SOLIDARITY LOWELL RAPID RESPONSE TEAM ACTION LIST FOR 8/31/19

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 Marissa Dupont at marissa@solidaritylowell.com.

Solidarity Lowell Events and Actions

View the notes from our August meeting here:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1u10UvXkocAyzgB7YR6DcE-e69CLcLN4N/view?usp=sharing

Immigrant Rights Subcommittee and Cultural Exchange Potluck Planning Meeting

Tuesday, September 3rd, 6:30pm, Eliot Church, 273 Summer Street, Lowell

Please join us for a meeting of the Solidarity Lowell Immigrant Rights Subcommittee. We will be finalizing the plans for our Cultural Exchange Potluck as part of Welcoming Week, and talking about plans to further our support for the Safe Communities Act after this week’s City Council meeting.

More information: https://www.facebook.com/events/889574894739421/

 

SAVE THE DATE: The 2nd Annual Cultural Exchange Potluck

Saturday, September 15th, 2-5pm, South Common Park, 190 Thorndike St, Lowell

Part of Welcoming Week Lowell. Featuring free food and live entertainment from many different cultures and information about local organizations. Bring the family, special children’s entertainment will be provided! If you can contribute food or anything else please sign up here:https://www.mealtrain.com/potlucks/1g5eo6

More information: https://www.facebook.com/events/469092367232832/

 

SAVE THE DATE: City Council Preliminary Candidate Forum with Solidarity Lowell

Thursday, September 19th, 7-8:30pm, MCC Federal Building, Assembly Room, 50 Kearney Square, Lowell

Join Solidarity Lowell and MCC for our City Council Candidate Forum, moderated by Charlie Smith. Meet the candidates and hear their positions on key issues affecting Lowell today and in the future.

More information: https://www.facebook.com/events/361161401477603/

 

Chelms-FED Up Postcarding

Every Tuesday, 9:30-11:30am, The Java Room, 14 Littleton Rd, Chelmsford

Fed up in Chelmsford? Come join us at The Java Room! We will be writing postcards for upcoming municipal elections! Information, addresses, and supplies provided, but feel free to bring your own supplies and info as well. See you there!

For more information, contact Hope at hope@solidaritylowell.com

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. He will be eligible to apply for a work permit at the beginning of November. 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)

 

Join the Affordable Housing Subcommittee

As a result of our recent Strengthening Our Cities workshop series and activities at meetings, Solidarity Lowell is creating a subcommittee that will focus on the topic of affordable housing. If you are interested in joining, sign up using the form below.

Sign up here: https://forms.gle/RcDDqskH7bsurq4D9

 

Join the Elections Subcommittee

The time has come to get our endorsements survey ready for the Lowell City Council and School Committee elections this fall. We’re looking for folks who are interested in helping put together the survey, get it out to those running for office, and compile the results for our members.

If you’re interested, please email contact@solidaritylowell.com

 

 

Local Events and Actions

Karen Cirillo Postcard Party

Saturday, August 31st, 1-3:30pm, Coffee and Cotton, Mill No. 5, 250 Jackson St, Lowell

Come write grassroots postcards to voters to help get Solidarity Lowell endorsed candidate Karen Cirillo reelected to Lowell City Council! These personal, handwritten postcards are a unique and memorable way to capture the attention of voters. We’ll bring supplies and addresses, but feel free to bring your own favorite pens, stickers, etc. Donations of postcard stamps are always appreciated!

More information: https://www.facebook.com/events/512459296180038/

Meet with the Chair of the State Energy Committee, Tom Golden!

Wednesday, September 4th, 7pm, Mill No. 5, 250 Jackson St, 4th Floor, Hi Hat Stage area, Lowell

State Representative Tom Golden will be coming to the next 350 MA meeting! He is chair of the state legislature’s energy committee and has a major say on a lot of the important climate change legislation we want to see. We plan to discuss current legislation and our main message is simple: we need to do as much as we can to move away from fossil fuel and toward renewable energy. And do it as fast as we can! You don’t have to be prepared to speak, although you’re welcome to. But it’s really important for Tom to see that Lowell residents and especially constituents care about this. See you Wednesday!

