A letter from Cherie

My name is Cherie Cruz and I am running to be your next State Representative in the Fairlawn and Woodlawn communities. I am sure that you have received many letters from candidates for political office. But I hope that you will be able to find the time to read about why I believe that I can make a difference for the people of Pawtucket. I am running because I care deeply about my community and know that we deserve more. I know our strengths and our struggles and that we have a voice—one that is strong and deserves to be heard.

I am running because your struggles are my struggles. Pawtucket is where I was born, raised, went to school and where four generations of my family were laid to rest. I grew up in a working-class family with six siblings. My father, a Navy veteran, coached basketball and boxing at the Pawtucket Boys Club. We were poor, and when our utilities were cut off  we would go to the George Wiley Center for help. Even when we were facing eviction ourselves, my family would offer shelter to friends who were experiencing homelessness.  I have fond memories of walking with the other neighborhood kids—from all backgrounds and races—to Vets pool to swim and get free lunch, which was often our only meal of the day. Our family wouldn’t have made it without the assistance from dedicated public servants at the Pawtucket DHS, like Pam Goodwin and Connie Allard. This is a strong and resilient community, full of people who take care of each other regardless of their circumstances or station in life.

It was the support of this community that allowed me, a single mom of four, to become a first generation college student. I went from earning my GED, to graduating from Brown University with honors and, later, with my Master’s degree as a fellow in Urban Education Policy. I am now a certified parent educator, lactation consultant, and peer recovery specialist. I lead a Parents as Teachers Program through the RI Department of Health. My work in the community heightened the lessons I learned of justice and brought me to also volunteer over the last 10 years with the Rhode Island American Civil Liberties Union. I was later appointed Chair of the Board, and was recently named the RI ACLU Lay Leader of the Decade for my continued advocacy for our constitutional rights.

My work in the community has taught me the power of our collective voice. It is the voices of everyday working class people like you and me that matter the MOST.  I am running for Representative because we need someone in the State House who understands the challenges of everyday people and who won’t back down from a fight when it comes to actually fixing the problems we are facing. 

In 2012, my little brother Richard was murdered in Pawtucket. Even though my family and I were the victims, the police treated us without respect and made us feel even worse, and the city government didn’t seem to care enough to help us. But this community rallied around our family in a way that I will never forget. We came together to hold a yearly block party, march and vigil to remember those who have been murdered—many who came before and after my brother. This  experience was another testament to the strength and healing power of our community. I know that together, we already have what it takes to make Pawtucket better and safer for all of us— community.

As your Representative, I am determined to put our families first. As a young mom, I sat on waiting lists and lotteries hoping my kids would get into pre-school. When my two youngest children got into the Mary T. Dean Head Start program in 2002, I was able to return to school and volunteer. I was named volunteer of the year two years in a row and was elected treasurer of the Head Start Policy Council. Child care and early child education programs like Head Start changed my life. As a parent at Head Start I learned valuable leadership and advocacy skills to advocate on behalf of my children’s education. When the funding for Head Start faced cuts, I learned the power of our collective voices as parents and how important it is to support our public schools’ educators. This empowered and encouraged me the following year to organize other parents to incorporate the first PTO in our elementary school.

I know firsthand the impact that incarceration and the criminal legal system have on families. Both of my parents, who gave so much to the community, were also formerly incarcerated. As a young adult, I was impacted by the criminal legal system due to the criminalization of cannabis. After surviving domestic violence, I was further criminalized when I needed help the most. Long after I served my probation sentence, I was kept from stable housing and employment by my record and I experienced how state-initiated barriers not only harm individuals but whole families too. Many people in Pawtucket and all over our state, have been held back from their full potential by past criminal records like mine, or the countless other members of my family and community.

One of the most pressing issues impacting our mass incarceration problem is that of substance use and the criminalization of addiction. People who are struggling with addiction need behavioral health care and support, not criminalization. Funding this criminalization, while simultaneously making cuts to our healthcare networks is a fiscally irresponsible and a shameful misuse of taxpayer money. As a certified peer recovery specialist and long-time advocate, I understand this issue on the personal, professional, and policy levels.

