Interested in poverty alleviation and justice. Distributing cash @GiveDirectly, formerly Product at @branch_co, graduate of @StanfordIPS & @georgetownsfs

Joined September 2011
21 Photos and videos
Emma Kelsey retweeted
1/ Yesterday, ESIL Action attended @CookCounty town hall to join with Illinoisans in calling on the County to fund the nation’s first permanent #guaranteedincome program. As GI participant Sabrina Panariella shared, “the Cook County government guaranteed income is the lifeline building block of the future where families can thrive not just survive.” It helped her heal from near-homelessness and domestic violence, find stability, and become a small business owner, and she hopes it can help other women and children heal from similar trauma. Hear her powerful story👇
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Emma Kelsey retweeted
28 Feb 2025
Published by Dr. Seuss in 1941
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Emma Kelsey retweeted
Climate scientist Peter Kalmus (@ClimateHuman) talks about leaving Los Angeles two years ago due to the risk of climate-fueled wildfires. He says the devastation unfolding in Southern California now is even worse than he feared and warns, "This is still just the beginning."
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Emma Kelsey retweeted
Give money directly to low-income families impacted by the L.A. wildfires, reaching them quickly and fully remotely empowering them spend on what they need most ⬇️ GiveDirectly.org/fires
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5 Mar 2024
Are you kidding me with these propositions, San Francisco??
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Emma Kelsey retweeted
Give cash support directly to new moms in Flint, Michigan at GiveDirectly.org/flint
“There’s a strong case that Congress should be spending way more money on kids. There’s a really, really strong case that it should be handing out cash to babies,” @AnnieLowrey writes. theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv…
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Emma Kelsey retweeted
So many great orgs are coming together to make RX Kids in Flint a reality, including @GiveDirectly
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Emma Kelsey retweeted
26 Nov 2023
Here’s a personal story about Palestinian child prisoners: - In 2012, I was arrested in Hebron while participating in a march to open Shuhada street, which was a main market street for Palestinians until the Israeli military shut it down, and made it for Israeli settlers only. It’s part of the area @JamaalBowmanNY visited. - Handcuffed and blinded by pepper spray, and thrown in the back of an Israeli humvee after my head was slammed against it, the soldiers drive off. They suddenly stop, run out, and all I hear is a child screaming and crying. - This child is then thrown on top of me, and is handcuffed. I ask him his age, he said 13. I asked him what happened, he says he was walking to his sister’s house and they just stopped and picked him up. He’s in panic mode crying “my sister cooked lunch for me, she’ll be terrified if I’m lost”. I tell him not to worry, we’ll make it out and give him the basic tips: You have a right to remain silent, don’t say anything without a lawyer…etc. - We get to the Israeli military outpost, we’re dragged out of the humvee. The kid’s terrified, telling them not to blind him (He thought I was blinded because of the pepper spray, I couldn’t open my eyes). - The smack the kid around and tell him to shut up. - We wait a bit, then kid is called in for interrogation. - The Israeli military interrogator literally tells him: I’ll let you go home, you just need to confirm the guy with you led the protest and told you to throw the stones at us. - Kid says I want to call my family/lawyer. Interrogator says ok: Picks up mobile and gives it to kid. Kid puts in his mother’s number. Soldier snatches mobile. The mother answers. Soldier says: Your son is going to go to jail and if he doesn’t talk I’ll come and arrest you too. Puts it on speaker, mother is panicking. Kid starts to panic. Soldier hangs up in her face. - Soldier tells kid: I can make your family’s life hell. But if you say what I told you to say, everything will be ok. - Kid starts sobbing and says: But I don’t know this guy I just met him in the humvee when you picked me up. Sitting outside the room, I yell: Kid, stay strong, say your truth and don’t fall into his lies. - They come and take me away. Thirty minutes later kid comes out of interrogation shaken. He says the soldier told him he’d shoot his mother. The poor child told me not to worry though, he only said the truth 🥺. - The case brought against this poor kid was stone throwing, with two soldiers “testifying” they saw him throw a stone. - He spent 3 months in prison as court hearings kept getting delayed, eventually he was advised by his lawyer to “admit” to stone throwing because that way he’d spend less time in prison because the lawyer could be able to negotiate his release in 4 months, while waiting for a ruling from Israel’s military courts could take a year. - In short, working on this issue in Palestine for 12 years, I can tell you the majority of child arrests in Palestine follow this exact pattern: - Israel wants to teach a Palestinian community a lesson, deterring people from protesting its oppression. - It targets the kids, arresting dozens - up to 700 a year. - Majority of kids get abused and interrogated. - Lawyers and kids know it’s better to “confess” even if they didn’t do the crime, as waiting for a ruling and being in uncertainty/limbo is hell. That’s why you have a 95% conviction rate. - Then the Israeli government, when challenged for the systematic abuse, comes out and says: “These kids are terrorists - they attacked our soldiers and admitted to it.” - And because the lives of Palestinian children don’t matter, the world turns a blind eye again and again and again and again.
