Statement of JALSA President & CEO Cindy Rowe on Monday’s Presidential Inauguration and the Incoming Administration

Our moral values will be put to the test under the incoming Trump Administration. We have already seen the blueprint clearly laid out in the harmful and extreme Project 2025, which is a guidebook for how to disrespect people and scapegoat the most vulnerable. But it is our mission to protect people who will suffer the worst of the new Administration's wrath. We’ll be spending every day, using every tool at our disposal, to defend our democracy and remind people about what it means to care for one another.

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For years, JALSA has been at the forefront of policy battles on issues ranging from economic justice to reproductive freedom to immigrant rights. JALSA has been integral to key successes on Beacon Hill whose underlying values run directly counter to the destructive policy proposals of Project 2025, including passing the Work and Family Mobility Act (immigrant driver’s license law), securing permanent funding of School Meals for All, and organizing hundreds of leaders across the Commonwealth in condemnation of white supremacist hate and in support of resources for immigrant families.

JALSA’s forward-thinking, inclusive advocacy will continue fervently onward, through noon on Monday, January 20th, and beyond. In direct contravention of the reckless Project 2025 blueprint, JALSA will continue working to realize its vision for a world in which every individual is treated with dignity and respect, and has the opportunity to be healthy, safe, and economically secure, free from fear and discrimination.