FEBRUARY 2023
PLEASE NOTE: The newsletter will now be published once monthly on the third Saturday of the month. We will be coordinating with the website so please check there for the most current information. If you want something included in the newsletter, please submit it by email before the preceding Monday.
FOR OUR PROTECTION THESE EVENTS MAY NOT BE ON SOCIAL MEDIA!!! Copy and share ONLY with your members to avoid Zoom intruders.
MEETING SCHEDULES WITH SWIM AND PARTNERS SWIM MEMBER MEETING MARCH 28, 7 PM - 8 PM In this off election year, SWIM will hold member meetings every other month. Register here for our March event. We have updated our member group list, making changes, as requested, to group leadership and other information pertaining to our member groups. The new list was sent to all group leaders last week. If you did not receive it, please contact us at: info@statewideindivisiblemi.com. RESEARCH COLLABORATIVE CALL FEB. 22, 1 PM - 2 PM During the 2022 Midterms, groups across four Midwestern states: Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, and Minnesota collaborated on the distribution of Protect Our Freedoms digital ads. The ads mobilized and persuaded voters to turn out across critical Midwest battleground states. ASO Communications will give a one hour briefing to talk about the impact of the Protect Our Freedoms digital ads. Our vision of a future where people are free to decide if and when to grow their families and where all children have the freedom to learn and pursue their dreams is the world most people want to live in. Register here. FIELD TEAM 6 "REGISTER DEMOCRATS SUMMIT 2023" MARCH 16 11 AM - 9 PM EDT REGISTER HERE SWIM members are invited to join Field Team 6 on March 16 for their first-ever Register Democrats Summit 2023. It’s time to bring together a movement-wide coalition focused on registering Democrats across the country. The summit brings together the best and brightest minds, from elected officials to tech leaders to grassroots organizers and so much more. Confirmed speakers include: Katie Porter (CA-47) Abigail Spanberger (VA-07) Brian Tyler Cohen, progressive superpodcaster Simon Rosenberg, Founder, New Democrat Network Santiago Mayer, Founder, Voters of Tomorrow Ben Wikler, Chair of the Wisconsin Democratic Party Joe Vogel, MD State Rep Lavanna Martinez NJ political consultant, formerly w/Run for Something Tonya James, VA Dem Party Exec Committee Member Mischa Smith, former CO State House candidate And so many more! Keep an eye on Field Team 6 social media, for updates and more information. This all-day virtual summit will include panels on: Key 2023 elections Tech & Voter Registration Winning Messaging How the Grassroots Can Harness Data Swinging Elections with Social Media How Gen-Z is Saving the World Surprising Swing States Plus a very special live edition of Meet the Candidates with Brian Tyler Cohen! And workshops on partnerships, organizing, and fundraising – as well as demos of new technology that can level up your organizing! Field Team 6 is also registering voters in Wisconsin, Louisiana, Mississippi, Kentucky, Virginia, and New Jersey--all states with important elections coming up. Check out all their volunteer opportunities here. CALLS TO ACTION END GUN VIOLENCE MICHIGAN You're mad! We're mad! Let's do something about it! See below for actions you can take right now. More steps, like rallies or marches, will be forthcoming.Our hearts are breaking over the events that took place on MSU’s campus on February 13. The horror of what happened in our own backyard strengthens our resolve to get something done about the rampant use of guns in our society once and for all. We are relying on our new Democratic majority in the state legislature to pass legislation to make our state safer as quickly as possible.1.) Counseling and psychological support for the MSU Community: Free confidential crisis counseling is available 24/7. Students call 517-355-8270 Ingham County Mental Health 517-346-8470 2.) Call your legislator The only way this gets any better is when our lawmakers stand up and pass common sense gun legislation. Look up your State Senator here. Look up your State Representative here. Call them and tell them that you're demanding action on gun violence legislation. We want bills introduced immediately and hearings to be scheduled immediately for: -Safe storage -Extreme risk protection orders (red flag laws) -Universal background checks -Protections for domestic violence survivors. 3.) Register for the Gun Violence MI membership meeting on February 21st at 8:00 pm. 4) Consider having your group sign on to this letter. CONSIDER RUNNING FOR OFFICE Are you considering running for office but need help? Take a minute and contact Kelsey Heck Wood, MIchigan director for Run for Something. Tell her SWIM sent you!! SUPPORT THE NATIONAL POPULAR VOTE Five of our 46 Presidents have come into office without winning the popular vote because every vote is not equal under the current Electoral College system. We can elect the President by popular vote in 2028, but Michigan legislators have to take action and pass a National Popular Vote bill. The National Popular Vote bill guarantees the presidency to the candidate who won the most popular votes in all 50 states and District of Columbia. Our state legislators have the power to repair our broken presidential election system but not without our action - we need to write and call urging them to pass the National Popular Vote. Use this link now to make your voice heard. It counts!!! LEARN ABOUT THE GSI (GREAT SCHOOLS INITIATIVE) WITH RED, WINE AND BLUE Here’s what’s going on: You may know that Michigan has a law allowing parents to opt their children out of sex education if they wish. Now, a group calling themselves the Great Schools Initiative (GSI) has created an opt-out form claiming that “sex ed” refers to practically anything gender related, including gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, or social justice. If GSI gets its way, Michigan teachers will be in a Florida-type “Don’t Say Gay” situation, and they will no longer be able to act as allies for their students. Classrooms will not be allowed to have gender-inclusive books or safe zone posters. The opt-out form can even be interpreted to include teaching about the women’s suffrage movement! And, GSI plans on suing the Michigan public education system into the ground in order to get this done. These extremists are actively coaching people on how to target administrators and teachers and gather documentation to provide evidence for lawsuits. This is going to overwhelm the court system and cost the taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars. We are not going to let this latest attack on public education and LGBTQ+ stand. Want to help? Click here to find out how to speak out. INDIVISIBLE NATIONAL GROW GRANTS ARE BACK! Leaders: If you need cash for the day to day items that will help fund your activities in 2023 (think paid Zoom account, postcards, stamps, etc.), consider applying for an Indivisible GROW Grant. Many groups have used the GROW program in recent years to support a wide variety of unique projects. In 2023, Indivisible National will continue to fund your amazing ideas, supporting your needs as you grow your group and strengthen your local movements. Check out eligibility rules and submit an application today! The application deadline for February 2023 is Tuesday, February 21st at 11:59 pm Pacific Time. Award notices will be given to applicants on March 7th. You can see their monthly application deadline schedule online. GROW has funded a wide range of projects: ranging from skills-trainings, recruitment drives, voter turnout campaigns, conferences, digital tools upgrades, supply purchases, and many more. Groups are invited to collaborate and come up with proposals to fund their needs around the work they are doing, and if you need any help with ideas for proposals, they can help with grant-eligible project ideas! Reminder: At least one group involved in your project must have an account with our Distributed Fundraising program in order to receive and spend GROW Grant funds. They encourage those who do not yet have a DF account to register for one before submitting a GROW application, as this will ensure a speedy transfer for any awards you receive. Grant funds can only be transferred to award recipients once their accounts are activated. If you need any assistance navigating the grants application process, get information on previously funded projects, or soundboard your current/potential grant proposals, you can reach out to them on the GROW Grants team at growgrants@indivisible.org or schedule a time to talk with a member of the team during their weekly office hours. They hope you will take advantage of this fantastic resource in 2023 and they look forward to seeing your proposals soon! ROGAN'S LIST IS BACK PLUS OTHER GOOD RESOURCES We will no longer be posting the Tuesday Coffee Calls to Action. However, there are several great ways to stay current regarding actions that need your support. Check them out and let us know what you think: ROGAN'S LIST: Rogan's List is back after a hiatus. The list is jam packed with daily calls to action and overall great information. You'll find some of these Calls to Action peppered in our newsletters and on our Facebook page. Free subscriptions to Rogan's List are available on Substack by clicking here! CHOP WOOD, CARRY WOOD: Jessica Craven’s “Chop Wood, Carry Water”, provides daily actions for you to choose. You can sign up here. VOICES: Our own Michigan Indivisible, Laurie Evans writes “VOICES”, is a bi-weekly newsletter with insights into the political scene and actions to be taken. You can sign up by contacting Laurie at levans56@gmail.com. POST-ELECTION MESSAGING GROW OUR BASE SUGGESTIONS FROM FILMMAKER AND DIRECTOR, MICHAEL MOORE SPOILER ALERT! Your neighbors and coworkers are a lot more progressive than you think. They already agree with you on so many things. If you talk to them, not about Democrats vs. Republicans but rather about clean air vs. polluted air, or the Golden Rule vs. the Rule of the Bullies, or women being paid the same as men vs. not, you’ll find more agreement with each other than not. So your Blue army is much bigger than you thought. In Michael Moore’s special 12-day mini podcast series, "Blue Dots in a Red Sea", Michael spreads his strategy of how we can turn red into blue across the country. He helps you find the people who already agree with you but would never call themselves a Democrat. This is how we win. PROTECTING MICHIGAN SCHOOL BOARDS-RED WINE AND BLUE TRAINING AND TOOLKITS If you're from Ottawa County or read the Bridge magazine on what's going on in Ottawa County with radical MAGA extremists taking over local government, you already know how important it is to fight right extremism at our local level. Red Wine and Blue has fantastic resources - Troublemaker Training, Talking Points and Parent Playbook - for anyone interested in good schools (that's all of us!) on how we can take action against these extremists at the school board level. Here's a recorded Troublemaker Training session to watch so you can grab a glove and get in the game! SWIM IS LOOKING FOR VOLUNTEERS FOR THE PLANNING COMMITTEE FOR AN IN-PERSON CONFERENCE IN EARLY JUNE We have not had an in-person meeting with all our members since before COVID. We want to get everyone together somewhere in central Michigan for one day of networking fun, sharing resources and meeting like-minded activists! If you have a desire to help plan an 2023 SWIM conference, we are looking to meet in the next week or so to start putting together logistics! Please email info@statewideindivisiblemi.com if you'd like to help plan for even more fun! We need your voice, thanks! Want to stay current on SWIM activities and share them with your networks? Here are some ways to do that! Visit the Website! www.statewideindivisiblemi.com. This new website is designed to be a central repository of the resources and network partners that we’ve amassed since 2016. We also wanted you, as members, to be able to add your own announcements about your successes and events. Have news to share? Let us know by using the "Contact" page at the top of the homepage! Follow us on Facebook! The SWIM private page is now open to all interested members. Simply go to the page, answer a few simple questions and you are in. This is a great way to keep current on events and issues in between newsletters. This page will be the sole Facebook page for SWIM going forward as the SWIM public page will be phased out in the near future, so join today! Help us build our social media presence and impact by following SWIM on Twitter @SWIMIndivisible and Instagram StateWideIndivisibleMichigan If you are familiar with social media platforms like Mastadon, WhatsApp, TikTok, Tribel, Post, etc. please contact SWIM CORE member & resident social media maven Vickie Gutowski at info@statewideindivisiblemi.com to help expand our outreach! GET INVOLVED GOT IDEAS, GOOD NEWS OR QUESTIONS??? Send us your thoughts here!
FIRED UP??? WANT TO JOIN SWIM? Did someone forward this email to you? Use this page to join and never miss out on SWIM NEWS! Copyright © 2023 WWCS, All rights reserved.