Minuteman Indivisible Successes
SEPTEMBER 2019
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September was another busy month! Here are some of things we did:
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- Joined other Indivisible groups with members in CD06 at a meeting with Rep. Moulton’s District staff to discuss Election Security and other key issues on September 17
- Participated in the monthly ROE Act Coalition call on September 18
- Joined other MA Indivisibles at a Legislative Issues Workshop organized by one of our members on September 19
- Supported the Student Climate Strike on September 20
- Participated in an Election Security Rally in Portland Maine on September 23
- Joined Indivisible Mystic Valley to registered new citizens to vote and meet with Rep. Katherine’s Clark’s district staff on September 24
- Picked books to read this fall at the MI Book Club Meeting on September 25
- Wrote postcards to help get out the vote for the upcoming state elections in Virginia at our Weekday Warriors meeting on September 27
- Recruited volunteers and collected almost 150 signatures for the RCV ballot question.
AUGUST 2019
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August might be vacation time for many, but MI members were still busy taking action. Last month, we
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- Attended a meeting of the ROE Act Coalition in Boston on August 21
- Attended the Green New Deal Town Hall with Sen. Markey and Rep. Clark in Framingham on August 21
- Wrote postcards to MA voters for the ROE Act at Activist Afternoons in Cambridge on August 25 and at our Weekday Warriors meeting on August 28
- Attended the MA Legislative Hearing on gun bills on August 28
- Individual members also organized and attended a successful fundraiser for Dan McCready with special guests Rep. Katherine Clark and Jimmy Tingle on August 28.
JULY 2019
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July might be mid-summer, but MI members were still busy taking action. We:
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JUNE 2019
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We've been busy! In June, Minuteman Indivisible:
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Indivisible Day of Action
January 3, 2019
The Indivisible groups of MA-05 (Katherine Clark's district) held a coordinated action at Representative Clark's district office in Cambridge, MA. We met with members of Representative Clark's staff to thank our Congresswoman for her work on the Hill and in the midterm elections, and to combine our voices to share our vision of bold, progressive action in the new legislative session. We asked her to #GoBIG: 
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2018 Election Activity
November 12, 2018
A recap of our 2018 election activity. So many wins! |
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Nobody is Above the Law - Rapid Response RalliesNovember 8, 2018
Many MI members joined with several hundred others at a rally in Arlington to demand that Congress protect Special Counsel Mueller’s investigation after the removal of Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Members also attended rallies on the Boston Common and in other MA communities. |
Fueling the CanvassersNovember 5, 2018
Delivered food to the local Yes On 3 canvassing headquarters - need to fuel the canvassers for the next 24+hours. |
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Canvassing with the Mass Dems in Lexington
November 5, 2018
Knocked on some doors and added to my step count for the day. Win / Win! |
Vote Smart - Facts Matter
November 1, 2018
Vote Smart Facts Matter Tour with Richard Kimball: Informative, Fun, and Factual! |
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Postcard Party
October 29, 2018
115 postcards for Lauren Underwood |
Postcard Party
October 29, 2018
40 postcards for Beto O’Rourke and Eric Holguin in TX |
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$15,000.00+ Raised for Maura Healy
October 24, 2018
On October 24th, we raised over $15,000 for Maura Healy! |
Postcards for Lauren Underwood
October 24, 2018
At the Munroe Center, 8 Indivisibles wrote over 150 postcards for Lauren Underwood IL14. |
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Postcards for Stacy Abrams and Sarah Riggs Amico
October 22, 2018
We finished 200 post cards for Stacey Abrams and Sarah Riggs Amico in GA. And we did it with a smile. Nothing like riding the blue wave at the Ride Cafe! |
Postcards for FL Second Chances
October 15, 2018
Minuteman Indivisible wrote postcards for FL Second Chances. We finished off about 100 postcards and took them straight to the postoffice! |
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Thursday Night Action
October 11, 2018
Our Thursday night actions are heating up in the final weeks before the election. On October 11, we phonebanked for Beto O’Rourke and Dan McCready, and postcarded for Lauren Underwood. Ride the blue wave with us to November 6! |
Postcards for Lauren Underwood
October 10, 2018
On October 10, the Weekday Warriors wrote 170 postcards for Lauren Underwood! |
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Supporting Candidate Chris TribouOctober 6, 2018
Sign holding for State Representative candidate Chris Tribou on Billerica Town Common. |
Postcards for Lauren Underwood
October 4, 2018
