Image: Childcare voters Elena, Jahanna, Charlotte, Marco, Karla, Lindsay, and Santwoine
October has flown by! This month, we’ve got updates about:
🍉 Scenario planning for post-election organizing conditions: Not Another Bomb, No Matter What!
🐺 The official launch of Duluth Tenants
👶 Childcare voters organizing to hold candidates accountable to action
🚸 Choosing your school board candidates
🌟 And more!
Whether you’re a member of a TakeAction team or part of our general membership, we’re glad you’re here. Welcome to the second edition of our member newsletter!
Let’s dive in.
We’re preparing to: Continue organizing for peace
2 reflections from our first election scenario-planning workshop: Not Another Bomb, No Matter What.
- In the movement, scenario planning is a tool used to prepare for changes in our organizing conditions. Voters will elect Trump or Kamala in November. No matter the outcome, we are certain that political uncertainty, chaos, crisis, and violence will continue. Thinking through the possibilities sets us up to navigate what’s ahead with clear eyes so we can keep pushing toward our goal: to end the genocide of Palestinian people and put our resources into life, not bombs.
- In the workshop, we unpacked a scenario in which Trump takes office. We talked through how different groups would respond – from Trump himself to the DFL party and college students organizing their peers. Regardless of the tactics each group chose, it’s clear that to push back against fascism and organize for peace, we need to organize collectively across our differences. That way, we can avoid taking a piecemeal approach and build the power we need to fight back.
💻 Join our next virtual scenario planning workshop this Sunday, October 27 from 10-11:30am. Register now.
✅ Make your plan to vote by November 5. Use our Busy Voter’s Guide to check your registration, find your polling place, and more. Make sure your loved ones have a plan, too.
We’re making moves: Timely team updates and calls to action
🐺 Join the pack! Be part of the Duluth Tenants launch on Oct 30
For over a year, members of Duluth Tenants have been building a base of Duluth renters determined and ready to fight for a welcoming city where everyone – renter or homeowner – can have a safe, stable home. Now, more Duluthians are joining the pack. Be part of our launch on Wednesday, October 30 at 5:30pm at Duluth City Hall.
🍇 Snack time actions: Tell candidates you’re a childcare voter
This election season, MN United Parents is showing candidates we expect action on childcare. Take 2 minutes (snack time is a great time!) to send us a recent photo of you with your family or snap a selfie. We’ll post on TakeAction socials and tag your elected officials. More than half of the people we’ve reached out to this month have pledged to be childcare voters, dozens of families have sent us photos, and 30 and counting candidates have taken the MN United Parents Child Care Champion Pledge.
🎸 TCUP Presents: No Spooky Futures GOTV Show
Join Twin Cities United Performers and our Youth Organizers team to make your voting plan, celebrate the win of voter pre-registration for 16- and 17-year-olds, and rock out to music by our headliner, Early Eyes, and three high school bands, Makeshift, Chameleon, and Finick.
We’re chatting with: Sharmarke Hussein, MN United Parents
What team are you part of, and what are you trying to win? I’m a member of MN United Parents. We’re organizing for universal childcare to alleviate stress on parents and ensure we can keep our kids safe without breaking the bank or losing our jobs.
What’s one thing you’ve learned about yourself since you started organizing? Before I joined TakeAction, I felt demotivated by politics. I don’t feel that way anymore. Being around other people with the same values motivates me to keep pushing forward. I feel more of a sense of control over my life, and I can see that I don’t have all the power, but I can work toward gaining more with other parents.
How can folks build power and act with your team right now? Check out the childcare voter action above – snap a selfie or send a recent picture of you and your family to TakeAction to share on social media, tagging your elected officials.
We’re learning about: School Board races
You’re not the only one who’s gotten to the polls and realized you forgot to research school board candidates. Plus, in nonpartisan races, it can be tough to figure out which candidates align with your values.
👉 Use our school board voter guide to see our endorsed candidates and know what to look for in a candidate versus BIG red flags.
Our takeaway: You can tell a lot about a candidate by digging into their rhetoric on supporting unions; ensuring public money is spent on our kids – not private contracts or charter schools; and protecting our kids’ freedom to learn about race, gender, sexual orientation, and our nation’s history.
We’re moved by: This story on the Uncommitted Movement and Abbas Alawieh from This American Life
This is so worth listening to. Follow Uncommitted delegate Abbas Alawieh during the Democratic National Convention, as he and other leaders of the Uncommitted Movement try to leverage their power and the collective power of Uncommitted voters in Michigan and beyond to save lives, push Harris to do the right thing, and stop another Trump presidency.
And that’s a wrap!
How was your October? Let us know!
More soon,
Laura Kiernan (she/her)
Member Organizer
Laura Proescholdt (she/her)
Digital Strategist
