MI Accomplishments
This page highlights some of the things we accomplished during our first year. Whether you're a longtime member who attended our first meeting or someone who just joined us, we hope you'll find things here that intrigue you, surprise you, and encourage you to join us in creating many new accomplishments.
Our founders (Michelle, Pete, Karolyn, and Joe) held Minuteman Indivisible's first meeting on a cold February night in 2017. They expected perhaps 25 or 30 people might attend, but 80 showed up!
Our founders (Michelle, Pete, Karolyn, and Joe) held Minuteman Indivisible's first meeting on a cold February night in 2017. They expected perhaps 25 or 30 people might attend, but 80 showed up!
All that enthusiasm and talent translated into a running start - within two weeks, the group had crafted a mission statement and logo; compiled a mailing list and sent out a survey; set up a website, Facebook page, closed Facebook group, Twitter account, and Slack workspace; and started organizing events. Since then, we've grown from that initial group of 80 to over 360 members who hail from more than 25 towns including Lexington, Arlington, Belmont, Bedford, Burlington, Waltham, Winchester, Woburn, Lincoln, Concord, Sudbury, Wayland, Framingham, Maynard, Acton, Billerica, Medford, Reading, Stoneham, Somerville, Watertown, Wellesley, Weston, Brookline, and Boston.
After that first meeting, 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 the website for more information on any of the activities described below.
Spring 2017
MARCH - 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.
Spring 2017
MARCH - 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 - 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 - 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 - 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.
JUNE - 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 - 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 - 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 accountto our social media feeds.
Fall 2017
SEPTEMBER - 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
SEPTEMBER - 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 - 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 - 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 - 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.
DECEMBER - 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 - 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 - 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!
