SWIM does not regularly ask for donations, however, we do have operating costs.
So when Indivisible National offers it's matching funds program, we let our members know this is an ideal time to support our collective work! This window will be open from April 1-May 31.
Please consider making a donation during this period here. Thank you!
FOR OUR PROTECTION THESE EVENTS MAY NOT BE ON SOCIAL MEDIA!!!
Copy and share ONLY with your members to avoid Zoom intruders.
SWIM AND PARTNERS UPDATES
See SWIM's website here for more news and events!
SWIM BI-MONTHLY MEMBER MEETING If you missed it, here's the recording!
SIGN UP NOW FOR OUR APRIL BRIEFING WITH SENATOR GARY PETERS' STAFF
Register here!
On Thursday, April 11 at 11:00 am ET, we welcome Kevin Hirt 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.
INDIVISIBLE NATIONAL TRAININGS
Indivisible National Persuasion to Power Series: Know Your Audience with Loretta Ross (new date!) March 20th, 8pm ET RSVP here to be a part of this national event.
Join Indivisible Activists from across the country and veteran activist Loretta Ross for a conversation on how to assess and adjust our communication approaches based on the person we’re talking to and how closely they are already aligned with our goals. Everyone we speak to, whether neighbor, friend, community member or family, carries a slightly different set of values and expectations. In organizing conversations, it’s up to us to listen well and make strategic, thoughtful assessments on how to move our goals forward by taking into account the other person’s responses.
PETITION TO DECLINE TO SIGN!
A citizens' led group, AxMITax, is circulating a petition to get a constitutional amendment on the November ballot to eliminate property taxes in Michigan. If you are approached by someone asking you to sign a petition to eliminate your property taxes, DO NOT SIGN. This plan would cut $2.5 BILLION from the state budgets for schools and would end taxes for libraries, museums, and zoos among other things.
IF YOU GET YOUR EVENTS FROM MOBILIZE, CATCH SWIM'S MOBILIZE PAGE HERE!
CALLS TO ACTION
ARE YOU ITCHING TO WRITE TO VOTERS? WE GOT YOU, BOO.
SWIM AND FIELD TEAM 6 PROTECT THE HOUSE PROJECT
SWIM and Field Team 6 have put together a comprehensive program to protect our position in the state legislature. We will be working hard to get as many voters who share our values, registered and voting!
RESOURCES:
Link to FT6: Field Team 6
Link to Registration guide “Voter Drive In A Box” to set up in person voter registration drives in your area
Link to FT6 Store - POSTCARDS
Postcards to Voters Etsy Store
ACTION FOR TRANSPARENCY IN ELECTIONS
At last month's Member Meeting, we heard from Hank Mayers from Michiganders for Fair and Transparent Elections. Here's an update from Hank, with a Call to Action:We want as many people to know of the BRITE Act as possible. The BRITE ACT is a seven-part bill package to improve standards for government ethics, transparency, and accountability of lobbying and financial interests, and increase enforcement of election/campaign finance law violations.Please spread the word and press your legislators to be very supportive of the BRITE legislation.We believe there are at least 3 different ways to do that: (1) with the legislature directly, (2) via your social media accounts, and (3) via securing coverage via traditional media. It’s up to you to decide which and/or how many of those 3 methods/channels to pursue. We have prepared this material to help.
SWIMmers, let's push to get these bills passed and shine some light where it's needed!
ACTIVATE AMERICA DOES IT ALL!
Activate America is dedicated to mobilizing voters to elect Democrats in the House and Senate through post-carding, phone banking, texting, and canvassing opportunities. Click here to find an action you like - let's flip the US House!
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. Instructions are sent after registration. Learn more 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 with Vote Forward's well-established campaign here.
OTHER WAYS TO TAKE ACTION
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!
LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS OUTREACH WITH VOTER REGISTRATION EVENTS
Have you tried registering new voters at your local high school? Some of our members have connected their high school's student council, a local school board member, and their local clerk to put on voter registration drives for students who are 17-1/2 years old and had terrific success (and fun) doing so! The Michigan League of Women Voters is ready to help your group organize Voter Registration Events.
Contact them at office@lwvmi.org for ways to help register new voters!
RESOURCES TO AMPLIFY YOUR MESSAGING
PARTNER TOOL KITS
HAVE SOME CONCERNS 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.
ADD YOUR GROUP TO THE GRASSROOTS COLLABORATION PROJECT DIRECTORY
We've all been at that exhaustion point in the last 6 years; don't let it get to you this year - there's a lot to do! But let's work smarter, not harder. Collaboration is the key to getting many efforts off the ground and building effectiveness in what we do. Networking helps us achieve that. Sign on to the Grassroots Directory here and find other activists willing to help your project!
USING THE POWER OF SOCIAL MEDIA TO AMPLIFY GOOD NEWS
Use these terrific resources to pick up memes to spiff up your messages, use great .gifs in your newsletters and social media posts, and gather talking points for your discussions:
Into Action Labs allows you to download and add your own message(s).
MI Right to Read offers a toolkit of graphics.
Demcast Michigan has a wealth of 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 more are coming! These are located in the Support Hub along with a lot more! Questions or suggestions can be sent to training@indivisible.org.
NOT SURE HOW TO PHRASE MESSAGING OUR VALUES?
Check out this Guide to Messaging Our Freedoms from We Make The Future and ASO Communications (Anat Shenkar-Osorio). They provide 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 Anat's 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:
Bookmark the Website: www.statewideindivisiblemi.com. New events from SWIM and our partners are posted regularly! The website is designed to be a central repository of the resources and network partners that SWIM has amassed since 2016.Members: send us your announcements, events, photos or writing by using the "Comment" link at the top of the homepage, or click here! We need to share our successes!
Follow us on Facebook! The SWIM private group is open to all interested members. Simply answer a few simple questions on the page and you are in! This is a great way to keep current on events and issues in between newsletters. This is the sole Facebook page for SWIM so join the group today - our past public page has been archived!
Follow SWIM on X(Twitter) @SWIMIndivisible and Instagram at StateWideIndivisibleMichigan !We are always looking for members with experience on alternative social media platforms, so if you are familiar with Threads, Mastodon, WhatsApp, TikTok, Tribel, Post, etc. please contact our SWIM social media maven Vickie Gutowski at info@statewideindivisiblemi.com to help expand our outreach!