Writing postcards for Lauren Underwood at the Ride Cafe. Ride the blue wave! |
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Co-Sponsor of The ABCs of Ballot Questions 1, 2, 3
October 2, 2018
We were proud co-sponsors of "The ABCs of Ballot Questions 1, 2, 3", a forum held at Robbins Library in Arlington. |
Boston Red Cloaks
September 30, 2018
The Boston Red Cloaks, some of whom are members of Minuteman Indivisible, made a very visible public statement in the heart of Lexington. The Red Cloaks advocate for equality and women's agency. |
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Flip the House Party
September 27, 2018
Flip the House Party at First Parish Lexington: phone-banking for Amy McGrath and MoveOn demo and texting to Michigan liberal voters. |
Writing Postcards to Florida Voters
September 26, 2018
Writing postcards to Florida voters. We completed 100 postcards with time to spare. What a team! |
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State Senator Cindy Friedman
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September 25, 2018
Minuteman Indivisible attended State Senator Cindy Friedman’s office hours. We wanted to discuss the MBTA and asked “What is it going to take to improve the MBTA?” Senator Friedman said that she discusses this topic a lot and it is clearly a priority for her. She said that there needs to be more support for the issue and there needs to be pressure on state leadership to fund and support improvements. She explained that these types of improvements don’t happen overnight but if we want to be better off in the future, then we need to act now. Cindy confirmed that the MBTA issue is a bi-partisan / all income level issue. We simply need to do better – especially since the MBTA impacts other issues in the state like the housing crisis. If we had better mass transit, it would be easier for people to live in more affordable areas and commute in – that is currently not the case. We are a state with first class universities, first class biotech, and first class high tech – we shouldn’t be a state with second class mass transit! Senator Friedman encouraged her constituents to contact her office and voice their opinion – it is these calls that give her ammunition to fight this battle. |
New Americans Voter Registration DriveSeptember 20, 2018
At Fanueil Hall in Boston, Debbie, Minuteman Indivisible member with the big smile pictured here, helped to register 150 new voters following their naturalization ceremony. If you want to do the same, Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition (MIRA) will train you. Read about it here, |
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Rally with the Lincoln Town Democratic Committee
September 15, 2018
Spent a Saturday with the Lincoln Town Democratic Committee helping people get plugged into the mid-term election action. |
Fall 2018 Kickoff Party
September 16, 2018
We had our fall kickoff party. Marci reviewed everything that we accomplished in the summer - which was a lot! Debbra got us up to date on the ‘yes on 3’ campaign. Kim reviewed the MI organizational changes. Sarah gave us the latest on the election team’s 5 candidates. Rina gave an update on Indivisible MA and Elect 435. Lisa summarized the book club. We learned about texting from Lakshmi. And we wrote almost 200 postcards! Hazzah! |
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Postcards For Amy McGrath
September 4, 2018
At The Ride Studio Cafe, Minuteman Indivisible helped the McGrath campaign write handwritten postcards with a message about Amy to send to voters in Kentucky's 6th District. |
Meeting with Mike Devin, District RepresentativeAugust 27, 2018
A dedicated group of Minuteman Indivisibles who live in MA District 6, visited Seth Moulton’s office in Salem last week, where they met at length with Mike Devin, District Representative. As Kim Wright describes it: "During the meeting, we discussed several issues that are top priorities to our members including healthcare and reproductive rights and the negative impact the 2019 budget will likely have on both; election security concerns; and curbing the nuclear threat. Mike heard our concerns, acknowledged our asks and assured us that he would raise these concerns to Congressman Moulton and his policy leads, which he did the very next day! We left blue wave shortbread cookies for the team before heading off to a Moulton campaign office down the street. At the campaign office, we met with Joel Emerson and discussed Seth’s campaign, other MA campaigns, and other congressional candidates that Seth and MI are supporting. We left feeling energized and assured of a great working relationship going forward." |
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Texting for the Midterms
August 27, 2018
Minuteman Indivisible had a successful night of texting last week using the MoveOn texting platform. Mary Ruhl writes, "It was more fun to text as a group and learn together how the platform works. The MoveOn Text Team midterm election strategy is to build progressive power and recruit volunteers prior to the midterm elections. We plan to hold more texting parties in the future; stay tuned to the Muster for details and join us next time!" |
Postcards for Voters
August 27, 2018
