CPD affiliate, Make the Road New Jersey (MRNJ), kicked off 2020 with a number of significant victories for immigrants, workers, and education justice! On December 19, after a five year fight, MRNJ along with coalition partners at Let's Drive NJ, won their campaign to expand access to drivers licenses to all, regardless of immigration status, making New Jersey the 15th state to do so. Governor Phil Murphy signed the bill into law in MRNJ's office in Elizabeth, surrounded by members of MRNJ and other partners in a raucous celebration. Watch Governor Murphy's powerful signing statement here!

Two summers ago, MRNJ members stood shoulder to shoulder with Toys R US workers as a wave of bankruptcies and mass layoffs hit retail workers across the country. Wall Street billionaires' greed and recklessness left thousands of families in economic crisis while CEOs and private equity firms received million-dollar bonuses. MRNJ members joined together with CPD, and laid off and current workers from Toys R US, Sears and Payless, organized by United for Respect, to demand justice and hold Wall Street accountable. In January, Governor Murphy signed the historic Guaranteed Severance Bill (S3170 & A5145) making NJ the first state in the country to mandate that employers provide one week of severance pay for each year of service for their workers when more than 50 employees are laid off. 

Additionally, through an innovative partnership with Elizabeth Public Schools (EPS), MRNJ recently launched New Jersey’s first Student Success Center (SSC), a peer-to-peer training and support network which aims to increase college applications by 20% in EPS's lowest-performing school and increase financial aid application district-wide by 15% in its first year. Read more about this initiative here.