MARCH 6, 2025 | RIVERSIDE WEEKLY ACTIONS

Urgent Appeal to help us provide 40,000+ Ramadan Meals for Asylum Seekers in NYC

With Ramadan happening now, we urgently request your support. This Ramadan, thousands of asylum seekers in New York City are observing the holy month while facing food insecurity. Many come from West & North Africa, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Turkey, and other regions, struggling to find halal, culturally appropriate meals for Suhoor and Iftar.

With limited resources, mosques and community spaces cannot meet the growing need. Many go without a meal at dawn or sunset. Your support changes that. Help us provide over 40,000 meals so none of our brothers and sisters are left hungry this Ramadan.

Demand NO CUTS to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid!

Republicans in Congress, Donald Trump, and Elon Musk want you to believe they are merely cutting waste, fraud, and abuse.

This is a LIE with catastrophic implications for our nation.

Republicans are scheming to slash Medicaid, impacting everyone—whether you’re a recipient or not. Rural hospitals, safety-net clinics, and public hospitals will close, causing healthcare costs and insurance premiums to soar.

Even worse, to meet their arbitrary $2 trillion budget cut, they will also target Social Security and Medicare.

Let’s call this what it is: THEFT.

Click the link below to sign on and demand that Congress protect our vital Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid from being exploited to benefit the wealthy.
CLICK HERE TO TAKE ACTION

Demand Congress reject the “No Bailout for Sanctuary Cities” Act (H.R. 32)

 needs you to contact your representative now to demand Congress reject the “No Bailout for Sanctuary Cities” Act (H.R. 32), a dangerous bill that would strip federal funding from cities and states unless they participate in mass deportations. This isn’t just an attack on immigrants—it’s an attack on all of us. Send a message to your representative and tell Congress: Hands off our communities. Vote NO on H.R. 32.

Support our partners at Freedom Agenda to Close Rikers!

Mayor Adams has said he wants to “close the pipelines that feed Rikers,” but his proposed budget would do the opposite—by maintaining DOC budget bloat while cutting funds to alternatives to incarceration and reentry programs, and failing to adequately fund supportive housing and community-based mental health treatment. In order to follow through on the legal and moral obligation to Close Rikers, City Council must secure a budget that will improve community safety, reduce incarceration, and pave the way to closing Rikers.

Preliminary budget hearings are a crucial opportunity to shape the City Council’s response to the Mayor’s budget.

Here are key ways to engage:• RSVP for the Close Rikers rally (THIS FRIDAY, March 7, 9 AM, before the Criminal Justice Committee budget hearing)Prepare testimony for the budget hearings, using this guide (priority hearings listed below):

• March 7, 10:00 AM – Criminal Justice Committee: Emphasize the need to cut DOC’s budget and restore cuts to BOC

• March 11, 9:30 AM – Public Safety Committee: Emphasize the need to reverse OCJ cuts

• March 17, 10:00 AM – General Welfare Committee: Emphasize the need for supportive housing

• March 24, 10:00 AM – Health & Mental Health, Addiction, Disability Committee: Emphasize the need for supportive housing and community treatment

Let Freedom Agenda know which committees you can submit testimony for using this form below.

CLICK HERE TO SUBMIT TESTIMONY
CLICK HERE FOR THE BUDGET TESTIMONY GUIDE

A Lenten Fast From Corporations: A Call to Spiritual Resistance

The sacred season of Lent is a time to embrace reflection, renewal, and prophetic action by letting go of the things that distract us and recommitting ourselves to justice, love, and righteousness.

This Lent, we are joining a corporate fast, beginning with Target, as a spiritual act of resistance—redirecting our resources toward businesses that uphold justice. Just as Jesus overturned the tables in the temple, challenging the exploitation and hypocrisy of his day, we, too, are disrupting business as usual by calling out corporate rollbacks on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives. As people of faith, we cannot remain silent in the face of injustice.

As we journey through these 40 days, let us pray, reflect, and act—knowing that our collective sacrifice can bring about transformation. Join us as we stand in faith and resist with purpose, reminding the world that justice is not negotiable.