Jean Milburn writes, "I hosted an MI Activism Event for Postcards for Voters in my living room. We wrote postcards for Rachel May, who is running for the Democratic nomination for State Senate in NY. We had a group of 9 folks and finished 100 postcards. We enjoyed some fellowship around salsa and chips, too!" |
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Mourning Our Legislators' Moral Failure to Protect Immigrants
August 25, 2018
After the Legislature failed to include the protections for immigrants passed by the Senate in the State Budget, several of our members participated in a vigil at the State House in August 2018 to highlight legislators' lack of action and moral courage. We observed a moment of silence, heard from faith leaders and immigrants, and then helped deliver letters with black ribbons to legislators to decry their lack of support. A few legislators, including Lexington Rep. Jay Kaufman, attended the event and others met with us to express their support for our efforts when we delivered letters to their offices. |
Summer Activism: Help Flip Congress
August 23, 2018
It may be the dog days of summer, but we aren't resting. Our first three Summer Activism events have been both productive and fun - we've mailed hundreds of VoteByMail forms to voters in Mikie Sherrill's district (NJ-11), phonebanked for Danny O'Connor who's running for Congress in the OH-12 special election on August 7th, and sent out postcards in support of Lauren Underwood (IL-14). |
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Dancing to Support "People Govern, Not Money"
July 7, 2018
We danced. We sipped. We laughed. And we raised money for People Govern, Not Money! Minuteman Indivisible and People Govern, Not Money joined forces to hold a dance party on Saturday, July 7th at First Parish Church in Lexington. The party featured the NuRythm Band, which played great music that people couldn’t resist dancing to. Jeff Clements, President of American Promise, the Concord-based organization that works with groups across the country to support a 28th amendment to the Constitution, and Nancy Heselton spoke to the crowd and announced that People Govern, Not Money had been officially notified by the Secretary of State on July 6th that they collected enough signatures for their petition to get big money out of politics to be on the MA ballot in November! We look forward to supporting the ballot question and hope you'll join with us to ensure that it passes in November. If you couldn't attend, please consider donating to this cause by using this secure ActBlue link. |
Rallying to Keep Families Together
June 30, 2018
On Saturday, June 30th, we joined thousands of others at rallies across the country to protest the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” immigration policy and say that Families Belong Together. MI members heard our Senators speak at the large rally and march in Boston and also participated in well-attended events in Natick MA, Portsmouth NH, Bar Harbor ME and other communities. Please continue to let our MoCs know that we appreciate their efforts to help reverse this policy and reunite children who have been separated from their families, and check the Morning Coffee Actions section for steps to take to protect immigrant families here in Massachusetts. |
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Swinging Maine 2 Blue
June 28, 2018
MI members and friends gathered by a local pool in Lexington on a warm summer morning in late June to write postcards in support of Jared Golden's campaign to flip the ME-02 congressional seat from red to blue. |
2017: The Year in Review - MI Accomplishments
After that first meeting in February 2017, we hit the ground running and never stopped! We're especially proud of the wide range of activities our members have initiated. See the MI Newsletter section of our website for more information on any of the activities described below.
Spring 2017
MARCH 2017 - We're an action oriented group and we dived right in during our first full month. We started our tradition of Morning Coffee Actions in the first issue of our Minuteman Muster; stepped right up to the question mike at our first town hall with Rep. Katherine Clark; began holding team meetings and sign-making workshops; organized phone calls to support Congressional candidate James Thompson (Kansas CD4 special election); manned a booth with Arlington's Indivisible MA5 group at Rep. Clark's Advocacy Fair at Lexington High School; and began fighting Trumpcare, taking action on Russiagate and conflict of Interest issues, and supporting the Safe Communities Act.
APRIL 2017 - We held our second general membership meeting; attended Rep. Kaufman's Open House with Senator Ed Markey; went to the tax day rally in Cambridge and held our own tax rally in Lexington; marched in the Patriot’s Day Parade; participated in the March for Science and Climate March in Boston; visited our Senators' District offices; and helped support Congressional candidates Jon Ossoff and Rob Quist in the Georgia and Montana special elections.
MAY 2017 - We participated in Rep. Kaufman’s “Democracy Demands Engagement” series; rallied at the State house when FBI Director Comey was fired; continued lobbying for a Special Prosecutor and against Trumpcare; helped support Archie Parnell in the SC5 special election; kicked off our campaign to support carbon pricing; created Twitter accounts for our Elections and Healthcare teams: manned a booth at Lexington’s Discovery Days; and held a social media workshop for our members.
