The RRT (Rapid Response Team) Action List compiles action items from the week and upcoming events into one place. If you would like to add anything to the weekly update, please send it to Dee Halzack at dee@solidaritylowell.com.
BE CAREFUL OUT THERE FOR THE SAFETY OF YOURSELF AND EVERYONE YOU KNOW!
Solidarity Lowell Events and Actions
September SL General Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84882886426?pwd=Z1A1RTlWWDhsbm4zMUcybWUvbjlVdz09
Meeting ID: 848 8288 6426
Passcode: 730130
Dial-in: 646 558 8656 or 301-715-8592
Main topic: presentation by Tracy McKay, of Greater Boston PFLAG.
PFLAG stands for Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays. It is a national organization with branches around the country, including greater Boston and the Merrimack. Tracy is from the Greater Boston office. They are known for helping family and friends learn how to be supportive of their LGBTQ+ family and friends and for teaching the cisgender heterosexual community how to be good allies. Our meeting falls between two dates important to the LGBTQIA+ community, International Celebrate Bisexuality Day (September 23) and National Coming Out Day (October 11).
https://gbpflag.org/
https://gbpflag.org/resources/
Also, Teresa English, candidate to represent the 22nd Middlesex District in the MA House will be introduced. After the meeting, you will be asked to vote online on whether or not Solidarity Lowell will endorse Teresa’s candidacy.
Important Election Dates
The state has not said when mail ballots will be mailed out to those who requested them already.
October 17: In-person early voting begins.
October 24: Last day to register to vote and change party enrollment for state election.
October 28: Last day to submit Vote by Mail application or Absentee ballot application for mailed ballot for election. (The state recommends doing it by October 20.) They will not be accepted after this date.
October 30: In-person early voting for state election ends.
November 3: Election Day (mail-in ballots must be postmarked by this date)
November 6: Mail-in ballots must be received by this date.
Mail-in ballots may be returned by drop box or mailed. The drop box is located at City Hall. Unless things change from the primary, the drop box will be located INSIDE the back entrance facing JFK plaza. Ballots may be deposited through the mail slot in the door when the door is locked.
Election Action Opportunities
Working Families Party
While they don’t have a branch in MA, they do national campaigns and one of them is about getting folks in certain states to contact their senators about the Supreme Court seat. They also do campaigns supporting progressive candidates in states where they have branches, two of them in New England (CT and RI).
https://www.mobilize.us/workingfamilies/
Currently they do textbanking on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, but said they will be doing them more often soon. They also do phonebanking. The training is great. The software they use (on line) for the texting is great (Spoke). You do have to join Slack, if you haven’t already. After training, you have to take and pass a quiz before they’ll let you do your first texting. And they review your replies to your first session to make sure you’re doing okay before they let you have more to send. Training for people new to their campaigns is Sundays 3-6; training actually lasts about an hour and then you actually start texting. You participate via Zoom and while you’re texting, there is both the zoom call, where you can ask questions live (though if it’s busy, it may take a while to get an answer) or if you just need a straight answer and no discussion, you can ask the question on Slack. There is a way to tag text response that you can’t answer right away so you can move on and then after you have an answer, handle the response when it comes up again.
The group is well organized. The mobilize bot can be annoying, so I’d recommend not ticking the box to receive more text messages from them.
Curated Get Out the Vote and Blue Campaigns:
These two pull together information on various campaigns. You can choose by WHAT action you want to take (text, phone, postcards, donate) or by state and then select an action. So you can choose to work in your state, or since MA is a safe state, you can choose to work on a battleground state.
Turnout2020 Turnout Thursday Phonebanks
Phonebank inconsistent PA voters to walk them through requesting a mail-in ballot
https://www.mobilize.us/turnout2020/event/292970/
LiftEveryVote
Postcard campaigns.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/lifteveryvoter/
Resistance Labs
Various text campaigns. They use the program Spoke for texting, which is the same one Working Families Party uses. They offer a variety of campaigns on their website
https://resistancelabs.com/text/
Vote Forward/Daily Kos
Letter writing campaign to voters.
