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[MOTIVATIONAL MUSIC] - Hi everyone, Steve Adubato.

We are honored to kick off the program.

Joining us for the first time is State Assemblywoman Shanique Speight a Democrat representing what district Assemblywoman?

- 29th District.

- Which is in and around my hometown.

Well, now it's Montclair but where I was born and raised in Newark, correct?

- Yes, Newark and Belleville.

- Newark and Belleville.

Assemblywoman, one of the areas that you have focused on, on the many you have focused on, is what's being called period poverty.

- Yes.

- Does not get a lot of attention.

I've said this before on the air some folks are uncomfortable speaking about it.

I've learned over time that it's incredibly important to talk about it.

What are we talking about with period poverty?

And what needs to be done to help the young women who are struggling in ways that many others don't?

Largely because of zip code, economics, et cetera.

- Thank you so much, Steve.

One of the things I often start off saying is half of the population menstruate.

And oftentimes we ignore a woman's menstruation.

I was brought up, you know, in a generation where when you get your period, you hide your period.

And oftentimes the affordability of products when it comes to young girls or grown women it's not always feasible for women to buy these products.

So oftentimes people that are struggling when it comes to period poverty is due to lack of income.

And, you know, depending on your household size you can have three to four girls and as a mother menstruating yourself and you're not able to afford these products.

- Hmm.

You know, your appreciation for this isn't just from a public policy and governmental perspective.

- Correct.

- Your personal experience matters a great deal here.

You grew up with a single mom.

- Yes.

- You've dealt with homelessness and poverty.

- Yes.

- When you were 18, you lost your mom.

- Yes.

- And other experiences along the way.

And you have four children all delivered via C-section.

- Yes.

- That and other incredibly difficult challenges and some struggles that you have had personally.

What impact have those and other experiences had on your approach as a state representative?

- Well, one of the things I have to say, and I believe my upbringing has definitely molded me into creating legislation such as this.

And when you go back into my background, just as you were saying, once working on this legislation and understand what my mother had to go through raising four children.

You know, trying to feed four kids, going through shelters, going through the YMCA.

Not being able to afford food.

So I know she wasn't able to afford products.

And just being in this space, it gives me such humility and grace to be able to create legislation like this that I know will impact women my age, younger women, my daughter, my nieces, my nephews, not my nephews, my nieces, family and whomever.

And understanding that, you know, my mother died when I was 18 years old.

She had cervical cancer.

And just wanna make sure we focus on women's health period.

Oftentimes we focus just on the maternal health of it.

But if we focus on a menstrual aspect we are understanding there's a connection between both.

- And by the way, I wanna make it clear that you are working with First Lady Tammy Murphy on her initiative having to do with the fact that maternal health, maternal mortality, that black women are seven times more likely to die in childbirth than white women.

We've had the first lady on talking about that initiative.

Go back and check it out.

But I wanna go back to something.

So when we're talking about period poverty as a former state legislator, I remember the people would often make speeches about an issue, but the legislation would not substantively address the issue.

That is not the case with you.

Your legislation is precise and specific about period poverty.

Please talk to us.

What exactly does it do?

- So one of the pieces of legislation what it would do is individuals that are on SNAP or WIC, New Jersey family- - I'm sorry for interrupting.

The acronyms, SNAP, food stamps.

- Yes.

- WIC, Women, Infant, and Children.

These are both governmental programs, correct?

- Yes, correct.

- Please, I'm sorry.

- What the DOH, the Department of Human Services would do is apply for a waiver for individuals that are receiving those benefits.

They apply for that waiver so that the menstrual products will be covered under the waiver.

And if it's not approved, once they apply through the federal government, I believe the bill is stating that then they would actually appropriate $2 million towards this effort.

- To be clear, one in five menstruating teens struggle to pay for period products.

(clears throat) So with a 12 year old daughter and I'm obviously never gonna talk about the specifics of this.

The idea that for our daughter and for her friends and we're blessed and fortunate enough to be in a situation where I never even thought about, "well, how would you pay for it?"

We're talking one in five.

- Right?

- One in five young women say from 12 to whatever age, you know?

But help us understand when you don't have access to the products you need, period products, what can happen to that young woman?

- One of the things that happen depending on if that young woman is in school she possibly will miss school because she doesn't have access to products and can't afford the products.

And oftentimes I've heard so many women, and as a woman myself, depending on when your period comes on 'cause sometimes it catches you off guard.

Some women have to actually use a tissue.

