NWSOFA March 2016 Progressive Newsletter

02May 2016 by Kathy Carter

March, 2016


	Sara Horan _ Bill Davis Chapter Co-Leads

For NWSOFA March Came in like a Lion and we are NOT taking Weather,

OK, OK, You are most likely thinking, we are going to transition this to March Madness in the NBA, or the GOP and Dems Election Campaigns and toss a little Weather on for garnishes. NOPE.. this is all about March coming in like a Lion at NWSOFA. It’s about the Spirit of OFA. It’s about the Energy of OFA’ers. It’s about Commitment of the Northwest Suburbs, Organizing for Action, NWSOFA..

Do you realize your Progressive Issues Organization, NWSOFA, is Built to out-last political campaigns as we fight for those ISSUES that mean so much to poor and middle class today and for the future.

During the last year we were part of the massive effort to get the Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare) passed and the signing up of over 20 million folks and getting Marriage Equality in Illinois pasted. This last Month (February) we participated and held over 12 Events on Gun Violence Prevention, Climate Change, Immigration Reform, Diversity Outreach and College Outreaches. We addressed the growing Sexual Assaults on College-age Women, and our Fiscal and Economic team studied the BLS, CBO & the Illinois Budget Impasse and made their recommendations. While all this was going on, our Leadership team invested three days learning new organizing skills, On-boarded 10 new OFA Fellows out of 40+ applications, and found time to mount an aggressive “Do Your Job” SCOTUS petitions and call banks to Congress folks who might of forgotten “it’s their Constructionist Duty to Hold Fair and Timely Hearings once the President Puts Forth a Supreme Court Nomination”. This is what we do!

About this March .. Coming in like a LION… So far we have held two events, made several presentations to Colleges, met with our strategic alliance partners and the month is hardly even started. Our seven (7) Issue teams during this month will be holding meetings, discussion local actions, holding events and holding our legislatures accountable. Fun eh! Our Issue teams are working hard on your behalf. So, Please support their efforts by attending and joining one of our seven (7) issue focused teams.

It’s Time to get Up and Off the Couch or Your Favorite Easy Chair, Stop Yelling at the TV Cable Shows and Make a Difference.

Sara & Bill

NWSOFA is Action..

“One Voice Can Change a Room

– Together We Can Change the World”

Monthy Newsletter for Events

March 1st through March 31st

“Upcoming March Events”

NWSOFA’s Fiscal and Economic Issues Discussion Group to Meet

Monday March 7th

On Jobs, Deficit and Debt for the US and Illinois

Headlines for the Month

BLS Report 242,000 Jobs Created in February

while 30,000 + Jobs were added for the December & January revision

Learn the facts about the economic recovery nationally and the status of ongoing appropriations challenges at both the state and national level.

Arlington Heights Library

500 N. Dunton (2nd Floor Conf room “I”)

Excerpts from the Agenda:

We are back in Arlington Heights in March to discuss the Illinois and US economies and their respective fiscal situations.

Economic growth continues to be pretty good on the national level with 2.68 million jobs added in the last 12 months (through February. The fiscal situation is relatively stable with overall spending levels set through FY 2017. We will update job growth through February so we can discuss at the meeting.

On the other hand, Illinois is not doing as well. We have been operating without a budget since the beginning of the fiscal year last July 1st. This budget impasse appears to be killing job growth in Illinois.

This situation does not look like it will be resolved soon. Please bring your ideas for how we can help move this impasse to resolution.

The Illinois primaries are March 15th. While we won’t be arguing for particular candidates, we can discuss the potential fiscal and economic impact of their various policy proposals. I plan to have some articles to read at the meeting and will try to get links out to everyone before the meeting. I encourage others to bring articles reviewing the candidates policy positions to the meeting as well.

We have the library until about 9:30 pm. After the “official” meeting we will be heading over to Eddie’s on NW Highway to continue informal discussions. There the discussions can be more political re particular candidates. We encourage these political discussions outside of official OFA events.

