Dear Members of Anash,

We are writing to thank all members of the Crown Heights community who showed up to vote in last week’s primary elections, and in the special election in March.

As you are aware, there are several factions that are gaining political influence in Brooklyn, and in New York in general. These factions are pushing ideas that will directly affect our quality of life, public safety, and the chinuch of our children. Crown Heights United was formed by a group of local activists and business leaders with a cross section of political beliefs who came together with the goal of motivating our community to use our voting power to protect our quality of life, and Yeshivas.

With this in mind, Crown Heights United commits to working harder to include more voices from within our community. We are trying to be as inclusive as possible, and are here to listen to your voice and would welcome you to get in touch and join our efforts.

We have seen a more than 65% increase in voter turnout amongst Anash in primary elections. These greater numbers gave our community a stronger voice, and made us a key player in the outcome of these elections. We are becoming a voter base whose voice matters to local leaders. So to each one of you who registered and voted, thank you!

With regards to those who asked about endorsements in the most recent election; there was not a consensus on whether to endorse some of the candidates running, so we put our personal preferences aside and tried to limit our endorsements to candidates on whom a majority could agree. We believe that it is more important to bring out the vote than to be able to claim to have endorsed the winner.

People ask why we don’t elect someone who represents all our viewpoints. This is because although we may have the voter potential among Anash living in Crown Heights, there are still many who are not registered and/or don’t vote. One could only imagine the weight our communal viewpoint would have if we all registered and voted and came together in achdus for the betterment of our community. We would have enough votes to elect a candidate and make a serious difference.

We also recognize that a significant number of people may not understand how their vote directly impacts their own life and benefits their family. We are working on a fun project to create more awareness on how your vote matters.

Sincerely

Crown Heights United