens United/Campaign Finance Reform
-Legislatively Readdress Citizens United Case
-Drastically Reduce Corporate Funding In All Local, State, And Federal Elections
-Lower The Cap On Corporate Donations In All Elections

Voting Rights Act
-Reinstate All Portions Of The Voting Rights Act
-Monitor Elections In All States
-Investigate Voter Disenfranchisement And Oversight In All States

Criminal Re-Enfranchisement
-Felons Suffrage
-Incarcerated Individuals Suffrage Via Absentee Ballot

Polling Places/Precincts
-Wait A Minimum Of 5 Years Before Purging Someone From The Voting Rolls
-Open Polling Places At Pre-2012 Sites
-Open Early Voting Polls The Sunday Prior To The Election
-Increase The Number Of Precincts In Dense Populations
-Subsidized Or Free Public Transit To And From Polling Places On Election Day

The Electoral College
Abolish Electoral College

Cybersecurity
-Innovate And/Or Create Backup System
-Increase Cyber Security Of Voting Machines
-Increase Testing Of Voting Software

Foreign Involvement In Elections
-Increase Foreign Collaboration To Address Issues Of Cyber Security
-Execute Both Economic And Diplomatic Sanctions On Nations That Hack And/Or Interrupt Elections

Voter Identification
-Subsidized Identification Fees When Used For Voting Purposes
-Utilize Any Photo Identification For Voting
-Voter May Use Any Photo Identification To Cast Provisional Ballot

The Absentee Ballot
-Hospitalized Voters Receive An Absentee Ballot
-No Excuse To Receive An Absentee Ballot

Voter Registration, Early and Election Day Voting
-Election Day Voter Registration and Updating
-Election Day Voting Hours (Minimum 7am-7pm)
-Online Voter Registration Early Voting 3 Week Minimum
-Vote By Mail In Remote Areas

Gerrymandering
-Draw District Boundaries Using Geographical And Methodical Measures
-Eliminate Partisan Gerrymandering

Improve Voting Awareness
-Conduct Media Driven Voter Registration Campaign
-Create Multilingual Voting In The Areas Of: Registration And Voting Notices, Forms, Instructions, Assistance, Other Materials Or Information Relating To The Electoral Process And Ballots

If the United States employs all of these measures, it will become a global leader in the implementation of free and fair elections. It will set the standard for what suffrage looks like. The nation will demonstrate what full enfranchisement is in practice. The country will cast off years of discrimination in its voting practices. Therefore, America, must lead the world anew and enact comprehensive voting reform.

Second Amendment
America has a strong constitutional heritage rooted in the usage and possession of private firearms. With that right comes a great responsibility to our families, friends, colleagues, communities, and global neighbors. We must take intentional and motivational action to increase educational and legal rights related to firearms and all lethal weaponry.

We ought to call upon our civic leaders, elected and appointed officials, clergy, and influencers to advance legislation on gun rights. Law-abiding citizens are standard bearers for the use of said weapons for self-defense purposes, residential protection, animal hunting, competition, predator and varmint control, and recreational shooting in a reasonable and responsible way. Included is a list of premises, overviews and ultimately policies to our Second Amendment right and responsibility.

We are able to:
-Eliminate the manufacturing, selling, and distribution of large-capacity magazines
-Families, community leaders, and mentors train and teach youth about sensible firearm usage, safety, and hunting techniques
-Restore and update the Assault Rifle Ban
-Law enforcement agencies conduct anti-terrorism awareness training with local leaders and school districts
-Promote Citizens Police Academy at the local level
-Mandate a commission to conduct a longitudinal study on the impact of gun violence on black, indigenous and other minority, and poor communities; as well as follow their recommendations
-Close the “Boyfriend Loophole” and broaden the definition to intimate partners to casual daters, and anyone with a domestic violence conviction
-Eliminate the usage of military-grade weaponry by local police forces
-Construct and implement national and international educational curriculums that promotes peace, inclusivity, diversity, and tolerance
-Produce an innovative news media campaign to reduce the exposure and coverage of violent crimes; advocate and publicize positive messaging and communal uplift
-Local, state, and federal agencies must increase transparency and communication with the public on the status and circumstances of gun violence
-With intentionality, stop incidental civilian casualties
-Publicly report casualties in all communities and hostile areas
-Increase transparency to the public on the billions of dollars in weaponry purchased in this country
-Holistically, implement a victim advocacy, harassment, assault and trauma prevention program
-Execute and expand funding for programs which offer wraparound and comprehensive services for individuals and families that are victims of violence, trauma, and sexual exploitation
-Provide subsidized medical cost to low wealth victims of gun violence using self-selected physicians and health care providers
-Implement and promote a regional, national, and global peace movement
-Formulate a committee to implement a peace plan at the state and local levels
-Instill school and district-based conflict resolution program
-Build a grassroots regional and national movement and lobbying effort that is committed to peaceful protest

National Security
National security starts in our households and branches out to international affairs. It is going to take our global alliances and a coalition to spread national and international security. We must secure both borders and build bridges of hope.

