Just three days after Donald Trump was elected president, leaders of Virginia not-for-profit groups met in Richmond to prepare for battle – vowing to protect immigrants and the poor from a new administration that has pledged to deport the undocumented and repeal the Affordable Care Act.
The Commonwealth Institute’s annual policy summit had been planned for some time, but after the election there was a rush to register. 130 people showed up to talk about what comes next. Catherine Read is a board member with Bright Paths, a group that serves low-income families in Northern Virginia.
“We have to protect, protect, protect. Get in your bunker and figure out what we can do to stop anything bad from happening.”
The challenge, she said, was not knowing what to expect from the Trump administration, and Read was not comforted by the very thing that appealed to so many voters.
“Oh, we elected an outsider. He’s not a career politician. Yep. He has no idea what this job is, and so if he’s going to count on the expertise of other people to tell him how to do the job, who are those people?”
For now, Bright Paths is planning to send a letter to its clients, assuring them of support come what may. At Virginia Union University, a historically black college, Professor Lisa Moon has been talking with faculty members about what a new president might mean for enrollment and financial aid, while giving students some historical perspective.
“We talked about the Al Gore-George Bush election. Many of them do not remember that event, and how much of the country felt similarly. I mean certainly this is much more severe, but helping them to know that this is not the first time that this has happened, and that we will recover.”
At George Mason University, student Anna Tobar works with so-called Dreamers – kids who came to this country with their parents and now find, after growing up in the U.S., that they could be deported. At the very least, she fears they will lose what they gained from an Obama administration program called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals of DACA.
“And that could mean that students who hold DACA now will not have a driver’s license, will not have in-state tuition, will not have work permits, will not have social security.”
Right now, she advising those who registered not to renew.
For those who have never applied for DACA it’s not advised as well, because that also puts them in a database.
Jill Hanken, with the Virginia Poverty Law Center, took comfort from this state’s chief executive.
“Governor McAuliffe has been a champion, supporting many of the issues and the programs that we care about, and he has another year in office.”
And the Commonwealth Institute’s Director, Michael Cassidy, said it could be difficult for the Trump administration to do away with Obamacare. Here in Virginia, 380,000 people get coverage through healthcare.gov, and hospitals provide jobs.
“In 85% of rural communities, hospitals for example are the biggest employers in those communities.”
Many agreed there were aspects of the Affordable Care Act that could be improved anyway – that Republicans and Democrats might support some of the same reforms, and the Virginia Poverty Law Center’s Dena Wiggins suggested the ugly presidential campaign had opened social wounds that require effective treatment.
“The scabs have been picked off. Let’s find those great solutions for these wounds that are a possibility, so I see it as being an opportunity to effect hopefully more change.”
There was also agreement from Jeff Charity and Latanya Reid that the not-for-profit sector was strengthened during the Obama years and was fully prepared to fight.
“If you stay ready then you don’t have to get ready, and for the most part organizations in Virginia that fight for low income families – we’re ready.”
“It will be a heavy lift, but it’s not anything that we can’t do together.”
