Dear Supporters and Friends,
Heartland Alliance International (HAI) extends heartfelt congratulations to President-Elect Joe Biden and Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris on their historic win in the 2020 U.S. General Election. We especially celebrate Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris—a Black woman, a woman of South Asian descent, the daughter of immigrants, and a trailblazer in so many ways—who reminds us that representation and lived experience matters, and that there should be no limits to what each of us can achieve.
The future will not be easy — there is still a tremendous amount of healing, reckoning, and restoration that needs to happen. Our program participants in Chicago, Sub Saharan Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East have faced extraordinary challenges these last four years – many as direct results of actions taken by the current administration. And, COVID-19 has only exacerbated their situation. HAI recognizes that President-Elect Biden must make amends for past harms and focus on policies that protect and promote the rights of immigrants, refugees, LGBTQI+ people, people of all faiths, and Black and Indigenous communities. Our shared responsibility to create a society that prioritizes and secures human rights depends not only on President-Elect Biden, but on our ability to hold his administration – and each other – accountable.
HAI looks forward to working with the incoming administration to increase international development and humanitarian response efforts as the world gets back on track to deliver the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. Together, we will advocate for progressive, feminist approaches to foreign policy that center gender equity, including ending the Global Gag Rule, which restricts access to sexual and reproductive health care. In the pursuit of justice, HAI will rise to the challenge of confronting systemic racism, reimagining public safety, and rebuilding our legal systems to focus on restorative justice, harm reduction, and trauma informed approaches. And, we will work tirelessly towards a transformative immigration agenda that rebuilds and expands our pipeline for serving refugees and asylum seekers to meet the unparalleled global need.
We don’t do this work alone, and we see the next four years as an opportunity to work in strategic partnerships and to refocus on the issues that drive our work at HAI. Our aspirations to ensure global access to health and healing, safety and justice, and economic opportunity cannot take place without the robust collaboration and fortitude of our global community. We are inspired by your ongoing support of our work and look forward to together achieving Equity and Opportunity for all.
Stay safe and well.
Warmly,
Surita Sandosham
Executive Director, Heartland Alliance International
