Lots of Volunteer Options and Happy Hour is Back!

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."

Tues, March 2, 7 pm	VOTES Act Forum
Tues, March 2, 8 pm	2020 Election: Trends, Observations & Where We’re Headed
Thurs, March 4, 7 pm	Dialogue: Should the Electoral College Choose the President?
Fri, March 12, 5:30-6:30	I-RISE Persistence Happy Hour
Tues, March 16, 6:30-7:30	I-RISE Monthly Meeting: Legislative Watch and Advocacy - Pushing for Progress

At our February 16th meeting, we rolled out our plans and priorities for 2021-22. We’re excited to have numerous working groups, all with leaders committed to continuing to make a difference. We’re also excited to have so many Indivisible-RISE volunteers signing up to participate, and we hope that many more of you will join us! There are lots of opportunities, including in the following areas:

Sign up here to volunteer for your area(s) of interest, and we will contact you with more information and to get you started!

Our next monthly meeting is at 6:30-7:30 on March 16, 2021. We will hear about national efforts on voting reform, as well as legislative developments at the State level, and you'll learn how you can get involved in protecting democracy. Mark your calendar and join us on Zoom in a few weeks!

Our monthly happy hour is back by popular demand, with one key change: We’re now gathering for Persistence Happy Hour rather than Resistance Happy Hour now that the Dems gained control of the White House and the Senate! We’re still gathering on Zoom, with hopes to be in person again at some point in 2021. Please join us here at 5:30-6:30 on Friday, March 12th and then at the same time the second Friday of every month. It will be great to reconnect!

Postcard writing, phone banking and texting opportunities are back, with plenty of options for all of you who are ready to start up again or learn something new. We know from all the work done since 2017 that we get results when we all pull together toward common goals! Current opportunities and updates are as follows:

Our Postcards-To-Go program is going full steam ahead! We currently are writing postcards for Laurie Buchwald, seeking a state Senate seat in Virginia. As one of our focuses is to help increase or win majorities in state legislatures, we anticipate that we will continue writing postcards supporting Democrats running for state seats in the Nov 2021 elections in Virginia. Contact Kath Mason at kmmason63@gmail.com or Kathy Stark at kstark12@gmail.com for information and to join our team!

Moms Demand Action phone banks are continuing every Sunday at 3 pm. Please join the group to call voters in other states urging them to contact their representatives about passing common sense gun safety laws. RSVP for any or all Sundays in March: 3/7, 3/14, 3/21, 3/28

If you’d like to call with Moms on a different day of the week, please contact Becc O’Brien at robrien.ma@gmail.com and she will help arrange for you to join another group or call on your own.

We’re also working on scheduling midweek phone banking sessions, including training. In the meantime, you may want to check out a phone bank on your own with Common Cause, NextGen, or Reclaim Our Vote.

Check out our Texting Organizations document here for a list of current texting opportunities, along with links to each organization’s website, shifts, and training options. We are regularly updating this document, but please let us know if you learn of other opportunities that are not on our list. We also are updating additional resources and will plan training sessions soon. Stay tuned for updates and thank you for continuing to text!

Join State Senator Cynthia Creem, Geoff Foster from Common Cause MA, and Rahsaan Hall from the ACLU MA for a discussion about the VOTES Act, new legislation that will make some of last year’s election reforms permanent and implement same-day voter registration in MA. Register here to attend the Zoom event at 7pm on Tuesday, March 2.

Campaign veteran and political science professor Donnie Fowler will present long-term trends, short term observations, and where we’re headed based on data from the 2020 and previous elections. The event is sponsored by Democracy Labs, Democracy Action, Sister District and Swing Left. Register here for this fascinating lecture taking place at 8 pm on Tuesday, March 2.

The Electoral College will be the subject of a dialogue between New York Times editorial board member Jesse Wegman and political analyst Peter Fenn. This presentation is being offered online to the public by the First Parish in Lexington, Unitarian Universalist on Thursday, March 4 at 7 PM. Register for this Zoom event here.

The Federal For the People Act (H.R.1) and the Washington, DC Admissions Act (H.R.51) are critical democracy reform bills scheduled for votes in Congress in March. H.R. 1 will expand voting rights, change campaign finance laws to reduce the influence of money in politics, limit partisan gerrymandering, and create new ethics rules for federal officeholders. H.R. 51 will grant statehood to DC, giving that population proper representation in Congress and more balance in the Senate. This helpful toolkit explains the importance of H.R.51.

Please contact your representative and senators to let them know you support these bills. Click on each name for contact information: Ed Markey, Elizabeth Warren, Seth Moulton. If you do not live in Seth Moulton’s congressional district, you can find your representative’s contact information here.

If you want to get more active on this critical issue, Common Cause is running phone banks Sundays, Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays from 6-8 pm, calling into congressional districts around the country. You’ll be asking voters in these districts to contact their representatives in support of H.R.1. Sign up here.

We’d love to get big money out of politics, but let’s turn corporate funding into a positive while corporate PACs are still influential. Some big corporations have announced that they will stop donating to the Republican legislators who refused to certify the 2020 electoral college votes on January 6th. We can help encourage other companies to take this same decisive action in support of democracy by contacting corporations that need an extra push and also thanking those who already have committed to never donating to the 147 GOP traitors again. Click here for a great tool listing big corporate PACs with their current stance on this issue, contact information, and scripts to use for calling or tweeting them.