Local Events and Actions
National Public Lands Cleanup
Meet at Middlesex Community College, 33 Kearney Sq, Lowell
Hosted by Lowell Canalwater Cleaners
https://www.facebook.com/events/2366999023616106/
Weekly LLAMA Housing Advocacy Meeting
Concerned about the looming eviction crisis in Lowell? Would you like to join a group working on ways to address it? This is the group. Current plans include publication of a resource booklet, a simple flier with steps for folks facing eviction, and neighborhood organizing.
978-222-7877
Use this form: https://lowell-mutual-aid.com/form/ to submit needs or offer help.
Watch for an announcement of the next meeting, with Zoom link at
https://www.facebook.com/groups/2658623527701727/
Food Not Bombs/LLAMA
LLAMA will offer free food and information on efforts and resources to defend against eviction
Next City Council Meeting
At the beginning of the emergency, the City Council voted to meet every 2 weeks to facilitate safe distancing. Watch the meeting on LTC (Channel 99 or https://www.ltc.org/watch/channel-99/). Members wishing to speak regarding a specific agenda item shall register to speak in advance by sending an email to the City Clerk indicating the agenda item and a phone number to call so that they may be conferenced in to the meeting. Email address is MGEARY@LOWELLMA.GOV. If no access to email you may contact City Clerk at 978-674-4161.
The agenda will be posted at http://lowellma.gov/agendacenter by the Friday before, October 2.
At the last meeting, they asked the Legal Department for a report on taking over some or of the powers of the School Committee.
Weekly LLAMA Housing Advocacy Meeting – Eviction Defense Training
City Life/Vida Urbana has agreed to offer a training in eviction defense. It will last approximately 2 hours.
Sinking Columbus: Boston Marches for Indigenous People’s Day
Boston, Tremont Street by Park Street Station (eastern end of Boston Common)
The MVP 8th Annual MICAH Awards Celebration
It’s that time of year, time to buy your ticket to the annual Merrimack Valley Project fundraiser, MICAH Awards Celebration
https://givebutter.com/MICAH2020
Mill City Nonprofits Nominated for Donations by MillTown Helping Hands
September’s nominees include 2 Lowell groups, St. Paul’s Soup Kitchen and D’Youville Life and Wellness Community.
To vote for one, go to:
https://milltownplumbing.com/milltowns-helping-hands/
City Hall Access Limited
State-level Actions and Events
Phone bank for Yes on 2 – Ranked Choice Voting
Weekdays 5:30pm-7:30pm
Weekends 11am-1pm
https://www.yeson2rcv.com/phones/
Driving Families Forward – Let Our Families Drive Rally
Registry of Motor Vehicles (RMV) located at 136 Blackstone St, Boston (by the Haymarket T Station)
Meet at the Registry and March to the State House in support of the Driving Families Forward Coalition and passage of the Work and Family Mobility Act
RSVP to register: https://www.facebook.com/events/3306616586122711
If you can’t make it in person for the full event, the March and Rally will be broadcast via Facebook Live on the Driving Families Forward Facebook page.
https://tinyurl.com/y6q9db7w
Phone Bank for Safe Communities Act
Thursday, October 1, 5-7pm
https://actionnetwork.org/events/phonebank-for-safe-communities
National Medicaid Army March Caravan
Friday, October 2, 11:30 AM, John Eliot Sq, 10 Putnam St, Roxbury, MA
Masks required! Organized by MA Poor People’s Campaign.
Rallying for Healthcare as a Human Right
Pending Legislation
When the legislature extended its session through the end of the year, instead of just to the end of July, a lot of the frenzied urgency to pass specific bills faded away. But just because you haven’t heard much lately, doesn’t mean there isn’t still work to do. Some bills are stuck. In Joint Committee as the differences between House and Senate bills need to be reconciled. Or in a Committee that still needs to report a bill out favorably in order for it to move forward. Some of the legislation that can use your support is listed below.
Police Reform Bill
This bill is in joint committee, with representatives of the House and Senate wrangling over which provisions to keep that aren’t common to both bills.You can help fight for the strongest possible version of the bill. Legislators have been hearing from the police; they need to also hear from the PEOPLE.
