Dear Friends,

Many of our priority bills have passed both chambers! Check the headlines on VirginiaGrassroots.org. Yet, some of our bills are facing a lot of scrutiny in the State Senate. Please continue responding to the Calls to Action! The new priority CTAs this week are below.

Here is the Grassroots response to the New York Times article on Grassroots’ burn-out. Please like and comment, and then Get Your Burn On with us on the monthly National Friday Power Lunch (details below, of course).

Getting it done,

Stair

PS: If you have something you would like to include in a future email, please let me know.

Opportunities

Virginia Progressive Leadership Program (VAPLP) is accepting applications due Friday, March 15th for their upcoming cohort. VAPLP is an experiential learning & training program for community leaders & organizers that occurs throughout four weekends May – August. It provides participants with the knowledge, skills, and connections they need to strengthen their work advancing equity & social justice in Virginia. The program is offered at no-cost to participants, and includes a travel stipend, Spanish-English language interpretation, food, and lodging. You can learn more about the 2024 program here.  If you have someone in mind who could benefit from this program, please nominate them.  

Learning Life, a DC-based educational nonprofit, is organizing a DMV DemFest in Fall 2024, before the November elections (precise date TBA). We’re aiming for a festival with a range of engaging activities for youth and adults, including arts performances, exhibits, game rooms, workshops, panel discussions, contests, and a democracy market. We are currently identifying a range of festival partners, including artists/performers (teachers and students especially encouraged!), workshop leaders, panelists, moderators, exhibitors, vendors, sponsors, donors, evaluators, and more.  More about DemFest here, including how you and/or your organization can support and be involved.  

CALLS TO ACTION

• Encourage our State Senators to vote YES for HB 994 Establishes legal age for marriage to be 18 years
• Support SJ26, Treat Substance Use as a Public Health Issue
• Tell Virginia Senators to vote YES on HB939 Prohibit Firearms Within 100 Feet of a Polling Place
• SB16, Protecting Menstrual Data from search warrant

You can find all of the active CTAs here.

Events

Thursday, February 22nd, 5:00-7:00pm

Empowering Equality: Expert Voices on the Equal Rights Amendment

The Hub Center, George Mason University, 10423 Rivanna River Way, Fairfax

Join a thought-provoking panel discussion on the Equal Rights Amendment hosted by Women and Gender Studies (WGST) and the Gender and Policy (GAP) Center. This event aims to foster an insightful conversation on the significance and implications of the ERA in the contexts of gender equality, physical autonomy, and LGBTQ+ rights with:

• Moderator, Bonnie Stabile, Director of Gender and Policy (GAP) Center and Associate Professor
• Eileen Davis, ERA Activist and Advocate
• Ella Duncan-High, Generation Ratify, National Organizing Director
• Amy Hinojosa, President and CEO, MANA, A National Latina Organization
• Zakiya Thomas, President & CEO, ERA Coalition and ERA Coalition Forward

Thursday, February 22nd, 6:30pm
Grassroots Leadership Call
Join Team Kaine’s field team as we celebrate YOUR tremendous work so far this year. We’ll provide an update on what we’ve done as a team, especially during this ballot access phase, and walk through where we envision the team going in the months ahead. We’ll also take time to answer any questions. RSVP here: https://www.mobilize.us/timkaine/event/604451/

Friday, February 23, Noon

Friday Power Lunch: We Did it Again! – Democrats Keep Winning

In February, Biden and Democrats achieved a long list of accomplishments in this shortest month of the year. The polls and pundits predicted doom and gloom but we won races, exceeded job growth expectations, and maintained low unemployment rates. It’s true the only poll that matters is on Election Day. Grassroots activists did the work and baffled political talking heads.

This week for our nationally focused Power Lunch, held the last Friday of every month, we will hear from the grassroots muscle behind two incredible wins.

Colin Van Ostern, volunteer co-lead of the New Hampshire write-in campaign, and Terie Norelli, former Speaker of the New Hampshire House and former president of the National Conference of State Legislatures, will tell us about why they formed the Biden Write-In campaign and how they managed a Biden win as a write-in candidate by a larger margin than the Republican candidates who were on the ballot.

Jody Kass, founder of Concerned Citizens of NY-03, and Nate Munson-Palomba, the grassroots liaison with the Tom Suozzi campaign, will talk about how the Suozzi campaign partnered with grassroots groups in an unprecedented way to produce a decisive win. Their work can be a road map for victory for all campaigns in 2024.

