RAPID RESPONSE TEAM ACTION LIST FOR OCT 12, 2021
Solidarity Lowell Events and Actions
Support Our Slate of Endorsed Candidates
City Council
At Large: Vesna Nuon (https://www.facebook.com/vesnaforlowell)
District 2: Corey Robinson (https://www.coreyforlowell.com/)
District 4: Wayne Jenness (https://district4lowell.com)
District 5: Tooch Van (https://www.votetooch.com/home)
District 6: Justin Ford (https://justinford.nationbuilder.com/)
School Committee
At Large: Jackie Doherty (https://www.facebook.com/electjackiedoherty/)
District 1: Stacey Thompson (https://www.staceyforlowell.com/)
District 2: Hilary Clark (https://www.clarkforprogress.com/)
District 3: Susie Chhoun (http://www.susieforlowellschools.com/)
All of the campaigns can use help with canvassing. Knocking on doors is one of the most effective ways to get out the vote. Get some exercise while helping to elect progressives! Canvassing a little too much exercise? Try standouts, holding a sign and waving to passing motorists for an hour or more. Some campaigns are also doing phonebanking and textbanking. And if you own property that would be great for sign placement, that can help too. Contact the campaigns directly to volunteer.
And, of course, there are fundraisers to support. Signs and fliers cost money. See Local Events (below) for more information on those.
If we want real change in Lowell, we need to help get more progressives elected.
LAST CHANCE TO REPLY!
Fundraiser for Ecuadorian Asylum Seeker
Sunday, October 17th, 7pm, on Zoom
RSVP for link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/lillians-journey-tickets-170508641938
The Merrimack Valley Interfaith Sanctuary Network (MVISN), Merrimack Valley Project, and Solidarity Lowell present a conversation with Lillian, a refugee from Ecuador. Host Cantor Vera Broekhuysen will lead the conversation with Lillian, who will discuss her journey from Ecuador, through Mexico and into the U.S., and the racism and sexism that she experienced in those countries. We will also hear about her experiences crossing the border and in ICE detention facilities.
From Lillian: “I am from Ecuador. I am Afro-Ecuadorian but unfortunately in my country being Black is still a synonym of slavery, discrimination and disrespect to the Black people. As a Black Afro-Ecuadorian I have suffered a lot of injustice such as discrimination, bullying, and abuse. I finally left my country definitely to Mexico and made my way to the United States to look for peace and protection.”
MVISN has agreed to help Lillian with legal fees pending her asylum case, but we need your help. To contribute, please donate at http://www.merrimackvalleyproject.org/donate-1/ (please write “asylum” in the “special notes” part of the donation form). We encourage you to donate even if you can’t attend.
This week’s standout schedule for Vesna Nuon’s campaign
4:30pm-6:30pm
Signs will be provided
Wednesday, October 13
Nesmith and Andover Streets
Chelmsford and Stevens Streets
Thursday, October 14
Mammoth Road and Varnum Avenue
Bridge Street and VFW Highway
Friday, October 15
Nesmith and Andover Streets
Fletcher and Broadway Streets
Hold the date for the Next Solidarity Lowell General Meeting
Sunday, October 24, 5:00pm – 7:00pm (NOTE EARLY START TIME!)
Solidarity Lowell Endorsed Candidate Showcase
Topic: Hear from our endorsed candidates
Urgent Support Needed for Asylum-Seeker Marius
Marius has a new apartment and needs urgent assistance with rent money. If you are able to contribute, please send donations to Marissa Dupont.
Donations via:
CashApp – $gollygee17
Venmo – @owlnerd
Please put “Marius” in the notes.
Local Events and Actions
Candlelight Vigil Remembering Victims Of Domestic Violence
Thursday, October 14, 6:00pm
Lowell City Hall (rain location: lobby of City Hall)
The Alternative House will host a candlelight vigil to remember and honor lives lost to domestic violence this year. The vigil is being held in partnership with the Lowell Police Department and the City Manager’s Domestic Violence Taskforce.
24/7 domestic abuse survivor hotline: 978-454-1436 or 1-888-291-6228
Stacey For School Committee Fall Fundraiser (District 1)
Wednesday, October 13, 6:30-8:30pm
Mount Pleasant Golf Club, 141 Staples St, Lowell
Corey Robinson City Council District 2 Fundraiser
Thursday, October 14, 6:00-10:00pm
Mill City BBQ & Brew, 11 Kearney Square, Lowell
Vigil for Haitians
Friday, October 15, 3:00pm
2 Mill St, Lawrence (across from the USCIS federal immigration building)
The Interfaith Clergy Alliance (Lawrence) is sponsoring a vigil to protest violence against Haitian immigrants at the southern US border.