Summer 2017
JUNE 2017 - We held our first candidates night for the Middlesex 4 State Senate special election, attended the Boston March for Truth; organized an educational forum on impacting Congress, participated in the Carbon Pricing Lobby Day at the State House: selected Regina Bateson CA4, as our first congressional candidate to support in the 2018 midterm elections and hosted an event for her; visited Gov. Baker and Speaker of the House DeLeo’s office to urge them to oppose Trumpcare and protect healthcare in MA; helped organize the first MA Indivisible Regional conference; and began using the “hubdialer” tool to call progressives in other states and urge them to contact their MoCs about Trumpcare.
JULY 2017 - We attended a reading of the Declaration of Independence at Minuteman National Park; held a retreat to discuss ways to improve our efficiency and effectiveness; rallied to speak out against Paul Ryan when he visited a factory in Lawrence: visited our Senators’ offices during Indivisible’s Day of Action on Trumpcare: and continued using the hubdialer and other tools to kill the Senate Trumpcare bill.
AUGUST 2017 - We sponsored an Active Bystander Training session; held the first meeting of the MI Book Club; attended Senator Warren’s packed Town Hall in Concord; picked additional congressional candidates to support in the mid-terms (Chrissy Houlahan PA6 and Mikie Sherrill NJ11); canvassed at the Lexington Farmer's Market; held a potluck social for MI members; encouraged members to sign up for Rapid Response actions if Trump fired Special Prosecutor Mueller; and added an Instagram account to our social media feeds.
Fall 2017
SEPTEMBER 2017 - We held our first fundraiser for congressional candidate Mikie Sherrill (NJ11); testified at the State House in favor of MA Senate bill S.365 on Presidential Tax Transparency; met with Indivisible co-founder and co-executive director Ezra Levin; began using texting tools in our fight against the latest round of Trumpcare; held a Skype session with congressional candidate James Thompson; and hosted a representative from the Environmental Voter Project.
OCTOBER 2017 - We held a general membership meeting with special guest State Senator Cindy Friedman and debuted our new Indivisible T-shirts; held a successful forum on Single Payer Healthcare with four nationally-recognized experts; held the first meeting of our new Weekday Warriors daytime team; participated in the Wave of Women’s Day of Action; attended the “Right to Health” organizer Bootcamp; began fighting against the GOP Tax Scam; collected signatures for a MA ballot question to help overturn Citizens United; held a breakfast fundaiser for Chrissy Houlahan (PA6); and participated in First Parish Church’s Voices on the Green program “I Protest.”
NOVEMBER 2017 - We helped organize the first statewide Indivisible MA Conference in Worcester which was attended by more than 500 people; sent over 200 postcards to voters in support of Doug Jones's Senate campaign in Alabama; provided information on and lobbied against the the GOP Tax Scam (including holding signs in Lexington Center and over Route 128); started a Democracy Team Twitter account; and attended a fundraiser for Randy Bryce who’s running against Speaker Paul Ryan.
Winter 2017-2018
DECEMBER 2017 - We rallied on the Boston Common against the GOP Tax Scam (see our banner at 1:18 in this Rachel Maddow video on the nationwide protests); helped promote ACA enrollment; lobbied the FCC not to change Net Neutrality rules and urged members to support Automatic Voter Registration bills in the state legislature; delivered postcards and holiday cookies to our state legislators; selected a fourth congressional candidate to support, Amy McGrath KY6; and created a video showcasing our many activities in 2017.
JANUARY 2018 - We held candidates nights featuring the three Democratic candidates running for Governor; wrote postcards to voters for Conor Lamb, who's running in the special congressional election in PA18; partnered with Lexington's First Parish Church to discuss Daring Democracy; held a workshop on techniques to support congressional campaigns and a focus group for the Resistance School; participated in the Women’s March on the Cambridge Common and the Lobby Day for Automatic Voter Registration at the State House; and met with State Senator Barrett about Senate Bill S. 365 and with Congresswoman Katherine Clark about a variety of issues.
FEBRUARY 2018 - We held a breakfast fundraiser for Mikie Sherrill (NJ11) featuring special guest MA Attorney General Maura Healey; attended the #TrumpTax Town Hall in Cambridge featuring House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and MA MoCs Mike Capuano and Katherine Clark; and celebrated our birthday!