We are able to:
-Fully implement and execute the Congressman John R. Lewis Voting Rights Act
-Expand our reach and invest in less developed countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America
-Address the root causes of migration along the southern border
-Increase border security along the northern border
-We must crack down on illegal gun trafficking
-Reduce United States military presence on the global stage
-Advise and coordinate with foreign forces and providing training, equipment, communications support, intelligence support, and other supports to select elements for security forces
-Reduce involvement in foreign conflict using a calculated and methodical plan
-Increase transparency with the public on the status and circumstances of our use of military force overseas
-Close Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp and transport all detainees to facilities in the United States
-Develop a comprehensive plan to identify and combat domestic and international terrorist and extremism
-Increase intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) systems of domestic terrorist
-Conduct anti-terrorism awareness training with civic leaders
-Repeal the Dickey Amendment and allow comprehensive research on gun violence and prevention
-Implement and promote a regional, national, and global peace movement
-Formulate a committee to implement a peace plan at the state and local levels
-Promote humanitarian aid to our regional partners and alliances through nongovernmental and international nongovernmental organizations
-Successfully advocated the passage of resolutions requesting more information from both the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and executive branch over the extent of nations with nuclear arms program

Jobs And Wages
The American Labor Movement has a history of radical progressive change. This movement, like others, were long fraught. It produced overtime pay, brought about child labor laws, minimum wage, workers' rights, brought about workplace safety, formulated unions, and continues to challenge us to move earnings upward and empowering people forward. We are called to collaborate and culminate to correct economic conditions surrounding jobs and wages.

We are able to:
-Incremental increase of minimum wage to $15 per hour and the "Fight For $15" policy
-Implement a living wage
-Ensure minority businesses and those owned by women have fair and impartial opportunities to participate in grants and funding programs
-Significantly lower the unemployment rate in protected classes
-Incentivize employers to hire reformed and rehabilitated citizens who were once incarcerated
-Encourage corporations to provide greater profit sharing for employees
-Implement a national pension program
-Disrupt the attack on unions and collective bargaining
-End discrimination in the workplace
-Expand economic and personal freedom for all immigrants
-Expand the work visa and study visa programs
-Expand job creation for federal workers to process naturalized citizenship applications and end the backlog in five years
-Grant new mothers and fathers a minimum of eight (8) weeks of paid leave from their employers
-Grant paid sick leave for those suffering and quarantined from the pandemic

Criminal Justice
We ought to create a redemptive and rehabilitative justice system. There is a sense of urgency to remove the blindfold on the criminal justice systems. It is stirred into economic development and quality of life.

Currently, there is an estimated 500,000-600,000 laws on the books regarding civil and criminal law. America’s mass incarceration and supervision policies are not working to say the least. According to Dr. Paul Butler, author and former federal prosecutor; there are more African American people under criminal justice supervision than there were in slavery in 1850. This is greater than an outcry, bigger than sounding an alarm. It is a sonic boom that penetrates every dynamic of America life.

We are able to:
Reduce length of probation, parole, and supervision of returning citizens
Do not shackle women during childbirth
Create employment opportunities from inmates before reintegration to society
Reform bail policies
End mass incarceration
Provide mental health and drug addiction services in correctional facilities
Mandatory general education development (GED) while incarcerated or before the end of probationary status
Implement restorative justice programs
Gather statistics of communities that have high levels of criminal activities on a local, state, and national level
Once an individual has demonstrated consistent employment history and no recidivism after a period of time, expunging their record, accepted for public housing and assistance, and opportunities for homeownership
Data sharing among each level of government
School guidance counselors identify and treat students who have traumatic experiences
Mandate school personnel to have trauma awareness training and professional development training course
Mandate non-profit organizations that receive local, state, and/or federal funding for criminal justice-related and social programs to have trauma awareness training course

Equality And LGBT 
Our lives are based upon a myriad of decisions, actions, beliefs, attitudes, generalizations, stereotypes, biases, and the like. Those cognitive constructs are folded into our social fabric, democratic society, and economy. America is unique because we are a conglomeration of cultures. Our interconnectivity opens doors and positions us to solve major problems, address world issues, and be the change we seek to see.

Equality pushes us to examine our modes, sensitivities, thoughts, and capacities. Our country is changing at lightning speed. As our population expands, so will our physical environments, political developments, and conflicts. That is when we have to tap into the American spirit and our value systems.

We are conveying a message to the entire world. We must learn to love and lead in our households, our street corners, our blocks, our neighborhoods, our communities, our cities, our states, and our nation. We must be greater truth-tellers and dig deeper into our consciousness. We must do more than tolerate one another. We must achieve understanding, overcome limitations, create cross-cultural awareness, and allow growth to be a form of change.

We are conveying a message which requires us to teach about sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, and advocacy for members of the LGBT community. We must be thought provoking and forward thinking in our pedagogy and how we interact with one another in our families and enclaves.

We ought to trace the treads of inferiority and superiority. We ought to aggressively seek to break down the walls of bigotry, racism, ableism, and xenophobia. We ought to promote social action, deter crime and violence against all members of society, especially in black, indigenous, and communities of color. We ought to strive and thrive in being cosmopolitan.

We are able to:
-Provide resources and promote for an AIDS-free generation
-Fight for fully equality for people of color, the underserved, and LBGT communities in every sector and industry of our society
-Increase investment in the Global Equality Fund

Healthcare
Our physical, mental, and spiritual health is our wealth. Health care is about quality of life and longevity of life. In addition, a strong workforce is a healthy workforce. A strong people are a healthy people.

We are able to:
-Reduce the cost of prescription drugs, co-pays, and deductibles
-Expand healthcare for those who have low income, individuals with disabilities, pregnant women, seniors, and children.
-Invest in preventative medicine and wellness
-Provide paid leave for those suffering from and quarantined during the pandemic
-Create registry of medical providers who are negligent and abusive to the most vulnerable in our society
-Incentivize states to expand Medicaid
-Expand universal broadband access
-Expand and enhance the Affordable Care Act (ACA)
-Protect reproductive and access to contraceptives
-Expand telehealth services and availability
-Do not shackle or handcuff incarcerated women during childbirth
-Expand access to high quality healthcare in rural communities
-Address and identify mental healthcare challenges