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On her very first day of student teaching at Linden Avenue Middle School in Red Hook, N.Y., Martha Strever pushed, pulled and pounded on the school’s door, which was locked. No one came. Where was everybody? It was, after all, the first day of school.

It turned out everybody was exactly where they were supposed to be: inside, having entered through the school’s front entrance. Strever had been knocking on a side door. Flustered but undeterred, she not only found her way inside, she also found her life’s calling.

Strever’s sentences are punctuated with laughs when she recounts the story to

Paraprofessionals and school-related personnel are often overlooked because of their support roles. They are the last ones hired and often the first ones fired when budgets get tight. This certainly seems true right now as the Trump administration withholds nearly $7 billion in education funds, effective July 1, which has hamstrung summer school programs, hindered English language support, halted professional development this summer, and left before- and after-school programs in limbo for the coming school year.

Paraprofessionals are key employees in all these programs. For example, in Alabama

It is clear that higher education is under attack. The Trump administration has frozen funding for science, from cancer research to reproductive care; has hamstrung student financial aid programs; has stripped colleges and universities of diversity, equity and inclusion programming; has strangled affirmative action designed to expand access to college; and is demanding that some institutions sign a “compact” that forces them to adopt Trump’s ideology in exchange for federal funding.

On Nov. 7, students, faculty and staff rose up at more than 100 universities and colleges across the country and

Scarlett Ahmed has started counting the number of people sleeping outside the Queens Career Center in New York City when she arrives at work in the morning.

“It was already bad,” she said. “But this? This will just add to it.”

Ahmed, a career center supervisor and an executive board member of New York’s Public Employees Federation, is referring to the devastating disruption in benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. The break in benefits—resulting from the longest federal government shutdown on record—has a seismic impact, reaching even programs and departments

On Aug. 14, Social Security will mark its 90th anniversary—but instead of celebrating, labor leaders and activists say the program faces the gravest threats in its history. Speaking during a virtual town hall on Aug. 7, AFT President Randi Weingarten warned that the Trump administration is pursuing policies aimed at dismantling Social Security. “They’re not going to tell people that they don’t want it,” she said. “We have to fight in every which way we can, particularly those of us who are not yet on Social Security, … for people to have it and to keep it … for our children and our

AFT Washington has long held that a just society is one that allows educators, healthcare professionals, and others working to advance public welfare and provide equal opportunity to all. Our power comes from our members - their commitment; their involvement. We build our community when our colleagues become members, our members become activists, and our activists become leaders. This increases our scope, our depth, and our influence.

In these challenging times, AFT Washington reasserts our commitment to these principles:

• To welcome all of our diverse membership to stand together in solidarity

June is Pride month and on behalf of the AFT Washington membership, I want to say to our LGBTQ+ members – we see you! The existence of a designated month means so much, both in terms of the possibilities it creates and in terms of the history that generated the need for a month to recognize the beautiful diversity of people. Pride month seeks to make visible the millions of people who, for decades, have needed to be vigilant of the risks to their well-being as they navigated a hostile world. LGBTQ+ people, with allies alongside, have fought hard for their rights, from the right to exist to the

As is depressingly common, several people have been injured and killed due to gun violence at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Countless others have been traumatized by the terror they felt during the incident. Worse, the damage to us all is cumulative: all who work in education, students, and their families throughout the country are left with anxiety and fear, unable to feel the sense of safety we all need to thrive, and wondering when their campus will be the target. This is the 80^th school shooting this year; that fear should surprise no one in the face of such a bleak statistic.

We send our deepest sympathies and love to all impacted by this assault, knowing that sympathies and love mean little without action.

As education workers, this is a moment when our membership can work together for real solutions to the epidemic of gun violence in schools and colleges, as well as in places of faith, shopping centers, childcare centers, and our communities more broadly. In the upcoming legislative session, we will be working with the Alliance for Gun Responsibility to advance laws proven to reduce gun violence. You can stay informed by signing up for our Legisletter here.

At the same time, we know that workers are well positioned to develop the measures that will make their workplaces safer. We encourage you to raise the subject of safety at your workplace with your union and to urge your employer to create the opportunity for your school, center, or college community members to come together and build the solutions needed. Solutions to this crisis are possible, and we can contribute to build them in meaningful ways.

Finally, as an AFT member you have access to trauma counseling as one of your union benefits. If the need arises you can find out more about that resource here.

Please take care of yourself and those around you - our solidarity and community can be a source of comfort and strength in the face of tragedy, and our action together can create change that ends the cycle of fear.