Rabbi Joanna Samuels, the Executive Director of Manny Cantor, invites us to join her at a rally Thursday afternoon in Brooklyn to protest the mistreatment of children and families crossing the border to the United States.

As Rabbi Samuels said, “U.S. government agents are forcibly separating children from their immigrant parents, sending the children to foster homes or detention centers while their parents are sent to jail. Often, the parents do not know their children’s whereabouts, or even if they are safe. The children are sent to live with strangers or in prison-like detention centers, unaware of whether they will ever be reunited with the families. This cannot continue.”

There are numerous reports of families being forcibly separated at the border, and of children being placed in prison-like detention centers where they have been abused physically and sexually. The legal context of these separations may be complicated, but the outcomes are clearly wrong, and as Americans we should not allow activity like this to be perpetrated in our name.

If you and your family would like to join the rally, meet at the Manny Cantor Center, 197 East Broadway at 5:00 pm. We will then take the F train together to Brooklyn, where the rally starts at 5:30 pm.

Grand Street Democrats is ready to mobilize for election season!

On Monday, June 4, from 6:00 – 8:00 pm please join us at Manny Cantor Center for petition drive organizing for our endorsed candidates in New York, and for phone banking with Sister District for Liz Hanbidge for Pennsylvania.

We will also hear from Joe Telano from the NYS Democratic Party. He’ll let us know of some upcoming chances this summer to volunteer for Democratic campaigns that will help flip Congressional and State Senate seats to blue.

Petitioning starts on Tuesday, and we want everyone to chip in. This is an important function of belonging to Grand Street Democrats: our endorsed candidates need your help.

To participate in phone banking, please bring a laptop and mobile phone. We will be working from a script, contacting PA voters to make sure they know about important upcoming state elections.

Even in this deep blue corner of Manhattan we can help make a difference.

Following Eric Schneiderman’s sudden downfall and resignation 3 weeks ago, there are three candidates for NYS Attorney General seeking the Democratic nomination — Letitia James, Zephyr Teachout, and Leecia Eve. We will have a chance to hear from all three and vote afterwards for the GSD endorsement.

In addition, the party position of (Male) State Committee Member is open this year following the announcement that Lee Berman will not seek re-election to that seat. Two candidates are running: Chris Marte and Joseph Garba.

Any member with voting privileges who cannot make the meeting may designate an attending member to carry their proxy. No member may carry more than one proxy. Designations need to be in writing (email to hello@grandstreetdems.nyc will be accepted).

Thank you to Downtown Independent Democrats for hosting this forum.

We’ll have two GSD meetings to hear from Democratic candidates for state office and to vote on GSD’s endorsements:

State Candidates Forum

Monday, May 7, 6:30 – 9:30 pm
PS 41, 116 W. 11th Street

State Candidates Endorsement Meeting

Tuesday, May 15, 6:30 – 7:30 pm
Location TBD (on Grand Street)

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Another two meetings are planned to discuss the traffic crisis in our neighborhood:

L Train Town Hall

Wednesday, May 9, 6:30 – 8:30 pm
New School Johnson Hall, 66 W. 12th Street

CB3 Transportation Visioning Workshop

Wednesday, May 16, 7:00 – 9:00 pm
Seward Park High School, 5th floor cafeteria
Enter on Ludlow between Grand and Broome

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And, to celebrate LES History Month, two great events planned by LESPI:

LESPI meeting with Kent Barwick

Tuesday, May 8, 6:30 – 8:00 pm
Tenement Museum, 103 Orchard Street

Join a conversation with legendary preservationist Kent Barwick as part of LES History Month.
RSVP required due to space constraints: info@LESPI-nyc.org

Celebration of St. Mary’s Church

Monday, May 14, 6:30 – 8:00 pm
Rectory of St. Mary’s, 28 Attorney Street

For almost 200 years, St. Mary’s has been serving the immigrant populations of the Lower East Side. The event will include a presentation on the church’s and area’s history, a tour of the church, and ringing of St. Mary’s Bell. Tickets required, $10 for GSD members. Purchase here.

Join the New York Junior League’s Playground Improvement Project to help beautify and improve Corlears Hook Park.
Lunch provided if you RSVP by May 4.

Corlears Hook Park — our neighborhood’s entryway to East River Park — has undergone significant upgrades over the past five years thanks to local organizing by Friends of Corlears Hook Park.

This year, the park has been selected as the subject of an intense month-long volunteer project by New York Junior League’s Playground Improvement Project. Working weekends since April 14, volunteers are gardening, landscaping, and renovating the park and playground.

We will join them during the final weekend of park improvements, on Saturday, May 12. Volunteers should be ready to start working at 8:30 am. Lunch will be provided only if you RSVP below.

Corlears Hook Park is a vital outdoor space for our community, with playground, outdoor grills, baseball and soccer field, a dog run, and one of the most vibrant displays of Chinese magnolias in New York City. It’s important that we do our part to make sure this park has the local resources necessary to keep it looking its best.

This year’s state primary is heating up! Hear from Democratic candidates for Governor, Lt. Governor, Attorney General, and Comptroller. Open to the public.

We are grateful to Village Independent Democrats for arranging the event. GSD and other downtown clubs are co-sponsoring the event to make sure members of our community have a chance to hear directly from all these Democratic campaigns.

PS 41 is close to the West 4th Street subway stop (D, B, F, A, C). From our neighborhood you can also take the M14A to 6th Ave. and walk down just three blocks.

At our next regular meeting we will:

• Discuss and vote on endorsements for NYS Assembly and NYS Senate elections.
• Nominate and select delegates to the NYS Democratic judicial convention.
• Discuss and vote on resolutions regarding the MTA’s current contingency plan for the L Train shutdown.

The meeting is open to the public. Only members with voting privileges* will be allowed to vote on endorsements and resolutions. (Members with voting privileges who cannot make the meeting may designate in writing any other member to vote on their behalf.)

* A member has voting privileges if they meet the following conditions:

1. is a registered Democrat;
2. has been a member for at least 90 days;
3. has completed a participation requirement as defined by the Executive Committee.

If you are unsure if you meet these requirements, please email hello@grandstreetdems.nyc.

If Democrats have any hope of gaining control of the New York State Senate this year — gaining an upper hand on progressive priorities like expanding voting rights, campaign finance reform, promoting reproductive justice, affordable housing, criminal justice reform, and gun control — then we have to win the April 24 special election in lower Westchester.

Volunteer with GSD President Jeremy Sherber in Westchester on Sunday, April 15 to canvass for Shelley Mayer. This will be classic campaign door-knocking: after a brief orientation, volunteers will be sent out in pairs with a list of target voters. (If you’ve never done this before, you’ll get the hang of it pretty quickly.)

Actor and public education advocate Cynthia Nixon is challenging Andrew Cuomo for Governor of New York this year. Grand Street Democrats has not yet had a chance to make an endorsement in this important race, but two GSD members in Seward Park are opening their home for a fundraiser and meet & greet for candidate Nixon this month. If you want to get a head start on understanding the issues and personalities that will dominate this year’s NYS political news, consider coming by.

Thursday, April 12
6:30 – 8:00 pm
at the home of Ella & Brett Leitner
417 Grand Street, Apt. D1704

RSVP and donate on ActBlue.