- So in that spirit because young women spend so much time in school, does your legislation talk about putting period products, menstrual products specifically in bathrooms in schools?

- Yes, we do have a bill.

It was actually two bills that was introduced.

Senator Ruiz actually has a bill and it passed on the Senate side.

And it talks about providing products in school.

And the thing we talked about over the last couple of weeks is just the logistics of how it'll all work out and the cost effectiveness of it.

That's a very important bill to so many young women that it would impact especially in a community like mine.

- And check out our interview with Senator Teresa Ruiz, the Senate Majority Leader.

Go on our website, it'll be up right now.

When we talked about that issue as well.

Assemblywoman, I cannot thank you enough.

I know this is the first time you've joined us.

I promise you it will not be the last.

Thank you, Assemblywoman.

- Thank you so much for having me.

I appreciate it.

- My pleasure.

Stay with us, we'll be right back.

To watch more Think Tank with Steve Adubato, find us online and follow us on social media.

- We are pleased to be joined by State Assemblywoman Aura Dunn, who is a Republican, in fact, she's the Republican Assistant Minority Whip, translation, she's in a leadership position in the State house, in the state legislature and the Republican Party.

Good to see you, Assemblywoman.

- It's wonderful to see you, thank you for having me today.

- You got it, I believe this is the first time you've joined us, I usually don't get that wrong, is it the first time?

- It certainly is.

And my first television interview.

- No, it's not.

Is that true?

- It's totally true.

- I'm honored, I am honored to have you.

You've argued that the tax credit, the childcare tax credit, first of all, explain what that is.

Second of all, you've argued that it's not enough that the Governor Murphy signed a law in 2000, excuse me, in 2022, they made a refundable tax credit to families up to $500 a year, with each family with a child under six.

You say that's not enough, you are arguing for more childcare tax dollars, correct?

- I indeed am.

Yes, I am.

- Because?

- Because, you know, I know we hear it all the time, budgets reflect our priorities, and I think the family is really the central institution to our country, to our society, and families are struggling, and we need to help them, we need to provide relief, particularly here in New Jersey, which is one of the most expensive states to live in.

- And to be specific, your proposal, if I'm wrong you'll correct me, you're arguing that the size of the maximum benefit, the tax credit for a child is $1,000 for parents with kids under the age of, you say 12 instead of six?

- Yes, it was very important to me to increase the age.

You know, all of us who are parents, we know, as kids get bigger, so do your expenses, and it would obviously help more families, and really, with that additional funding, it would help stimulate the economy - You know, as a Republican who is arguing that state government should, quote, "spend more money in this area," I'm curious, given the fact that a fair number of your colleagues on the state and national level talk about, government spends too much, we need to cut back, reduce the budget, what kind of reaction have you gotten from your Republican colleagues in the state legislature?

- Well, I feel like I haven't gotten as much pushback as I thought I would.

You know, I pride myself on my independence, here in New Jersey, in the legislature, and within my party.

And look, the reality is, families are really struggling in New Jersey, you know, when you can make $80,000 a year and be considered low income, you know, that's something to take pause at.

So, so I agree with them, I agree with my members, but if we are gonna, where we're gonna spend, this is where we should be spending it.

- Could you describe the district you represent?

Where is it?

- Sure, I represent primarily Morris County, I think we've got pushed down from six to eighth most affluent county in the nation.

So some may even say, "How's that working?," right?

Or, "Oh, you're okay in Morris County," and I say, in many ways poverty is more hidden in a place like Morris County.

- How so?

- I grew up poor, (laughs) simple as that.

I remember watching my mom ripping apart a piece of wonder bread, adding it to some tuna fish salad, and I asked her, well, I thought maybe it was like a special recipe or something, and I said, "Why are you doing that?," and she said, "Because it makes two sandwiches into four."

And we lived in an un-winterized home, every fall she'd roll up the towels, and stuff every every door jam and window jam to keep us as warm as as possible, of course, that meant no air conditioning in the summer, right?

So poverty may look a little bit different today, but that carries with me, right?

That's my blueprint.

And if it were not for a lot of social services that helped me get to where I am today, For those who argue that government is the enemy, you don't see it that way.

IGovernment has a very necessary function, for the most part, it should get out of people's way, and our lives, (laughs) but help us.

Really, it's about, you know, I know we hear it all the time but it's about a hand up, not a handout.

- Hmm.

Lemme ask you this about childcare, people who watch us on a regular basis know that we have an initiative called Reimagine Childcare, the graphic will go up, it talks about, well, we're talking to legislators, policymakers, government officials, not-for-profit leaders, those who run childcare centers, all about the importance of accessible, affordable childcare, where does that fit into your legislative agenda?

