IC-SS Weekly Update: December 7, 2020
Join Us Dec 15: IC-SS Zoom
Thanks to the folks who attended Indivisible Chicago-South Side’s first December Zoom. We invite you to join us on Tuesday, December 15th at 7:30 pm – to write postcards to Georgia voters and to exchange resources and action opportunities. RSVP: Email us here
At our December 15th Zoom, we invite you to share your experiences supporting the Georgia run-off campaigns via donations, phonebanking, or other actions. Feel free to provide information about Chicago organizations that would benefit from donations at holiday time. And of course, grab your fave drink and postcards!
December 1st Zoom Recap
At our December 1st Zoom, we acknowledged that “it won’t be all over” when Trump leaves office, and there will be much to fight for in the coming months and years. However, we decided to share some hopeful news that’s keeping us going:
- The incoming administration is already starting to reconnect our country with the rest of the world. Biden and Harris have moved to act on the pandemic and to protect the planet in the face of climate change. The Biden-Harris administration* will include people chosen for their expertise, not for being cronies or yes-people.
- Marie Newman, Lauren Underwood, and Sean Casten all won their districts.
- There’s evidence that writing projects like Vote Forward can make a real difference in elections. Read about Vote Forward and voting by mail in Maine.
- Stacey Abrams’ years-long efforts worked — she led a successful movement to engage new voters and get out the vote in spite of massive voter suppression and intimidation. We are hopeful that Rev Warnock and Jon Ossoff will win in the Georgia run-offs.
RSVP for our Dec 15 Zoom: Email us here
*Notes re the Biden-Harris cabinet:
- We’ll continue to remind the Biden-Harris administration and our Illinois Senators Duckworth and Durbin that Rahm Emanuel should have no role in the White House.
- National Indivisible encourages us to contact our senators to urge Biden not to appoint corporatists to the cabinet; take action via this page.
Georgia Postcards – There’s Still Time
On December 26-28, we postcard writers each need to mail our own completed cards to Georgia voter. Want to join the effort? If you can shift into high gear and write & stamp at least 100 short postcards by then, act now. Here’s what to do:
1. Order your postcards in increments of 100 and pick them up yourself from a local hub. (The Hyde Park hub will again be c/o Co-Leader Esther Peters.) Get all the info and order here.
2. Write the specified (short!) message on each postcard with the addresses on the list you receive.
3. Buy your own 35-cent postcard stamps and stamp the postcards yourself. You can order postcard stamps delivered to your home through USPS. Buy or order them NOW.
4. Mail the postcards yourself on the specified date (likely Dec 26-28).
NOTE:If you aren’t able to pick up your postcards from a Chicago postcard hub, you can purchase your own postcards from the Postcards to Swing States website and have them shipped to you.
Other Ways to Help the GA Run-off Effort
Both national Indivisible and the Indivisible Chicago Alliance have vetted action opportunities with groups on the ground in Georgia – including Indivisible Georgia Coalition and organizations like Fair Fight.
Phonebank and More
Indivisible Chicago has a WHOLE PAGE OF OPPORTUNITIES. Find lots of ways to help on their Georgia run-off webpage.
Donate
Help Democrats Warnock and Ossoff win by supporting them with your dollars. You can also support Stacey Abrams’ Fair Fight to promote fair elections in Georgia and the New Georgia Project to register voters.
- Donate to New Georgia Project
- Donate to Fair Fight
- Donate to Warnock & Ossoff campaigns at once via ActBlue
Stop General Iron!
Lincoln Park is getting rid of General Iron, but the environmental hazard may soon be moving to Chicago’s Southeast Side. The Sun-Times writes that the “planned closure of the facility in white Lincoln Park and expected opening of a new [metal shredding] operation in Latino-majority East Side has prompted charges of environmental racism.”
The Sun-Times also says, “General Iron’s owner Reserve Management Group [RMG] has filed an application with the city’s Department of Public Health for a final permit needed to open its car and metal-shredding business on East 116th Street along the Calumet River.
“The facility, which is under construction, is opposed by community groups concerned about additional pollution in an area that already suffers from poor air quality.”
Learn:
- Read the Sun-Times article here.
- Watch ABC Chicago’s coverage here.
- Catch up on Block Club Chicago’s coverage here.
- Follow Stop General Iron on Twitter at @stopgeneraliron
- Read the City of Chicago’s webpage with information, updates and documents regarding the proposed expansion of RMG.
Act:
- Send a letter to the Mayor via a form created by the Stop General Iron community organization. You can customize the wording of the letter as appropriate to you.
- Sign the Sierra Club Illinois petition.
- Attend the City of Chicago’s virtual public meeting on General Iron on Thurs, Dec 10, 6:00 pm (read about it in Sun-Times article above). Sign up here.
- Write a letter expressing your opinion on General Iron to the City of Chicago (envcomments@cityofchicago.org) by December 30th.
Dec 13: Criminal Justice Task Force Sunday Forum
Our City, Our Safety: A Comprehensive Plan to Reduce Violence in Chicago
This announcement was shared by Sandra Rigsbee of the First Unitarian Criminal Justice Task Force.
First U Criminal Justice Task Force Forum on Mayor Lightfoot’s report
Sunday, December 13th, 11:30 a.m.
The First Unitarian Criminal Justice Task Force invites you to a virtual forum on the newly released Our City, Our Safety: A Comprehensive Plan to Reduce Violence in Chicago. Mayor Lightfoot introduces the report with the statement: This document lays out a concrete, comprehensive, and collaborative plan to sustainably reduce violence. It will take a sustained effort over time, but we will not rest until we make Chicago the safest big city in America.
Claire Corcoran, Samantha Pasillas, and Brigid Van Der Bosch, graduate students at UIC, Jane Addams College of Social Work, will open the forum with a presentation of highlights from Our City, Our Safety, followed by a floor discussion of the document. Contact Sandra Rigsbee at ssrigsbee@gmail.com for more information.
Our City, Our Safety can be accessed at:
https://www.chicago.gov/content/dam/city/sites/public-safety-and-violenc-reduction/pdfs/OurCityOurSafety.pdf
The link to the zoom session is:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88013081276?pwd=eUNZbHpMR0lDSGoxckk4Ky9UZmordz09
December Giving: Mutual Aid & Non-profits
Looking for local places to donate this holiday season? Here are a few suggestions:
- Good Kids Mad City
- Hyde Park Neighborhood Club
- Hyde Park Refugee Project
- KOCO – Kenwood Oakland Community Organization
- Mutual aid and related organizations in Chicago, including many on the South Side – listed by Maxwell Evans of Block Club Chicago
Please email us other South Side organizations (or citywide) that you recommend supporting with donations.
Indivisible Chicago-South Side
Email: Indiv.Chi.South@gmail.com
Follow IC-SS on Facebook and Twitter
Co-Leader: Esther Peters
Acting Co-Leaders: Betsy Rubin, Teri Watkins, Sarah Lincoln