Looking forward to a good group and some interesting discussions next month on the 7th.

To RSVP to Monday’s Fiscal & Economic Meeting at the Arlington Heights Library .. click Here:

NWSOFA’s Stand With Women Meeting

March 8th Monthly Meeting

(we meet in a private room just to the right of the front door when you walk in)

Focusing, Supporting & Empowering Women’s Rights

Join us as we Stand With Women (SWW)

– from expanding women’s leadership and economic security to protecting health care choices:

We want to hear what concerns people have so that we can formulate action around the

issues that matter most to everyone.

Discussion:

Main Discussion will be on the tital wave of sexual assaults

on college campuses

Why is this just now coming to light
1 out of every 4 College Student occurrence
What we can do about it

Please join us to plan actions centered around galvanizing the female vote for upcoming elections and opening up a dialogue about abuse.

To RSVP to the Stand With Women Meeting click Here:

Please attend the NWSOFA Thursday Night

Gun Violence Prevention Monthly Meeting

March 17th

6:30 pm – 8:30 pm

The Meeting location is to be announced.

When you RSVP, you will receive an acknowledgement and location for the meeting

upon our receiving your RSVP.

The GVP Issues Team has been working for the past two years to keep the conversation going about gun violence prevention and to take action to change our laws with the goal of creating safer communities for everyone in our state and our nation. We hold 90 minute planning meetings typically (some exceptions) on the third Thursday of each month at 6:30 pm. If you are interested in working to reduce gun violence in America, we invite you to join us at our next meeting.

It’s time to get involved .. as a nation we have been to silent .. for too long.

Join Us .. Learn what you can do.

This is an invitation only event… You will need to have an RSVP Acknowledgment to enter.

To RSVP to the February GVP Meeting ..click here!

NWSOFA

Comprehensive Immigration Reform And Diversity Outreach Teams

“Water for Flint”

The Team is doing “Water for Flint Michigan” collection

to send water in large containers / bottles to the undocumented in Flint.

To drop off water at the collection point .. please call the NWSOFA number and leave a message or leave your name, email and phone number here… to coordinate the drop offs.

NWSOFA

College Outreach Team, Will be Participating in the

Fifth Annual Harper College Human Services Conferenceon Friday, April 1st.

Stronger Growing Attendance with our College and High School Seniors deeply involved in the Planning..

Will be Participating at the 4/1 Conference @ Harper

The ever growing College Outreach team met at Harper College to plan for the spring. After getting in touch with the faculty adviser for the Human Resources club on campus we were able to make plans for connecting with students through participation in the Fifth Annual Harper College Human Services Conference

For more information Click on the image above

Questions? email rrgladstone@aol.com

or call 847-991-1863

“Partner February Events”

2016-2017 FAFSA Completion Workshops at Harper College

Applying for financial aid starts with completing the 2016-2017 Free Application for Federal STUDENT AID (FAFSA). Not sure where to start? Come to a FAFSA Completion Workshop and receive hands-on assistance with the application.

Be sure to review the General Eligibility Requirements for financial aid programs.

You will need specific information on hand when completing the FAFSA. See the Information You’ll Need.PDF

Dates and Times

Wednesday, March 9, 2016 6 – 8 p.m., Building I, Room I225

Assistance will be available in English and Spanish.

Current Event Discussion Groups

For those that like Politics

@ Maxfield’s Restaurant in Schaumburg..

Second Tuesday of every Month

Area to the Right when entering ……10 am to 12 noon

Arlington Heights Library

(meets at the AH Senior Center)

Every Thursday 10 am to 12 noon

For more information on various Current Events Click Here:

March & February Events in the Books!!!

NWSOFA Took to the Phones to:

Call out Members of Congress on their Opposition to Hold Fair and Timely Hearing once the President Puts Forth a Supreme Court Nomination on March 3rd

In Three Days we made ..

