Public Education

Allen is a proud product of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro public schools. He is also a son and nephew of public school teachers, and he knows the importance of investing in our education system and its personnel. He is committed to expanding access to quality education across the state, from pre-kindergarten to post-secondary education and training. He will push for the following measures:

• Pay our school personnel a fair and competitive wage. North Carolina ranks in the bottom half of states, on average, in teacher pay. We need to rectify this.

• Fulfill our obligations under Leandro and commit resources to close the achievement gap and properly fund school infrastructure, in dire need of repair. Right now, there is over $12 billion in need in terms of school building repairs across the state. 

• Expand the North Carolina Teaching Fellows Program, so it can accommodate five times the number of current slots (200). This will help with building a sustainable pipeline of teachers in North Carolina.

• Increase parental leave for teachers from 8 weeks to 12 weeks to better support teachers and their families.

• Make the UNC Board of Governors less partisan and subject to conflicts of interests with measures like Senate Bill 546 from the 2021 legislative session, which would keep members of the General Assembly, lobbyists and spouses of either from serving on the board.

Environment

Many of Allen's first experiences with organizing came in learning from and helping communities fight for environmental justice. As a civil rights lawyer and a member of Town Council, he has continued that battle in the years since. He knows we must work even harder on climate action in North Carolina - and he knows we must consider all North Carolinians when doing so. Our environmental goals should include the following:

• Re-shift the focus of key state departments like the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT), so people and the environment are the priorities, not cars.

• Repeal a 2013 law that prohibits NCDOT’s financial support to towns and metropolitan/rural planning organizations for standalone bicycle and pedestrian improvement projects. Repeal of this law would open the way for more bicycle and pedestrian projects to be funded and help communities move away from cars as the only and main mode of transportation.

• Support and enhance Governor Cooper’s Executive Order 246, with its goal of 1.25 million electric vehicles by 2030 and its direction to state agencies to incorporate environmental justice and equity in agencies’ decisions and work.

• No fracking or drilling offshore and support clean renewable energy like solar and wind.

• Devote more substantial resources to improving and in many cases, providing public transit in all parts of North Carolina, especially in our rural areas.

Healthcare

Even in a community with world-class healthcare, disparities in healthcare access persist in Orange County. We must be committed to eliminating the barriers that many face in getting access to care and in Raleigh, Allen will be a champion for affordable access to quality healthcare, including in our rural communities. Allen will advocate for the following: 

• Restore North Carolina’s Earned Income Tax Credit, so low-income and working-class families do not have to make hard choices between healthcare and other basic necessities.

• Fight measures that would have imposed work requirements for those receiving Medicaid coverage, such as House Bill 655 in the 2019 legislative session.

• Increase funding for our local departments of public health services, after a decade-plus of funding reductions. Currently, one percent of healthcare costs are devoted to preventive care in the United States. Local departments of public health serve a critical need in providing preventive care.

Reproductive Rights

We need to treat reproductive health seriously and comprehensively. It starts by recognizing that Roe v. Wade guarantees a constitutional and civil right of all women to choose for themselves and to have access to safe abortions. It continues with assessing unmet needs for contraceptives and supporting local health departments which struggle with the lack of OBGYNs. It means centering people from marginalized communities such as women of color and women from low wealth backgrounds, to ensure they have what they need to make the right decisions for themselves when it comes to reproductive access and family planning services. In promoting reproductive justice, Allen is committed to advocating for the following:

• Pass the Whole Women’s Health Act, which would eliminate arbitrary restrictions on the right to choose, such as the currently required 72-hour waiting period to get an abortion. This presents an undue burden and obstacle on the constitutional right to choose.

• Increase funding to local public health departments, so each one may provide a OBGYN and family planning services.

• Protect pregnant workers from discrimination by employers. North Carolina is one of a few states left that provides no protections for pregnant workers against discrimination, outside of federal law.

• Codify the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Roe v. Wade, so the law upholds a pregnant person's constitutional right to an abortion without undue interference.