 NEWSLETTER and CALENDAR MAY 2020 YEAH, US TOO.There are lots of reasons to feel unusual in this age of COVID-19. Your worlds are probably as shaken up-side-down as ours. Being caged at home is also a drag but keep in mind that staying home is STAYING SAFE. And if you look around, there’s still lots of good news – sometimes its buried under all the other news — but look for it. Try https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/ Americans are helping and encouraging each other like never before. After all, we’re all in this together. Check out our “Volunteers on the Move” near the bottom of our newsletter. May is National Mental Health Month – There are ways to reach out, if you’re feeling overwhelmed. Go to your county health department at:KANE County Department of Public HealthLAKE County Department of Public HealthCook County Department of Public Health Go to google HERE to find some resources, These sites also have up-to-date Covid-19 statistics but try not to dwell on the negative. Feel Free to read below about the things our organization is doing to make things better. GET INFORMED AND GET INVOLVED TOO! You’ll feel better about yourself and your world….up-side-down or not. Chris Kious, Sara Horan, Bill Davis, Kathy Carter and all the NWSOFA-Indivisible Leadership and members.Contact us at nwsofa.org/contact-us/ and see our calendar of events at nwsofa.org/calendarYOUR HANDS HAVE NEVER BEEN CLEANER!YOUR MOM WOULD BE SO PROUD!  Keep washing your hands — regularly — for 20 seconds each time! Soap kills the virus but it takes time. We’re not nagging…..just reminding you.Click here for ways to help lower the curve of COVID-19SNWSOFA – INDIVISIBLE REMINDER!THE CENSUS CONTINUES! Fill out your 2020 Questionair:The count has been delayed but we can catch up.It’s quick, safe, secure, and confidential.Help us collect the federal funds our schools, roads, and public need & Save our Congressional seats.CLICK HERE to fill out your U.S. CENSUSUPCOMING SCHEDULED EVENTS FOR May 2020May 14 – May 31 NWSOFA Indivisible Partner Action: JOIN OUR #VoteGunSafety2020 TEAM!May 14 NWSOFA – INDIVISIBLE Partner Event: Reforming Democracy in the Age of Covid-19 with Prof. Lawrence Lessig @ 5:30 pm – 6:00 pm ESTMAY 14 – NWSOFA Indivisible Partner Event: The NWCC Sierra Club group and League of Women Voters presents “Pollution Solutions!” 7 – 9:00 PMMAY 15, 22 & 29 – NWSOFA Indivisible HAPPY HOUR 5 PMMAY 19 – NWSOFA Indivisible Restore Our Democracy Vote by Mail Presentation 6 PMMAY 19 – NWSOFA Indivisible Fiscal Monthly Virtual Meeting 7 – 9 PMMAY 20 -NWSOFA Indivisible Partner Event: National Safe Gun Storage Forum @ 6:00 pm – 7:00 pmMAY 21 – Gun Violence Prevention Monthly Meeting 7 PMMay 28 NWSOFA Indivisible Partner Event: Dr. Keeling’s Curve Video Presentation@ 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm“Coffee & Conversation” with NWSOFA Every Monday- Friday @ 9:00 AM   Start your mornings off with Coffee and Conversations with the Northwest Suburbs Organizing for Action – An Indivisible Chapter. Join us, bring your favorite coffee, tea and /or snack and your smile. There will be no agenda so we will use the time to reconnect .. Open Mic .. all are welcomeClick here for the Link to join Coffee and Conversation @ 9 am M-Fjoin the meeting .. https://meetingsamer10.webex.com/join/ofa.nws NWSOFA – INDIVISIBLE HAPPY HOUR!May 15, 22, 29 @ 5:00 PM  JUST FOR FUN, join us every Friday at 5:00 PM for our weekly “Friday Happy Hour”. Join us, bring your favorite beverage and your smile. There will be no agenda so we will use the time to reconnect and refresh.Click here for the Link to join the meeting n on Friday @ 5pm ..join the meeting .. https://meetingsamer10.webex.com/join/ofa.nws NWSOFA – INDIVISIBLE Partner Events: “Takeout Tuesdays”Help local restaurants by ordering takeout–to make this An Event, we’ll all post pics of our takeout on Tuesdays! We’re doing this until Election Day! We are partnering to help local restaurants with GPAD .. POST PICS on the NWSOFA Facebook Pages and /or GPAD Facebook pages.. We’re All In This Together.  NWSOFA Indivisible Partner Action: JOIN OUR #VoteGunSafety2020 TEAM!ALL MONTH LONG!May 12 – May 31 JOIN OUR #VoteGunSafety2020 TEAM!We will be making congressional endorsements for 2020. CLICK HERE to sign up to join the Newtown Action Alliance 2020 Endorsement Team. We are looking for volunteers from the 50 states to join our volunteer team to research, write and share our endorsements. We would love to have you on our team. If you have not done so yet, please sign up HEREto volunteer in the get out the vote (GOTV) efforts via #Turnout2020! Our goal is to reduce gun deaths by 50% in 10 years. Since the Sandy Hook tragedy, we have worked to change the conversation, change the culture and change the laws to #EndGunViolence in America. For the last seven+ years, we have been tirelessly advocating for a set of strong comprehensive policies to end all forms of gun violence and over 100 federal gun control laws have been written and introduced in the 116th Congress.In 2018, we elected a gun safety majority in the House of Representatives and one year ago, the House passed two background check bills on a bipartisan basis. However, Mitch McConnell, Donald Trump and their NRA allies in the Senate have blocked these bills that are supported by over 