Put your support into action with a donation to Indivisible Northampton!
Every donation counts and no amount is too small. Help us continue to distribute thousands of postcards, make hundreds of calls, and educate hundreds of people about critical issues!
For the safety of our community, we are conducting our meetings online until conditions permit us to resume assembling in person.
Monday April 18th, 7-8pm
Winning Wisconsin with Viola Niyizigama
The battleground state of Wisconsin will help decide who controls the U.S. Senate, and whether the governor, currently Democrat Tony Evers, will keep his job, and continue to veto efforts by state legislators to suppress and subvert the voters in this critical swing state.
We can help!
Join IN on Monday, April 18th, as we welcome Viola Niyizigama, Organizing Director for Out of State Volunteers for the Wisconsin Democratic Party! Viola will explain why WI is such a crucial state this year, what’s at stake (anyone want to get rid of vulnerable Ron Johnson??), and how we can pitch in to make the difference!
We'll open the zoom room at 6:50 for schmoozing, and the meeting will begin at 7pm. As usual, we'll also get to hear what IN is up to, and how you can join in!
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
NEWS & EVENTS
Meet the Candidates
Attorney General, Auditor, Secretary of State
Monday, May 2, 6:00 pm Smith Vocational High School Cafeteria
80 Locust Street, Northampton
Panelists: Dan Crowley, Daily Hampshire Gazette, Elena Frogameni, Mt. Holyoke Senior/ Rhodes Scholar, Bill Newman, W MA ACLU. Moderator: Clare Higgins
Submit questions in advance by April 25 to northamptondemscitycomm@gmail.com. Proof of vaccination is required, masks requested. NOM will stream the event live - link will be provided later. SAVE the DATE
Northampton Democratic City Committee Annual and Re-organization Meeting Election of Officers and Ward Chairs
Saturday, April 30, 1 pm
This meeting will be held virtually. Please register in advance using this linkbit.ly/NDCC2022
The Friday Action Group
On Wed evenings at 8 pm or Fri mornings at 9 am, join Paul Spector and activists from across the country to collaborate on helping Democrats win elections. At Paul's meetings, you will...
hear upbeat political news
share questions and comments
learn about new political actions
support fundraisers with special guests -- such as Swing Left, Movement Voter Project, Flip the Senate, New Georgia Project, and Bucks County Democrats
hear inspiring music (mostly from Playing for Change).
Folks find his meetings educational, uplifting, and hopeful, and it's wonderful to see 50-100 other people at each of the two meetings. To check out the meeting, come Wednesday at 8 p.m. or Friday at 9 a.m. EDT, to this Zoom room: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87820043147?pwd=aXZ0K3QrZGtHR2dBUFlCZnk2TU1hQT09
Soundbites of Success Preaching LOUD and PROUD to our choir!
This graphic is a 'Soundbite of Success' - a reminder that even while many of our priorities are not yet realized, we need to celebrate what we have accomplished (think of what would be happening now if we activists had not come together to oust the former President, and get Biden elected!).
Share these soundbites and create your own! You can submit your soundbites here, and we'll help share them on all the platforms! Let the choir we're preaching to sing so loud & proud that others can't help but join us!
If you'd like to join in the discussions about how to improve and amplify Democratic messaging, join one of our monthly zoom meetings - for info, contact Beth (beth@indivisiblenorthampton.org)
MA House Passes the Work & Family Mobility Act
in February the MA House passed the Work & Family Mobility Act. This law would enable qualified state residents to get a standard MA driver’s license or identification card regardless of immigrant status. Many MA residents need a car to get to work, to school, to the hospital, etc., and immigration status shouldn’t be a barrier to getting a license. Also, the Work & Family Mobility Act would make us all safer, because everyone would need to pass the same driver’s test, know the rules of the road, and have proper insurance, so we would all benefit. The bill now heads to the Senate.
Please contact your senators and request that they pass this valuable bill. Here is a link to begin writing your email.
