Who We Are

We are the National Political Network.  It’s been revealed that there are many areas of weakness in our community. This network is faith-based and is uniquely positioned to act as an agent to bring together the various segments of our community to address the health and wellness services, homicides in our community, and re-entry for our follow members. We have obtained our 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) to perform these community actions. We are urging the community of faith, our elected officials, public servants, and the community at large to take the following important steps to address the three main points.

Health and wellness are major issues that needs to be addressed, as there are many different health issues such as chronic pain, depression and mental health, terminal illness, and many other major health barriers. The main step for decreasing the health issues is by making sure everyone has access to quality healthcare. We need service providers that will provide the best care for our community. Health care providers need to provide proper case management to ensure patients are getting the best care possible, and that there is proper coordination of care. It is also pertinent that they maintain proper files for their clients.  With the peers of our community hurting in pain and/or not in a stable mentality, they are not capable to perform as they would normally, which needs to be considered in the other main points such as homicides and re-entry. Health and wellness are one of the most important issues that need to be addressed to elected officials, public servants, and law makers. Like any other resource or commodity under a neo-liberal economics system, health is political because its social determinants are amenable to political interventions are thereby dependent on political actions.

Homicide and murder are complex events, the outcome is determined by a variety of factors. These can be victim related, offender related, situation or environmental related. Although homicide is one of the leading causes of premature mortality, the health professions have been largely oblivious to violence. Prevailing explanations contribute to this neglect by emphasizing biological or psychiatric factors that make homicide unpredictable and cultural and environmental factors such as emergence of a new “underclass” that link violence to race. Violence has harmful effects on individuals and society. Our emphasis on political explanations of criminal violence and homicide is a rare departure from dominant accounts of violent crime, suggesting comparisons with the literature on political violence, and the spatial approach allows an analysis of the territorially uneven effects of political variables. When a homicide occurs, the state has an obligation to respond to and reduce the impact of it; yet often the state originates, or at least contributes to the violence. This may occur in a variety of ways including, using force by police, pretrial incarceration or long periods in prison. Responding to violence should contribute to reducing violence in communities.

Re-entry is the process of an individual returning to their community after being incarcerated. They often lack necessities like securing housing, income, food, even a driver’s license. Seventy percent are coping with a substance use disorder and 25 percent have a serious mental health problem or physical illnesses. They face myriad challenges to achieving self-sufficiency. Having access to wrap-around services and re-entry coaches can help with college enrollment, applying for jobs and identifying appropriate housing; in some situations, supportive, transitional housing is the best fit. Re-entry programs provide immediate, comprehensive, and much needed wrap-around support.

Regarding this area that’s highlighted which are, health and wellness, homicides, and re-entry. We, as the National Political Network specifically want to test the effect of the four key political variables which are: party identification, partisan alignment of elected officials, electoral competition and voter participation. We are not limited to any political parties. We are going to show these candidates the statistics on these three categories, and what need from the legislative point of view. We are interested in lobbying for the people who identify with these needs. We will provide voter education for those who may not understand the issues or know who the candidates are, and what their platform represents. Voter registration is necessary so people can be able to vote and be in the National Political Network database. In the future, we as whole need to come together to get these policies changed and get programs in place for health and wellness, homicide, and re-entry for our community.