The luck of the Irish for good petitioning weather to you
Petitioning Plus March 2023 Meeting
We're more than halfway through the petitioning period to get candidates on the ballot for local elections, and of course, many of us are also carrying important judicial petitions as well. Keep up the work and let's hope we have the luck of the Irish starting today (St. Patrick's Day) and have good weather the rest of the month! Even with pretty yucky weather last Saturday, the Celeste for Mayor campaign had a big and fun contingent with kids and families walking the parade route in Utica. Great job to all involved!
If you've been getting petition signatures, THANK YOU! Petitioning is the first direct voter contact made by volunteers in this election. Not only are we modeling that democracy is not a spectator sport, but we are showing people at the doors that we are making activism bite size, local, and fun. Remember there are multiple ways to support petitioning including being a driver or ride-along-buddy. Make sure we know how you want to help by emailing: IndivisibleMV@gmail.com.
Save the Date for our March IMV Meeting
Monday, March 27th, 7-8 pm is the date for our next IMV Meeting. Join us on Zoom for an efficient agenda and good information about how we plan to raise the profile on our NY22 Unrepresentative, Brandon Williams, and much more. Please put this link in your calendar now: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81877626192.
While you're putting dates on your calendar, be sure to sign up for our One NYS Indivisible meeting with Lt. Gov Delgado on April 24th
They're BAAACCKKK.... Letters to the Editor!
It's been a bonanza of a week for LTEs, thanks to some very busy writers!
Carole Gehrig was published in the Daily Sentinel on March 10th. She used some some Race Class Narrative language to call attention to the importance of good government and regulation to protect us all from harm like the train accidents. The letter was also published in My Little Falls. Dawn Laguerre was published in the same paper yesterday with a letter about tenants' rights.
You may not be able to see it without a subscription, but it was written wit heart and passion with a topline that says: "Every human being has a right to a safe, stable place to live, without which they cannot truly be free." Sarah Reeske's letter demanding that the Republicans keep their hands off Social Security was published by My Little Falls. We continue everyone to stay clear and strong on that messaging, which is a current focus of the Unrepresentative 18 Indivisible strategy.
Perhaps the biggest LTE news we can share is that after many, many months, the Utica OD seems to be publishing LTEs again! Dawn Laguerre had a letter published in late February calling for no cuts to Medicare. Time to sharpen your pencils and write those LTEs, all. If we missed any since our last LTE summary, please let us know. And keep them coming!
Climate Crisis Action: Actions to Take NOW
1. Kick Fossil Fuels Out of Buildings Rally and “Line the Halls”: March 22nd in Albany: Lunch will be available if you sign up and register: https://actionnetwork.org/events/save-money-save-lives-kick-fossil-fuels-out-of-buildings.
2. Mobilize with NY Renews for Climate, Jobs, and Justice: March 28th in Albany: https://actionnetwork.org/events/march-28th-mobilization-for-the-climate-jobs-and-justice-package.
3. Digital Week of Action: The NYS Senate just released their budget and key parts of the Climate, Jobs, and Justice package are in it! Here’s NY Renews statement. These next 2.5 weeks could be the most important weeks of the year. To make sure that the Assembly and Governor follow suit, we are going big digitally and holding a week of action next week Monday, March 20th through Friday, March 24th including the following:
5-day call relay
5-days of Twitter actions
4. Send an e-mail to your legislators: tell them to Pass the NY Home Energy Affordable Transition (HEAT) Act and the All-Electric Buildings Act to reduce air pollution from our buildings, save New Yorkers billions of dollars, and protect the respiratory health of thousands of New Yorkers. Send your email by clicking HERE.
5. Friday Virtual Phone banking for a gas free New York: https://www.mobilize.us/fww/event/546770/
CARPOOLING OR BUS:
If you are interested in going on either March 22nd and/or March 28th please let Maggie Reilly @ Margaret_reilly@mac.com or Jennifer Geiger @ jgeiger777@gmail.com know if you would like to carpool or take a bus.
Public Education Needs You: One Action to Take Today
IMV cares about investing in public education for all, and so we are asking our members to respond to this action request from the Alliance for Quality Education today:
Governor Kathy Hochul is pushing for a massive expansion of charter schools in NYC right now through the state budget process. Her proposal would allow for an additional 100 charter schools to open in NYC.
NYC cannot afford more charter schools. According to the NYC Mayor, this expansion of charter schools could cost the NYC Department of Education about $1 billion. Currently NYC already spends over $3 billion in rising costs for charter schools. In the 2022-23 school year, NYC received a $348 million increase in state aid, but NYC was required to increase spending on charters by $200 million. Meaning, about 57% of the increase in state aid for NYC went towards charter schools, which educate just 14% of the students.
The fact is: We don’t need new charters — there are enough schools, public and charter, to go around. Enrollment is down in both New York City’s public and charter schools. Keeping the current charter cap means that existing charters will remain open, and will not be affected at all. It also means that public schools will not lose a significant amount of funding to charters.
We need to shift our focus from adding more charters, to how we can improve the public school system for all children, sharing the best ideas from successful public and charter schools. The goal — for all of us — should be to preserve our public education system that is available to all, publicly funded, publicly run, and accountable to ensure all children have access to high quality schools in their neighborhoods.
Whew! Lots of Actions! But that's Us- Political Activists!
Recently the Steering Committee was talking about how to help more people move from interest in politics marked mostly by "Slactivism" (or in other words, political "hobbyism") to meaningful and sustained political activism. That's our purpose: to help each get on that track and stay on, and together, amplify the consistency and effectiveness of our political engagement and push for the practical advancement of our shared values in public influence and policy.
If you were tending toward just thinking about politics today, we just want to encourage you to do something as well. (Email us if you want support. We make political activism local, bite size, and fun).
Make a legislative call or Send an email as requested in the actions above.
Sign up to attend zooms or head to Albany.
Attend your city or town council board meeting or show up for a school board meeting.
And most importantly this month: Volunteer to help collect candidate signatures. (Or walk or drive with someone who is.)
Democracy is not a spectator sport.
Thank you for taking action to save democracy and build a world we all want to live in!
Follow us on Twitter using @indivisiblemv and of course our Facebook page and IMV Activism Group.
