MV Monthly Meeting Sunday 3 pm, Zoom
IMV Meeting Sunday 3 pm on Zoom
For our December 2021 IMV meeting we'll be on Zoom, and we have an awesome agenda! So grab some afternoon cocoa and cookies and join us on your screen for:
Conversation & Q & A with Josh Riley, who is running for Congress in NY22
Insights into our local 2021 election voting data
Introduction to Citizen Action's new Utica-Rome organizer
Just click here to join the meeting via Zoom on Sunday, Dec. 12 at 3 pm.
Dems Deliver: Meet the Candidates!
You’re invited to the “Dems Deliver: Meet the Candidates” virtual forum on Tuesday, December 14th, 7-8:30 pm on Zoom. Register here. This event is being hosted by the Madison County Democratic Committee. Anthony Brindisi will be moderating the conversation among five candidates currently running to represent central New York in Congress:
(NY24) Francis Conole
(NY24) Steven Holden
(NY24) Sarah Klee Hood
(NY22) Mikayla Ridley
(NY22) Josh Riley
As we don't know yet what the districts will look like, it's possible that any of these candidates could end up running in all or part of Oneida County. Register to attend now.
Letters to the Editor Needed
Democrats face unsurmountable odds for any success if they don't pass the rest of President Biden's agenda before 2022. Large majorities of Americans favor the ideas and investments in the bills Sen. Schumer is trying to pass and that includes: Build Back Better and Freedom to Vote Bills, the John Lewis Voting Rights Act and an executive order to cancel $50,000 in per person student debt.
Unfortunately all most Americans hear about some of these bills is their cost; many don't even realize the dramatic improvements to their lives if these bills are passed. We simply must do a better job of informing voters how Biden's agenda will -- and can further -- improve their everyday lives. Judy Jerome's letter published in the Utica OD on Sunday, Dec. 3 made the point about how critical the infrastructure bill is.
The infrastructure bill that Schumer wants to pass before he releases the Senate to return for their holiday recess covers jobs in the care economy, paid family leave and health care, climate investments, and much more. Please write a letter to the editor of your local paper right away and send it in. Let's make sure we are all messaging the importance of building our economy back better, stronger, and more fairly, and that our democracy works to ensure that everyone can vote and majority rule overrules the minority who are rigging the rules in their own favor. NOW is the time for us to write letters in support of the critical legislation that must pass now, or possibly never will.
Words That Win Training
Several of our IMV members have now attended Words That Win, an excellent and highly recommended training over Zoom about how to energize people who think like you, and just as importantly, connect effectively with people who are persuadable on our values.
Another training is scheduled for Monday, Jan. 10th at 7: 00 pm. Here’s the link for the next training: https://bit.ly/WTW_Mobilize. Can’t make it the 10th? Here’s a recording of a recent presentation (access code is 38Ahsk?F) or view the slides.
Reading a Book Over the Holidays?
IMV is sponsoring a book discussion about The Sum of Us : What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together by Heather McGhee, former head of Demos (and a founding member of Indivisible’s board!) Heather spent years analyzing how racism has been used to strategically divide Americans, what racism has cost us all, and what’s possible when we refuse to be divided. Her book opens with a simple, haunting question: “Why can’t we have nice things?” The book discussion will be: Monday, Jan. 17th, 6:30-8:30 pm. Zoom link tba. If interested, email indivisiblemv@gmail.com
Whether or not you read the book, you might be interested in Heather McGhee guest hosting a podcast episode for the Ezra Klein show. She interviewed Ai-jen Poo, who is an expert and organizer on the care economy--especially home health care, child care, and elder care. It's a podcast that explains how our lives could all be better if we invested in a living wage for care workers and made child and elder care available to all of us when we need it.
Phone Calls This Week
Please make your phone calls this week. It's crunch time for the climate and human infrastructure. Here are the numbers to call and the simple messages that you can deliver to our elected officials in Washington and Albany. The calls we make today and the rest of this week cover climate, Build Back Better, and democracy reform. Even if you can only make one or two calls, it's still a significant political action. Feel free to use any of the language to write letters to the editor as well!
Activists Stay Connected
There's no need to lose track of your IMV political activism community just because Covid rates or rising or you have a busy holiday season. CAFE Fridays is still going strong--all the way through the year even on Dec. 24 and Dec. 31. Join in using the links in the calendar.
And be sure that your 2022 starts off right by signing up for the Jan. 6 Indivisible National Activist Call. Register HERE.
We look forward to seeing everyone at our last IMV meeting of 2021 on Sunday!
Follow us on Twitter using @indivisiblemv and of course our Facebook page and IMV Activism Group.
