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4 ADVOCATE | WINTER 2024 IN SOLIDARITY by Marisol Garcia AEA OFFICERS Marisol Garcia President Angela Philpot Vice President Amber Gould Treasurer AEA STAFF John Wright Interim Executive Director Joaquin Rios Editor Roxanne Rash Graphic Design Advertising e AEA Advocate is published by the Arizona Education Association, 345 East Palm Lane, Phoenix, Arizona 85004-1532. Phone: 602- 264-1774 or 800-352-5411 Fax: 602-240-6887. Email: info@ArizonaEA.org. AEA's website may be found at www.arizonaea.org. Permission to reprint any material originating with this publication is granted provided that credit is given to the AEA Advocate. e AEA Advocate (ISSN 0194-8849) is published in Fall, Winter, Spring and Summer for $3.50 per year by the Arizona Education Association, 345 East Palm Lane, Phoenix, AZ 85004-1532. Periodicals postage paid at Phoenix, Arizona. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to the AEA Advocate, 345 East Palm Lane, Phoenix, AZ 85004-1532. Moving? Please let us know before you go. Simply clip your mailing label from the back of the Advocate and send it along with your new address to: AEA Advocate 345 East Palm Lane Phoenix, Arizona 85004-1532 Marisol Garcia, President Arizona Education Association Dear all, I want to start by sharing how proud I am of everyone's e orts in this year's election. is year demonstrated the strength and resilience educators lead with. Our locals have outdone themselves throughout this election — setting and shattering their goals. Let's not lose sight of the bright spots. We elected our rst Latino U.S. Senator in Arizona, Ruben Gallego; we won the ght for abortion access; we elected pro- public education allies to many of our school boards; and we successfully won bond and override campaigns throughout the state. e results of this election — with a mix of community wins and di cult setbacks — show the importance of continuing our work to build power. e talk and the words, now more than ever, become the walk and the work. We know we have some challenges ahead and as I have shared with many of you: no one is coming to save us. We are the ones we have been waiting for. e mechanism by which we save ourselves is exactly what we're best at: good old-fashioned local organizing. We know education has been and will continue to be under attack in our state. But you can count on us to ght back. e path to power requires us to build together. Fighting to reach majority status. Building our smaller circles into bigger circles. Embracing the things we have in common to nd solutions for the things that threaten all of us. Small group meetings, engaging in di cult conversations and, above all, listening. Our union knows how to do this. We have the ability and tools to not just work through this, but to lead through this, together. In solidarity,