One of the cornerstones of the grassroots is that we celebrate and encourage people to apply their talents to the fight to save Democracy. We will hear from professional songwriters Ellen Schwartz and Roger Brunowho are grassroots volunteers now using their musical talent to create songs and videos celebrating grassroots work.

REGISTER for the Friday Power Lunch 2024

Saturday, February 24 from 3:00 – 5:00pm in Falls Church

Tea and Postcards for Briana Sewell hosted by the Postcard Community

Saturday, February 24th, 5:00pm

M4A 101: Medicare For All Organizer Training Workshop
Join us for a virtual workshop and teach-in to help new organizers and activists learn about the dysfunctional US healthcare system, how Medicare For All would work to fix our broken system, and how you can join our campaigns in support of universal healthcare- including our efforts to pass Medicare For All Resolutions in Alexandria and Arlington.

Saturday, February 24th 11:00am – 12:00pm
“Don’t Veto Our Safety” Rally – Bell Tower in Richmond

It is highly probable that despite all of the good firearms bills passing, Governor Youngkin will veto them. We want to make this VERY difficult for him to do so!

Saturday, February 24th, 2:00pm
Two-Year Commemorations of Russia’s War on Ukraine

Co-organizers: U.S. Embassy of Ukraine, United Help Ukraine, Razom for Ukraine, Ukraine House, and Ukrainian Congress Committee of America, US Ukrainian Activists. Find full info on the Facebook event page:

• Northern Virginia: Lincoln Memorial
• Richmond
• Virginia Beach

Saturday, February 24th, 5:00pm
M4A 101: Medicare For All Organizer Training Workshop
Join us for a virtual workshop and teach-in to help new organizers and activists learn about the dysfunctional US healthcare system, how Medicare For All would work to fix our broken system, and how you can join our campaigns in support of universal healthcare- including our efforts to pass Medicare For All Resolutions in Alexandria and Arlington.

Sunday, February 25 at 7:00pm
Focus for Democracy: The Road to Win 2024
Please join Focus for Democracy‘s zoom meeting to learn about this grassroots team that includes experienced voter-development strategists who have raised tens of millions of dollars to promote and protect democracy. They do this by rigorously evaluating voter-generating activist groups and recommending the most cost-effective strategies that aren’t getting funded. Current efforts are aimed at raising funds for Working America and Accelerating Change and a to-be-announced organization that’s on the cutting edge of communication to women voters.

Wednesday, February 28th, 5:00pm
GO CD2 Meeting (Hampton Roads Grassroots Coalition)
Email Luisa to join:luisaboyarski@gmail.com

Thursday, February 29th, 5:00pm
Legislative Working Group Meeting
Email Luisa to join: luisaboyarski@gmail.com

Sunday, March 3rd, 3:00pm – 4:30pm
Fundraiser for Briana Sewell, Candidate for CD7
Briana has spent her career serving her community, including over five years as the district director to Congressman Gerry Connolly, and is currently a member of the Virginia House of Delegates, where she is highly respected among her colleagues. In 2023, she was named to the Council of State Government’s list of the 20 most effective lawmakers across the nation under 40 years old. Please join host Josh Kaplowitz and Special Guest Delegate Marcus Simon.

Sunday, March 3rd, 6:00pm
Virginia Grassroots Coalition Meeting
Email Luisa your agenda items, luisaboyarski@gmail.com
Zoom Link:https://georgetown.zoom.us/j/98422844279

Wednesday, March 6th, 7:30pm
Fundraiser for North Carolina Voter Registration (on Zoom)
Keynote speaker former Massachusetts Governor Duval Patrick.
President Biden lost North Carolina in 2020 by 1.3%. It was his closest loss. According to Moody’s Analytics North Carolina is one of the 5 states which will be decided by less than 1%. Simon Rosenburg has described NC as: “[T]he most important expansion state in the [2024] battleground, and a place where our work can really make a difference.” NC has a state Supreme Court race and the most important Governor’s race in the country as well as 16 Electoral College votes. Money raised will go to the 501c(3) arm of two Black-led organizations that concentrate on registering BIPOC and young voters. They don’t just register the voters, they follow up with them multiple times. One of the groups, Action for the Climate Emergency (ACE), also works to turn the people they reach into activists.

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Compliments of Network NOVA & the Virginia Grassroots – When We Vote We Win