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Emma Kelsey retweeted
The director of al Shifa hospital in Gaza told al Jazeera: —22 ICU patients died overnight. He said the hospital “lost all those who were in the intensive care unit.” —There are 7,000 people still in the hospital. —Dead bodies are piling up, morgue is full and no refrigerator trucks. —Disputed claim that Israel provided incubators and said the hospital already has incubators but needs fuel for generators to power them. —Hospital staff appealed to Israeli forces to leave the hospital and were denied. He said the hospital has become a “big prison.”
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Emma Kelsey retweeted
17 Nov 2023
I will never ever forget you. I will never forgive your killers. And I will keep your memory alive. My father, Nasri Alnaouq, age 75 My sister, Walaa Alazayizi, age 36 Her children: -Raghd Alazayizi, age 13 -Eslam Alazayizi, age 12 -Sara Alazayizi, age 9 -Abdullah Alazayizi, age 6 My brother, Muhammad Alnaouq, age 35 His children: -Bakr Alnaouq, age 11 -Basema Alnaouq, age 9 My sister, Alaa Salman, age 35 Her children: -Eslam Salman, age 13 -Dima Salman, age 12 -Tala Salman, age 8 -Noor Salman, age 4 -Nasmah Salman, age 2 My sister, Aya Bashir, age 33 Her children -Malak Bashir, age 12 -Mohammed Bashir, age 9 -Tamim Bashir, age 6 My brother, Mahmoud Alnaouq, age 25
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Emma Kelsey retweeted
My latest for @sfchronicle: How much each SF government employee made last year Among the top earners are two law enforcement officers who made close to $600K by working thousands of overtime hours sfchronicle.com/projects/202…
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Emma Kelsey retweeted
I've lost count on how many of these helicopter rides I've been on in #Haiti. They're always connected to a disaster, unfortunately. Today's its the worst humanitarian crisis post 2010 #earthquake. Each one pushes Haitians further toward the edge. miamiherald.com/news/nation-…
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6 Jul 2023
Another excellent newsletter by @PeterBeinart open.substack.com/pub/peterb…

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Emma Kelsey retweeted
Delays in subsidized gov’t fertilizer meant some crops weren’t mature enough to survive the shock of Cyclone Freddy in March, which @SominiSengupta covered in another story: nytimes.com/2023/04/27/clima… (2/4)
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Emma Kelsey retweeted
If #cashtransfers are great, why does in-kind assistance persist? Meet the 6 fictional characters shaping the debate: - the beneficiary - the economist - the political scientist - the nutritionist - the practitioner - the median voter Enjoy the meeting! brookings.edu/articles/why-d…
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Emma Kelsey retweeted
"We should instead feel hopeful: Cash transfers are a proven way to accelerate the transformation of the poorest economies." –– read @caroline_teti's response to @AntonJaegermm & @DanielZamoraV's cash transfers critique in @PostOpinions washingtonpost.com/opinions/…
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Emma Kelsey retweeted
"[Margaret] was relieved she'd finished her house before the torrential rains came this year on the back of Cyclone Freddy. 'The old house,' she said, 'would have been completely destroyed.'" -- @SominiSengupta visited recipients of your cash donations. nytimes.com/2023/07/03/clima…
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Emma Kelsey retweeted
22 Jun 2023
Past time to ban high-speed chases in non-life threatening situations. A month ago, a high-speed chase over a property crime led to a pedestrian death and four injured. Was needless escalation of risk. At least two injured tonight, chase reason unknown. missionlocal.org/2023/06/sfp…
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