Marius is a Togolese asylum-seeker, who has recently moved to Lowell to fight for asylum in the Boston federal immigration courts. Marius comes from a family of political dissidents fighting for greater democracy, and was forced to flee his country after his parents were murdered by the government. He has been threatened everywhere he's tried to rebuild his life, and last year decided to journey across South and North America to seek asylum in the United States. But Marius cannot do it alone. The Merrimack Valley Interfaith Sanctuary Network is providing housing for him, but he also needs funds for legal, medical and living expenses. We need to raise $500/month for his living expenses, plus at least $2000 in lawyer’s fees so any amount you can donate is greatly appreciated.

May

2023

RAPID RESPONSE TEAM ACTION LIST FOR MAY 30, 2023

Solidarity Lowell Events and Actions

Next Solidarity Lowell Hybrid Meeting

Sunday, June 25, 5:30-7pm
In person at Christ Church United, 10 Arlington St, Dracut
Online link: to be announced

Hear the latest news regarding our petition for better treatment of Lowell’s unhoused population, which was presented to the City Council at the April 11 meeting. Speaker to be announced.

Support for Asylum-Seeker Marius

Marius is an asylum-seeker from Togo who we have assisted since he arrived here in 2018.

He and Lillian, an asylum-seeker from the Dominican Republic, had a baby last year and need assistance. Gift cards are appreciated. These can be given to Marissa Dupont. Email marissa@solidaritylowell.com to coordinate drop-off.

Cash donations may be made through GoFundMe.
https://www.gofundme.com/f/47gvz-marius

New Unpacking Whiteness Dialogue Group Forming

Individuals committed to exploring their own racial biases are invited to participate in the Unpacking Whiteness Dialogue Group. Engage in supportive, structured dialogues to explore whiteness in contemporary society, especially to better understand the legacy and impact of white supremacy, white privilege, explicit and implicit bias, systemic racism, and microaggressions.

Dialogue group is five sessions, capped at 10 people.

After attending the Dialogue Group, attendees are invited to join the ongoing group.

The ongoing group meets once a month, alternating between discussing a book or watching a film.

If you have questions, email Marissa Dupont: marissa@solidaritylowell.com.

Lowell Events & Actions

Next City Council Meeting

Tuesday, May 30 at 6:30pm, at City Hall and online

Meetings are held weekly in Council Chamber Tuesdays at 6:30pm with public welcome. Attend in person or by using remote participation as follows: Members of the public may view the meeting via LTC.Org (Online; Live Streaming; Or Local Cable Channel 99).

See agenda for details:
https://www.lowellma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_05302023-2743?html=true

Items of interest

2 Mayor’s Business
2.2. Presentation – Afro-American Community Collaborative Juneteenth Weekend Event.

4 Motion Reponses
4.1 A) Motion Response – Masses at the Shrine
https://www.lowellma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Item/24159?fileID=49245

4.1.C) Motion Response – Micro Dog Parks
https://www.lowellma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Item/24159?fileID=49243

4.1.D) Motion Response – Honoring AAPI Community
https://www.lowellma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Item/24159?fileID=49244

9 Motions
9.5. C. Jenness – Req. City Mgr. Provide The Council With A Comprehensive Report On City Contractors Broken Down By Race, Gender, Disability And Other Standard EEO Classifications.

9.7. C. Jenness/C. Nuon/C. Mercier – Req. Technology And Utilities SC Meet To Begin Developing A City Wide Cyber-Security Ordinance; Including Adoption Of A Well Known Cyber-Security Framework And Regular Third Party Audits And Reviews Of Policies And Procedures.

9.9. C. Nuon/C. Jenness – Req. City Mgr. Work With Proper Department(S) To Prepare Communication To Lowell Residents Regarding The Cyber-Security Incident; Including Advice On Steps They Can Take To Protect Themselves From The Misuse Of Any Potentially Ex Filtrated Data, Which Could Include Personally Identifiable Information In Possession Of The City.

To speak, you must register by 4pm the day of the meeting. Those wishing to speak regarding a specific agenda item must register to speak in advance of the meeting by sending an email to the City Clerk indicating the agenda item and a phone number to call so that you may be issued a Zoom link to the meeting if you wish to speak remotely. Email Address is MGEARY@LOWELLMA.GOV. If you have no access to email you may contact the City Clerk at 978-674-4161.

