SWIM AND PARTNERS UPDATES
See SWIM's website here for more news and events!
Fellow SWIMmers:
While many groups inundate inboxes with year-end donation appeals, we simply request you commit your time and talent in 2024. Securing democracy requires grassroots action.
Choose how you want to get involved locally - phone banking, canvassing, writing letters, attending meetings, making public statements. These small acts will help elect officials who uphold democratic values, not authoritarianism. Our community must mobilize to shape a society we’re proud to pass on.
You need not wait for some later “if only” regret. Look around now, see where you can contribute, and disregard those saying “it can’t happen here.” With determination and solidarity, we the people still control democracy’s fate.
And if discouragement or despair creeps in, remember - we outnumber those peddling fear and division. So lock that doom in another room and let's roll up our sleeves and get to work!
SWIM BI-MONTHLY MEMBER MEETING
The next bi-monthly Member Meeting will be January 23 at 7pm. Register here! We will kick it off with a topic of interest for everyone--putting an end to secret money in our elections. The ShowMItheMoney (SMTM) coalition pulled together 6 state and 4 national groups in April who gathered in Lansing and lobbied 77 legislators (1/2 of the legislature). Michiganders for Fair and Transparent Elections (MiFTE), with its SMTM Partner, is leading the charge in securing needed legislation. MiFTE is now engaged in a grassroots campaign to mobilize Michiganders to tell their legislators that the time for action is now!
Hank Mayers, president of MiFTE, will talk about their progress at our Member Meeting. Contact him directly to explore opportunities to engage in this work at hankmayers@riseupmi.org or 810-207-1688. We will also be hosting Chuck Newman from Distill Social to talk about some new data they have discovered about unregistered, likely Dem voters and how we can help reach those people! And DemCast will update us on their Protect The House strategy for this election. Plus phone banking opportunities to flip the seat vacated by George Santos and take back Congress! (see below!)
SIGN UP NOW FOR A OUR FEBRUARY BRIEFING WITH SENATOR GARY PETERS STAFF
Thursday, February 15 at 11am ET we welcome back Kevin Hrit from Senator Gary Peters office! He'll update us on the happenings in Washington DC that affect us here in Michigan. If you'd like to submit questions, please email us in advance at info@statewideindivisiblemi.com. Register for the meeting here!
END GUN VIOLENCE MICHIGAN VIRTUAL SUMMIT
Join our partners at End Gun Violence Michigan (EGVMI) for their two-day summit on Monday January 29 & Tuesday January 30. This past year, Michigan passed historic gun violence prevention laws. Join this statewide discussion about how to implement them and truly save lives. EGVMI has put together an event packed with keynote speakers and information, including Speaker Pro Tempore of the MI House, Laurie Pohutsky, and MI State Senator Stephanie Chang. Join us and learn of the progress we have made and hear about plans moving forward into 2024. You can view the full agenda and register for this virtual event here.
GRASSROOTS COLLABORATIVE PROJECT EVENTS
Want to network with other grassroots groups? Avoid recreating the wheel in your activism? SWIM was created to share best practices and support grassroots groups in Michigan. But why stop there? As a result of a national survey last fall of grassroots leaders across the nation that showed a frustration with lack of communication between groups nationally, the Grassroots Collaboration Project (GCP) was born to increase our collective impact in 2024 and beyond. Join us for our two big inaugural events showcasing the power of interfacing with other volunteer leaders:
#1: Inaugural National Power Lunch For Grassroot Activists: When We Collaborate, We Win!
The amazing activists of Network NoVA are planning their first ever National Power Lunch on January 26 at 12:00 noon ET, with keynote speaker, social change activist and former original “Jane,” Heather Booth! The GCP will be highlighted! All activists are welcome, so please share with your networks. Register here!
#2: 2024 Grassroots Reboot: Ready to Roar
The official GCP kickoff event showcasing new networking tools for the grassroots community: the Grassroots Directory and Substack! Learn how you can access all the information in the Directory. Keynote speaker Simon Rosenberg of the Hopium Chronicles blog - grassroots activists' biggest cheerleader - will give us all a boost on Wednesday, Feb. 7th, 8pm ET. Invite your fellow leaders! Register here!
CO-SPONSORED EVENT WITH SWIM, INDIVISIBLE ILLINOIS, &SWING LEFT: 3 PHONE BANK EVENTS TO FLIP NY-03 BLUE!
With the booting of George Santos (finally!), New York Congressional District 03 has a good chance to flip blue, and thus flip the House! Join us reaching out to voters for this important seat - register here for one, two, or all three phonebanks - training provided!
