OUR WORKING GROUPS, COMMITTEES & CAUCUSES
Committee for Radical Education Workers (CREW)
CREW believes an education system in a capitalist society is inherently flawed and inequitable. We seek to contribute to the establishment of a truly democratic and equitable public school system in which all stakeholders (students, workers, families, and communities) have a voice. We stand against austerity, privatization, charter school expansion, high stakes testing, anti-labor practices, school segregation, and the presence of police and military in our schools. Our mission is to educate chapter members and the public on important issues, coordinate efforts with other socialist education workers and education activists, promote social justice unionism and rank-and-file power in education unions, and join the communities where we work in their struggles for justice.
To get involved, email nnj.membership [ at ] dsanj.org
Electoral Working Group
Our electoral working group’s mission is to help elect socialist candidates here in NJ and across the country. Through canvassing, phone banking, and organizing we will work to build the left’s power in the electoral sphere. We hope to run a DSA member candidate in the near future. Our next meeting will be after the November 2020 election.
To get involved, email nnjdsa.electoral [ at ] gmail.com
Ecosocialist Working Group
The purpose of the Ecosocialist Working Group is to help coordinate and participate in a focused effort to achieve a more just and healthy world. This involves communicating with national leadership and reaching out into the community in order to transition to more sustainable practices, transfer investments to the people rather than violent institutions, and fight for environmental justice for our BIPOC comrades along with other hard-hit communities.
This is a new working group, to get involved email nnj.membership [ at ] dsanj.org
Health Justice Working Group
The Health Justice (Medicare for All) Working Group is organizing for Medicare for All at the local, state and federal level. We need a healthchare system that prioritizes the health of working-class Americans over the profits of insurance companies and their billionaire executives. We need a single, universal system with comprehensive coverage that is free at the point of service. To get involved email our Membership Coordinator at nnj.membership [ at ] dsanj.org
Housing Justice Working Group
The Housing Justice working group works to advance housing as a human right through community organizing, tenant education, direct action, and policy and advocacy.
We meet monthly on the first Saturday of the month at 1pm in Newark Riverfront Park (at least through November).
This is a new working group, to get involved email nnjdsa.housing [ at ] gmail.com
Immigrant Justice Working Group
The Immigrant Justice working group’s main mission is to shut down ICE detention centers in North Jersey and support the empowerment of New Jersey’s immigrant communities. To do this we regularly make appearances at county freeholders meetings, hold weekly #FreeThemAll phone zaps (Fridays at noon) with an Abolish ICE-NY/NJ coalition to pressure politicians on both sides of the Hudson, and try to bring attention to the human rights crisis happening in our backyard. Two thirds of people who get picked up in New York City by ICE end up in New Jersey, showing that this is a regional issue with regional potential for organizing in the future.
Meanwhile, there are four ICE concentration camps in New Jersey–three in county jails (Hudson, Essex, Bergen), one privately-run (Elizabeth Detention Center, operated by the for-profit carceral vulture firm CoreCivic). We demand the end of ALL detention and deportations, full legal, social, and political equality for all, and open borders globally.
To get involved, email nnj.immigration [ at ] dsanj.org
Twitter: @Immigration_NNJ
Labor Working Group
The North New Jersey Democratic Socialists of America Labor Working Group is dedicated to building worker’s solidarity in the Northern New Jersey region. As democratic socialists, we recognize that workers not only have the power to directly confront capitalism, but that we have the potential to generate an equitable and just world. We understand the need for building working class power through the democratization of the workplace, and the ending of ableism, ageism, homophobia, racism, sexism, transphobia and all forms of discrimination and exploitation in all work environments. The working group’s aim is to provide support to the working community by liaising with local labor organizations, bringing together members who are involved in the labor movement to coordinate actions & strategies, engaging in political education around labor, conducting training events for workplace safety, collective bargaining tactics, anti-harassment/discrimination etc., and aiding in any other DSA campaigns that the chapter may be involved with.
This Committee is currently inactive and looking for people to get involved in restarting this work, especially in collaboration with our ongoing campaigns. If you are interested in getting involved, reach out to our Membership Coordinator at nnj.membership [ at ] dsanj.org
Media and Communications Committee
The Media and Communications committee works to amplify North New Jersey DSA’s work, help recruit new members, and create popular education tools. We aim to expose the inequalities of our capitalist system and show that socialism is a viable and necessary alternative.
We have subcommittees that focus on Visual Design, Social Media, External Communications, and Tech. By creating infographics, pamphlets, flyers, op-eds, banners, online campaigns, and swag for our chapter, we help communicate our chapter’s campaigns and actions to our membership and the rest of North New Jersey. Upcoming projects include a zine that will track our Defund/Refund campaign and a podcast series.
To get involved, email media_nnjdsa [ at ] protonmail.com
Member Engagement Committee
The membership engagement committee works to grow our chapter through welcoming new members, introducing them to how our chapter works, and plugging them in to our current projects and actions. We build the power to do the work that our chapter has envisioned by making sure all of our members feel like they have a role in the chapter and can move from active participants to leaders. We regularly conduct outreach to all new members and to old members who aren’t active.
We train our chapter’s membership mobilizers to do outreach, one on ones, and connect people with similar interests in our chapter. This year we are aiming to restart our new member orientations, happy hours and other social gatherings.
Check out the NJDSA Calendar for our next meeting! To get involved, email nnj.membership [ at ] dsanj.org
Mutual Aid Working Group
The Mutual Aid Working Group (MAWG) is a space meant to put principles of collectivism into action. As the crises of capitalism and state austerity bare down on us, creating networks of critical support for at-risk communities is essential to socialist organizing. The goal is to organize a resilient network of neighborhoods with community-controlled resources and services ranging from living spaces, access to food and utilities, education, care, and the absence of structures that maintain state violence and oppression like police, landlords, and exploitative corporations.
Currently we have two main projects: 1) Brick City Mutual Aid, which focuses on Newark communities and 2) The Ramapough Lenape Solidarity Project, which supports the efforts of indigenous communities to rebuild after decades of industrial dumping. The MAWG is horizontally organized and aims to encourage the growth and participation of individuals to become active organizers. Our work is not charity in that it explicitly aims to upend the systems that perpetuate class and race hierarchies.
To get involved, email nnjmutualaidwg [ at ] gmail.com. For Newark specific work email BrickCityMutualAid [ at ] protonmail.com
Political Education Committee
The North NJ DSA Political Education Committee aims to provide a rich and accessible internal educational program. Through our night schools and panels, the committee provides members the historical and theoretical understanding needed to organize for socialism in a changing world. We put on a night school or panel every month and are always looking for facilitators and speakers for these events. The Political Education Committee has 7 elected members who decide on reading materials but anyone can participate in our work.
To get involved, email nnj.membership [ at ] dsanj.org
Queer Socialist Caucus
The Queer Socialist Caucus is an intersectional group of activists dedicated to raising awareness of the needs of queer folks within broader socialist liberatory discourse, working to improve the material conditions of marginalized queer folks (especially BIPOC, working class folks, disabled folks, and sex workers), and fostering a space where queer socialists can find solace from an oppressive society. So far, we have collaborated with activists in Newark, Paterson, and South Orange on several protests and community events. We are working on identifying community needs and collaborating with grassroots organizations to better serve the North Jersey queer community. We also have led chapter-wide education events such as a screening of How to Survive a Plague.
We are a new working group and very open to suggestions! We look forward to seeing you at our next event! To get involved, email queersocialistcaucus [ at ] gmail.com