To contact any City Councilor, or the City Manager, by email, use this webform
https://www.lowellma.gov/formcenter/contact-the-city-council-5/city-council-contact-form-45
and check off who you’re writing to.

Be prepared: Narcan Administration & Overdose Awareness (Narcan Included)

May May 31 6:00-7:30pm
Life Connections Center, 192 Appleton Street

Substance Abuse Community Forum

Thursday, June 1, 6pm
Lowell High School Auditorium

Special Guest Speaker: Chris Herren, former NBA Player and Substance Abuse Speaker

Lowell Litter Krewe

LLK is in the running for an award from the We Share a Common Thread Foundation. Once a quarter, the Foundation donates $1500 to a worthy area non-profit as voted by the community. Whoever receives the most votes via their Give a Click site wins. Please vote, once, before June 30.
https://www.jdcu.org/community-about/our-foundation/give-a-click/?#gf_33

Meanwhile, the LLK has begun their regular cleanups.
To connect with them: https://linktr.ee/lowelllitterkrewe
Sign up to volunteer, check out their schedule and more.

Next event
Saturday, June 3, 9:00am-12:00pm
Armory Park
46 Westford St, Lowell
1:00-4:00pm Bad Boyz Band with Jasper Crystal Wizard and Saexia

Greater Lowell Pride 2023

Saturday, June 3

10am Flag Raising at City Hall (375 Merrimack St)
10:50am-11:45am Parade, City Hall to Kerouac Park
12:00pm-4:00pm Festival, Kerouac Park (75 Bridge St)

https://www.facebook.com/events/762181502211053

Lowell Fall Election

Solidarity Lowell’s Election Subcommittee gearing up

If you are interested in helping to elect/re-elect progressive candidates for Lowell City CouncilCouncl and School Committee, please email Lisa Arnold (likarnold @ gmail.com) or Dee Halzack (dee.halz @ ix.netcom.com) (delete spaces when using emails cited)

The election schedule for the municipal election has been set. While some candidates have already announced, Tuesday June 6 is the first day nominating papers can be pulled. The last day to submit nominating papers is Tuesday, July 18. At some point after July 18, when the slate of candidates is finalized, Solidarity Lowell will follow their process for endorsing candidates. Once we have selected endorsees, we will begin organizing canvassing events for our endorsees. Want to be a part of that? Contact Lisa or Dee as noted above. Among other things, we will be drawing up a list of questions we want prospective endorsees to answer.

If there is a preliminary election (there must be at least 3 candidates for a district, or 7 at large), which we’ll know on July 19, early voting begins August 23. That’s a little over a month to work for our progressive candidates, so we need to be ready to hit the ground running by then.

Other Events

Grassroots Training Academy

4 sessions left, select Mondays and Wednesdays from June 5-14
Organizer: Mass Alliance

Mass legislature, messaging, campaign planning, social media, press, lobbying, fundraising and more. For more details, and to apply to attend, see http://tinyurl.com/2023AdvocacyTrainingSeries

Homes for All Rent Control and Foreclosure Prevention Lobby Day

Wednesday, June 1, 10 am
State House

Legislative briefing (10 am) + rally (11 am) + grassroots lobbying (12 noon)

National Caucus of Environmental Legislators Plastics Forum (NECL)

Thursday, June 1, 1pm
State House Room 428

The NECL and Chair of the Environment Committee, Senator Rebecca Rausch, are hosting a Plastics Forum. Everyone is invited!

Transfer Fee Coalition Lobby Day

Tuesday, June 6, 11 am – 12pm
State House
RSVP: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSesSbaBBThWz6ETbvybWZ71OVM2jN3HR3uKI2VBr5IC1ZmVtQ/viewform

Join the Local Option for Housing Affordability (LOHA) Coalition for a briefing and day of action in support of Rep. Connolly and Sen. Comerford’s H.2747/S.1771 establishing a local option transfer fee to fund affordable housing. Speakers will include advocates, municipal officials, impacted people and housing experts from across the Commonwealth.

