Celebrate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson with IMV!
Let's Celebrate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson!
We will finally be coming together again IN PERSON! Meet up at the Jewish Community Center, 2310 Oneida Street, Utica on May 1st, 3-5 pm. Enjoy a huge cake to celebrate the confirmation of Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson to the SCOTUS, cover some ground on electoral work and bring everyone up to speed on the recent decision about NY's election maps and primary dates, and then spend some time volunteering with door knocking (or for those who prefer, postcard prep) for James Paul who is on the ballot for Utica School Board. Celebrate and take action, together!
Making Our Voices Heard on the Climate Plan
On Tuesday, April 26, eight members of IMV's Climate Crisis Workgroup (Maggie, Alan, Carole, Sue, Liseli, Kathy, Gerry, and Mona) attended the Syracuse hearing on the Draft Scoping Plan for the Climate Leadership Community Protection Act (CLCPA), with three offering testimony. It was a great team and we made up one of the largest groups in attendance. This hearing was one of 10 in-person and virtual hearings being held across the state by the Climate Action Council (CAC) to gather public input on the Draft Scoping Plan. When finalized at the end of the year the Scoping Plan will be presented to the Governor and Legislature to guide all policies and regulations to move the CLCPA forward.
There are five hearings still to come in May, including two virtually and one in-person at Tupper Lake, which several IMV members plan to attend. You can access past hearings and see the remaining schedule of hearings at https://climate.ny.gov/CAC-Meetings-and-Materials. Very importantly and easily you can submit pre-written comments through this NY Renews site. Just click on the highlighted sector of the week, or any of the other sectors, and send the comment as is or edited with your thoughts.
Stay tuned for more information about efforts by the Climate Crisis Working Group to generate more comments from our members! If you want to attend the Tupper Lake hearing as an observer or to give testimony, contact Maggie Reilly. This is all enormously important and will make a difference in this climate fight!
Climate Call for the Week
Let's keep pushing our state representatives to pass bills that will slow and mitigate the effects of climate change and keep corporations from sneaking in false solutions. Corporations are lobbying every day for policies that will enrich them; we need to advocate for policies that will create a just and sustainable future.
Governor Kathy Hochul at (518) 474-8390
Senate Majority Leader Stewart-Cousins at (518) 455-2585
Assembly Speaker Heastie at (518) 455-3791
And of course, call your own state senator and assembly member with the same message. Here's a script:
Hi, my name is ____ and I live in ____, zip code ____. I’m calling to urge you to pass all 12 bills in the https://climatecantwait.org/bills policy package.
Take Action to Elect James Paul to the Utica School Board
Did you know that in the whole history of the Utica School District only three individuals of color have been elected to the Board of Education? Currently, even though it is one of the most diverse districts in the country, there are NO people of color on the board. IMV wants to help change that by electing James Paul, a friend and member of our local progressive activism group. That means we need to pull up our sleeves and do the work. Thanks to those who've already been showing up. It's not too late to join in the effort; here are some opportunities:
Tuesday night phone banks. As we know, it's critical to talk with voters early and often in order to make sure not a single vote is left on the table. Please sign up to phone bank on Tuesday nights 6-7:30 pm: May 3rd; May 10th; and May 17th.
Join Team James Paul to knock doors--it's just a couple hours on a weekend. The candidate whose team talks to the most voters is most likely to win.
Saturday, April 30th, 11am-1pm, Canvassing for James Paul. Launching from the Adirondack Bank parking lot at 2817 Genesee Street to canvass in ward 3 south Utica.
Saturday, April 30th, 2-4pm, Canvassing for James Paul. Launching from the Donovan Middle School parking lot at 1701 Noyes Street to canvass in ward 3 west Utica.
Finally, please make sure that you follow the James Paul for Utica School Board Facebook page and check out his webpage where you can see a lot more information on James, his positions, what's going on with the district, and even make a much needed campaign donation. Just over three weeks to go. It's time to elect James Paul to the Utica School Board!
Your donation to IMV Will Be Matched by Indivisible National
During the months of April and May, Indivisible National is once again offering a $500 match for all contributions made to IMV. Your donation will be doubled! As an all volunteer group committed to making progressive political action local, bite-size and fun, we don't need huge contributions, but we do have some expenses including room rental fees for our meetings, our Zoom account, and stamps and mailings that help us connect with voters on our values. Please make your contribution to our Act Blue account HERE to get a match in the coming month.
As always, we accept donations by cash or check that can be used for a wider set of purposes including our efforts to write letters and postcards to encourage support of our candidates at every level. Just send a check to Indivisible Mohawk Valley, 19 Proctor Ave, Clinton, NY 13323.
Upcoming Indivisible Workshops
Do you want to develop your skills with messaging, election actions, and canvassing? Sign up for one of these upcoming workshops on Zoom.
“POC Group Leader Caucus Presents: Race, Class, Gender Narrative: Creating A Broader “We”
Thursday, May 5 from 11:00 am to 2:00 pm
Register here.
To shift people from indifference to empathy and advocacy, we must ground our messaging in the values, visions and desires that we share regardless of our place in life. Using the Race, Class, Gender Narrative messaging we can successfully make the case for a broader “we”. We Make The Future serves as the national implementation home for the Race Class Narrative (RCN). WMTF combines strategic communications and coalition building to develop a shared narrative that both motivates our base and persuades the middle which is a winning combination.
Election Planning Workshop
May 4th, 8 pm. Register Here.
November is right around the corner, and now is the time to get prepared. If you and your group are ready to get progressives elected up and down the ballot this November, please join us on May 4th for this election planning workshop. This workshop will provide you an opportunity to brainstorm, and begin writing your group's election plans. We will review Indivisible’s priorities and strategy to win this November. We will also give you everything you need to create change locally and nationally. You will leave this workshop with a plan in place to make that vision a reality. Download this SMARTIE worksheet ahead of time https://bit.ly/SMARTIE_Election2022 and bring it to this interactive workshop.
Deep Values Canvassing Pilot Program Launch
Monday, May 9th, 8 pm. Register Here.
Talking to people in our communities is the most effective way to build grassroots power and solve local and national issues. Join us for a new training on how to run your own deep canvassing program with your Indivisible group! This non-partisan (501c3) training program will provide local groups with the confidence, tools, and resources to accomplish this work. We’ll cover why deep canvassing is effective, train you in the key components, and do a deep dive into the script and target universe.
See You This Sunday 3-5 pm
We really can't wait to see everyone on Sunday at our IMV meeting! Right now the weather looks fabulous --68 degrees and sunny. Knocking on doors is a lot more fun when you can pair up and do it for a short period in the warm sun. Bring a friend. See you Sunday afternoon 3-5 pm at the JCC at 2310 Oneida Street in Utica!
We make political activism local, bite-size, and fun!
Follow us on Twitter using @indivisiblemv and of course our Facebook page and IMV Activism Group.