People just want and need a chance. In 2019, I co-founded the Formerly Incarcerated Union, working in solidarity with the almost 26,000 Rhode Islanders who have some kind of past record, to make sure that every member of our community has a fair chance at stable employment and housing. I have been a leader in the fight to restore the right to vote to those who’ve been impacted by the criminal legal system—a right my parents never had. I recently led the fight to fully legalize cannabis in Rhode Island, repairing the harm done to thousands of Rhode Islanders who were criminalized by unjust cannabis laws and expanding patients’ rights to their medical cannabis. I was also recently appointed by Governor McKee to sit on the Senate Commission for Justice Reinvestment to research and identify alternatives to incarceration for women. I have and will continue to make sure that my experience and the experiences of other directly impacted individuals are heard and acted upon.

Nothing changes unless people in power understand what our community is really going through. In all of these fights, I’ve seen again and again that our community’s voice is missing at the Statehouse, and what difference it makes to have legislators who understand our community’s struggles and will actually fight to address them.

I believe some of the most important members of our community are Seniors. As a girl, I watched my Nana, who lived in Fogarty Manor, struggle to get enough to eat and to afford her insulin. Far too many times I have seen family and friends retire in poverty. I have seen Seniors who are disabled veterans suffer as they wait for  months to access medication for debilitating pain. As your Representative, I will advocate for investments in care for Seniors to ensure that our community members are treated with respect and compassion even after they have transitioned out of working. Our seniors need someone who will fight for them so they can enjoy their lives with dignity. I vow to be that person.

Like you, I am fed up with the displacement of our community members as a result of corporate interests.  I too have seen old factories—where our families worked for years—turned into luxury condos that we will never be able to afford. My friend Dennis, who retired and worked all his life in a blue collar job, has been forced to move out of his apartment because his rent was doubled from $600 to $1200. My friend Jazzmin, a single mom, still struggles to find stable housing due to discrimination. We need accessible, affordable housing in great supply because all the people of Pawtucket deserve roofs over their heads and food on their tables. I personally have faced housing instability due to high rental costs. At one point in my life I had to move to Central Falls with a Section 8 voucher, leaving my family in Pawtucket. This community needs a Representative who listens to and understands their constituents, who will fight to break down the barriers and obstacles holding people down.

All of our community members deserve to live without worrying everyday about how to pay the bills or how to feed themselves and their families. We need someone who will fight to ensure that working families earn a living wage. Someone who works 40 plus hours a week should not have to rely on government assistance to access the medical care, shelter, and food that they need in order to survive. This is what working families in our community are up against: corporations and employers who only care about profit, who exploit and harm hardworking people trying to make an honest living. We need a Representative who listens and understands their constituents, who will fight to break down the barriers and obstacles holding people down.

I never thought I would run for office. Instead, I have devoted my life to working on the ground for justice for working class people and those who have been ignored by the system. If I am elected, that will not change. I want to take the fight that we’ve been fighting from the streets of Pawtucket to the halls of the State House. I want to put our struggles on the political stage, where they belong. I want justice for my community, and the best way to do that is with political power.

When I announced my run, I was overjoyed to receive such an outpouring of love and words of encouragement from our community. Messages like, “finally, someone like us,” or “I believe in politics again,” or, my favorite, “this will be the first time I finally have a reason to vote”. If elected, I will work hard everyday to make laws fairer and life easier for those who need it the most. In a past election our State Representative won by only one vote. Your vote and, more importantly, your voice, matter. I hope that you will cast yours for me, Cherie Cruz—hopefully one of the first of many underdogs, not someone politically connected, to represent Pawtucket at the Statehouse!

If I haven’t met you already, I truly look forward to talking soon. You can always reach me at (401) 753-3933 and at hello@cheriecruzri.com. I ask for your vote in the Democratic Primary on September 13th.

Sincerely,

Cherie