Climate Ask to NYS: $15B 

$15 Billion Before It’s Too Late: Fund Climate Justice Now! March 8th: New York State Capitol  It’s not too late to join NY Renews in Albany for a rally at the Capitol on March 8. We’re at risk of NY’s landmark climate law, the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, becoming an unfunded mandate. Join us in Albany on March 8, 2022. Together, we’ll make climate history.

CALLS MATTER: If you can’t make it to the Rally, please make calls to Governor Hochul, Andria Stewart Cousins and Carl Heastie) and demand $15 B be included in the budget to fund the CLCPA.  

Governor Kathy Hochul at (518) 474-8390

Senate Majority Stewart-Cousins at (518) 455-2585 or (518) 455-2715

Assembly Speaker Heastie at (518) 455-3791
 
The People’s CAC Guide to Shaping NY’s Climate Future: March 23rd, 7-8:30 pm.
Join us to learn how to comment on the CLCPA Draft Scoping Plan.  The Climate Crisis Working Group is making a plea from the entire IMV membership. We need thousands of comments made in favor of the CLCPA and against false solutions and undermining actions. This meeting will explain the process, show us how to submit comments and have a toolkit to submit comments at the meeting as well as afterwards. There will also be in-person and virtual Public Hearings for us to make comments but also to Rally for the Climate!

Kudos to the Kirkland Town Democrats & Indivisible Mohawk Valley members who met this past week with their Republican Assemblyman Ken Blankenbush to ask him to support the $15B in climate funding. The time is right to win $15 Billion to prepare New York for a just transition to a green economy!

Invest in Our New York Town Hall

For several years, IMV has been active in a statewide coalition to end austerity approached to funding climate, education, housing, and health care in New York by raising revenue from the people and corporations that reap the greatest benefits from doing business in NY--the super wealthy. This year, our Invest in Our New York Campaign has focused on highlighting the needs of our local communities and regions.

The budget battle is heating up again, as it always does ahead of the April 1 budget deadline. As you know, we are vocal in that fight, especially in demanding $15 billion for climate justice and green jobs. Please join IMV and our coalition partners in a special Invest In Our NY town hall to strategize and organize for the final 3 weeks of budget negotiations! IONY Post One House Budget Town Hall on March 10th, 6:30-8:00 pm. Sign up here: https://www.mobilize.us/empirestateindivisible/event/444004/

MY 19 Antonio Delgado Campaign 

Here is a wonderful page of talking points about Congressman Delgado. You can use this sheet to talk about him when you are collecting petition signatures or with friends and neighbors, when posting on Facebook or other social media, or to help you write a letter to the editor. Remember, most people in the new CD 19 have never heard of Antonio Delgado, so it is critical to help spread the word. 

Sign up now to volunteer for the Delgado campaign: https://forms.gle/5yvtGMVAkfhD12GX8.   As we know from our previous electoral experience, congressional campaigns are the most well staffed with organizers and have the most resources for voter contact, and that voter contact helps down ballot candidates as well.  So make sure that you are signed up as a volunteer for Delgado if you live in the new NY19. 
 

Matt Castelli vs. Stefanik in NY21

If you don't live in NY19, but instead live in the new NY21, do not despair. We're hearing terrific things about Matt Castelli, who is challenging Elise Stefanik, and is exactly the kind of Democrat who could bring voters to polls to support him. One of the greatest challenges for new congressional candidates, especially ones not in purple districts, is that they don't get a lot of DCCC financial support. That's because the DCCC looks at the whole map and needs to be strategic.

However, residents of the district have a different goal: we need to make sure that we have strong candidates at every level and that we get Democratic and progressive voters excited to come to the polls. All that adds up to one thing. Matt needs financial support from upstate New Yorkers, even small dollar contributions that show he has widespread support. Remember that Early Money Is Like Yeast (EMILY's List). Now is the time to contribute. You can do so here: https://www.castelliforcongress.com/

Citizen Action: Reversing Runaway Inequality

One of the best political education workshops we have seen in the past five years is Citizen Action's Reversing Runaway Inequality. And it is running again next week, on Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89621127064.

"Join our Citizen Action of New York team on Monday, March 7 and Tuesday, March 8 from 4-6pm for a workshop that examines the massive level of economic inequality we bear in America today. We will discuss the current imbalance and how it came to be. Our economy was built on the exploitation of Black and brown people and, in order to achieve economic justice, we must understand and dismantle the racism inherent in the system."

Newly Registered Democrats Project

This week IMV launched our long planned project to mail letters to newly registered Democrats in Oneida and Herkimer counties inviting them to get become involved in IMV, Citizen Action, and local Dem committees as well as, of course, to VOTE.  The refrigerator magnets with 2022 election dates are a great way to engage those we want to see at the polls in every election.  Thanks to everyone who has contributed financially to IMV to make this project possible, and to those who volunteered on short notice today to prepare the letters.  Letters will go out every month to newly registered Democrats.  Maybe one of us will knock on a door of someone who received this positive personal communication!   
 

Coverage4All for Immigrants Living in NY

Coverage 4 All is an important stopgap policy that will give long-overdue immediate relief to immigrants and undocumented communities that have been essential in keeping New York alive during the pandemic and yet with some of the most barriers to insurance and healthcare.  Coverage 4 All can be implemented in 6-12 months. Governor Hochul and the NYS Legislature have the opportunity to extend immediate relief for many immigrant New Yorkers by expanding health insurance access for immigrants.  Passing Coverage 4 All is important for winning a system that truly recognizes healthcare as a right by setting a precedent for immigrants to be included in public health programs when we pass truly universal, comprehensive healthcare with the NY Health Act. 

Click here to contact your elected representatives in Albany, and tell them: "Fund Coverage4All in this year's budget."
 

Indivisible Updates

Hopefully you had the chance to be on last night'sIndivisible Activist Call.If you missed it, here are the slides from the call. We also received this comprehensive resource guide that includes actions we can all take in support of Ukraine.

Several IMV members have been getting involved in Indivisible's Truth Brigade because the resources and messaging training are so valuable to our local efforts, whether on social media, letters to the editor, or door knocking. The Truth Brigade says: "We can effectively combat disinformation, despite the well-funded machines that drive it. They may have money, but we have truth and we have people. People believe sources they trust. When we share and amplify unified, factual messages to those who trust us, we shift the narrative. When we do this by the thousands--we’re part of the Indivisible Truth Brigade, and we get our country back.

You can attend those sessions as well. The Truth Brigade meets every other Wednesday at 6:30 pm, and you can sign up here. Even if you can't attend Zoom meetings, you'll get regular emails with effective messaging information, and participate in weekly messaging campaigns.

IMV Monthly Meeting: March 20th, 3-5 pm on Zoom

We are continuing to meet on Zoom in the month of March to maximize your time on the weekend to go door to door with designating petitions. Please mark your calendar for Sunday, March 20th, 3-5 pm, The Steering Committee is working on an engaging agenda as always. We are planning updates on the state budget, and on bail reform in New York as we know that Republicans are using this important economic and racial justice issue to attack Democrats and mobilize voters against Democrats up and down the ticket. It will be a packed agenda.

In the meantime, please keep calling for $15 Billion for Climate in NY.
Get out there with Designating Petitions (Bring a friend!). We want our candidates on the ballot.
And finally, check out these Indivisible tips on what you can do to help Ukraine:

Donate to Ukrainian Aid Organizations

Record a video– Tell President Biden you’re proud of his leadership & that you’ve got his back.

Write A Letter to the Editor– Tell your neighbors you’re proud of President Biden’s leadership on Ukraine thus far. 

No one today knows better than Ukrainians that democracy, especially when fragile and threatened, is not a spectator sport.  Take action in ways big and small, and let's do it together.  
 
Follow us on Twitter using @indivisiblemv and of course our Facebook page and IMV Activism Group.