Videos

The May meeting of Solidarity Lowell was held on May 18, 2025. Our featured speaker was Maroni Minter from MIRA, the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition. Maroni is a proud immigrant, born and raised in Gabon, West Africa. He moved to the USA in 2004, lived in Vermont for 20 year before he moved to Boston last year, when he accepted the Political Director position at MIRA. Prior to joining MIRA, he was the Activism Manager at Ben & Jerry's, and also served as the Campaign Director for the ACLU of Vermont. Also on the agenda: News and action items from Solidarity Lowell, Merrimack Valley Project, and Progressive Mass Positive news to celebrate from the past month Updates from our committees Important legislation and action items Coalition work and plans for the upcoming elections Our upcoming events, including Demonstrate, Dine, and Discuss, and Mill City Messaging Allied organizations updates ...and more! Learn more at solidaritylowell.com
Solidarity Lowell May Meeting Featuring Maroni Minter from MIRA
Our featured speaker this month was Caroline Sullivan from The Democracy Behind Bars Coalition (DBBC), a coalition of advocacy and community organizations and individuals on both sides of the wall who are fighting to protect the right of incarcerated people to participate in democracy and hold government accountable. The DBBC is working to ensure incarcerated people who have the right to vote have access to casting a counted ballot, restoring the right to vote to all incarcerated voters, and ensuring that over-policed communities are not stripped of political power through prison gerrymandering. Their work — led by incarcerated activists and experts and building on Massachusetts' history of incarcerated civic leadership — is paying off. Learn more about Democracy Behind Bars at their website: https://www.dbbcma.org/about-us Also on the agenda: The Solidarity Lowell Coordinating Committee election News and action items from Solidarity Lowell, Merrimack Valley Project, and Progressive Mass Positive news to celebrate from the past month Updates from our committees Important legislation and action items Allied organizations updates ...and more! Learn more about Solidarity Lowell at solidaritylowell.com
Solidarity Lowell April Meeting 2025 featuring Caroline Sullivan from Democracy Behind Bars
Solidarity Lowell General Meeting March 23, 2025
With featured guest Kimberley Connors from Mass-Care
Solidarity Lowell January 2025 General Meeting
The recording of Solidarity Lowell's monthly members meeting, held on November 24, 2024. The featured speaker is Sam Goldstein, from Our Revolution Medford, discussing how he and his group successfully campaigned for and elected a majority of endorsed candidates to their City Council and School Committee. Visit solidaritylowell.com to learn more, or visit us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Threads @solidaritylowell
Solidarity Lowell November Meeting featuring Sam Goldstein from Our Revolution Medford
Ryan Oates unpacks the themes from the 27 speakers who showed up to speak out against the Camping Ban at the Lowell City Council Meeting on November 12, 2024. The City Council approved the harmful policy, even as speakers provided plenty of alternative solutions for solving homelessness. The one Councilor who voted against the ordinance was Councilor Wayne Jenness. Feel free to send him a “thank you” email at District4Lowell@gmail.com. For more information, reach out to Lifting Lowelians: Assistance and Mutual Aid (LLAMA) at 978-222-7877. OR visit SolidarityLowell.com and send a message through the contact page. Sources: Full Text of the Ordinance: https://www.lowellma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Item/29427?fileID=59560 “Lowell City Council Bans Outdoor Camping,” Melanie Gilbert, The Lowell Sun, Nov. 13, 2024. https://www.lowellsun.com/2024/11/13/lowell-city-council-bans-outdoor-camping/ “Lowell City Council - November 12, 2024,” LTC, YouTube, Nov. 12, 2024. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-guY-mKjC8&t=4266s Byrne, T. H., Henwood, B. F., & Orlando, A. W. (2021). A Rising Tide Drowns Unstable Boats: How Inequality Creates Homelessness. The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 693(1), 28-45. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002716220981864 “Trends in the Distribution of Family Wealth,” Congressional Budget Office, Sep. 2022. https://www.cbo.gov/publication/58533 “Five Facts About Domestic & Sexual Violence and Homelessness,” Commission on Domestic & Sexual Violence, American Bar Association. https://www.americanbar.org/groups/domestic_violence/Initiatives/five-for-five/five-facts-homelessness/ “Warming center for at-risk, homeless residents on Lowell City Council agenda,” Melanie Gilbert, The Lowell Sun, Nov. 5, 2024. https://www.lowellsun.com/2024/11/05/warming-center-for-at-risk-homeless-residents-on-lowell-city-council-agenda/ “Lowell shelter in crisis,” Melanie Gilbert, The Lowell Sun, April 11, 2024. https://www.lowellsun.com/2024/04/11/lowell-shelter-in-crisis/ “Future of Lowell’s homeless shelter debated,” Melanie Gilbert, The Lowell Sun, Oct. 17, 2024. https://www.lowellsun.com/2024/10/17/future-of-lowells-homeless-shelter-debated/ “Lowell’s homeless shelter failed fire safety, health inspections,” Melanie Gilbert, The Lowell Sun, June 11, 2024. https://www.lowellsun.com/2024/06/11/lowells-homeless-shelter-failed-fire-safety-health-inspections/ Kholodilin, K. A. (2024). Rent control effects through the lens of empirical research: an almost complete review of the literature, Journal of Housing Economics, 63, pp. 1-19. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhe.2024.101983 “Almost 1m people across Europe are homeless on any given night,” Lisa O'Carroll, The Guardian, Sep. 5, 2023. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/sep/05/almost-1m-people-across-europe-are-homeless-on-any-given-night “'It’s a miracle': Helsinki's radical solution to homelessness,” Jon Henley, The Guardian, Jun 3, 2019. https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2019/jun/03/its-a-miracle-helsinkis-radical-solution-to-homelessness Music Credit: Cali by Wataboi https://soundcloud.com/wataboi Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0 Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/wataboi-cali Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/qXptaqHIH5g
Lowell Ignores Speakers, Passes Camping Ban Anyway
Solidarity Lowell General Meeting October 27, 2024
Ryan Oates discusses the Lowell City Council’s move to ban camping in public spaces, as well as ban sleeping on public sidewalks. He discusses the historical context of this ordinance as an extension of the Supreme Court’s Grants Pass v. Johnson decision, as well as evidence-based solutions to homelessness that the city could explore instead. If you’d like to speak out against this motion at the November 12th City Council meeting, email City Clerk Michael Geary at mgeary@lowell.gov. When: November 12th, 2024 at 6:30pm Where: City Council Chamber, 375 Merrimack Street, 2nd Floor, Lowell, MA (Zoom/Hybrid) For more information, reach out to Lifting Lowelians: Assistance and Mutual Aid (LLAMA) at 978-222-7877. OR visit SolidarityLowel.com and leave a message on the contact page. Sources: Full Text of the Ordinance: https://www.lowellma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Item/29427?fileID=59560 Massachusetts General Law, Chapter 40, Section 21 https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleVII/Chapter40/Section21#:~:text=Section%2021.,all%20persons%20within%20their%20limits. Massachusetts General law, Chapter 272, Section 59 https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartIV/TitleI/Chapter272/Section59#:~:text=Whoever%20remains%20in%20a%20street,whoever%20is%20in%20a%20street August 27th City Council Meeting, Lowell Telemedia Center https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOElMMU_jZ0&t=7079s October 8th City Council Meeting, Lowell Telemedia Center https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ya8KW4n3cxM&t=3520s “Supreme Court says cities can punish people for sleeping outside,” Jennifer Ludden, National Public Radio, June 28, 2024. https://www.npr.org/2024/06/28/nx-s1-5022843/supreme-court-says-cities-can-punish-people-for-sleeping-outside “Lowell City Council moves citywide camping ban,” Melanie Gilbert, Lowell Sun, October 7, 2024. https://www.lowellsun.com/2024/10/06/lowell-city-council-moves-citywide-camping-ban/ “Community Teamwork cuts the ribbon on new housing,” Melanie Gilbert, Lowell Sun, March 23, 2024. https://www.lowellsun.com/2024/03/23/community-teamwork-cuts-the-ribbon-on-new-housing/ “Housing First Works,” Evidence Matters, Office of Policy Development and Research, US Department of Housing and Urban Development, Spring/Summer 2023 https://www.huduser.gov/portal/periodicals/em/spring-summer-23/highlight1.html “Massachusetts Housing and Shelter Alliance: Winner of the 2018 Hearst Health Prize,” Hearst, YouTube, January 25, 2018 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVD7bUqVNVg Music Credit: Cali by Wataboi https://soundcloud.com/wataboi Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0 Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/wataboi-cali Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/qXptaqHIH5g
Criminalizing Homelessness is Not the Answer
Featuring Jonathan Cohn, Policy Director of Progressive Mass.
Solidarity Lowell September 2024 General Meeting
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