1) Email your legislators and Governor Baker (template provided at link)
https://actionnetwork.org/letters/fight-for-the-strongest-police-reform-bill
2) Contact the Conference Committee Members:
EMAIL: William.Brownsberger@masenate.gov, Sonia.Chang-Diaz@masenate.gov, Bruce.Tarr@masenate.gov, Claire.Cronin@mahouse.gov, Carlos.Gonzalez@mahouse.gov, Timothy.Whelan@mahouse.gov
OR CALL
William Brownsberger: (617) 722-1280
Sonia Chang-Diaz: (617) 722-1673
Bruce Tarr: (617) 722-1600
Claire Cronin: (617) 722-2396
Carlos González: (617) 722-2080
Timothy Whelan: (617) 722-2488
WHAT TO SAY: It is essential that the final police reform bill includes reforms to the MA Civil Rights Act so that violations of our rights are not swept aside and limits qualified immunity so that victims of police brutality can get justice.
HAVE TIME TO SAY MORE?: Here is the expanded list of 12 provisions that you can copy from https://actionnetwork.org/letters/fight-for-the-strongest-police-reform-bill
Housing Stability
Call or email in support of the Guaranteed Housing Stability to prevent evictions and foreclosures. Scripts for both are provided. Click on the tab of your preferred action.
https://www.housingguarantee.org/
Emergency Paid Sick Leave (H.4700/S.2701)
Emergency Paid Sick Time has been reported favorably out of the Labor and Workforce Development committee! The next stop for our Emergency Paid Sick Time legislation is the Ways and Means committee of both the Senate and House of Representatives.
Email your State Representative and Senator urging them to help move the bill.
https://actionnetwork.org/letters/move-epst/
Roe Act
The deadline for reporting this bill out was extended to November 12. Considering the state of the Supreme Court it is urgent that our legislature pass this additional protection for reproductive rights in our state.
https://actionnetwork.org/letters/contact-your-state-lawmakers-about-the-roe-act-2
National Actions and Events
Become a community co-sponsor of the Breathe Act
The BREATHE Act aims to: Divest resources from incarceration and policing; Build new approaches to community safety; Invest resources to build equitable communities for all, enhance the self-determination of all Black and POC communities; Allocate funds to build healthy, sustainable, and equitable communities
https://breatheact.org
Urge your Federal legislators to pass the Native American Voting Rights Act
Co-authored by Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.) and U.S. House Assistant Speaker Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) this bill will ensure tribal polling places have proper voting equipment, require tribal consultation on polling site locations, and provide tribes with the resources they need to carry out full and fair elections. There have been too many attempts in the last few years to deny Native Americans their right to vote.
https://action.lakotalaw.org/action/pass-navra
Ongoing Solidarity Lowell Initiatives
Support for Asylum-Seeker Marius
Marius is the Togolese asylum seeker whom the Merrimack Valley Interfaith Sanctuary Network (MVISN) is sponsoring. With generous support from people like you and MVISN member groups like ours, Marius has retained an immigration lawyer, filed an application for asylum, and successfully moved his case to the Boston immigration courts from El Paso, exponentially increasing his possibility of ultimately winning his case. Until Marius receives legal authorization to work, our network has committed to financially supporting him with $500/month.
Can you chip in towards the $500 we need to meet our commitment to him? Any amount will be gratefully accepted. Consider becoming a “sustaining supporter” by making a recurring monthly donation, no size too small! We are also looking for folks who are interested in helping in an ongoing basis, in any of these three committees: Legal, Fundraising, and Housing. If you’re interested, please email mvisn@solidaritylowell.com
Donate here: http://www.merrimackvalleyproject.org/donate-1/ (please write “asylum” in the “special notes” part of the donation form)
Solidarity Lowell is a volunteer group of community members of Greater Lowell working toward social justice by defending the human rights, dignity, and equality of all persons against all forms of hate and discrimination.
Visit the Solidarity Lowell website at solidaritylowell.com
For more events not listed here, visit the full Events calendar: https://solidaritylowell.com/events/
For volunteer opportunities, visit our Volunteer page: https://solidaritylowell.com/volunteer-opportunities/
View the notes from our July meeting here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1K4F3LJ0grKGlc2-752dQ-x8d3KtQAJGkEVjnFDj9QDM/edit?usp=sharing
Recording of our July meeting: https://youtu.be/OOF3wIb6hwM
Solidarity Lowell is a chapter of Progressive Massachusetts. Click here to join: https://www.progressivemass.com/contribute