90% of Americans. It’s crystal clear. We will not be able to pass crucial life-saving gun control legislation unless we elect a gun safety President, maintain a majority in the U.S. House of Representatives and win a majority in the U.S. Senate on November 3rd. We are proud to partner with #Turnout2020 to elect a gun safety majority. We must GOTV in key swing states for gun safety and other issues that impact our lives. #Turnout2020, funded by the Progressive Turnout Project, is a phone program to drive voter turnout in key Senate and Presidential battleground states. Volunteers — particularly those who don’t live near swing states — will be able to make phone calls to voters identified as likely to benefit from a social nudge by a fellow voter. We are helping to recruit volunteers for #Turnout2020. #Turnout2020’s phone banks will consist of individual volunteers making GOTV from the comfort of their homes or with virtual groups to make calls together. Callers will be speaking with infrequent voters in the states we need to win, including Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Iowa, Maine, Florida, and North Carolina. Callers will be directed to the races, states and voters that are most important. We don’t need millions of dollars to get out the vote. We need you! Please sign up today to make phone calls. Thank you so much for your support! Sincerely,-Newtown Action Alliance#VoteGunSafety2020RSVPNWSOFA – INDIVISIBLE Partner Event:Reforming Democracy in the Age of Covid-19with Prof. Lawrence Lessig  Lawrence Lessig is:the Roy L. Furman Professor of Law and Leadership at Harvard Law Schoolthe founder of EqualCitizens a founding board member of Creative CommonsCited by The New Yorker as “the most important thinker on intellectual property in the Internet era,”Professor Lessig has focused much of his career on law and technology, especially as it affects copyright. His current work addresses: “institutional corruption”—relationships which, while legal, weaken public trust in an institution—especially as that affects democracy. His authored books include:They Don’t Represent Us: Reclaiming Our Democracy (November 2019),Fidelity & Constraint: How the Supreme Court Has Read the American Constitution (May 2019) America, Compromised (2018). He holds a BA in economics and a BS in management from the University of Pennsylvania, an MA in philosophy from Cambridge University, and a JD from Yale. Please join us and Prof. Lessig for a live YouTube session moderated by Adlai E. Stevenson High School senior Victor Shi.Click here for more Info or to RSVPNWSOFA – INDIVISIBLE Partner Event: The NWCC Sierra Club group and League of Women Voters presents:  RSVPNWSOFA – INDIVISIBLE Restore Our Democracy Teamfor a Virtual Presentation: “Vote By Mail”withGuest Speaker Rose ColacinoMAY 19 @ 6:00 pm  The November 3 election may be the most important election of our life time. We need to move to all vote-by-mail for the November 3 election. We need to make voters aware of how easy it is to vote-by-mail — just in case the Covid19 virus returns this fall. We need to make sure that every registered voter can vote safely — without concern about contracting this COVID-19. We need to make sure no one is disenfranchised due to fear. This will be a 45 minute meeting with a 30 minute presentation. Please signing up for this important virtual presentation. Rose Colacino is the Integrity & Security Voters’ Rights Lead for Indivisible Illinois.RSVPNWSOFA – INDIVISIBLE Fiscal and Economic Issue Team MeetingOn-Line NWSOFA Webex Virtual Presentation May 19 @ 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm  This will be our 3rd virtual meeting. Shorter commuting time for all, but missing the Oreo’s and other snacks at the meetings and the beers after the meetings.We continue to live in interesting times. Over 55,000 Americans have died from Covid-19 and millions are filing new unemployment claims each week–over 30 million since the beginning of March. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) April employment report to be released May 8th should reflect much of those losses, although the May report to be issued in June will probably reflect a further decline. We will be discussing the information from the BLS at this virtual meeting. To offset those job losses, federal, state, and local governments have enacted assistance programs–over $2 trillion at the federal level alone. These are designed to assist both people that have lost jobs and companies that have lost customers. We will update what assistance has been enacted and their forecast effect on the economy and the projected fiscal year (FY) 2020 and 2021 budget deficits. We will also be discussing other economic releases and forecasts. We note that all forecasts are educated guesses and are dependent on the actions being taken by the various levels of government to reduce the harm of the virus and how the virus behaves. It looks like the number of new infections and deaths have started to level out. Hopefully the lifting of restrictions won’t lead to another increase in infections and deaths as this would likely lead to a reinstatement of restrictions. Come join us online and contribute to these discussions. NWSOFA posts videos of past meeting on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=nwsofa The March meeting videos