500 Calls on the SCOTUS into Chicago and the Burbs

++++ 500 Call to Wisconsin Urging them to call there Senators to:

“Do THEIR JOB”

Additional information regarding Supreme Court Vacancies:

* The President has a constitutional obligation to put forward a nominee, a duty that he intends to fulfill;

* The Senate has a constitutional obligation to provide that nominee with a fair hearing and a timely up or down vote, which some Senators have said they plan to ignore.

* On average, it has taken 67 days for a modern Supreme Court nominee to be confirmed by the Senate after being nominated – the longest has been 125 days.

* The President still has over 300 days remaining in office. There is plenty of time for the Senate to confirm a nominee, and any suggestion otherwise is just cynical, partisan obstructionism [and shows disrespect for the President].

NWSOFA’s College Outreach Team

Was Part of the Harper Community College Student Fair – 3/2/16

The College Outreach Team at the Harper Fair

Stronger Growing Attendance with our College and High School Seniors deeply involved in the Planning..

NWSOFA’s College Outreach Team was part Volunteer Fair on 3/2 @ Harper

The ever growing College Outreach team met at Harper College to plan for the spring. After getting in touch with the faculty advisor for the Human Resources club on campus we were able to make plans for connecting with students through participation in the Volunteer Fair, Resource Fair, being the featured speaker at the Human Resources Club, and showing the documentary film “Ivory Tower” on campus.

Questions? email rrgladstone@aol.com

or call 847-991-1863

NWSOFA Gun Violence Prevention Monthly Meeting Had a Venue Change But had a great Meeting

February 18th

Our Movement is growing …

NWSOFA Climate Change Team Planning Meeting had a full house on February 16th

Climate change is real, man-made, and happening now. The stakes are too high not to act.

THE IMPACTS

Ninety-seven percent of climate scientists agree: Man-made climate change is a reality. In early 2014, two landmark reports spelled out the reality of the challenge we face. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the National Climate Assessment both showed that, left unchecked, climate change has the potential to affect Americans everywhere-no matter where they live.

THE DETAILS

Every region of the United States is already experiencing the effects of climate change. If we don’t act to curb current global emissions, they could lead to a global temperature increase of over 4 degrees Celsius (7.2 degrees Fahrenheit) by 2100-a scenario widely considered a global catastrophe, contributing to extreme weather, food and water shortage, and global instability.

Join the team… If you believe we can change man’s response to Climate. This is a planning meeting. All types of subjects will be evaluated as we plan for the next 12 months.

Discussions Dealing with Climate Change demands, the Paris Accord, Climate Change Executive Orders and the Supreme Court for starters..

Focusing, Supporting & Empowering Women’s Rights

Join us as we Stand With Women (SWW)

– from expanding women’s leadership and economic security to protecting health care choices:

We want to hear what concerns people have so that we can formulate action around the

issues that matter most to everyone.

Discussion:

equal pay for equal work
paid leave
workplace discrimination
media portrayals of women
sexual assault on college campuses

Please joi us to plan actions centered around galvanizing the female vote for upcoming elections and opening up a dialogue about abuse.

Fiscal and Economic Issues Discussion Group Met

February 8th

On Jobs, Deficit and Debt for the US and Illinois

We learned the facts about the economic recovery nationally and the status of ongoing appropriations challenges at both the state and national level.

Excerpts from the Agenda:

Nationally job growth continued to be strong in 2015 with 2.65 million jobs added. However real GDP growth was only 0.7% in the preliminary 4th quarter report issued last week. Hopefully Friday’s 2/5’s BLS Report for January’s job report will continue to show strong growth and we will have better GDP growth in 2016. We will be discussing these numbers at our meeting next Monday.

Illinois job numbers took a turn for the worse last week with the December jobs report which showed a loss of 16,000 jobs in December and revised November’s report down by 6,000 jobs. This gives Illinois a net LOSS of 3,000 jobs in 2015 (vs. a gain of 66,800 in 2014). We will be discussing these numbers on Monday as well.

