Over the last year BlueWaveNJ has been busy making our voice heard on the state and federal level. We have worked hard to resist the disastrous Trump Administration on multiple fronts including Health Care, The Environment, Social Justice, Immigration and much more. In addition to the federal issues we read about every day, we are working hard to rid the State of New Jersey of the Christie Administration. With the statewide election in November, we have a chance to turn New Jersey into a national leader on progressive policies and laws.

Below is a list of many of the actions we have taken with our community over the past year.

2017 ELECTION ACTIVITIES: 

BWNJ volunteers are working hard to elect Phil Murphy and Sheila Oliver this Nov. and flip red districts in the New Jersey legislature.  Current Activities include:

• Daily phone banking at the campaign’s Bloomfield office. Click Here for Phone Banking Hours.

• Women Wave Wednesdays - phone banking for N J legislative women candidates led by Grassroots committee member Connie Keys

• BWNJ Election Kick-Off meeting  September 19th

• Meet your Legislative Candidate Town Halls and Coffees (Dates to be announced soon)

• Marcia Marley and BWNJ host a Sept. 28th Fundraiser for the 40th district candidates with special guest Cory Booker (click here for more information)

• A Progressive Town Hall with Phil Murphy and Dean Obeidallah, Sirius XM Progress radio host  September 23, 1 to 2 p.m. at First Congregational Church 40 South Fullerton St. in Montclair.

• Marcia Marley and BlueWave Board members host a Phil Murphy Fundraiser featuring Chelsea Handler - 10/21

Ongoing Issue Advocacy and Events

• BlueWaveNJ Environmental Committee is co-sponsoring the Frelinghuysen Superfund Reality Tour on Sept. 12 to highlight the lack of progress cleaning up the sites and the urgent need for additional funds for all sites, including those in his district, CD 11th. Click Here for More Information.

• Healthcare Committee is calling our Congressional Representatives to stop the Republican sabotage of the ACA’s implementationand fix the Health Center Funding Cliff before September 30th.

• The Environmental Committee and BWNJ staff are planning an event after the Nov. election in Newark on environmental justice.

• The Election Reform Committee is working to limit gerrymandering of NJ districts, protect our election process with voter-verified paper ballots and optical scan equipment and by helping pass legislation to increase voter participation.

BWNJ Activities since Nov. 2016 Election- We’ve Been Very Busy.  We:

• Hosted a Candle Celebration of American Values on inauguration Day with over 500 attendees

• Organized 4 Buses to the Women’s March in Washington and hundreds to the March in New York City and Trenton

• Protested with Cory Booker at the Elizabeth detention center after Trump announced his Muslim ban

• Co-sponsored an Earth Day rally at Frelinghuysen's Morristown office with our partners 32BJ SEIU and NJ 11th for Change, to protest proposed EPA cuts and celebrate Earth Day. Hundreds turned up in the rain.

• Sent buses to the People's Climate March in DC to join 300,000 marchers in a powerful demonstration of unity for jobs, justice, and climate action.

• Spearheaded a petition drive asking Congressman Frelinghuysen to stop cuts to the EPA and the anti-environment agenda of the Trump Administration gathered 35,000 signatures and culminated in a press conference/rally at the Congressman’s Morristown office where we were joined by other environmental groups to present the signatures and offer testimonials to a cardboard cutout of Frelinghuysen as a stand-in for the absentee representative.  A video was made of the event and circulated online.  All activities planned and organized by the Environmental Committee

• Held a well-attended public forum, "What’s Next for the ACA and What it Means for You", which was streamed over 5000 times, featuring leading NJ healthcare experts and ACA stalwart Rep. Frank Pallone, planned and organized by the Healthcare Committee.

• Distributed widely in-depth ACA fact sheets, created by members of the Healthcare Committee and, with the communications committee, produced poignant ACA recipient story videos, essential resources that were widely circulated to thousands of people on our live stream, website, and social media.

• Joined other activists at weekly healthcare vigils at Frelinghuysen’s Morristown office to demand that he preserve health care for millions of Americans and even composed healthcare songs that were song at vigils across the state.

• Organized extensive phone banking and letter writing sessions to legislators to stop repeal of the ACA.   During the senate deliberations, Healthcare Committee members made hundreds of calls to activists in critical Republican-represented states asking them to call their senators demanding that they vote against passage.  Senator Collins cited constituent pressure as a reason for her “no” vote.  

• Wrote articles on Healthcare that were carried locally and nationally by the media including The Daily Beast, the New York Times and NJ Spotlight.

• Held a forum with an expert on immigration justice from the ACLU organized by the Civil Rights Committee

• Sent 3 Buses to DC at the beginning of April to meet with our Congressional delegation which included a meeting with Rodney Frelinghuysen as well as visits with Booker, Menendez, Pallone, Pascrell and dozens of other officials to talk about Healthcare and other national issues, trip planned by the Grassroots Committee and NJ 11 for Change.

• Made over 9500 calls to support Phil Murphy in the Primary, organized by the Grassroots Election Committee.

• Hosted the First Annual Progressive Summit and Rally showcasing over 40 progressive groups and candidates, organized by the Grassroots Committee.

• Helped obtain and strengthen sanctuary city status for Essex County towns, organized by the Immigration Group by working with other groups.

• BWNJ co-sponsored a May 1st Rally for Immigrant Justice in Liberty State Park in protest of the Trump administration anti-immigration policies

• The Grassroots Committee conducted a Membership Training Event for the General Election which trained over 100 volunteers and had 2200 views online

• Supported an asylum seeker released from detention, housed him for a short time, and helped him transition to his accommodations in NY.  One of several actions taken by our Immigration Committee leadership to support immigrants.

• Held a leadership forum in CD 11 for over 50 newly-formed progressive groups in NJ, organized by the Grassroots Committee

• To kick off our Turn The Tide campaign, proud members of BWNJ marched in the Montclair July 4th parade under the banner Make NJ a Beacon of Hope : Vote this November

• Joined our allies at rallies to protest against the Muslim Ban, to protect DACA children, and support immigrant justice, and made calls to demand our Congressional delegation protect DACA, events organized by the immigration committee.

• Set up a conference call between the leaders of the BWNJ Health Committee and Congressman Josh Gottheimer to discuss the "Problem Solvers" ACA compromise proposal, which he co-chairs, to insure important protections were maintained.