Washington, D.C. (February 3, 2020)– Today, the Working Families Party announced Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D – Mass.) will deliver WFP’s response to President Donald Trump’s State of the Union

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Address on Tuesday evening. In 2018, Pressley became the first woman of color elected to

C

ongress from Massachusetts. During her first year in Congress, Pressley led on a number of progressive priorities, including introducing a House resolution called the “People’s Justice Guarantee,” which called for the abolishment of cash bail and the death penalty, among other transformational reforms to the criminal legal system.

The speech can be viewed on the WFP’s Facebook page.

“Ayanna Pressley has fearlessly held this administration accountable from the moment she touched down in Washington, all while fighting to reimagine our country so it works for the many instead of the privileged and well-connected few,” said Working Families Party National Director Maurice Mitchell. “On Tuesday night, she’ll put forth a vision for a post-Trump America that allows our nation to live up to its promise of freedom and equality under the law for every person.”

In 2018, the Working Families Party endorsed Pressley’s historic run for the Massachusetts’ 7th Congressional District. Both Pressley and the Working Families Party have both endorsed Senator Elizabeth Warren for the Democratic presidential nomination, citing her agenda of bold, structural change.

“I’m honored to accept the invitation from the Working Families Party to deliver their State of the Union response,” said Pressley. “We find ourselves in unprecedented times. Every day, the occupant of the White House is advancing cruel, bigoted policies that are creating pain and trauma in our communities. Our response on Tuesday will lift up the strength of our diverse grassroots movement that will help evict the occupant of the White House, elect dynamic leaders up and down the ballot this fall, and will advance a bold, progressive policy agenda that returns power to the people and ensures equity and justice for all of our communities.”

Pressley’s remarks will follow the Democratic Party responses from Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Texas Rep. Veronica Escobar. This will be the Working Families Party’s third response to the State of the Union Address. Former Rep. Donna Edwards (D-Md.) delivered the response in 2018, and Wisconsin Lt. Gov. and WFP national committee member Mandela Barnes in 2019.

Pressley was born in Cincinnati but grew up in Chicago. She got her start in politics working for former United States Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy II. She also served as a senior aide to former Massachusetts Senator John Kerry. In 2009, Pressley was elected to Boston City Council, making her the first woman of color to serve on that body in its 100-year history. While on the council, Pressley worked in close partnership with community on issues of consequence, including the groundbreaking creation of the Committee on Health, Women, Families, and Communities, and the development of a comprehensive, culturally competent, medically accurate, and age-appropriate sexual education and health curriculum, which was successfully adopted as a permanent part of the Boston Public Schools’ wellness policy.

The WFP is a grassroots political party fighting for an America for the many, not the few. Last year the WFP drove a progressive wave in local elections across America. The WFP helped elect longtime tenants organizer and progressive champion Jumaane Williams as Public Advocate in

New York City

, swelled the ranks of

Chicago

city council progressive caucus, put public education champions on the school board in

Milwaukee

, helped insurgent activist Candi CdeBaca oust a longtime incumbent on the

Denver City Council

, and elected other council members from

Morgantown

, W.Va., to Phoenix. In 2018 it helped to drive the progressive wave up and down the ballot, flipping state senate chambers in

New York

and Colorado, and defeating Gov. Scott Walker (R-Wis.).

Tomorrow President Trump will deliver his State of the Union address in front of Congress, outlining his policy priorities and executive vision for the country.

Over the past three years, President Trump has spoken to a domestic agenda focusing on health care, education, farmers and the working class. It’s worth recognizing, however, that his Administration’s proposals have failed to meet, and many times even undermined the health, education, and well-being of our nation’s families and children.

At

FoodCorps

, we believe that a healthy, prosperous future relies on a strong education system — and that the students that education system serves must be fueled with healthy food. In the last year alone, the President

has sought to dismantle SNAP

(formerly known as food stamps) impacting millions of families’ food budgets, while also jeopardizing school meal access for an estimated one million children, limit healthier options on our kids’ trays, and dissuade immigrant communities from seeking support to feed their families.

As the President prepares to address the nation, amid perhaps the most polarizing moment of his executive tenure, we strongly urge a dialogue — from him and others — that considers our top domestic policy issues as reflections of how we invest in schoolchildren.

For instance:

Role of Food in Children’s Health

: in a political climate that is fueled by debates about health care costs and preventable diet-related diseases, we should channel the old wisdom that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure and increase investment in school meals, which ~30 million kids eat every day.

Fighting for Family Farmers

: with continued conversations on how to lift up farmers and rural communities, a clear answer is to connect them with local schools for market development. The

Farm to School Act of 2019

would not only create new revenue streams for local producers, but would help bring more farm-fresh foods into our schools—prioritizing high-need student populations.

Education = Equity

: Children who lack a quality diet are more likely to face a lifetime of challenges: they score lower on tests, miss more days of school, advance less in their careers, and raise children who are likely to repeat the same cycle. Will President Trump lay out a plan to level the playing field so that all kids—regardless of race, place, or class—are well-nourished and ready to thrive at school and beyond?

A Hidden Infrastructure Need

:

Infrastructure is back in the news.

It’s not just bridges and highways that are falling apart: many school cafeterias haven’t been updated in decades, limiting their capacity to serve meals made from scratch with fresh produce. The

School Food Modernization Act

would provide critical investment in school kitchen equipment to ensure they can effectively and efficiently serve healthy school lunches [link to op-ed].

We believe that a strong State of the Union would include healthy school meals for all children and call on both the White House and Congress to protect and strengthen investments in school meals.

Interested in hearing more on school food policies? We can connect you with FoodCorps Policy Director Kumar Chandran who can speak to current introduced legislation, including the Bills mentioned above, and other policies that would equip school nutrition staff with the best possible tools to serve students on a daily basis.

All the best,

Casey

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About FoodCorps

Together with communities, FoodCorps connects kids to healthy food in school so that every child—regardless of race, place, or class—gets the nourishment they need to thrive. Our AmeriCorps leaders transform schools into places where all students learn what healthy food is, fall in love with it, and eat it every day. Building on this foundation of direct impact, FoodCorps develops leaders, forges networks, and pursues policy reforms that in time have the potential to improve all of our nation’s 100,000 schools. To learn more about FoodCorps’ work across the country, visit

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