Sara Horan and Bill Davis – NWSOFA Chapter Co-Leads
REMEMBERANCE
Last month we held our monthly Climate Change Team Meeting in honor of Marge Frens, our team lead and dear friend, who passed away unexpectedly last week. We treasure the time we worked alongside her to save our planet, her gift of friendship, her inspiring leadership, her unending energy, and her love of life. She will be so missed, but we must continue to do the work she dedicated her life to, in order to make all lives better. Thank you , Marge for all you gave to us and may we pay it forward in your honor and save our planet together.
With love, @NWSOFA and @OFA.
Her Climate Change team is continuing the Mayors for 100% project with Sierra Club. Tim Milburn, executive board of Sierra, compiled an incredible tool kit for working with each community’s elected officials on Sustainability. We are starting to form teams for Palatine, Arlington Hts, Mt. Prospect and Northbrook. Please email Sara Horan at sarahoran2002@yahoo.com if you would like to join.
We all are impacted by Hurricane Harvey and hope you can help in any way you can. President Obama tweeted this as one way-Thank you to all the first responders and people helping each other out. That’s what we do as Americans. Here’s one way you can help now.
Barack Obama added:
Help those affected by #HurricaneHarvey. Visit http://redcross.org , call 1-800-RED CROSS or text HARVEY to 90999 to make a $10 donation.Dream BIG and we can make BIG things happen!
Join the NWSOFA Team as we protect the gains we made
over the last 8 years and move our
Progressive social issues forward in 2017 … Sara & Bill
Sign up now—->
Coming in AUGUST
AT A GLANCE
OUR UPCOMING EVENTS FOR SEPTEMBER:
Click on image above to link to calendar
SWW Film Event ~ “Equal Means Equal”
September 5 @ 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm
Partner Event: CB-IL6 Summer Canvass September 9-10
Partner Event: A Lesson little Donny never learned September 14, 7 PM
Partner Event: Election Integrity Conference 2017 September 16 10 AM – 3:30 PM
Funding and outreach for the Affordable Care Act has been cut.
We’re using the power of the Indivisible Movement and its supporters and friends to help spread the word about the open enrollment period so that more people have a chance to access affordable health insurance on the federal and state exchanges for 2018.
Support Indivisible ACA Signup Project in sharing this message.
CBIL6 SUMMER CANVASS
Join us for the Coalition for a Better Illinois 6th’s Summer Canvass. We have knocked on over 6,298 doors so far this summer!
September 9th and 10th will mark the last days of our Summer Canvass. Lets go out with a bang and make this weekend the largest yet. Our goal is to recruit 100 canvassers district wide for this canvass. We also want to make this a friendly competition between the Northern (Arlington Heights), Southern (Downers Grove) offices in the district and well as between groups. Right now the north is less than 25% of the district but is winning in total knocks. Please spread the word to your membership about this big weekend of action. The winning region and winning group will receive an award.
We will continue:
speaking to people who share our values and who voted in the 2016 Presidential Race but did not come out to vote in 2014
asking about what issues matter to voters
educating them on how their elected officials voted on those issues
encouraging them to participate in the democratic process
letting them know that the next elections will be in 2018
leaving behind information on voting by mail
registering anyone else in the household who is not registered to vote
conducting follow up to keep these people informed
IL-6th North
SEPTEMBER 9th and 10th
1310 West Northwest Highway, Arlington Heights, IL 60004
The Palatine Area and Arlington Heights Area League of Women Voters Chapters in Partnership with the Harper College Student Government Association will be presenting the program:he program includes a presentation on Running for Office and Campaign Management followed by a panel discussion. The panel consists of people who have run for local office or local managed campaigns.
Indivisible DuPage is hosting a leadership training event titled Indivisible Leadership Training In the Suburbs. The training session is open to all Resistance group leaders.
Indivisible Leadership Training in the Suburbs
This training session is designed for leaders and emerging leaders interested in Indivisible training.
All groups are welcome! Leaders from Indivisible will be leading workshops on recruitment, sustaining engagement, leadership development, and partnerships. We will also discuss social media best practices and have built in opportunities for discussions among group leaders.
Sign in from 12:30 to 1:00. We will promptly begin at 1:00. RSVP no later than end of day September 8. For more info contact ericabrayparker@gmail.com .
Consider what you would do if your child lied an average of 5 times per day for the past seven months. Speaking personally, I would worry that my child had a serious personality disorder and was totally lacking any moral compass.
Well this is where we stand with our President. The Washington Post tracks his false statements and we are at approximately 1100 since his inauguration.
Besides actively seeking to mislead the people he swore to protect (not sure if his oath was included in the tally), he has also been active in undoing dozens of rules, policies, and tools that are critical to the public’s health, safety, and prosperity. Many of these changes fall into the area that we are focused, the environment (see list).
Please join us for an important meeting where we will be discussing our Group’s strategy in reaction to the horrendous efforts by the Trump administration to undo significant environmental protections. Since we have lost leadership at the national level on these issues, we need to change our focus to local government and work to offset the damage. As is happening all over the country, communities are establishing their own goals to protect the climate, air, water, wildlife, public lands, and more.
We will review recent events and briefly present a process roadmap for local grassroots groups to define, develop and launch sustainability strategies within and with their communities. This will be a very interactive gathering. Your input is needed to assist us in defining our priorities and then in execution. No matter what your interest and skills, there will be areas in which you can help.