Youth Justice Lobby Day

Wednesday, June 7, 2 pm
at the State House
RSVP for pre-training (5/31, 3:30pm, virtual): https://www.cfjj.org/grassroots-training

If you plan to do this, it is suggested you book an appointment with your legislator ahead of time.

State Level Actions

Call On Your Senator to Protect the Fair Share Amendment!

Now that the Budget is passed and moved into Conference Committee to resolve the difference between the Senate and House versions, the Senate will be working on the Governor’s tax cut proposals. There’s still time to tell them to not pass the tax cuts.

https://actionnetwork.org/letters/call-on-your-senator-to-protect-the-fair-share-amendment

Invite Your Legislator to the June 6 Legislative Briefing

The Make Polluters Pay and Put Gas in the Past Campaigns, two top priorities of the Mass Power Forward Coalition, are joining for a double-header Legislative Briefing on June 6th. Use this toolkit and call on your legislator to join us!
https://docs.google.com/document/d/13b-_uKuNY2HIcowBUY6Oz6iTzMLHhXNe5S23DFS8pSs/edit

Want to stay up to date on the campaign? Follow @polluterspayma on twitter.

Contact your state senator about facial recognition legislation

An ACLU request. See form for information and script.
https://mobilize.aclum.org/a/face-surveillance-senate-co-sponsor

Massachusetts is Not Disposable Campaign

Progressive Democrats of Massachusetts, on behalf of Just Zero and the Conservation Law Foundation (CLF), are asking us to meet with our legislators before mid-June, on Zoom or in-person. We need them to support a modernized Bottle Bill, a strong Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) for packaging bill, bans on plastic grocery bags and Chemical/Advanced Recycling of plastic. Find Fact Sheets on each of these issues here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1WWYEsPY-uPYC6WwKYlNSvf8AKbPvxlWX?usp=sharing (The Google Folder)

To Contact the Governor

Governor’s Office of Constituent Services (617) 725-4005
Call between 9am and 5pm and leave a message.

Or email the governor, using this form: https://www.mass.gov/info-details/email-the-governors-office#email-the-governor-using-this-form-

Our State Legislators’ Info

Speaker Ronald Mariano Ronald.Mariano@mahouse.gov | 617-722-2500 | Rm 356
Senate President Karen Spilka Karen.Spilka@masenate.gov | 617-722-1500 | Rm 332
Rep. Rodney Elliott Rodney.Elliott@ma.house.gov | 617-722-2000 x7313 | Rm B1
Rep. Vanna Howard Vanna.Howard@mahouse.gov | 617-722-2060 | Rm 33
Local office: 25 Central Street, ground floor, Lowell
Rep. Rady Mom Rady.Mom@mahouse.gov | 617-722-2637 | Rm 544
Rep. Colleen Garry Colleen.Garry@mahouse.gov | 617-722-2380 | Rm 238
Senator Edward Kennedy edward.kennedy@masenate.gov | 617-722-1630 | Rm 109-E
Senator Michael Barrett Mike.Barrett@masenate.gov | 617-722-1572 | Rm 109-D
Senator Jamie Eldridge James.Eldridge@masenate.gov | 617-722-1120 | Rm 511-C
Senator Barry Finegold Barry.Finegold@masenate.gov | 617-722-1612 | Rm 511A
(… or find yours here: https://malegislature.gov/Search/FindMyLegislator)

Massachusetts State House, 24 Beacon St, Boston, MA 02133

National Actions

Our Federal Legislators’ Info

Representative Lori Trahan
https://trahan.house.gov/contact/write-your-rep.htm
2439 Rayburn HOB | Washington, DC 20515 | 202-225-3411
126 John Street | Lowell, MA 01852 | 978-459-0101

Representative Seth Moulton
https://moulton.house.gov/contact
202-225-8020 | 978-531-1669

SOLIDARITY LOWEL ANNOUNCES STATE REP ENDORSEMENTS (Reposted)

The Primary will be held this upcoming TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6th! Remember to vote! Solidarity Lowell announces endorsements in four State Representative races, by vote of their members. All four endorseesContinue reading →

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Help Marius Cover His Lawyer's Fees and Stay in the Country

From the Rapid Response Team