Justin Ford City Council District 6 Fundraiser
Wednesday, October 20, 6:00-9:00pm
Mount Pleasant Golf Club, 141 Staples St, Lowell
General Election
If you want to vote by mail or absentee ballot, be sure to allow plenty of time for your application to reach Boston and your ballot to be mailed back to you.
The deadline to register to vote for the general election is October 13 at 8:00pm. If you are not registered to vote where you currently live, you should submit a voter registration form. You will not be automatically registered to vote until you apply for/renew your driver’s license or state ID, or apply for health insurance through MassHealth or the Health Connector. You can register to vote online, by mail, or in person at any city or town hall.
Early Voting begins October 20.
Vote by Mail
https://lowellma.gov/1495/Vote-By-Mail
Deadline to apply to vote by mail in municipal general election.
Wednesday, October 13, 8:00pm
Under a state law passed in July 2021, voting by mail will be allowed in all local and state elections through December 15, 2021. All registered voters in Massachusetts will be permitted to vote by mail in any election held prior to December 15, 2021, with no excuse needed.
The U.S. Postal Service recommends allowing up to 7 days for ballot delivery in each direction but you can download an application at http://lowellma.gov/votebymail and submit it by email (to elections@lowellma.gov) if you have the capability of completing a PDF file electronically.
If you can’t do it electronically, it is possible to complete a form in person at City Hall, but it still has to get to Boston in time.
Elections & Census Office
375 Merrimack Street
Basement, Room 5
Lowell, MA 01852
978-674-4046
Absentee ballots
Deadline to apply for in-person absentee ballots
Monday, November 1, 12:00pm
For all the rules, including who qualifies, visit:
https://www.lowellma.gov/408/Absentee-Voting
Help Lowell Votes Get Out the Vote
Lots of our neighbors do not understand the new electoral system yet. They need to be educated and encouraged to vote. Some may even need help registering to vote.
1) Please consider signing up to participate in nonpartisan voter registration tabling and voter education at your site or at events in the City: http://www.tinyurl.com/2021LowellCitywideGOTV
Lowell Votes will provide you with a voter registration and education toolkit and you can choose what materials from here you would either like printed or to donate here.
http://www.tinyurl.com/LV2021MaterialsforPrint
http://www.lowellvotes.org/donate/
2) Upcoming phone banks, canvasses, and other volunteer opportunities: Lowell Votes needs 3-5 more people for every session and always welcome different language capacities:
There will be phonebanking on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday nights from 5:30-7:30 going forward until the election (except for Indigenous Peoples Day) and Saturday morning canvasses will begin on September 25.
Sign up for Phone and Canvassing days below.
https://tinyurl.com/c4wvebvu
Besides making sure you are registered to vote where you currently live, another important item on your list to prepare for the election is to get to know the candidates…
DEI Consortium Candidate Spotlight
Watch any Spotlights you missed on the YouTube Channel
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCb7O-ece-ZaiKDGVxvWTJ8w
Candidate Forums
Organized by Solidarity Lowell for Endorsed Candidates
Sunday, October 24, 5:00 – 7:00 pm
City Council
At Large: Vesna Nuon
District 2: Corey Robinson
District 4: Wayne Jenness
District 5: Tooch Van
District 6: Justin Ford
School Committee
At Large: Jackie Doherty
District 1: Stacey Thompson
District 2: Hilary Clark
District 3: Susie Chhoun
Organized by LTC, The Lowell Sun, Lowell Votes, and KhmerPostUSA
Thursday, October 14, 6:00 – 7:30 pm
City Council
Districts 5, 6, and 7
Other Events
Redistricting and YOU: How to Effectively Lobby for Fair Maps in MA
Thursday, October 14, 7:00pm-8:00pm
RSVP to get Zoom link at: http://progressivemass.com/redistricting-event-2021
State-Level Actions
Support MA Indigenous Legislative Agenda: H.3191/S.2027 An Act Establishing an Indigenous Peoples Day
ACTION ALERT:
Go to the Action Network link https://bit.ly/IPDMA2021 and you will find the text of the bill, a template letter that you can personalize and send to legislators, and also information about how to send your own letter if you do not want to use the automated Action Network letter. Please plan to modify the Action Network letter to tell the legislators why this bill is so important to you — personalization helps a lot! Sending this will only take a few minutes of your time.
Please go to the website http://MAIndigenousAgenda.org for information about all 5 indigenous legislative priorities this session, including eliminating Native American mascots, honoring Indigenous People’s Day, celebrating and teaching Native American culture & history, protecting Native American heritage, and supporting the education and futures of Native youth.
