Ingrid Chen McCarthy

Our Steering Committee Recommendations

Hey There! Jess and Ingrid from the Guilford For All Steering Committee here. In addition to our excellent slate of endorsed candidates, we have a couple issues on the ballot here in Guilford County, and we want to share our recommendations. 

The Guilford For All Steering Committee has voted to recommend:

Vote FOR the Sales Tax Referendum
Vote AGAINST the Constitutional Amendment 

Why these recommendations, and why now:

1) We did not have the time to go through our endorsement process; and we needed to make a call quickly what we were going to communicate, if anything.

2) We had a read that these proposed ballot initiatives will have real impacts on our members for better (in the case of the sales tax) and for worse (in the case of the constitutional amendment).

Support Our Teachers + School Workers

Vote FOR the Sales Tax Referendum: Our kids in public schools deserve the best, and this sales tax increase would help us attract and retain top quality teachers and staff in Guilford County. The referendum proposes a fraction of a penny increase on sales tax, *excluding* gas, groceries, motor vehicles or prescription drugs. This tax increase would add one penny for every four dollars spent, and county officials estimate that it would bring in $25 million for much-needed salary increases for our public school teachers and frontline workers. Because Guilford County is one of only 4 counties in the entire state that does not receive a teacher supplement for our public school educators, our teachers are currently being paid a salary supplement that is on average 35% less than teachers in nearby counties. The G4A Steering Committee strongly recommends voting for the referendum to support our public schools.

Protect Voting Rights + Reject Racism

Vote AGAINST the Constitutional Amendment: This amendment was the brainchild of right wing extremists in our General Assembly who continue to perpetuate widely-debunked, racist conspiracy theories about non-citizens participating in elections. House Bill 1074 proposes to amend the state Constitution to modify the qualifications to vote to only a “citizen” by removing “every person born in the United States and every person who has been naturalized…” While the wording may seem harmless or even helpful at a first glance, our state and local laws already strongly protect our elections from fraudulent voting, and the change could potentially put naturalized citizens (like Ingrid!) at risk of losing their voting rights. This amendment is designed to confuse voters, promote mistrust in our elections and perpetuate anti-immigration bias and racism. The Guilford For All Steering Committee strongly recommends you to vote against.

“How do you invest in developing leadership but not in creating dependency of that leadership upon you?”

This quote about leadership from the Civil Rights organizer Marshall Ganz speaks to the importance of having organizations that are leader-full. At Guilford for All and Carolina Federation, we are committed to developing a membership of leaders. The highest decision making body of leaders in our chapter is the steering committee. 

In November, one of Guilford For All’s steering committee members, Ty Hall, graduated from the Carolina Federation’s Organizer in Training program and accepted the invitation to serve as a full-time staff chapter organizer with the Guilford for All chapter. We celebrate this accomplishment with her. During Ty’s time on the Guilford steering committee she served as the treasurer and the liaison to the steering committee on the basebuilding and canvassing team. Her achievements include recruiting the most members to the chapter over the last year and helping with drafting the chapter’s first budget and the process to have the chapter vote to adopt that budget. We will miss Ty on the steering committee and we are super excited for her transition to live out her passion for organizing as one of our beloved chapter organizers! 

The steering committee can never replace Ty. However, they decided that it is critical to have someone who joined our organization from the powerful basebuilding we did in the Ole Asheboro and Arlington Park neighborhoods to be represented on the steering committee. The committee made the decision to appoint Ty’s successor after a nomination process where Ty and other steering committee members along with chapter organizers recommended members from Ole Asheboro and Arlington Park for the position. Two members were recommended. These members were required to submit a written statement about why they are the right person to serve on the Guilford for All steering committee to fulfill the remainder of Ty’s term through early 2025. 

At the December 10 steering committee meeting, Carolyn McNeil gave a riveting speech and was unanimously voted onto the steering committee. Ty and Cecile Crawford nominated Carolyn for the position. Carolyn served on the Safe Streets issue campaign team last fall and recruited the most people from that team to the peak action where we were victorious in getting the City to pick up dozens of bulk trash piles that had been sitting in the community for months and months. She has attended two Federation Leadership Trainings and currently serves on the People Agenda Action Team responsible for our recent town hall event and now our endorsements. Carolyn also won the prestigious leadership award last year at our Federation Convention. 

Carolyn had this to say about why she is the right person for the job: “Peace is one of my purposes for a better future for our children, young, and old folks. Recruitment conversations where I got to walk my neighborhood to discuss issues and concerns with my neighbors was one of the most exciting things that I’ve enjoyed over the past two years. Working with this organization gave me a sense of pride.” 

Join us at the upcoming January 1 Holiday Party from 3pm – 5pm at 1000 Gorrell Street where you can extend a heartfelt welcome to Carolyn and wish Ty well on their new roles with our organization!