As an Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement member, there are many reasons I support the THRIVE Act: I have two nieces, a nephew and a partner with a little boy, and they all deserve to grow old on a planet that is hospitable. I support it because it gives me hope.

I spent nearly 15 years waiting tables; I know the feeling of not being able to pay your bills or take a day off when you’re sick. THRIVE would create 15 million new jobs in health care, public transportation and clean energy. And those jobs would be union jobs. Safe jobs. Jobs that would pay a minimum of $15 an hour and provide benefits like health care, sick days, vacation days and a retirement plan.

Today, the majority of people working low-wage jobs are Black, Brown and Indigenous folks — many of them women. They’ve been systemically marginalized and disenfranchised by our society, and because of that, they’re also most likely to be on the frontlines of climate crises. These are the folks those union jobs would lift out of poverty. These are the communities THRIVE would invest in.

It’s imperative that Congress pass the THRIVE Act. Call your Congress people today: bit.ly/thriveiowa