Mandi in the Media

‘Kids need to eat:’ Iowans demand state participate in free-food program

Mandi Remington of Iowa City knows firsthand what it’s like to struggle to feed your kids and how the stability of two incomes can keep a person from leaving an abusive relationship.

“Reflecting on my experience as a domestic violence survivor, I can’t help but wonder if I would have left sooner had I been confident in my ability to provide for my children’s living expenses on my own,” she said.

Iowa Starting Line, Jan. 17, 2024

Free gender-affirming haircuts, rally, variety show and auction highlight Iowa City’s Trans Day celebrations

Mandi Remington, the founder and director of Corridor Community Action Network, says the collaborative week involves partnerships between local organizations and members and allies of the transgender community. They are celebrating transgender individuals while also raising awareness of the challenges and discrimination the community faces.

“Trans Day of Visibility was created to celebrate trans lives as opposed to honoring trans deaths,” Remington said, marking the difference between Trans Day of Visibility and Transgender Day of Remembrance, which is celebrated annually in November.

Iowa City Press-Citizen, March 27, 2024

Benefit concert marking 1 year since Roe v. Wade fell to raise money for Emma Goldman Clinic/Iowa Abortion Access Fund

“Reproductive freedom is a fundamental human right,” Mandi Remington, founder and director of Corridor Community Action Network said. “With the recent attacks on abortion access in Iowa and across the country, it’s more important than ever to support organizations that provide critical reproductive healthcare services.”

Iowa News Now, June 12, 2023

Community organizations, Linn County Board of Health send separate letters to schools; urging universal masking

“I am very frightened pretty much every day that I drop them off, particularly since we do still have a four-year-old in the home who is not able to be vaccinated. My older two children also do have autoimmune disorders, as do I,” [Remington] said.

“We just want our kids to be safe. There are a lot of parents that are in situations right now where they are considering giving up jobs and giving up assistance because they have no way to keep their children safe.”

KCRG TV-9, Sept. 1, 2021

Anti-hunger advocates urge Iowa lawmakers to accept summer food aid for kids

Mandi Remington of Iowa City urged the Legislature to pass the bill.

“So we find ourselves stretching food at the end of the month,” Remington said. “That pandemic EBT made a really big difference in that, in allowing us to continue having fresh foods rather than just struggling with what we could throw together out of cans in the last week or so of every month.”

Iowa Public Radio, Jan. 17, 2024

Iowa City Public Library hosts discussion on public education funneling students into prison system

Remington said there are higher rates of seclusion, restraint, suspension, and expulsion for Black students in the U.S. compared to white students starting in elementary school.

Remington talked about how there are force discrepancies in policing, noting she works on the Police Review Board.

“That just kind of shows you that it’s something that starts in elementary school and continues to adulthood,” Remington said.

The Daily Iowan, Nov. 6, 2023

Congresswoman Bush Reintroduces Legislation to Protect and Enhance Sexual and Reproductive Health

“Reproductive freedom is a fundamental human right. With recent attacks on reproductive and sexual healthcare and education across the country, it is more important than ever to work to support access through comprehensive legislation like the Protect Sexual and Reproductive Health Act,” said Mandi Remington, Executive Director of the Corridor Community Action Network.

Cori Bush, June 22, 2023

Broad support highlights Mandi Remington’s quality

Mandi Remington, Iowa City Council candidate, has attracted endorsements from local, state, and national groups and individuals. These endorsements help voters learn about her excellent work and the policies she is pursuing.

The Gazette, Nov. 5, 2023

Benefit concert raises money for organizations fighting for reproductive rights on anniversary of Dobbs decision

“It’s a way to come together in solidarity and provide direct support to those organizations that are still doing that work even in this extremely questionable climate,” said Mandi Remington, the director of Corridor Community Action Network and one of the organizers of the benefit concert.

“When we are expecting increased barriers to access, it’s important to start from a place where people have access before those barriers hit us,” she said. “Currently, in our community, not everybody does have access to reproductive rights.”

KCRG TV-9, June 24, 2023

Iowa City residents request city council issue statement on supporting Palestine

Remington spoke directly to the councilors and said she knows that candidates run for a spot on the council to make an impact in their community, which is why the council should take action on the community’s requests.

“You are not being asked to put your lives on the line, you are not even being asked tonight to make any extreme, systemic policy change,” Remington said. “You are being asked to make a statement. Listen to everybody that is here talking to you as their representatives.”

The Daily Iowan, Dec. 12, 2023

15 GOP Governors Are Refusing Free Summer Meals for School Kids

When I spoke to Mandi Remington in late January, she had $7 in her bank account and had run out of milk. At times like these, which happen toward the end of most months, she cobbles together “stone soup” from what’s in the house, she said, or feeds her three children and then makes her own meal from whatever is left on their plates. 

So when she found out that Iowa, where she lives in Iowa City, is among the 15 states that decided not to participate in Summer EBT, a new federal food program that would have sent her $40 a month per child while they were out of school, “it was extremely frustrating,” she said. As a single parent who doesn’t receive child support, Remington struggles to make ends meet. Her $55,000 annual salary as a medical records clerk at the University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics “does not leave much leftover for gas in the car and groceries,” she said, yet she earns too much to qualify for Medicaid and food stamps. 

Mother Jones, Feb. 6, 2024

Remington builds community in Iowa City

Mandi Remington has not had everything laid out for her, yet she took her hardships and built from them. She built community, she built information networks, and she built solutions. I got to know her through the Corridor Community Action Network, where she brings nonprofits and community groups together so that we all know what is happening in our community, and where to find the resources we may need, for ourselves and for others. Mandi considers problems, considers potential interventions that already exist, and creates answers where there are none.

The Gazette, Oct. 19, 2023