should be up by sometime next weekRSVPNWSOFA Inivisible Partner Event: with the Newtown Action Committee Hosts:National Safe Gun Storage Forum May 20 @ 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm  RSVPNWSOFA – INDIVISIBLE Gun Violence Prevention Issues Team Planning MeetingMAY 21 @ 7:00 pm – 8:00 pm  Because of Newtown in 2012 and more than ever before, because of Parkland in 2018, the NWSOFA GVP Issues group, currently in its eighth year, has re-committed itself to become relentless advocates of change and action. We are determined to change the conversation surrounding gun violence in America, change the hearts of people we encounter through a spirit of volunteerism and kindness and take action to change the laws to create safer communities for every family in America. The GVP Issue team educates by having periodic informational meetings, collaborates with coalition non-partisan groups, such as local faith communities and Moms Demand Action and takes action by supporting the efforts of our youth and March for Our Lives and by recruiting legislators to build support for commonsense gun violence prevention legislation. In addition, our GVP Team celebrates the success that has been achieved in America – because of Parkland – in changing the conversation around gun violence prevention. We also celebrate the fact that Gov. Pritzker signed, in January 2019, the law that requires a certification process for gun dealers in Illinois. We know from the research that this law will definitely help to save lives, including the lives of our police officers. And we continue to work to strengthen background checks and raise community awareness through hosting vigils, using social media, writing letters to the editor and handing out fliers. Until our days of social distancing are over, we will hold one hour video conference meetings on the 3rd Thursday of the month. Registration is required to receive a link and password to join the meeting since the “seating” on Zoom is limited to 100. Please join us – together we can make a difference in creating safer communities for all Americans.RSVPNWSOFA Indivisible Partner Event: Dr. Keeling’s Curve Video Presentation May 28 @ 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm  We will show a video presentation of “Dr. Keeling’s Curve” featuring actor Mike Farrell, formerly of the MASH television show. Dr. David Keeling was a scientist who figured out how to measure atmospheric CO2 and call attention the problem it was affect on the world’s climate.Click here .. leave a comment for Mark Lundholm, NWSOFA Climate Change Lead in our comment form:RSVPNWSOFA – INDIVISIBLE Volunteers on the MoveUpdate on Continuing Efforts  NWSOFA Volunteer Notes: Chris Kious has been delivering meals to Kids at Risk for the Dundee Township Boys and Girls Club. He’s up to nearly 1000 delivered this Spring. You can help by donating at https://www.bgcdt.org/give/donation/ Christine Heerman is printing of masks and face shields on her 3D printer at home and donating them to local hospitals. Terri Klowden our SWW Lead is making Masks and donating them to local hospitals. On-line Training … Joyce Slavik has agreed to be our webex / zoom online trainer for our leads who may be struggling to connect or who can connect for a meeting but unsure how to run a meeting .. Joyce is available Nights and weekends. Click here .. leave a comment in our comment form – and add your name to Help out NWSOFA – INDIVISIBLE NWSOFA YouTube Channel Update on Continuing Efforts  NWSOFA YouTube ChannelNWSOFA Youtube .. now with March’s CC and Fiscal meetings video recaps available .. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiw8EhKA-e2l3_gM9FVYX2g Click here .. leave a comment for YouTube Channel team in our comment form:NWSOFA – INDIVISIBLE Flipboard Magazines Update on Continuing Efforts  NWSOFA Flipboard MagazinesNWSOFA 9 “on-line” Flipboard Magazines are available on social justice, bigotry, gun violence prevention, climate change, healthcare, immigration, gerrymandering, fiscal & economics, social justice reform, stand with women, I’ll send post it on the newsletter. Check out NWSOFA Progressive magazines and follow me on Flipboard for more stories.Click here for all NWSOFA Progressive Flipboard magazines (collections of News articles organized by subject .. Click here if you would like to be an article contributor .. leave a comment for Progressive Flipboard team in our comment form:IN THE BOOKS-RECENT EVENTS APR 7 – NWSOFA Indivisible Partner Event: Team Casten Checking InAPR 11 – NWSOFA Indivisible HAPPY HOUR 5 PMAPR 16 – NWSOFA Indivisible Gun Violence Prevention Monthly Meeting 7 PMAPR 18 – NWSOFA Indivisible Cancelled/Rescheduled Partner Event: Sierra Club 50th Anniversary of Earth DayAPR 19 – NWSOFA Indivisible HAPPY HOUR 5 PMAPR 21 – NWSOFA Indivisible Fiscal Monthly MeetingAPR 25 – NWSOFA Indivisible HAPPY HOUR 5 PMAPR 28 – NWSOFA Indivisible Climate Change Meeting with Guest Speaker: Cam DavisAPR 30 – NWSOFA Indivisible Health Care Town HallMAY 7 – NWSOFA Indivisible Partner Event: ILGVP Digital Day of Action & Rally in Place CLICK HERE FOR PICTURES OF THESE EVENTS AND MORENotice: These are public meeting(s) / event(s) NWSOFA is a 501(c)4, non-partisan organization. All opinions are solely those of NWSOFA NWSOFA ORGANIZATION CHART NWSOFA Issue Leads 2019 |
