EAST VILLAGE, NEW YORK –– Assemblymember Harvey Epstein convened organizers and representatives from a host of community based organizations to educate and activate residents of the 74th Assembly District interested in fighting for progressive causes in Albany.

Representatives from over a dozen groups held panel discussions attended by over one hundred New Yorkers. Panelists included representatives from #HALTsolitary, Alliance for Quality Education, Association for Neighborhood and Housing Development, Bard Prison Initiative, Community Education Council 1, Community Education Council 2, Cooper Square Committee, Legal Aid, LES Ecology Center, NY League of Conservation Voters, and We ACT.

Panels ended with question and answer portions and organizers inviting residents to sign up for lobby days in Albany for initiatives such as the fight to end solitary confinement in New York prisons.

“There’s a history of political activism in our East Side community, and our well-attended town hall is testament to that fact. East Siders know that to achieve the kind of change we want to see in our neighborhoods, city, and state, we have to fight for it. Whether it’s improving protections for tenants, ending the inhumane system of solitary confinement in our prisons, or saving the environment, we need to be participants in the political process. And when we fight, we win. I am honored to represent such a politically active community,” said Assemblymember Epstein.