NEWS FROM OUR REPS
WHAT HE DID ON VACATION---A NEW LOW FOR REP. TIM WALBERG:SUPPORTING UGANDAN GOVERNMENT ANTI-LGBTQ+ BILL CALLED "KILL THE GAYS"
It's true. In a speech delivered while he was on a visit to Uganda October 8, Rep. Walberg made deeply disturbing comments openly supporting Uganda's anti-LGBTQ+ bill widely referred to the "Kill the Gays" law. He says he's "pro-life". Read what he said here.
This dangerous MAGA Republican signed a document to obstruct the certification of our votes in the 2020 election. We can and must do something about this hypocrite. Vote him out.
CALLS TO ACTION
ARE YOU ITCHING TO WRITE TO VOTERS? WE GOT YOU, BOO.
USPS POSTAGE RATES INCREASING TOMORROW (1/21/2024)
SO BUY YOUR POSTAGE TODAY!!!
FIELD TEAM 6 AND THE UNION HOST POSTCARD PARTIES
Join Field Team 6 and The Union to write postcards to swing state voters (including Michigan, of course!) and talk politics with us at weekly Postcarding Parties!
NEW TO POSTCARDING?? There's a breakout room where we will teach you everything you need to know to write postcards of every kind. There is no need to buy anything beforehand. We will help you decide what materials are right for you.
VETERAN POSTCARDER?? Feel free to bring whatever you are currently working on.
EAGER TO LEARN HOW TO WRITE FIELD TEAM 6'S VOTER REGISTRATION POSTCARDS WITH QR CODES?? We have a breakout room for you too.
If you are just getting starting with Field Team 6 postcarding, please wait until after your first meeting to decide what materials to order, but check out their "getting started" page!!
We can't wait to see you!! Sign up here.
FLIP THE US HOUSE IN 2024 WITH POSTCARD WRITING!
Activate America is dedicated to mobilizing voters to elect Democrats in the House and Senate through post-carding, phone banking, texting, and canvassing opportunities. Right now, the organization is focusing on flipping 11 House seats in California and New York, all of which President Biden won in the 2020 presidential election. Click here to join Activate America in writing postcards to voters in these critical districts, and work towards flipping the House back to Democratic control in 2024.
POSTCARDS TO VOTERS
Postcards to Voters are friendly, handwritten reminders from volunteers to targeted voters, giving Democrats a winning edge in key races from coast to coast. Sign up and they'll send you an email with instructions. Next, become an approved writer by writing a practice postcard and email a photo to them. Once you're approved, they'll send you the information on how to obtain addresses for the campaign you've chosen. Learn more about them by clicking here.
VOTE FORWARD
We all know how important it is to get "souls to the polls"! Vote Forward's data shows that letters can boost voter turnout by as much as 3.4% This is BIG! Want to become a writer? Sign up here.
OTHER WAYS TO TAKE ACTION
WE'RE STILL MAD ABOUT THE GOP TAX BREAKS FOR OLIGARCHS.SUPPORT THE BILLIONAIRES' TAX: SEND A MESSAGE TO OUR SENATORS AND REPRESENTATIVE USING RESISTBOT!
It’s easy activism: use Resistbot's letter writing assistant! New to Resistbot? Check out noted blogger Jessica Craven's take on it here.To send a RESISTBOT message on this topic to Senators Peters and Stabenow using iMessage, WhatsApp, Messenger, or Telegram, text SIGN PDXRGO at 50409. Get started with Resistbot here.
In November, Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden (D-OR) introduced his “Billionaires Income Tax” to correct the absurdity of billionaires often paying lower tax rates than working people. According to a recent report from the Congressional Budget Office, the richest 1% now hold 31% of U.S. wealth while half of the country has just 2.5% of the wealth.
At the same time, 26 top billionaires paid an average income tax rate of just 4.8% in the six most recent years. And a number of billionaires—including Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Michael Bloomberg—have gamed the system to pay $0 in federal income taxes, even when their income from their wealth was skyrocketing.
The “Billionaires Income Tax” would raise $557 billion over 10 years and only apply to taxpayers whose net worth either exceeds $1 billion or whose income exceeds $100 million for three consecutive years. Urge your Senators to become co-sponsors of the “Billionaires Income Tax” to halt runaway wealth inequality!
FIELD TEAM 6 IS STANDING BY TO HELP TRAIN VOLUNTEERS TO RUN IN-PERSON VOTER REGISTRATION DRIVES
Want to save the world? We do. How do we do that? We partner with Field Team 6 and contact unregistered, likely democrats to get them to vote in the November 2024 election. Field Team 6 data currently shows that there are 442,006 likely democrats who don't vote in the State of Michigan! Over the next couple of weeks and months, FT6 volunteers will be text banking, phone banking, postcarding and emailing these likely dems in an effort to get them registered to vote. Sign up here to get involved - other FT6 dates and events are posted on SWIM's website. Find one and take part in dramatically improving odds for Democrats in 2024!