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE come sign nomination papers at either of the two locations below!
SIGN CANDIDATE NOMINATION PAPERS - Two Northampton Locations
Because our caucuses met virtually, we didn't have the chance to sign nomination papers of candidates. Some state-wide candidates need 10,000 valid certified signatures. To help with this process, we have TWO LOCATIONS in Northampton where registered Democratic or Unenrolled Northampton voters can sign nomination papers for several candidates - local and state-wide:
Papers are on clipboards on these porches during the day (taken in at night).
PLEASE help out the candidates and come by to sign their papers. Don't worry if you don't know your ward/precinct - just leave it blank. But please sign legibly!
HELP US RAISE MONEY FOR CANDIDATES & GRASSROOTS GROUPS
Hello Indivisible Northampton members,
Many of you are familiar with Swing Left Western Massachusetts (formerly Swing Left Pioneer Valley), your sibling organization in these parts. We’ve worked together since the Take Back the House Coalition in 2017-18 and continue to support each other’s efforts.
I’m writing today to ask for your help as we continue to fundraise for candidates and groups that will make the difference between victory and defeat this November. We’ve already raised over $17,500 for three funds – Swing Left’s National Impact Fund, Movement Voter Project’s Black-Led Organizing Fund, and the new Swing Left Defend Democracy Fund. I invite you to click here to learn more about each of these funds. Our goal is to raise $35,000 before Election Day and we can’t do that alone.
Phone banking helps. Letter and postcard writing helps. Canvassing helps. But we can’t be everywhere at once, nor do we have much of a chance to affect the agendas or strategies of campaigns around the country. By donating to these funds, we give resources to candidates and organizations in many states and localities at the same time. Early giving helps them build their capacity and expertise now, so they’re fully equipped when they approach Election Day.
Please consider donating to one, two, or all three of these funds. If you can, become a monthly donor. We’re eight months away from a very important election and every dollar counts. Use the links below to contribute:
Let’s win this!
Michael Dover, for Swing Left Western Mass
Phone
Banking
Illustraton by PA Phone Banker, Nora Brown
PENNSYLVANIA!
Flip the Statehouse, Flip the State!
Every Thursday, 6-8pm, Training Provided!
As we move towards the 2022 midterms, with democracy on the line, we're focusing on battleground states - with statehouses that could become either 'laboratories of autocracy' (think anti-abortion laws, anti-voting laws, book banning) OR bastions of democracy - ensuring the rights of all citizens to have a voice, to hear the truth, and to be included.
We have the power to strengthen and expand our democracy right now, by electing politicians who will represent and protect these values, not undermine them.
Join us Thursday, April 7th, when we'll be calling to protect a vulnerable, and critical PA State Senate seat - Sen. Lindsey Williams(D) - who flipped this seat in 2018 by less than 800 votes, and is now facing a new & expanded district.
Here are links to information about our candidate and PA, followed by the zoom link to join our next bank: Thurs(you don't need to sign up with Mobilize - just the zoom link, provided below!):
Swing Left Western Mass and Indivisible Northampton continue our collaboration—this time for postcards to voters in GA. These only require a short, handwritten message (with an information label as part of it), and placement of an address label and stamp on the front of the card! They will need to be mailed by 4/25.
These postcards will encourage Black voters to vote early in the upcoming Georgia primaries. They will be sent to Black voters in Columbia County, Georgia to remind them that early voting begins May 2nd. The issues in our script were rated as top issues of concern in a recent NAACP poll of low propensity Black voters. This campaign was provided by Reclaim Our Vote, a project of The Center for Common Ground.
Pick up locations will be in Florence off of Florence Rd at 20 Mt Laurel Path (directions below) and Amherst near Puffers Pond at 148 Summer St.