While we won’t be discussing the presidential primary candidates at our Fiscal meeting due to the non-partisan nature of OFA, we will be discussing them and other topics at the after meeting at Lou Malnati’s starting about 9:30. Everyone is invited to join this discussion as well.

To View the “evergreen” Agenda please click on this line:

To View the Slide Presentation that Karl will use with the February Agenda please click on this line:

Members of the NWSOFA Leadership Team

Attended the:

Organizing for Action Leadership Summit 2016

Dedicated OFA Chapter and Issue Leaders from around country converged on Chicago on (2/6 – 7) to chart the course for 2016 and beyond. 76 leaders from 22 states came from as far as Alaska to participate in the two day sessions developing the next generation strategies to advance OFA’s progressive issues.

Click for larger Image

Click for a larger Image

NWSOFA

To leave a message or Sign up for an Issue Team .. Just click the Sign Up button and fill out the NWSOFA Comment log.

We will be in touch with you shortly.

About NWSOFA

In January 2013 we started as a gathering of friends and neighbors from the NW Suburbs who wanted to continue to have impact on the progressive issues we voted for in 2012.This grassroots, bottom up movement spread across the country and sparked the creation of Organizing for Action, OFA National which now has Chapters all over the country. This is a non-partisan, volunteer organization that focuses on progressive issues we are committed to taking Action on to make a difference locally, statewide and nationally.

NWSOFA’s 1st Issue Team was right after the tragedy at Sandy Hook. The Gun Violence Prevention (GVP) team felt we needed accurate information and facts, events to teach others and actions we could take to make a difference on pushing for common sense gun violence prevention. That has been our basic format as new issues arose and team developed. We now have the GVP, ACA/Obamacare, Climate Change,Fiscal Issues and Stand with Women Issue Teams.Check out their individual pages to see all the events they have scheduled and to join the teams you want to make a difference with. Other teams are developing such as for Comprehensive Immigration Reform.

OFA National coordinates “Days of Action” that Chapters across the country will all do on the same day. Each team also has local events and may work with affiliate organizations i.e. Sierra Club, Al Gore Reality Project, etc. to combine like-minded groups on a local, state or national event.

In this type of organization there are numerous ways you can be involved with the teams and in other roles.

Thanks for stopping and hope you’ll stay and join us.

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NWSOFA “March Events” In Pictures

NWSOFA Members Called from Phone Banks and Home on “Do Your Job” on SCOTUS

NWSOFA College Outreach Team Participated in the Harper Human Service Student Fair 3/2/16

NWSOFA “February Events” In Pictures

NWSOFA Gun Violence Prevention Meeting February 18th

NWSOFA Climate Change Meeting in Arlington Hieghts February 16th

NWSOFA Stand with Women Meeting in Arlington Heights February 11th

NWSOFA Fiscal and Economics Meeting in Schaumburg on February 8th

NWSOFA Attended the Presidents Springfield After Speech Session

NWSOFA Participates in OFA National Summit Meeting February 6th & 7th

76 leaders from 22 states in attendance

Click on Image for larger Image

A great Video created by:

Khirsti Garnett &

Ameer Muhammad

Check out Ameer and Khirsti’s video at youtube for nwsofa college

Click on this Link to view NWSOFA College Outreach Introduction Video

Do you have a few dollars to spare to support our Progressive movement@NWSOFA Supplies, Newsletters, Databases, etc?

Click on this Link to Contribute to NWSOFA

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Notice: This is a public meeting / event(s)

NWSOFA is a 501(c)4,

non-partisan organization.

All opinions are solely those of NWSOFA

It’s time to Act .. It Is Time To Get Involved

Over the years the American Citizens have lost their voices, believing that we can not make a difference. We have been beat down by the constant droning noise of the conservative right. This onslaught has made us like sheep .. afraid to express our views. Not anymore! OFA gives us back our voices and by working together we are making change one issue at a time. Together we can and will make a difference.

Just Click on the Photo to link the NWSOFA e-magazines daily & archived articles