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/topic 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, June 13 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/_06132023-2754?html=true

Items of interest
Motions
9.2. C. Nuon – Req. City Mgr. Work With Lowell’s Service Provider (CTI) To Update City Council On The Program Providing Hotel Rooms For Housing Insecure Residents.

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.

Public Workshop – Vision and Growth Strategies

Wednesday, June 21, 6:30pm – 8:00pm
Location: Lowell Senior Center
Sponsor: Lowell Forward

Hear about the City’s plans and share your ideas for the future of Lowell.

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

Next events

Saturday, June 17, 8-11am
Manufacturers St w/ Mayflower Cannabis
Meet at 450 Chelmsford St

Saturday, June 24, 9am-12pm: Ecumenical Park Cleanup
w/ Canalwaters and NLHP
Prior to Points of Light
Meet at 62 Lewis Street

SUNDAY, June 25, Spring Cleanup and Concert (rescheduled)
Armory Park, 46 Westford St
With Like Lowell and Eco-Friendly Home Services
10:0am-12:00pm Neighborhood cleanup
1:00-4:00pm Bad Boyz Band
w/Jasper Crystal Wizard and Saexia

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

Great Economy Project

Wednesdays, June 7 – July 5, 5:30-6:30pm
Register: https://americanagenda.com/online

A series of five webinars that will detail exactly how the economy is rigged against working people and in favor of the rich. Each expert presentation will be followed by a lively discussion about how to fix it. Each Great Economy Project online session will last no more than one hour. You are welcome to participate in all of the sessions or pick and choose the ones you are most interested in. The full schedule is:

June 14th — CEO Pay with Sarah Anderson of Institute for Policy Studies
June 21st — Best and Worst of Working in America
June 28th — Taxes Taxes Taxes (Everything Else is BS!) with Morris Pearl of Patriotic Millionaires
July 5th — The Cost of Billionaire Philanthropy

Progressive Massachusetts Activist Sundays

Sundays, 3:30-5:00pm
RSVP: https://www.mobilize.us/progressivemassachusetts/event/566422/

Swing Blue Alliance: Flag the Results

Wednesday, June 14, 7pm
Register: https://www.mobilize.us/swingbluealliance/event/565545/

In 2022 Swing Blue Alliance and allies sent 460,000 postcards and letters to get out the vote in PA, NC, NH, FL, CO and GA and some midwestern states (in partnership with Galvanize.) Many were part of an experiment.

Join the Swing Blue Alliance mailing campaign team on Flag Day, June 14th as they review the results of their 2022 experiments and lay out their mailing campaign strategy for 2023.

Indigenous Legislative Agenda Lobby Day

Thursday, June 15, 11:30am
RSVP: https://www.uumassaction.org/new-upcoming-events/2023/6/15/ma-indigenous-legislative-agenda-rally-and-advocacy-day-virtual-or-in-person
or email claire @ uumassaction.org (delete spaces when using email)

Care Bill Lobby Day

Tuesday, June 27, 2023, 10:30am – 12:30pm
Location: State House
Sponsor: Coalition for Anti-Racism and Equity

Hosting a Lobby Day to push for the passing of the Racially Inclusive Curriculum Bill. The bill is important to ensure that everyone is able to get the full picture of history and to see themselves in the Curriculum. Representation is so important. Sign up at BIT.LY/3MNSPIP.

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

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

Support Women in MCI-Framingham

https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vRG8uwrlI9kHbctO3yTsanGyrxzN2T5R1YH6GSbQ4tex9HoJIBDFa4AFNu-xx_BqejnB4QI5xaUIi5h/pub

Women are experiencing retaliation for speaking up for themselves. The Department of Corrections needs to know that people are watching and care about these prisoners.

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

Sign Up for Solidarity Lowell Unpacking Whiteness Dialog Group