Nicole Brun-Cottan’s work as a physical therapist in an intensive care unit is grueling. Her patients are critically ill, many with COVID-19, and she often works with them in their hospital beds because they can’t sit up on their own. At the end of each shift, physically and emotionally exhausted…
Students are settling into the third straight school year disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic. Since Aug. 1, I have been on the road visiting public schools in 30 communities in 14 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. I’ve sensed the trepidation students, parents and school staff feel; how could they…
Sept. 11, 2001, was primary day, and I was in Brooklyn getting out the vote when the sound of an explosion stopped me and my colleagues in our tracks. …
This Labor Day, we find ourselves caring, fighting and showing up: caring for those who are suffering the consequences of the pandemic, hurricanes, flash floods and wildfires; fighting for our members, students, patients and communities to have the freedom to thrive; and showing up by crisscrossing the country supporting our…
Students and staff are returning to school amid the fourth wave of COVID-19 infections and deaths, the third straight school year under the cloud of the coronavirus, and more than 40 percent of eligible Americans — those 12 and older — having not gotten their second or even first vaccination…
It feels like I say this every year, but it’s especially true this year. Every week — every day on the calendar — should be teacher, nurse and public employee appreciation week.
As we celebrate Public Service Recognition Week, May 2–8, Teacher Appreciation Week, May 3–7, and National Nurses Week…
Every person in America deserves a voice and representation in our democracy; these are essential for a vibrant society and for Americans to thrive. That is why voting is a sacred right in America, one that advocates have fought fiercely to expand, over the life of our republic, to Black…
On Saturday, the Senate passed their version of the American Rescue Plan that would provide urgently needed relief in the form of $1.9 billion to Americans families, businesses, students, and workers to recover from the pandemic. …
The grim toll of the coronavirus pandemic has many measures: Twenty-eight million infections and 500,000 lives lost. Eight million more people enduring poverty, many of them children. Family businesses shuttered, weddings without guests, and epidemics of depression and isolation. The shocking one-year decline in life expectancy in the first half…
Karen Lewis was a force of nature. She embodied the values of public education and unionism and led fiercely, with courage, conviction, wit, humor, spice, smarts and love.
I am the one who is supposed to talk about her national impact, and I will. …
