June Newsletter

Jen S
1 day ago
8 min read

STILL RESISTING

STILL SHARING

STILL LIFTING

EACH OTHER UP

LET'S GET CREATIVE

Who knew activitist were also creatives! There are so many unique activities going on out there. Here are just a few.

Make Some Art with Indivisible Metro Detroit

All summer, we will be making pieces for our voting rights community art project - which will be displayed at ArtPrize in Grand Rapids this fall!

We would love to come to your group's meeting or event so your folks can make their own pieces of voting rights art. We bring all the supplies with us, you just need a space for folks to work. Email me with dates that work for you and we'll get something on the books!

Contact: Noelle Perry

noelle.a.perry@gmail.com

You can learn more about this initiative here.

Creative Writing: It's More Than Press Releases

We have so many wonderful writers in our group. We would love to devote some space to showcasing them. If you have a piece you would like to share, please send it to i nfo@statewideindivisiblemi.com.

Here is this month's submission:

Every Ballotby Julie Essenberg

Today, a ballot is more than paper,

more than a name beside a square.

It is the steady hand of a people

saying, We are still here.

It is the waitress locking the diner,

the father heading in after work,

the grandmother leaning on her cane

because freedom should never hurt.

It is the memory of bridged streets,

of voices drowned by fear,

of citizens told to wait their turn

for one more weary year.

Yet history bends because ordinary people

refuse to stay invisible.

Because someone stood in the cold at dawn

and believed their voice was powerful.

A vote will not erase division.

It cannot heal a nation overnight.

But silence leaves the door wide open

for those who trade truth for might.

So vote when the headlines thunder.

Vote when the cameras disappear.

Vote in the school board election.

Vote every single year.

Vote for the roads and the classrooms,

for the water, the books, the parks,

for the small-town clerk who counts by midnight

beneath fluorescent sparks.

Vote because somebody once marched

so you would never bow your head.

Because somebody faced a fire hose

while demanding to be heard instead.

Democracy does not survive on speeches

or flags the wind unfurls.

It lives in ordinary citizens

who keep showing up for the world.

And someday a child may ask us

what we did in troubled days—

whether we turned away exhausted

or carried forward the flame.

Let the answer be this:

that we stood together in hope, not fear;

that we believed our voices mattered;

that we returned, year after year.

Because every ballot is a promise.

And every election decides

what kind of nation we become

when conscience is our guide.

MAKE COMMUNICATIONS WITH VOTERS MORE EFFICIENT

Michigan Freedom Coalition Relational Text Bank Program

August is going to be here before we know it, and we need to take every opportunity available to learn new ways of effectively reaching our lists and personal contacts. We often say, " This is going to be th most important election of our lifetime", but I think we all know, existentially, this time it's the truth.

Join the Michigan Freedom Coalition and its partner organizations for online training on:

Impactive/Field Tools: A texting app that lets you seamlessly and efficiently reach your personal contacts and organizational lists with the ability to customize the text content across multiple issues.

Every Action: Your go-to web-based CRM (customer relationship management) tool, with so many incredible features to customize your outreach without having to worry about email maximums and paid email subscriptions.

You can sign up here for remaining training sessions.

If you have any questions, please reach out to Emily at the MI Freedom Coalition: ebusch@endgunviolencemi.org.

WAVE IS BACK!

If you have used WAVE (We All Vote Everytime) in the past, this is exciting news for you. WAVE has initiated a "Bring Them Back Campaign". In Michigan, 640,000 people voted in 2020 but did not vote in 2024. In 2024, the average Michigan voter was roughly 66% likely to participate. However, Voters on the Permanent Absentee Voter list turned out 97% of the time. So let's get them signed up!

You can read more about WAVE's "Bring Them Back" program here. You can review the various ways you can access the WAVE program here.

SHARE WITH YOUR GROUP

MEET WITH SENATOR SLOTKIN'S STAFF

June 17 at 4:00 PM

Join us for a discussion with Anne Brown from Sen. Slotkin's staff. These conversations are always informative and cover a wide variety of topics of interest to Michigan voters. To make sure we cover issues that are most important to attendees we encourage you to submit your questions to info@statewideindivisible.com by June 15. You can sign up here.

FINDING CANDIDATES WHO WILL FIGHT FOR US

We hear it all the time, the mantra of "we want fighters, not folders!" But, what defines a fighter? Our colleagues and partners from Grassroots Collaboration Project got together with some brainy folks to articulate that definition. Here's the result--a great way to make sure all of your members and the people you talk to are on the same page, defining what action we want, not just throwing buzz words around. You can check out the full document here.

THESE BILLS NEED OUR SUPPORT

With the federal Voting Rights Act "gutted", Michigan Democrats have crafted their own version. You can read more about this here. You can also check out simple one pagers prepared by the Freedom Coalition. These will help explain the various proposals for your messaging within your groups. You can access them here.