- Oh, it's really central to my legislative agenda.

Last year I worked on legislation that would call for, the Childcare Subsidy Program, it would basically reformulate it to base it on enrollment as opposed to attendance.

We were successful in getting that accomplished, but only on a temporary basis in response to the public health emergency, and I am fighting for that to be permanent, because look, at the end of the day, we know who really owns and operates these childcare centers are women, this is a female-dominant field.

- That's right.

- And we saw workforce participation by women go down to levels of the 1980s during COVID, so, yeah.

I was asking for more.

and my Democratic colleagues kind of backed down a little bit, but still, you know, we came together, and so again, it was another, a little bit against the grain for a Republican.

- I've asked every Republican who's joined us, because it's so important, and Democrats have a whole range of issues they need to answer for, do you believe, because civil discourse is obviously what we're about, and you obviously believe in that as well, or you wouldn't be with us, to what degree do you believe that, moving forward, that politics has become very divisive and polarized, A, and B, that frankly some have argued the former president Donald Trump has contributed mightily to that, you say what?

- He's not the only one.

(laughs) - No, he is not.

- And what I would say is, you know, I've been at this a long time, from behind the scenes, as a Capitol Hill staffer in my twenties, and Steve, I don't know if you know, but I also represented "Sesame Street" and "Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood" on Capitol Hill.

It'’s just interesting how life works, that this is my very first television interview, as a legislator, on PBS, so if you are honored, I'm telling you, I beat you in that, I'm honored way more than you.

- We appreciate that, then.

But civil discourse is what public broadcasting is about, and we are not PBS, but we're on public broadcasting, we're partners with them, we're all about civil discourse, is that corny or what?

I mean, isn't that the way it's supposed to be at some moment?

- It is, and you know, it's funny that you say, "Is that corny?," because, believe me, when I first ran for office, that was one of my four bullet points on my, what do they call it, the palm card.

And you know how many folks at the door said, ah, come on, gimme a break, you know?

And I stand firm on it, and I think it's really a always about leading by example.

- As we wrap up I'’m going to say this to you, the idea that arguing for civil discourse and respecting other points of view without demonizing others, the fact that that's controversial is odd to me.

But Assemblywoman, I thank you so much for joining us, we look forward to having you on in the future, all the best.

- I look forward to it, thank you.

- You got it.

Stay with us, we'll be right back.

To watch more Think Tank with Steve Adubato, find us online and follow us on social media.

- We're now joined by Yuriy Boyechko who is president and CEO of Hope for Ukraine.

First of all, Yuriy, thank you so much for joining us.

- Thanks for having me.

The media's attention span largely is like a gnat and the public, comparable.

Even though we're not as focused or not focused much at all, the reality exists in Ukraine in this war.

Please describe it to us in addition to your personal experience.

- So, I was thinking about this, so I just give you some numbers.

- Sure.

- So by latest estimates, that 8 million refugees that left the country, Ukrainian refugees, affected by this war and internally we have 6 million people who are internally displaced inside of the country.

So when you put everything together, that's 14 million people that's affected by this crisis.

So this is more than state of New Jersey.

Can you imagine you wake up one day and entire state of New Jersey just disappeared from the map and their life is destroyed so that's the reality on the ground and I totally understand that as the media cycle goes on people get tired of hearing about Ukraine and getting tired of hearing about what's going on there because that's just human nature.

But the life and the reality on the ground is worse than ever because right now the people who've been affected by this war, look back and they understand they will never go back to their homes, they will never go back to their jobs, they'll never be able to go back to the life that they used to live before February 24th, 2022.

So we are in the process of dealing with a lot of emotional trauma, a lot of situations where people need to start from ground zero and trying to rebuild their life and for me personally, it's very close to home because my father, still in Ukraine, three of my sisters still there.

So these 14 months has been very personal for me because I have to wake up every day thinking, "Are they still alive?"

So that's what's going on on the ground.

- Yuriy, your dad's 85 years of age.

- Yes, yes.

- How do you communicate with him?

- He has a wiper, so I got him a smartphone.

- That's great.

- My sister taught him how to use it.

So I call him when they have a light and when they have internet connection.

- Describe for folks as we put the website up, what Hope for Ukraine is, the services you're providing.

- So with humanitarian aid organization, our primary and main project is feeding people in Ukraine.

So since the war started, we have delivered over 70 million meals to people in Ukraine.

