The Contra Costa Young Democrats are committed to economic, racial and social justice to create a better and more just world for all of us.

We seek to realize this by fighting for legislation and candidates that will realize our shared vision. These are just some of the issues we’re focused on making an impact in our state and county.

There is a crisis in our immigrant community of ICE terrorizing people, tearing apart families, and pulling people off the streets in an instant. We believe our officials in California should do everything in their power to protect all immigrants, and that law enforcement should not just comply with the letter of the law in the state, but the spirit of it and no longer cooperate with ICE.

Health care should be a human right for all, and that means having free health care at the point of access. We’ve seen progress towards universal health care through the ACA, but there is still much work to be done. We support efforts to improve the existing system in California, but ultimately want to move towards a single payer system here or on the federal level.

In addition, any discussion of health care must talk about women’s reproductive rights. As three Bay Area Planned Parenthood clinics have closed in the last year, it’s imperative that elected officials do everything in their power to be expanding women’s right to choose.

The pervasive corruption of money in politics remains one of the core ills in our country. In California we see outside money flooding our elections at every level. Because of decisions like Citizens United, our state officials can only do so much to limit the amount of money in our elections, but we desire transparency and knowing what interests are behind candidates and ads. We also want to move towards a system of public financing that can reduce the amount of time elected spend fundraising and more time representing the people that elected them.

California has been behind the ball in dealing with mass incarceration and police brutality. Our police departments must be held to account when they abuse their power. We have to move away from incarcerating our problems and put money and resources towards alternatives like education, mental health, and other services for communities that need them.