Peter Gorr, Co-Chair
We have experienced record breaking numbers of new members joining Sierra Club but simply joining the Club is not enough. We need you to help. We will present the active Committees that we have and how you can play a part. Please come and meet us, offer your ideas and input, and help us move forward.
LET”S TEACH LITTLE DONNY RIGHT FROM WRONG.
Free and open to the public, light refreshments served.
Donald Trump warned of a 2016 rigged election. Was he right? In his 2016 article for ABC cyber security expert Richard Clarke states that all computer systems can be hacked whether they are in the private or the public sector. Former CIA Director James Woolsey warns that our computerized election systems are indeed vulnerable to malicious hacking.
See what you can do to help secure the vote!
It’s also a great opportunity to ask your Rep and Senator to secure OUR vote and YOUR ballot for the 2018 election!
SPEAKERS: Bob Fitrakis, Mark Crispin Miller and Jonathan Simon
The GVP Issues team has been working for over four years keep the conversation about gun violence going forward to take action to change our laws with the goal of creating safer communities for everyone, including our law enforcement officers, in our state and nation. We hold 90 minute planning meetings typically (some exceptions) on the 3rd Thursday of each month at 6:30 pm. If you are interested in working to reduce gun violence in America, we invite you to our next meeting. Registration is preferred as seating is sometimes limited.
Come join us at the September 18th meeting of the NWSOFA Fiscal and Economic Issues group at the Northwest Suburbs Dems office at 1310 West Northwest Highway. Get the facts about the economic recovery nationally and the status of ongoing appropriations challenges at both the state and national level. With the end of federal fiscal year on September 30th, we will be taking an extra look at:
the need to raise the debt ceiling to avoid potential default;
the need to pass appropriations (or at least continuing resolutions) to fund the government after September 30th to avoid a partial government shutdown;
what is in the then current FY 2018 budget proposals, including additional funding because of Hurricane Harvey; and
OFA Day of Action on September 20th regarding federal budget issues
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The U.S. has added about 2.1 million jobs nationally in the last 12 months (through August 2017). In August the (U-3) unemployment rate was at 4.4%, while the U-6 rate was 8.6%. The U-6 rate is down from a high of 17.1% during the downturn and is close to the 8.4% rate in the fall of 2007 before the Great Recession of December 2007 to June 2009.
Illinois has a budget for fiscal year 2018, which began July 1st. School funding (a revised SB 1) was agreed to this past week. The jobs report for Illinois shows job gains for 2017 through July of 27,700. For the 12 months ending July 2017 Illinois reported job growth of 33,200
Bring your articles and other topics. Come join us for some exciting discussions.
Then come join us for continued discussions at Eddie’s after 9:30 pm. While OFA may not be political, we can discuss the politics of what is happening now at Lou’s.
The Palatine Area and Arlington Heights Area League of Women Voters Chapters in Partnership with the Harper College Student Government Association will be presenting the program:he program includes a presentation on Running for Office and Campaign Management followed by a panel discussion. The panel consists of people who have run for local office or local managed campaigns.
Become an OFA community engagement fellow this fall
OFA supporters are change-makers. We’re bold. We speak out for progress. And we fight for change by getting organized. Right now, we need folks like you-smart, passionate people-more than ever. Whether you’re new to organizing or just need to brush up on your skills, the Community Engagement Fellowship equips organizers of all levels with the tools and training to successfully run events that bring communities together around important issues.
For six weeks, fellows learn from experienced organizers and trainers through weekly webinars. Fellows get a deep dive into the theory of change behind community organizing, then work side-by-side with experienced community organizers where they live.
Throughout the program, fellows are challenged to build community relationships, develop fundamental organizing skills, and explore their leadership potential.
What you’ll do as a community engagement fellow:
-Attend the fellows onboarding in your area -Attend weekly webinars every Wednesday at 7:30 pm CT from September 27 to November 1 -Complete weekly assignments after each webinar -Work with your fellows manager to execute a community engagement eventApplication process and timeline:
Application deadline: Tuesday, September 12, 2017 Acceptance date: Tuesday, September 19, 2017 Program onboarding training: Saturday, September 23, 2017
The OFA Community Engagement Fellowship is unpaid, is primarily for educational and training purposes, and is not expected to lead to an offer of permanent employment.
ILLINOIS SOAR TOUR 2017
A NWSOFA COALITION PARTNERS EVENT
Wonder what it is like to be powered by your own residential Solar System? In October we plan to tour some of the many homes and small businesses in the area that have done just than.
Free and open to the public.
Complete information at ISEA website. Click on logo above for link.
Saturday, October 7th
If you cannot make the tour or want to dive deeper into the subject, Sierra Club member and Solar Ambassador Peter Gorr will be presenting “Powering Your Home with the Sun” September 17 and October 10th. Contact Peter Gorr for details.
IN THE BOOKS: RECENT EVENTS
“IN THE BOOKS”: Our recent Events
Partner Event: CB-IL6 Summer Canvass August Weekends
“Hope is not blind optimism. Hope is that thing inside us that insists, despite all evidence to the contrary, that something better awaits us if we have the courage to reach for it, and to work for it, and to fight for it.” President Barack Obama
Thank You to our NWSOFA Issue Leads in 2015
Click on the above Image to see each lead and the issues they work on .._