So every day we have a network of over a hundred volunteers that come to our warehouses in Lviv, Ukraine which is right on the Polish border.

They load up the vans with food that we have purchased through donations that people have given to Hope for Ukraine and we put together the grocery kits and it's taken to all different parts of Ukraine, to the front line towns and this type of kit can feed a family of four for about a week or so.

- So if someone contributes, those dollars are going directly to help a family in Ukraine?

- Yes, so 90% of every dollar that is donated go directly to the cause.

So, we making sure that all the aid gets to the end recipient and we have checks and balances in place to make sure that people are helped because the need is so dire that we get, everyday, hundreds of emails and messages from people on the ground asking for help.

- Describe President Zelensky.

I'm a student of leadership.

People are, I'm sure, they're tired of hearing me say that.

I try to study leadership from a variety of perspectives and I've been fascinated by President Zelensky's leadership.

Talk about it.

- His biggest accomplishment is his communication ability with the people in Ukraine.

So every day he's been going on the air, communicating to Ukrainians, first of all.

'Cause when you're going through the difficult times like this, the most important part is to have a glimmer hope.

So right now in Ukraine, even when Zelensky came here to United States, he still communicates because if the people don't hear from him one day, they start to lose hope and I think in time of crisis that's where he came in and showing a serious leadership and to constantly communicating with the public, constantly communicating, letting people know each and every day what's going on on the ground.

- Can I ask you, I'm curious about this, there are some in the United States, some in New Jersey and across this country, who, I don't think I'm misinterpreting this, but somehow explain away or lionize or think of President Putin in Russia as a strong man leader.

You say what about Putin?

- He's coward, the guy doesn't leave his bunker.

All the media, the Russian propaganda media, every time they show him do some kind of visits outside of his little shell that he lives in, it's usually his doubles.

So it's a big, big Hollywood production and they put together to show him that he goes somewhere, visit soldiers and stuff like that.

If you look at Zelensky, the guy went to some of the most dangerous parts of the front.

To go to Bakhmut.

Bakhmut is the most dangerous part of the world at the present time and he was not afraid.

He went recently to Kyiv that's another place that's constantly being attacked.

So he's definitely have a lot of guts to say the least.

- Before I let you go, Yuriy, for people in New Jersey and again, the region across the country, say "You know what?

"Ukraine, it's terrible what's going on there.

"Not our thing.

"It's not our country.

"We have too many things to worry about right here "and let them figure it out with Russia."

You say what to them right now?

- I'm saying, listen, if Ukraine falls next's gonna be Poland, next's gonna be Germany.

So, you know, this... Once in a century, there's this choice that stands behind us.

Are you gonna be on the right side of the history and what Ukraine's doing now is they're fighting for the freedom.

They're fighting for their own freedom.

We have no choice 'cause if we don't fight, there's gonna be no Ukraine tomorrow and if Ukraine falls, the rest of the Europe and the rest of the free world will fall and then what we are gonna be faced with?

We're gonna be faced with dictatorship that kills children, that steals our children, that rapes women, that wakes up one day and decides, okay, you know what?

I'm gonna occupy because I have a big army.

We are at the crossroads of the history right now and for everyone, we'll look back, say, "Hey, you know what?

"I was on the right side of the history."

That's why it's very important fight.

It's not only Ukrainian fight, I think it's a fight for entire free world and that's what we're at right now.

- Yuriy, first thank you for joining us.

Second to your family, we hope and pray that they're safe and to the people of Ukraine, I promise that at least on our end, as a state regional based broadcast, we'll continue to to have meaningful programming because there's such a large Ukrainian population in this state, in this region and as Yuriy said, it's not my job to editorialize, but this is not an isolated situation.

Yuriy thank you so much.

We appreciate it.

- Thanks for having me.

Thank you.

- I'm Steve Adubato, see you next time.

- [Narrator] Think Tank with Steve Adubato has been a production of the Caucus Educational Corporation.

Funding has been provided by The Turrell Fund, supporting Reimagine Childcare.

Kean University.

New Brunswick Development Corporation.

RWJBarnabas Health.

Let'’s be healthy together.

Operating Engineers, Local 825.

IBEW Local 102.

NJM Insurance Group.

PSE&G, Newark Board of Education.

And by these public spirited organizations, individuals and associations committed to informing New Jersey citizens about the important issues facing the Garden State.

And by Employers Association of New Jersey.

Promotional support provided by Insider NJ.

And by The New Jersey Business & Industry Association.

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