People Power.
What do these words mean to you?
At Rights & Democracy, people power is fused into all that we do: From organizing rallies at the State House or community meetings in living rooms throughout the Green Mountain State.
To both bring 2019 to a close and kick off 2020 with the energy required to make the change we want to see in the world, we’re asking you to join us as part of RAD People Power Week to recruit five of their friends and neighbors to join RAD as monthly, dues-paying members.
Today marks the start of RAD People Power Week, a weeklong effort to connect with members, and recruit new ones, to help us build a sustainable funding base for all of our important community work.
Here’s where you can sign up to help us build true People Power—as we work toward a goal of raising $50,000 before the end of the year!
With your help, we can make 2020 the year when people power truly drives change toward a more just and equitable world—for each other and the planet.
In 2019, our members helped us to accomplish quite a bit in Vermont. Here’s a sample:
- We led the coalition calling for the legislature to increase the state’s minimum wage to a livable wage – something that didn’t happen by the end of the session but is well primed to happen in the first weeks of this new session and bring a much-needed raise for thousands of families throughout Vermont.
- We engaged thousands of Vermonters by, once again, helping to organize the annual Women’s March in Montpelier, an incredibly joyful, and historic, inaugural Pride Parade in Bennington, and in solidarity with labor unions and other progressive groups we protest the appearance of Koch Brothers-aligned Scott Walker, the former governor of Wisconsin, at a Vermont GOP fundraiser.
- We hired new staff to help us build, restart, and expand member-led chapters in Chittenden, Addison, Bennington, and Rutland as part of our long-term strategy to build true people power throughout Vermont—including parts of the state often forgotten by the power brokers in Burlington and Montpelier.
- We hosted environmentalist and author Bill McKibben for a powerful discussion about the potential that a Green Mountain New Deal could have for our rural communities as we prepare for a just transition to a clean, and green, future.
- We hosted US Rep Pramila Jayapal for an engaging, and emotional, discussion with RAD leaders and Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman about her Medicare for All proposal that she introduced in Congress.
What will 2020 bring?
With your support, and the support of your friends and neighbors, together we can ensure make sure that when people say “People Power” in New Hampshire that what they will picture is all of us, together, making the world a better place. Making it a bit more RAD.
Here’s that link again where you can sign up to help. Someone from RAD will be in touch.
If you’re not already, become a sustaining member by making a monthly donation—even at $5 a month if that works for you—and we support a truly people-powered movement.
Alison Nihart & Amy Hathaway, co-chairs, Board of Directors
Rights & Democracy