Pick up in both Florence and in N Amherst will begin on Friday, 4/15, through Monday, 4/18. They will be outside and available for pick up anytime between 10 am and 7pm daily. PLEASE PICK UP AS SOON AS YOU CAN
The cost will be $3 for 25 postcards without stamps or $14 for 25 with stamps. Please use cash or checks made out to Marta Lev. If it’s possible to add a donation to that amount, it is gratefully appreciated!
From our friends at Swing Left Western MA:
VOTE FORWARD’S 2022 LETTER WRITING STARTS NOW
Vote Forward, a close collaborator with Swing Left, has launched its 2022 letter-writing campaign and Swing Left Western Mass is ready to get going. As we did in 2020 and 2021, we’ll be preparing “Please Vote” letters aimed at “helping to increase the participation of historically underrepresented communities in the electorate.” By encouraging infrequent voters to vote in this year’s midterm elections, these letters can close the gap in close races and produce victory for Democrats. A few hundred votes, or even less, could make a crucial difference in determining who controls Congress next year.
In 2020, we had about 100 volunteers writing letters to infrequent voters in swing states. Together with several other groups, they prepared and sent some 35,000 letters – our contribution to more than 17 million nationwide. This year’s midterms are no less of a challenge: The “conventional wisdom” is that the president’s party loses congressional seats in the first midterms, but the country can’t afford that. These letters are one tool in the effort to defy the predictions and increase Democrats’ numbers in both the House and the Senate.
If you haven’t prepared these letters before, here’s how it works:
Vote Forward provides pre-printed letters urging the recipients to vote in this fall’s elections. Each letter contains the name and address of the recipient.
For each letter, the volunteer fills in the name of the recipient in the salutation, writes one to three sentences saying why they vote, and signs the letter.
The volunteer then puts the letter in an envelope, hand-addresses the envelope and return address, and seals and stamps the letter.
Letters are held until Vote Forward’s mailing date, close to Election Day for maximum effectiveness. All letters are mailed on that date.
For a detailed description of how to prepare letters, click here.
And here’s how we run our Vote Forward campaign:
You can get your letters in one of three ways:
I can download them for you and email you a batch of letters once a week. You print out the letters and prepare them. You choose the number of letters you want to receive and the day you want to receive them. You can change either of these, or pause or “retire” at any time.
If you don’t have a printer, you can pick up your printed letters each week at one of four locations – Amherst, Leverett, Montague or Northampton – on the day specified by the location host. You take them home and prepare them. Again, you can change your numbers, pause, or retire at any time.
If you already have a Vote Forward account and have experience using it, you can download letters yourself and prepare them. I only ask that you report your numbers to me once a month so I can keep track of our totals.
Once your letters are prepared and in their addressed, sealed and stamped envelopes, you can store them at home until the mailing date or you can drop them off at the same locations used for pickups.
When the mailing date arrives (you’ll get plenty of notice) you take your completed letters to your local post office or to a mailbox and drop them off.
Vote Forward’s campaign is already underway. Now is the time to sign up and get started. (One exception: The Leverett and Northampton pickup/dropoff sites will start the week of March 14. But sign up now and I’ll begin downloading letters for you in time for pickup that week.)
Please click here to sign up or copy this link into your browser window: https://forms.gle/k391Nq12mBUQr6pJ8. I’ll confirm your signup and start downloading your letters right away.
If you have any questions, please contact Michael Dover at mjdover44@gmail.com.
Helping
SELECTED READING
This section of our newsletter features one article written by a subscriber and one article selected by our steering committee. Subscribers to the newsletter are welcome to submit writing by email to info@indivisiblenorthampton.org with the subject line "Newsletter Submission".
The opinions expressed in the writings don't necessarily reflect any consensus of Indivisible Northampton.
When you click the link in your confirmation email, a Zoom page will open in your web browser and the Zoom app will open.
If the Zoom app does not open, here are a few things you can try. You will need to know the meeting id, which is embedded in the address of the Zoom page that opened. On the page that opened in the browser, in the address bar you'll see an address that looks something like this:
