It's finally here!  Our joint NYS Indivisible & NY Renews Week of Action for Climate, Jobs, and Justice, April 5th-9th. 

Our message is that we need a massive investment in green infrastructure and technology and we need to ensure that our transition to a more climate friendly economy is just and fair to those who workers and communities who are struggling the most.  That means the Climate & Community Investment Act in New York, and the THRIVE Agenda in Congress.  Our goal is to spread the make more people in our communities aware of these important spending and policy proposals, increase the public advocacy needed, and push more of our elected representatives to get on board. 

Here's how you can participate: 

Monday, April 5th, 12 pm, Climate, Jobs, and Justice Action Week Kickoff Call, This is the start of a week of events and actions organized by NYRenews and NYS Indivisible.  Sign up here. 

Wednesday, April 7th, 4-5 pm, Climate, Jobs, & Justice: Thank You, Sen. May Honk & Wave, East Park Row, Clinton.  Join members of Indivisible Mohawk Valley and Kirkland Town Democrats for a honk and wave event on East Park Row to thank Senator Rachel May for co-sponsoring the Climate and Community Invest Act (CCIA).   

Sign ideas: “Thank you, Rachel May, for supporting CCIA!” “Climate, Jobs, Justice” “NYS Needs Climate Justice: Pass the CCIA!” “Pass the CCIA for your children” “Our Children, Our Future; Pass the CCIA”
Hashtags: #PassTheCCIA #MakePollutersPay #TimetoTHRIVE #GoodJobsForALL
Please wear a mask and observe social distancing guidelines.

Friday, April 9th, 6:30 pm, Climate Justice Town Hall with Senator Schumer and More! This is the big event at the end of the Climate Action!  Please make sure you sign up now. There are 1000 spaces, and our power is in our turnout number.

Want more information about the THRIVE Agenda?  Here are some resources for you:

THRIVE Explainer Video #1
THRIVE Explainer Video #2

There are also some helpful resources (short and long) if you are trying to figure out why we are advocating for President Biden to make his current American Jobs Plan (Build Back Better) even bigger by embracing THRIVE.  
 

Proctor Park Clean Up on Saturday, April 3rd

Tomorrow, April 3rd at 11:00 am, IMV is joining the UU Church and the CNY Conservancy to do a one to two hour trash pick up at FT Proctor Park. Bring gloves and a mask, and we'll meet at the pavilion in the back parking lot off Rutger St.

All people in Oneida County should have the right to nature-to safe, healthy, and nearby natural areas, including sites for quiet contemplation and active recreation. Urban nature is essential to our collective happiness and well being. Residents of Rome, Clinton, New Hartford have access to well maintained trails and parks. Help us make that available to residents in the city of Utica by joining the clean up Saturday and donating to the Proctor Park Peace Garden. Please contribute to help us meet our $5000 goal, and share the link with your friends via email and social media.

Meet Local Candidate Sessions Moved to April 19-21

Next week was just too packed with climate advocacy to also give the time to our local candidates that they deserve.  We have moved our "Meet Local Candidates" sessions to Monday, Tuesday, (and Wednesday if needed), April 19-21 from 6:30-7:00 pm. We will hear from up to five candidates each evening, for five minutes each, so you can get a sense of who they are, whey they are running, and why you might be motivated to support them. 

One of the main conclusions of our Politics is for Power book discussion last week was that talking to neighbors about local politics and working to increase participation and voting in local elections is absolutely critical to building power around our progressive values in the Mohawk Valley.  If we pay attention only to big media and national politics, we can easily become bystanders, spectators, and ineffective hobbyists.  What we want to do instead is get involved and make change. Local elections are the ones where our volunteer hours can have the biggest impact in election results.  

Please make a note that our IMV April meeting has also been moved to later in the month. We will meet on Zoom on Sunday, April 25th, 3-5 pm, and catch up on all that has been going on, what's ahead for us as progressive political activists, and especially, how we will organize ourselves to win local elections in the fall.  

Weekly Connections: CAFE Fridays, Weekly BLM Rally 

Please take note that our weeklyCAFE Fridaysare still going strong! Join Friday mornings 10- 11:30 am on Zoom whenever whenever you can to connect to fellow IMVers.

Another way to connect is to join in as the Kirkland Town Democratic Committee and IMV restart the weeklyBlack Lives Matter rally on Friday, April 16th. This rally will once again occur weekly from 4-5 pm. Bring your signs, wear a mask, and remain socially distanced along East Park Row along the village green in Clinton.

We also have a newIMV working group on Health Care, and that group meets for the second time thisTuesday, April 6th at 7 pm.

Thank You for Your Political Activism: Please Make One Call Today 

In the past few months, IMV focused much of our attention on the campaign to get raise revenue for the state budget calledInvest in Our New York.This campaign is not a "one and done". It has been going for a few years and it will continue. However, because of the super-majority in the state senate, this year was one of the best opportunities we have had to reduce the tax breaks currently given to super wealthy New Yorkers and corporations so that we can fund our public schools, and provide more affordable health care, housing, transportation, and services to those in greatest need, without raising property taxes on regular New Yorkers.

Along with thousands of people in hundreds of other groups in the IONY coalition,IMV members wrote and addressed letters by hand and mailed them, gave money and stamps for the project, participated in phonebanks and called and emailed state legislators and the Governor. Some of our members even met over Zoom with their state legislators.

The goal was to get $50 billion in new annual revenue into the state budget. In the end, thanks to all that work,$7 billion, a big step forward, made it into the One House budget, but that still left negotiations with the Governor that needed to be completed by April 1 to meet the state budget deadline. Well, that deadline came and went, and now the budget is late. Meanwhile, we learned that theGovernor took millions in donations from 15 billionaires while he opposed the wealth taxthat was at the heart of our demands.

If you can make one call today, CALL Governor Cuomo.Tell him to put every day New Yorkers, not billionaires, first. "Not One Penny Less than $7B in the final budget."

Thank you for all your efforts to advance our values around justice and democracy, during our push for IONY, as well as HR/S1 and voting rights.You know that democracy is not a spectator sport, and when it comes to saving our democracy, there is no Plan B.

Now we invite you to join IMV this week for the Climate, Jobs, and Justice Week of Action. Why? Because "There is No Planet B."