For more information, please email Jon Grossman at jgrossman@seiu509.org

 

Lowell Immigration Town Hall

Sunday, September 8th, 1:30-2:45pm, Christ Church United, 1 Bartlett St, Lowell

MVP will be hosting a Lowell Immigration Town Hall to hear campaign updates and to strategize ways to earn our local officials’ support. MVP’s statewide coalition partners have asked MVP to commit to bringing a set amount of attendees and we at MVP are dedicated to reaching this goal by bringing a strong team of dedicated pro-immigrant supporters to the event. Please confirm your attendance by emailing MVP (email below) and let us know how many people will be joining you. Our goal is to pack the church and to let it be known that we need our Lowell elected officials to step up and be leaders when it comes to protecting our city’s immigrant populations.

RSVP here: mvalleypr@gmail.com

 

Volunteer for JFON, Helping Lawyers Give Immigrants Free Legal Advice

It is hard to believe that the Lawrence – Lowell JFON Clinics have been in operation for almost one year.  Thanks to the tremendous response from so many volunteers, the new clinics have taken off at both sites. Whether you support a Hospitality Team or work as an Intake Volunteer or Interpreter, the success of JFON depends greatly on your commitment to this mission. As they say, it takes a village to raise a child and it takes volunteers to run a JFON clinic. The clinics have been fully scheduled through December 2019 (see attached schedule).  At the same time, there is a need to secure additional volunteers and to determine if any of the current volunteers would like to take on a new role. As we look to the fall and 2020, the following needs exist: Clinic Managers, Intake Volunteers, Interpreters, Phone Intake Coordinator, and Fundraising.

If interested, email David Troughton at dtroughton@comcast.net

 

 

 

 

 

State- and National-Level Events and Actions

Straight Pride is Hate Pride

Saturday, August 31st, 11am-3pm, Boston Public Garden, by the Arlington T stop

Local far-right homophobic and transphobic activists are holding a Straight Pride Parade on August 31st. This is an attempt to gain legitimacy for a violently homophobic, transphobic, and misogynistic agenda. The organizers have a long track record of bigotry and support of fascist groups. In August 2017, the people of Boston dealt a body blow to the national alt-right by bringing out thousands of people to tell these fascists—many of them the same people as those organizing the “straight pride parade”—that we won’t have hate in our city. Let’s turn out again to show them that however they rebrand, we see through their lies and will always come out united against their hate.

More information: https://www.facebook.com/events/2233546250067653/

35th Bread & Roses Heritage Festival

Monday, September 2nd, 11:30am-6pm, Campagnone Common, 200 Common St, Lawrence

As the region’s only true Labor Day festival, 35th Annual Bread & Roses Heritage Festival is an open-air arts and music festival honoring Lawrence’s multicultural roots and rich labor history while commemorating the most significant event in Lawrence history: the 1912 Bread and Roses Strike. A day of activism and family fun, the festival boasts three stages of socially conscious performances, an array of family activities, rows of community vendors, historical trolley and walking tours, culturally diverse food offerings, educational presentations, and more!

More information: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/bread-and-roses-heritage-festival-tickets-67071876789

 

The Work and Family Mobility Act Hearing

Wednesday, September 4th, 9:30am-3:30pm, Massachusetts State House, 24 Beacon St, Room B-1, Boston

On Wednesday September 4, the Transportation Committee will hear testimony on the Work and Family Mobility Act (S.2061 / H.3012). Community allies, advocates, faith leaders, businesses and law enforcement agree—undocumented immigrants deserve the right to a license. The hearing is our opportunity to show why Massachusetts needs Driver’s Licenses for All. It is important that our Driving Families Forward Coalition shows up in full force throughout the duration of the hearing. We hope you will join us for a successful hearing day to ensure we keep #DrivingMAForward!

More information: https://www.facebook.com/events/2304133203019018/

 

Raise Up Popular Education Workshops

Thursday, September 5th, 6-8pm AND Saturday, September 7th, 11am-3pm, 145 Tremont St, Boston, 2nd floor (home of the SEIU State Council)

Our tax code in Massachusetts is skewed in favor of large corporations, who are not paying their fair share. And those same corporations are trying to push more of the tax burden on working people. The Raise Up Massachusetts coalition is launching a campaign for raising revenue in a progressive way that helps provide necessary funds for education and infrastructure (while keeping the Fair Share Amendment moving forward to the 2022 ballot). A key part of that is popular education, and RUM is kicking that off with two pilot sessions next week. Learn about how our tax code is skewed and how we can unskew it–and get ready to educate others.

For more information, email Jonathan Cohn at jrfcohn@gmail.com