The Eritrean Diaspora Network (EDN) is committed to mobilizing around a non-partisan community agenda. One of EDN’s programming pillars is the Civic Engagement Workgroup, which is committed to building the civic capacity of Eritrean-Americans, by educating members of our community on various local, state, and national issues that impact us, and mobilizing Eritreans to hold local governing institutions accountable for addressing our community’s unique needs.
As we were defining our civic engagement agenda, we felt it was important to hear all the voices and concerns of our community. In order to gauge which issues were of greatest concern, EDN conducted a community-wide survey earlier this year. The survey focused on various local and national issues, and EDN would like to thank everyone who participated in our survey; your input is invaluable to our organization.
The results of that survey indicated that Eritreans were particularly concerned about issues surrounding education, as well as social justice issues such as poverty and economic justice. EDN will aim to address these broad concerns in the coming months within the context of the Eritrean-American community. EDN will implement a number of initiatives in order to determine how these issues directly impact our communities, and how we can begin actively mobilizing for change. Some of these initiatives will include:
- Issue-based education panels
- Newsletters
- Informational blogs and interviews
- Webinars
- Community and townhall meetings
- Voter registration drives
Fight for 15
The above noted programing will align to critical campaigns that are currently in the forefront of the fight for economic justice and improvements in public education. These are concerns that affect a broad spectrum of the Eritrean-American community. Many Eritreans, especially those of the older generation and those who are new arrivals to the U.S., work in fields that pay the minimum wage, which is currently $7.25 at the federal level. This wage is barely enough to support one person, let alone a family (and in many of our cases, extended families). The Fight for 15 is a national campaign to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour, which is deemed a living wage in most localities. This campaign has already gained victories in San Francisco and Seattle, which have passed laws that will raise the minimum wage to $15 over the next couple years. Gains are also being made in major cities from New York to Los Angeles. We believe that hard-working people should be paid fairly and be able to make a living to sustain themselves and their families, and that we in the Eritrean diaspora community can collectively work towards sustaining this momentum.
Debt Free Future
As many first-generation American immigrant groups, our community holds a strong belief that a college education is the main pathway to the middle-class and achieving the American dream. However, more and more of us are finding that pathway to be wrought with pitfalls and obstacles which is why we are supporters of Debt-Free Future, which aims to make higher education affordable for all. Student debt has surpassed the $1 trillion dollar mark, and has overtaken credit card debt and auto-loan debt as the single highest source of debt among consumers. Two-thirds of students graduate with $27,000 in debt, on average. For recent graduates who start making payments on their loans, nearly one in eight will default on their loans within two years. Soon, they can expect calls from a debt collector (who is likely only earning a dollar or two above the minimum wage themselves). Economists point to rising student debt as the reason behind the growing lack of saving and home ownership. With more than 40 million student debt borrowers and co-signers struggling to make ends meet, this issue cuts crosses nearly all political and economic lines and is one of the biggest hurdles young people and families face today. In partnership with Jobs with Justice and the U.S. Student Association, we are joining the flight to make college more affordable, by reigning in student lenders through stronger regulations, and win debt relief for all working families.
You will learn more about our work around the initiatives above in future blog posts and the impending launch of our Civic Engagement Newsletter (click here to subscribe). If you’re interested in the work of the Civic Engagement Workgroup and want to get involved, write us at eridiaspora@gmail.com.