Building the world we want
These past weeks have been devastating — from white supremacist attacks in every shape and form to the assault of the trans community, from widespread voter suppression to the ever-growing anti-immigrant fearmongering.
But we can’t be demobilized. We can’t afford paralysis. And we can’t limit our work to resisting; we need our fights to add up to something beyond it. We need to wage struggles for real and concrete improvements inall of our communities.
These past weeks have also held glimpses of the world we’re working to build — ordinary people leaping into action for the first time, members and allies working at every level from organizing to phone-banking to fundraising to advance our vision for immigration justice, and celebrations filled with love, food, and costume contests, too. We hope this newsletter can shine a light on some of the immense hope and potential that lies with the people power that we collectively hold.
The stakes of the upcoming election cannot be underestimated. With every federal and state position from congressional representative to governor to each state senator and assemblymember up for election, we know that the future of New York will be shaped by the results of November 6th.
That’s why we joined the New York Immigration Coalition’s non-partisan Immigrants Vote! Campaign in July. We registered over 1,000 new voters and are making thousands of calls and texts to increase voter turnout, to make these elections more representative of our communities, and to ensure that our needs are addressed.
We still have 10,000 calls and texts to make. Will you help us cross the finish line?
We’ve made a guide so that you can start making phone calls from wherever you are, which you can find at tiny.cc/GOTVwithNLMHmanual. AND we have in-person volunteer sessions going all week long, which you can RSVP to at tiny.cc/NLMHgotv.
We started our fight for municipal IDs in Middletown. We have mobilized hundreds of members and allies to city council meetings over the past year. We’ve worked with the mayor and city council members to ensure the legislation met the same gold standard for municipal ID card programs as Poughkeepsie’s. Our members have stepped up — and their kids have too. Angel, the seven-year-old child of our member-leaders Paulina and Victor, made a public comment at a recent city council meeting that compelled the aldermen to act with greater urgency.
We finally have the vote on the Middletown Municipal ID on Monday, November 5th at 7:30 pm. To ensure a victory, we know we’ll need as many of our people there with us as we can get. Will you join us?
Our fight for a Kingston municipal ID is one of our youngest — but we’re getting close to winning!
We have shown up meeting after meeting since we launched the campaign at our Families Belong Together Rally on June 30th. We’ve presented to the Kingston Business Alliance to garner support for the ID and interest businesses in providing discounts attached to it. We’ve advanced the legislation through the Laws and Rules Committee, and won a resolution committing the city council to pass the legislation in the near future.
Now, we’re just a couple meetings away from making the Kingston Municipal ID a reality. Stay tuned for how you can advance our campaign over the coming weeks!
On September 29th, we celebrated the hiring of our newest organizer, Diana, and the opening of our Kingston office. Over 100 members, partners, and allies welcomed us to the neighborhood while raising money for the Green Light New York campaign to win driver’s licenses for all. You can check out the photos here.
We’ve doubled in size over the past year: we’ve grown to a team of six staff, three offices, and hundreds of members and volunteers. So, naturally, we’re doubling our end-of-year fundraising goal.
We’re aiming to raise $100,000 between November 27th and December 3rd to win policies that will prevent deportations and keep thousands of families together in the Hudson Valley and across New York State — and we’ll need your support. Here’s how you can make this happen:
- Set a reminder to donate and start us off strong on #GivingTuesday
- Learn about joining our fundraising team
- Sign up to provide a day match of $500 or more
Thank you for fighting back with us and thank you for moving forward with us.