ACT ON CLIMATE WITH OUR PARTNERS!
ENCOURAGE OUR LEGISLATORS TO VOTE YES FOR JOSEPH GOFFMAN FOR THE OFFICE OF AIR AND RADIATION AT THE EPA
This action is so easy! Text SIGN PUVPRL to 50409 and Resistbot will do the rest. If you'd like to know more, check it out here.
DNC CLIMATE COUNCIL
Our friend Michelle Deatrick, founder and chair of the DNC Council on Environment and Climate Crisis, is asking for signers to this petition urging President Biden to declare a Climate Emergency and to use his full executive powers to fight devastating climate change. Sign up here to get the Climate Council's newsletter!
MICHIGAN CLIMATE ACTION NETWORK!
MiCAN's Community Voices Series is intended to draw diverse participants to amplify local climate work, connect members and groups, and support each other's actions. View past meeting recordings showcasing the climate actions of Grand Rapids and White Lake communities—you are invited to riff from their tried-and-true approach to action!
Know some young social-savvy climate activists? MiCAN is looking for a participants in their new CLIMATE INFLUENCER COHORT (with generous support from the Midwest Building Decarbonization Coalition). MiCAN will mentor sets of three diverse storytellers to become messengers creating climate, culture, and decarbonization content. The first cohort just began, but they are searching for a second cohort to start a 12-week paid program in March. Full eligibility requirements are listed here: Climate Influencer Cohort invitation form.
RESOURCES TO AMPLIFY YOUR MESSAGING
PARTNER TOOL KITS
HAVE SOME NEEDS OR IDEAS YOU NEED HELP WITH? DON'T OVERLOOK OUR TERRIFIC REGIONAL LIAISON FOR INDIVISIBLE NATIONAL- SCOTT ICKES!
We are fortunate to have a hard-working, engaged activist like Scott Ickes from Indivisible National working on our behalf. Scott is a master at finding resources for local leaders to help them amp up their game! Not sure what you want? Scott can help there, too - he is full of ideas and puts his activism history to work so we can all level up! He puts no expectations on you, he's just here to help - don't overlook him! Reach out at scott@indivisible.org.
USING THE POWER OF SOCIAL MEDIA TO AMPLIFY GOOD NEWS
We are listing wonderful resources below where you can pick up memes to spiff up your messages. Many of SWIM's partners have wonderful .gifs that you can use for free in your newsletters and social media posts:
Into Action Labs allows you to download and add your own message(s).
MI Right to Read offers this toolkit of graphics.
Demcast Michigan also has rich, sharable content.
Field Team 6 takes the fear out of posting on social media with this fun video explaining simple step-by-step simple instructions to social storming - at whatever level you want to dive into! FT6 also has a Field Team 6 Current Storm page with prepared posts that can be one-click shared across many platforms.
Indivisible's Trainings-to-Go include materials such as slides, handouts, or discussion questions, as well as facilitation notes/directions for the person leading the space. Start with a pilot batch of 3 Trainings-to-Go: Recruitment 101, Indivisible 101, and Tools for Building Inclusive Groups - and will add more in 2024. These are located in the Support Hub along with lots of other support for you! If you have questions or suggestions, please email training@indivisible.org!
NOT SURE HOW TO PHRASE MESSAGING OUR VALUES? CHECK THIS OUT:
We Make The Future and ASO Communications (Anat Shenkar-Osorio) offer this Guide to Messaging Our Freedoms, providing sample messages for a wide range of issues from our freedom to vote to our freedom to be our true selves. And here is a link to her latest toolkit: From the Indictments to the Courts: Freedom Over Fascism Toolkit!
STAY CURRENT ON SWIM ACTIVITIES AND PARTNERS' EVENTS
Here are some ways to share them with your network:
Visit the Website often: www.statewideindivisiblemi.com. New events are being posted regularly; bookmark the page! The new website is designed to be a central repository of the resources and network partners that we’ve amassed since 2016. We also want 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 "Comment" link at the top of the homepage, or click here!
Follow us on Facebook! The SWIM private group 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 has been archived, so join the group today!
Help us build our social media presence and impact by following SWIM on Twitter (X) @SWIMIndivisible and Instagram StateWideIndivisibleMichigan !If you are familiar with social media platforms like Threads, Mastodon, 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!