Campaigns Group . BlueWaveNJ was the only grassroots organization to be mentioned by name in Corzine’s victory speech! We have begun laying groundwork for the 2006 midterm elections. Help us take back the House and Senate!

Rotational Chair:  Contact: Marcia—marciam@bluewavenj.org    top

NJ Education Group.  The education group works to support and improve NJ's public schools. The group is part of the statewide Our Children/Our  Schools Coalition working for a fair and equitable new school funding formula for all NJ children. It also seeks to promote informed activism around the federal No Child Left Behind law, school integration issues, and teaching and learning practices that support social justice.

Contact:   Stan  Karp   top

Social Security Group.  Last year the President’s number one domestic priority was to dismantle Social Security. That plan is now dead in the water because of the efforts of proactive citizens and progressive groups like ours all over the country. For 2006, the Social Security group has turned its attention to Medicare benefits and health care.

Contact: Marcia—marciam@bluewavenj.org    top

Iraq Group continues to organize against the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq under the slogan, Bring The Troops Home Now! In March 2007, our community anti-war project created a 3,000-foot long banner bearing the names of the U.S. and Iraqi war dead. The banner was held along Bloomfield Avenue in Montclair on March 31 by over 300 people. In the fall of 2007 we are organizing anti-war activity in the Seventh Congressional District of New Jersey and taking part in regional demonstrations on October 27th.

Contact: Richie—richiec@bluewavenj.org    top

Media Reform Group set out to educate the public about the continued deterioration of public media as well as develop “progressive framing language” to discuss BlueWaveNJ’s core values. As one of the most active groups in the organization, Media Reform accomplished a variety of tasks in 2005, including creating fact sheets and framing language, fighting for wireless technology rights, organizing a “Ten Friends” e-alert initiative, and attracting distinguished speakers like Amy Goodman and Mark Crispin Miller.

In 2006, the legislative and framing subcommittees will continue their work. The legislative subcommittee will address cable activity and wifi access in NJ. The framing subcommittee will help us refine our message by inviting speakers who will teach us how to shape the debate. Sharon Livesey, an expert in communications and negotiations, will launch this series. The 2006 election season will give us the opportunity to become experts in the language of influence and clarity.

Contact: Suzy—susank@bluewavenj.org    top

Electoral Reform Group:  Electoral Reform Group: Progressive reform  is not possible without meaningful electoral reform.  The Group will explore “clean elections” i.e.  publicly financed campaigns also we will look into the current state of New Jerseys voting machines and their lack of a voter verifiable paper trail.  Legislation to stop pay to play and requiring Broadcast media to contribute air time to political campaigns will also examined.   We will work to inform the public and lobby our representatives to ensure fair and transparent elections and to shift the power center back to the voting public away from the well financed corporations and lobbyists.

Contact: Ann— annr@bluewavenj.org  / Richard:  richardi@bluewavenj.org top

Ceasefirenj Group works to reduce gun violence in New Jersey.  Its major efforts, which have helped make New Jersey a leader in the US, include working with legislators to plan and support common sense initiatives to prevent gun violence and support gun responsibility.  The North Jersey chapter, now a working group of BlueWaveNJ, supports the state organization's legislative initiatives, fosters local awareness of gun violence and safety issues, and reduces school violence by providing annual scholarships to high school students who make outstanding contributions to peaceful conflict resolution.

Contact:  Dorothy    top

LGBTI  acts as a liaison with other LGBTI groups in NJ in an effort to reach the progressive straight community. In 2007, the group will continue to fight for marriage equality and LGBTI awareness.

Contact: Lucy—lucyo@bluewavenj.org   top

Health Care Group's formed during the summer of 2005, the health care group studied the pros and cons of national health care systems around the world, and considered proposed reforms enacted in states around the country. During 2006, we developed a PowerPoint presentation and fact sheets to educate interested groups in NJ. During 2007, we continued our educational outreach efforts. In 2008, Bluewavenj become part of the NJ coalition of the Health Care for America Now campaign (www.healthcarforameicanow.org ). We plan to generate support among NJ citizens to advocate for lifelong, affordable, quality health care of our own choosing. To accomplish this, we are working in partnership with Citizen Action, which is spearheading the statewide efforts to generate public awareness about and need for improved health care options in NJ and nationally. BluewaveNJ will co-host a Town Meeting on health care in April 09 to build grassroots support for Obama's health care plan and to assure that our legislators in DC remain on board, and we are committed to having every citizen and every small business in this state to sign the HCAN pledge. We will support efforts, as part of the Horizon Blue Cross and Blue Shield Conversion Watch coalition  (http://www.njcitizenaction.org/horizon.html ), to urge the Governor and public officials to approve Horizon’s application to convert to a "for-profit" only if the public’s interest is best served. Since Senator Vitale is working on additional reforms to the existing health care regulations in NJ, we will educate the public and promote aspects of the legislation that are considered favorable to the state’s residents. Finally, we will stay abreast of health care reform under consideration in Washington so the people of NJ will be able to demand the best possible health care options possible. Given the current financial crisis, we are stepping up our efforts to empower people to lobby state and congressional representatives to support our health care objectives.

Contact:  Jodi Godfrey     top

Reproductive Rights Group has spent a fair amount of time investigating just how much Roe v. Wade has been eroded in the state of NJ.  The group reached out to the ACLU, Planned Parenthood, and NARAL in an effort to learn more about their efforts in this regard.  On March 18, the group sponsored a WOMEN’S FILM FESTIVAL at the Montclair Public Library in an effort to reach out to the full spectrum of women in our community and to the men in their lives.  The festival was successful, and  we plan to make it an annual event.

Contact:  Clair—ccili@comcast.net