It’s another busy week. When isn’t it! Of special note are the upcoming Young Democrats events. Tonight the Young Democrats are hosting a special Women’s History Month Panel and next week they have their big convention with both live and virtual sessions. The Rural GroundGame is on fire with two events this week: Building Trust with the Working Class on Tuesday and their weekly Working Wednesdays, as well as a new Rural GroundGame Community Voices Collection. And the last event this week I’ll single out is Reparations 2022, the 3rd Annual conference at Howard University with added virtual sessions.
For all the exciting activities this week, as well as important Calls To Action, please scroll to the bottom.
Hope to see you along the path,
Stair
Business will be conducted at The Westin Alexandria Old Town and virtually for the purposes of including Young Democrats across our great Commonwealth.
Please join the Fairfax Young Democrats for a Women’s History Month Panel featuring a discussion and Q&A session with Senator Jennifer McClellan, Senator Jennifer Boysko, Delegate Elizabeth Guzmán, and Delegate Kathy Tran.
Building Trust with the Working Class: Supporting Labor Unions
Workers across Virginia, and our nation are standing up to demand a seat at the table they helped build. The new, growing labor movement presents an incredible opportunity for Democrats to reach many new voters by actively showing our support through creative outreach, positive, values-centered messaging and events. Across rural communities, specifically, there are many emerging opportunities right now.
During this event, we will discuss how to track and engage with labor activity in your area. We will hear from labor organizers about what community members and local Democrats can do to offer support in constructive ways.Â
Rural GroundGame Working Wednesdays 7:00pm – Virtual
Time for Action! Each week, we’ll cover a different topic for a brief 30 min meeting. We’ll focus on creative ideas to grow rural Democratic committees, increase community engagement, capture and improve data, candidate and campaign support, collaborative messaging and MORE!
CALL TO ACTION – Rural GroundGame Community Voices Collection
“As we work to improve electoral outcomes for Democrats in rural communities, we are inviting you to join us for a research project! We are working with Filter Labs to gather publicly available commentary on the issues. The purpose of this project is to identify local non profit or grassroots organizations, businesses, clubs, faith communities, local government and public institutions for the purpose of better understanding community sentiment on the issues we care about.
Our hope is to be part of building a database that can serve rural Democrats in Virginia through increased awareness of local opinion and the impact of our messaging over time.”
Please fill out this form. Questions? Email: Lynlee@ruralgroundgame.org
The 3rd annual conference, hosted as a collaboration between African American Redress Network (AARN), International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ), and First Repair, will take place on April 1st, online from 11am to 4:30pm, and April 2nd, online from 10am to 5pm. .Â
ALL TO ACTION
Letter to Support Public Education Funding – Sign On by Thursday at 9:00am
The Virginia General Assembly will reconvene in a Special Session to debate proposed amendments to Governor Northam’s budget. The state has a budget surplus this year, so Governor Youngkin and the GOP legislators are proposing tax cuts instead of prioritizing our public schools. Public schools in Virginia have been plagued with deferred maintenance, modernization, and construction that have been delayed because of budget limitations in recent years. Also, the Virginia Board of Education recommended that additional principal and vice principal positions be filled and both the House and Senate passed a bill to increase the numbers of and the salary for teachers and staff. This letter asks our legislators to prioritize funding for our public schools. You can view the letter here. To sign on to the letter, please email Marianne Burke, marianne.vagrassrootscoalition@gmail.com
CALL TO ACTION – April Fools MVP is NO JOKE Twitter Storm!
April 1 from 11:00 am to 6:00 pm Please join Facebook event and share to your groups. This is a quickly developing story and updates as well as graphics to finally defeat the MVP will be uploaded to the Facebook event and the Cancel MVP digital toolkit.
 Tech Founders March 30th, 2022 at 7 PM EST In celebration of Women’s History Month Bluebonnet Data is hosting a panel featuring amazing voices across industries: Kaylee McHugh, Arianna Trujillo-Wesler, and Emily Del Beccaro who will be discussing how women & non-binary people are at the forefront of the intersection of innovation, human interaction, and technology. The founders will talk about what inspired them to start their ventures, what they have learned in the process, and their ultimate vision.
2022 Kickoff with Rep. Elaine Luria
Wednesday, March 30 7:30 PM – Virtual
Please join Indivisible Waterfront as they kick off the 2022 election season with an update from Rep. Luria about her Jan 6th committee service and her thoughts on the war in Ukraine.
Virginia Grassroots Coalition MeetingSunday April 3, 4:00pm Join the monthly meeting and hear the latest efforts to get it done in Virginia. this month our guest speakers will be Senator Favola and Commonwealth Attorney Dehghani-Tafti.Â
We Believe We Will Win:Â A Rally to Stop the Mountain Valley Pipeline
April 7 at 7:00 p.m – Virtual Join this important and dynamic online rally bringing together community leaders from Virginia, West Virginia, and North Carolina to share how victories have been achieved, what it will take to stop this disastrous pipeline, and how you can help.
Hear from:
Karenna Gore, founder and director of the Center for Earth Ethics
Anita Royston, Chair of the Pittsylvania County, VA Branch of the NAACP
Desiree Shelley, Climate Justice Organizer with Mothers Out Front
