Today is the last day to make your calls and demand funding for the most important priorities in New York State. Call now, and keep the calls going all afternoon!

The budget deadline is tomorrow, April 1.

We're coming down to the last days for the 2023 NYS budget, and need everyone to make calls. You'll find that this newsletter is filled with budget asks. Pick the ones that matter most to you. Call with the asks that matter most to you. You can call and leave messages as often as you want. Just keep calling!

You don't usually get a newsletter from Indivisible Mohawk Valley on Tuesday, but we're in the last 10 days before the NYS budget is due, and we need EVERYONE to take actions, especially sending emails and calling leadership in Albany. Today we're focusing on childcare.

IMV's March 2022 monthly meeting is on Zoom this Sunday (3-5 pm), so please take two hours out of your afternoon (but then keep carrying petitions if you can!) to join us for a very full agenda.

We're nearing the deadline of April 1 as the Invest in Our New York coalition pushes our elected representatives toward an economically and environmentally just 2022 NY state budget. We want climate protections and green jobs ($15 Billion). We want to prioritize public health and health care, funding for front line workers in home health care, nursing homes, and hospitals. We want to make sure that regular people across our state can afford housing, education, job training, local transportation and child care. How can we make sure that our representatives in Albany know our priorities and include them in the state's 2022 budget?

$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.

It's time to write postcards for our first 2022 postcard project! These postcards are large and colorful and encourage targeted voters in key areas to notice how President Biden's infrastructure bill will positively impact their lives by improving rural broadband. It's a "thank you, Democrats!" message that we can all embrace. You can pick up postcards (and a sample message so you know what to write) starting today.

IMV is thrilled that our main speaker for our February 2022 meeting is Farah Tanis, Co-Founder and Co-Executive Director of Black Women's Blueprint. She's going to tell us about Restore Forward, a holistic Reconciliation Center her group is building in Ava, NY (outside Rome), with a focus on healing and social, economic, and environmental justice. We've been wondering for a while how we can support this innovative project that aligns with our values. Farah Tanis is a "Can't Miss" speaker for IMV--so....don't miss her!

Indivisibles across New York will join together for a virtual State Lege Conference on Thursday, February 17th at 7-8:30 pm!

In March, Governor Kathy Hochul, Speaker Carl Heastie, and Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins will bring their respective budgets--moral documents that reflect values and priority investments--together and create the final budget for the upcoming year. March is a strategic month for advocating hard for funding that helps every day New Yorkers. How will they know what we want to be included if we don't tell them?

The NY State legislature approved the new Congressional districts Wednesday, and the Senate and Assembly districts yesterday, and they now go to Gov. Hochul for her approval or veto. To review the new maps (congressional, state senate, or state assembly), you can click on "Proposed Congress, Senate or Assembly" under 2022 maps here: https://www.latfor.state.ny.us/maps/

Do you believe that everyone should be able to vote? Then the very first thing we need to is...register more voters! Dylan Black, our NY22/24 Build the House Organizer has offered an awesome opportunity for us to Register Voters next weekend in Utica!

We hope you saw Ezra's message to all of us after we lost a hard fight for democracy on Wednesday:

"So what can we do after losing a hard fight? Here are the options:

• We can give up.

• We can keep building power.

That’s it. End of list. And I’ll be damned if I’m going to let the fascists win in a forfeit." --Ezra Levin, Indivisible's co-founder

IMV is NOT giving up. We have work to do from the ground up that has the potential to change the game on voting, health care, climate, racial justice, and more. It means getting legislation passed in New York. It means winning back congressional seats in New York. It means building political power in Oneida and surrounding counties. In our sixth year as a grassroots progressive volunteer political organization, we are positioned to do the work. AND WE WILL.

We've been pushing Congress for months to pass groundbreaking voting rights legislation – and Senate Majority Leader Schumer has announced that the Senate will be holding a historic vote to move forward The Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act this coming week. This weekend, we can all help Senator Schumer take this bill to the finish line by calling voters in West Virginia or Arizona and patching them through to urge Sens. Manchin or Sinema to do whatever it takes to pass and protect our freedom to vote.

Do not for a second get distracted by Sen. Sinema's very bad, fact deficient speech on the Senate floor or Sen. Manchin's constant whining. The pressure on them is mounting, and the people are leading the way. This fight is not over. In fact, you can join it at this critical moment. Please Join IMV as we take action (via Zoom) Saturday, Jan. 15th, 11:00-11:30 am: Don’t Let the Dream Die: Call to Action to Save Democracy.

Did you make a New Year's Resolution to become more politically active? Keep your resolution today by making calls to your representatives. Our power is greater when more of us call with a clear message at the same time. So make your calls today. In most cases, you are simply leaving a voicemail, but those voicemails matter to the people who need your vote.

New Yorkers deserve a health care system that is patient-centered, not profit-centered. The NY Health Act actually has a shot in 2022, and its success depends on political activism in the next few weeks. Andrea Stewart-Cousins has committed to bringing it to the floor of the state senate. BUT we will need to 'do our thing' as grassroots Indivisible activists--calling, letters to the editor, and lobby visits. Do you have questions? Concerns? Want to know more about how New York can be the start to an amazing national ripple?

On January 6, 2022, IMV will do what we do best: rally and call attention for our elected leaders to meet this moment. Here's our message: Senators Schumer and Gillibrand, don’t get cold feet: pass the Freedom to Vote Act, John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, and Build Back Better Act!

Thank you to everyone who showed up for our last IMV meeting of 2021 on Dec. 12! We met Senya Bekui, the new lead organizer for Citizen Action CNY. He shared this inspiring video (co-starring our very own good friend, Shana Dahlin!) in his most recent email. IMV encourages everyone to become a sustaining member of Citizen Action and/or make an end of the year gift to this critical group that fights in our state and region for social, economic, climate, and racial justice. Seriously, click on the video, because the justice agenda it lays envisions is one IMV shares.

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

Congratulations to Indivisible NY State groups who showed up in a big way for the rescheduled Zoom with Gov. Kathy Hochul on Monday night. We had 500 activists on the call, and the Governor knew it. As she has in the past when we met with Sen. Schumer, Sarah Reeske prepared Indivisibles from all over the state to ask their questions and hold our elected officials' feet to the fire. When they meet with us, they know they are talking to the people who knock the doors, make the calls, and mobilize the New Yorkers for progressive action.