Renitta Shannon
Office
Running for State Representative, Georgia, 84th District
Biography
Renitta was raised in Florida, by two very hard working and often times minimum wage earning parents. Her father began attending community college to better the family’s economic situation, but as the cost of living rose he eventually had to quit college to work more. He struggled to find full time work because many employers only wanted to hire part time workers so that they could avoid paying full time benefits. He supported his wife and two children, by combining two part-time minimum wage jobs to make one full time wage. This taught Renitta the importance of having access to economic opportunity and jobs that work for employees as well as employers.
Renitta’s parents decided to put her in daycare so that her mother could enter the workforce, but that did not last long because after only two months in daycare Renitta came home with large unexplainable bruises on her face. As a result of not being able to find affordable quality childcare her mother had to leave the workforce, and become a stay at home mom leaving her father as the sole income earner. When Renitta and her sister were old enough to attend grade school, her mother entered the workforce, got student loans and attended college. She received her CNA, LPN and eventually her RN license. Watching her mother graduate nursing school while working and continuing to be the primary caretaker of two children showed Renitta the value of potential meeting opportunity.
Having had two excellent examples of hard work and determination for parents, Renitta knew that she and her sister had to find a way to succeed no matter the obstacles. Renitta worked as a server, earned scholarships, took out student loans, and with the help of her parents graduated from the University of Florida. Her sister got a master’s degree and graduated valedictorian of her LPN nursing class. Since college Renitta has excelled in business development for several industry leaders and Fortune 500 companies. She has also been a consistent community activist. She is an active member of 9 to 5 Working Women Atlanta, the Executive VP for the Georgia State Chapter of the National Organization for Women, an active member in the Fight for $15 campaign and active in intertwined movements for racial, gender and economic justice.
Georgians have survived some of the toughest economic times in recent history. The sacrifices and hard work of families like yours and mine have helped our community get by. It is no longer enough for us to simply get by it is time for our economy, communities and families to thrive. Georgians deserve the right to provide for themselves and family members, and that is why I am running for Georgia State Representative, District 84.
Source: RENITTA SHANNON
Priorities
Economic Justice
Nobody working full-time should have to live in poverty. We have all witnessed prices for basic necessities rising year after year, but the federal minimum wage has only increased twice since 1997. If you are willing to work hard you should be paid wages that will allow you to provide the basic necessities for you and your family. I will fight for a living wage and advance the rights of workers to organize to improve their working conditions. We need a more balanced approach to economic growth that benefits everyone, workers as well as the businesses.
Quality Education
We can no longer view education as an optional expense, it is an investment in our future. Public schools that provide high quality education for all students is where thriving communities begin. I will support early childhood education, to give children a fair shot at success from the beginning. I will support school lunch programs so that no child is forced to juggle managing hunger pains with trying to focus on learning. I will fight for every child to have access to quality public education. Investing in our children will pay the highest dividends and must become one of our highest priorities.
Women
Women are twice as likely to retire in poverty than men. This is largely due to gender discrimination in pay, being forced to leave the labor force due to lack of access to affordable quality childcare and paid parental leave. I will fight to ensure that women receive pay equal to their male counterparts, and have access to affordable quality childcare and have access to paid parental leave.
For the past 3 years I have fought along side community organizations to pass the Family care act. The Family Care Act is a bill that would allow workers to use the sick days they have earned under their employers current policy, to care for a child, spouse or parent without being penalized by their employer. Losing a day’s wages, or even worse your job, for keeping a sick child home from school or taking an aging parent to the doctor undermines families’ ability to cover the basics like groceries and rent. In Georgia, an estimated 878,000 people do not have access to family care days.
Criminal Justice Reform
I will work to foster new relationships built on trust between local police officers and the communities they serve. I will fight for better screening and training of law enforcement, representative community policing, and a deeper understanding of the role that conscious and unconscious racial bias plays in policing. I will also support banning the use of grand juries to decide whether law enforcement should face criminal charges in excessive force cases. These are just some of the solutions needed to tackle this complex issue. A working relationship between the community and officers means increased safety for both police officers and the citizens they serve.
Source: RENITTA SHANNON
Renitta Shannon
...
Office
Running for State Representative, Georgia, 84th District
Biography
Renitta was raised in Florida, by two very hard working and often times minimum wage earning parents. Her father began attending community college to better the family’s economic situation, but as the cost of living rose he eventually had to quit college to work more. He struggled to find full time work because many employers only wanted to hire part time workers so that they could avoid paying full time benefits. He supported his wife and two children, by combining two part-time minimum wage jobs to make one full time wage. This taught Renitta the importance of having access to economic opportunity and jobs that work for employees as well as employers.
Renitta’s parents decided to put her in daycare so that her mother could enter the workforce, but that did not last long because after only two months in daycare Renitta came home with large unexplainable bruises on her face. As a result of not being able to find affordable quality childcare her mother had to leave the workforce, and become a stay at home mom leaving her father as the sole income earner. When Renitta and her sister were old enough to attend grade school, her mother entered the workforce, got student loans and attended college. She received her CNA, LPN and eventually her RN license. Watching her mother graduate nursing school while working and continuing to be the primary caretaker of two children showed Renitta the value of potential meeting opportunity.
Having had two excellent examples of hard work and determination for parents, Renitta knew that she and her sister had to find a way to succeed no matter the obstacles. Renitta worked as a server, earned scholarships, took out student loans, and with the help of her parents graduated from the University of Florida. Her sister got a master’s degree and graduated valedictorian of her LPN nursing class. Since college Renitta has excelled in business development for several industry leaders and Fortune 500 companies. She has also been a consistent community activist. She is an active member of 9 to 5 Working Women Atlanta, the Executive VP for the Georgia State Chapter of the National Organization for Women, an active member in the Fight for $15 campaign and active in intertwined movements for racial, gender and economic justice.
Georgians have survived some of the toughest economic times in recent history. The sacrifices and hard work of families like yours and mine have helped our community get by. It is no longer enough for us to simply get by it is time for our economy, communities and families to thrive. Georgians deserve the right to provide for themselves and family members, and that is why I am running for Georgia State Representative, District 84.
Source: RENITTA SHANNON
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Priorities
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Social