Via Daniele Skopek/ Christine Brown Indivisible Acton Area – News-Magic Team (edited)
Support new bill addressing racism through education
Racism has existed for hundreds of years in our society. If we want to fight racism at its fundamental level, we must educate our children early.
MA bills S365 and H584: “An Act relative to anti-racism, equity, and justice in education” were proposed to address the incomplete education in our public school system that perpetuates historical racial inequities which have profoundly harmed the physical and mental health of BIPOC communities and threaten our democracy. To advance the bills, we need a majority of the 160 state representatives and of the 40 state senators in the MA State Legislature to vote yes in this legislative session.
Send written testimony to support the bill: https://tinyurl.com/wsnfss46
Please take a few seconds to simply send a pre-written email to your legislator to ask him/her to support these bills today. You can personalize the email.
Urge your legislator to support the bill: Click here to email your legislator Ethnic studies and Anti-Racism in K-12 Education – Action Network
For a summary of the bills, please read: Summary Fact Sheet of bill
Please follow bill sponsors on Facebook: fb.com/care4aapi. Email: coalition.care.aapi@gmail.com to stay informed on this issue.
H/t Shaw Yang Indivisible Acton – News Magic Team (edited)
Pay Our Interns Campaign
Write your legislators asking them to see that interns are paid for their work. Some states already do that. It is classist not to. How many of you could afford to work for free when you were in college?
Fight evictions: Contact your legislators in support of the COVID Housing Equity Bill
Everything you need to take action is at the link.
https://tinyurl.com/ywb25nra
Support the Right to Counsel Bill
There are three bills pending (H.1537, H.3456, and S.913) that guarantee a statewide right to counsel for those facing eviction. Most landlords have counsel. It is known that when tenants go to court without counsel, they are more likely to lose and be evicted.
It is crucial that the Housing Committee hear your voice in support of Right to Counsel so that they will favorably report out the bills.
Fact sheets and a link to sample testimony can be found here: https://www.massrtc.org/housing-hearing.html
Written testimony due by October 15th at 5:00 pm
https://malegislature.gov/Events/Hearings/Detail/4003
Instructions to submit written testimony here:
https://malegislature.gov/assets/documents/how-to-submit-testimony-v1.1.pdf
Written Testimony is Vital.
If you need any help in submitting written testimony, please contact
Lia N. Marino (she/her)
Housing Attorney
Massachusetts Law Reform Institute
617-357-0700
Urge the Housing Committee to issue a favorable report!
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Contact your state representative and state senator (email preferable at the moment)
(Find yours here: https://malegislature.gov/Search/FindMyLegislator)
House Speaker Ronald Mariano: Ronald.Mariano@mahouse.gov 617-722-2500
Senate President: Karen E. Spilka: Karen.Spilka@masenate.gov 617-722-1500
Rep. Thomas Golden Thomas.Golden@mahouse.gov 617-722-2263
Rep. Vanna Howard Vanna.Howard@mahouse.gov 617-722-2800 x7302 / Google Voice: 978-272-9078
Rep. Rady Mom Rady.Mom@mahouse.gov 617-722-2460
Rep. Colleen Garry Colleen.Garry@mahouse.gov 617-722-2380
Rep. Tram Nguyen tram.nguyen@mahouse.gov 617-722-2425
Sen. Edward Kennedy edward.kennedy@masenate.gov 617-722-1630
Sen. Michael Barrett Mike.Barrett@masenate.gov 617-722-1572
Sen. Jamie Eldridge James.Eldridge@masenate.gov 617-722-1120
Sen. Barry Finegold Barry.Finegold@masenate.gov 617-722-1612
Massachusetts State House, 24 Beacon St, Boston, MA 02133
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: http://solidaritylowell.com
For more events not listed here, visit the full Events calendar: https://solidaritylowell.com/events/
To join our postcarding efforts to write to legislators on issues of interest , please fill out the following form: https://forms.gle/h2V7gJ1e2WbY9dKU9
For volunteer opportunities, visit our Volunteer page: https://solidaritylowell.com/volunteer-opportunities/
For positive news visit Solidarity Lowell Upbeat on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/326202548419687
September meeting notes
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1S0Avt3s5c6eWvXD73O4P0xeWjO5ZAj7GfyapGnPLEMs/edit?usp=sharing
September meeting recording
https://youtu.be/akgldM3rz-4
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Solidarity Lowell is a chapter of Progressive Massachusetts. Click here to join: https://www.progressivemass.com/contribute