Michigan State Voting Rights Act (SVRA) — Clerk‑Focused Explainer

Michigan State Voting Rights Act (SVRA) Package-Unified Explainer

SWIM Statewide Action Brief

IT'S PRIDE MONTH

It's Pride month. One of the true perks of life in our beloved Mitten State is that we are not scraping together one or two events and calling it a season. We have dozens of independent Pride celebrations, each with its own vibe, scale and very real potential for you to leave with something unexpected — from a cute temporary dolphin tattoo to a life decision your future self will have very strong opinions about. You can find a calendar of events here.

GET THE MOST OUT OF YOUR MEDIA COVERAGE WITH THESE TOOLS

From the Michigan Creator Collaborative

Creators today are shaping how people understand their communities, their opportunities, and their future. But, without support, that work is harder--and often unsustainable. Check out their website for support and ideas.

From Eastside Alliance

Dawn Drodz of Eastside Alliance Indivisible has built a great press outreach template for getting the most out of your media coverage at events. With her encouragement and through months of persistent work, the metro Detroit groups who worked with her saw improved press and more accurate reporting on their events. Dawn is generously offering to work with other regions in the state to help groups set up or improve their own media coverage. She reviewed her successes at April’s Leader meeting - here are the two documents she developed to help groups get a solid start.

Michigan Press Collaboration Proposal

Michigan Press Coordinator Job Description

Questions? Contact Dawn Drodz at drozddawn@gmail.com or 586-531-1191

RESOURCES FOR YOUR GROUPS FROM NATIONAL

Don't forget the money on the table to boost your events. Check out the Solidarity in Action Grants here.
Sign the Election Protection Pledge to receive updates and resources.
Neighbor2Neighbor provides a unique method of outreach to voters in your neighborhood. Check it out here.

ALMOST 80% OF THE

PEOPLE WHO CALL

AMERICA HOME DID

NOT VOTE FOR

DONALD TRUMP

PEOPLE POWER UNITED

RESOURCES TO AMPLIFY YOUR MESSAGING AND OUTREACH

PARTNER TOOL KITS

COMMON CAUSE

MUTUAL AID RESOURCES

FOOD BANK INFORMATION - Here is an updated link for food bank information created by Macomb Defenders Rising.

CALLING REFERENCE GUIDE and MUTUAL AID PRIMER courtesy of Indivisible Metro Detroit.

CHECK OUT FIVE CALLS

Many local groups are having their members use this great tool to contact their legislators about the hot topics in front of them. This could not be easier. Sign up here.

Here's another link for a Michigan-centered calling reference cou

COMMON CAUSE

Common Cause has a really easy tool that lets you enter your home address and receive a roster with contact information for all the elected officials who represent you — from city council members to U.S. senators. And, when you’re ready to make a call, the League of Conservation Voters offers a comprehensive guide on best practices.

CARD CAMPAIGN FOR DEMOCRACY makes it easy for even the shyest activist to get their voice heard. Here is a downloadable postcard protesting Donald Trump and "his rape of our democracy and country." Sign up for their emails here and pick up the 2025 Card campaigns.

USE THE POWER OF YOUR SPENDING!

Check out Goods Unite Us (link here; there is also an app) for verifying who the merchant may be supporting before you purchase!

RURAL ORGANIZING

Our Partners at Rural Organizing have compiled a comprehensive list of their resources. This includes everything from past debriefs to how-to steps for organizing mutual aid events. You can access it here:

Rural Organizing, Rural Host Network Resource Document

POLITICAL ACTION ROADMAP FOR MICHIGANDERS

Political action is a way to support your community and fight for a society that is feminist, anti-racist, and pro-democratic. Casting your vote is just one of the many tools at your disposal! Here are some additional ways you may already be engaging in political action. This resource can be used to help scaffold new people to the movement - share with your community members.

OPTICS ARE IMPORTANT

The American public judges who's right and wrong almost exclusively based on the images they see on the news and on social media. This makes managing protest optics absolutely critical for movement success. This document has many suggestions on how to put our best foot forward.

WHERE YOU GET YOUR NEWS MATTERS

Sources for news matter. Check these out.

COLLABORATION IS THE NAME OF THE GAME!

SWIM WEBPAGE AND SOCIAL MEDIA

Bookmark our Website: www.statewideindivisiblemi.com. The website is a repository of resources and network partners amassed since 2017.

Members: Send us your announcements, events, photos or writings to our email at info@statewideindivisiblemi.com! We need to share our successes - we're better together!

SOCIAL MEDIA

BlueSky: @mi-swim.bsky.social

Facebook: SWIM (StateWide Indivisible Michigan) Members

Instagram: statewideindivisiblemichigan

YouTube: newly available for groups to post to @SWIM-StateWideIndMI

For the time being, we maintain our Facebook & Instagram accounts, but foresee a time in the not-distant future when we will leave these platforms like we (and many others) did X.

Join us on BlueSky!

USING THE POWER OF SOCIAL MEDIA TO AMPLIFY GOOD NEWS

Truth Bomb Toolkit – this is a very comprehensive toolkit with EVERYTHING you might want to know about Truth Bombs and how to do them.
Into Action Labs allows you to download hundreds of gifs and add your own message(s).
Indivisible's Trainings-to-Go - Slides, handouts, discussion questions, as well as 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! These are located in the Support Hub along with a lot more! Questions or suggestions can be sent to training@indivisible.org.