Weekly WAG

IN THIS ISSUE

Upcoming Events

What MVCAN Did This Week

Weekly Action Items

Action Team News


UPCOMING EVENTS

MVCAN MONTHLY MEETING Sunday, May 7, 4:00 - 5:30 pm, Tam Valley Community Center, 203 Marin Ave., Mill Valley. Learn about the many actions that teams and individuals are taking and how you can get involved in MVCAN's Resistance work. Meet MVCAN leaders and members. Get a preview of MVCAN's Memorial Day Parade float!

MARIN BOARD OF SUPERVISORS MEETING Tues., May 9, 9 am, Marin Civic Center, San Rafael. The Marin Board of Supervisors will vote on a letter of support for SB 54, the Sanctuary State Bill. MVCAN and the Civil Rights/Immigration team encourages everyone to attend the meeting in support. If you can't attend, please call your Supervisor and urge them to vote Yes: 415-473-7331

CONGRESSMAN JARED HUFFMAN'S "HOLDING THE PRESIDENT ACCOUNTABLE" TOWN HALL Tues., May 9, 4:30-6 pm, Dominican College. The focus will be on the ways that Congress and the courts can hold the executive branch accountable for ethical and legal violations.  Learn more here.

HOUSE PARTY TO BENEFIT SF BAY CHAPTER AND MARIN GROUP OF THE SIERRA CLUB Featuring Congressman Jared Huffman Mon. May 15, Home of Eileen and Andrew Fisher, Mill Valley. Help keep the Bay Area on the leading edge of climate and environmental progress. Read about sponsorship levels here.

MILL VALLEY MEMORIAL DAY PARADE Mon. May 29, 10:30 am-noon, Mill Valley. MVCAN looks forward to an exciting parade presence in our local Memorial Day Parade! Contact Laura Boles to get involved.

Learn about events, activities, meetings, and other ways to get involved on the mvcan.org event page. Bookmark this page so you can always find MVCAN's events.

WHAT MVCAN DID THIS WEEK


60+ MVCAN members Joined the Marin People's Climate Mobilization March and Rally April 29 in solidarity with 750+ marchers in Marin and 300,000+ marchers around the U.S, in a powerful demonstration of unity for jobs, justice, and climate action. MVCAN co-sponsored the event with 11 other Marin environmental and social justice groups. Major thanks for Lisa Ristorucci, MVCAN Eco Warrior Team Lead (pictured below) for spearheading MVCAN's participation in the Climate March. Lisa is quoted in this article on the Climate March in the Marin IJ.


Lisa Ristorucci (r) and June Cooperman (l)


8 MVCAN members joined the May Day March and Rally May 1 in San Rafael to demonstrate in support of workers' rights and immigrants' rights as part of International Workers' Day actions around the world.  Read about the march in the Marin IJ, which features a photo of MVCAN Civil Rights/Immigration Team leaders Diane Goldman and Lisa Scarsella.

(Photo: Marin IJ)


( Additional May Day photos: Mort Stein)

40+ MVCAN members also participated in the March for Science April 22 in San Francisco, one of 600 cities around the world marching to support evidence-based policy and governmental support for research, evolution and climate change.

(Pictured: Charlene Lundgren Frischer)

MVCAN members from the Women's Rights Team and the Health Care Team traveled to Sacramento to participate in NARAL Lobby Day and the Rally to Support Yes on SB 562 - Healthy CA Act.

(Pictured: Ruthanne Ranz Appell in Sacramento)

MVCAN Members from the Dump Trump team met with Representative Eric Swalwell (CA-15 - East Bay) to discuss ways that MVCAN can work with Congressman Swalwell to support his investigation of Trump's collusion with Russia, strategically flip CA seats in 2018, support Kimberly Ellis for CA Democratic Party Chair, and continue to work together with other local progressive organizations.

MVCAN members made calls through phone banks for Archie Parnell in the South Carolina 5th District special election and, with OFA-Marin, to protect the ACA. Click here to learn about phone banking this week.

28 MVCAN members held a day-long Leadership Off Site to refine and strengthen the work of MVCAN. Team and other leaders brainstormed effective strategies for MVCAN and were briefed on tools of leadership, organizing and action, including optimum use of technology. Look for more reporting about the MVCAN off site.



WEEKLY ACTION ITEMS


ACTION 1: Take action against the horrific health care bill passed by House Republicans. Insist your Senators to do everything in their power to stop the bill’s passage in the Senate.  

Thanks to all MVCAN members who called and  texted to oppose this terrible piece of legislation.


After the disastrous passage of House Republicans’ “repeal and replace” bill, it is essential that we contact our representatives in the Senate and urge them to use all means necessary to defeat the bill. Like the previous version of this bill, which was introduced in March, the current version will take health care coverage away from tens of millions of Americans, while causing large premium increases for older people, the poor, and the sick. This evisceration of health care for those most in need will serve as an excuse to create tax cuts for the wealthiest in our society. Even worse, Trumpcare 2.0 will permit states to obtain a waiver so that people with pre-existing conditions can be segregated into high-risk pools with higher premiums and less coverage.

What to Do

Call Our Senators and ask them to do everything in their power to stop the bill’s passage in the Senate.

Put these numbers in your phone. If you don't get through to one, try another. All messages go to the same place:

If you do not get through on the phone, email (Sen. Feinstein, in particular, reads and counts emails):

For your out-of-state friends: Look up your Senator’s phone number



ACTION 2:  Call the FCC: Don't Kill Net Neutrality

On May 18, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will vote on the first step in FCC Chairman Ajit Pai’s plan to kill net neutrality. Pai wants the FCC to give up its role in protecting internet users and instead ask companies to voluntarily police themselves. The three FCC commissioners will vote to begin considering his plan over the coming months.

Call now to be connected to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and Commissioner Michael O’Reilly, the two Republican FCC commissioners who are trying to kill net neutrality.

Click here for call script and automatic dialing with the CREDO action tool.

See individual Action Team links, below, to get involved in more actions, or visit the MVCAN Action Team page.

Thank you for taking these important actions today!


ACTION TEAM REPORTS

Much of MVCAN's work is done in one of 9 action teams. See various team accomplishments and initiatives in Upcoming Events, above. Click the team name to read their latest news and find their next meeting.

Civil Rights/Immigration collaborates with multiple local and national organizations and communities to work toward civil and racial justice through a variety of speakers, events and initiatives. Read more.

Communications provides promotional support for MVCAN and organizes network meetings. Read more.

Dump Trump works on ways to remove Trump from power. Read more.

Eco Warriors are engaged in change at the local, state and national levels, to impact the CA carbon tax, climate change, and community outreach and action. Read more.

Education is focusing on vouchers and Education Secretary DeVos' plan to privatize, Early Education funding, and the relationship between property taxes and school funding. Read more.

Electoral works to elect candidates for the 2017 state house and governor races, and other targeted races from now through the mid-term elections, following the recommendations of the flippable.org team, who are analyzing and selecting winnable races. The Electoral team uses phone banks and travel to targeted districts to talk with voters through phone calls and door-to-door canvassing, voter registration, and campaign volunteering. Read more and learn about phone banks this week.

Health Care is focusing on actions being taken to repeal the ACA, and on protecting health care coverage. They participate in advocacy and phone banking in conjunction with OFA Marin. Read more.

Tech supports MVCAN through technology. Read more.


Women's Rights supports and fundraises for Planned Parenthood and its clinics, opposes anti-abortion bills, and engages in other advocacy around women’s rights. Read more.


NEW TO MVCAN?

Visit MVCAN.org to learn about the organization, teams and strategies; read past MVCAN newsletters, and gain helpful Resistance tools.

Got a skill, talent and/or time? We need you! Contact Laura Boles and let her know how you might be able to help our growing Resistance group.



Thank you for all you do!

– June, Bernard, Suz, Danny, Eileen and everyone at MVCAN




See MVCAN’s website

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We are Mill Valley and Southern Marin residents standing up for American values and democracy!