Community Outreach with Vote Smart--a Volunteer Opportunity

EDP is exploring creating an outreach program to make voting easier for seniors and disabled people in El Dorado County. This might include:

1. Helping people register to vote

2. Helping people who are already registered to sign-up for mail-in ballots

3. Delivering people's mail-in ballots to their designated drop-off locations

4. Transporting people to/from their polling location

If you can volunteer, please provide the information requested below. In addition to the activities listed above, we will need people to:

1. Help us plan 

2. Design/conduct a poll/survey to determine which of the above services is/are actually needed

3. Determine our capacity/available locations based on volunteer interest

4. Set up/design web page for people to request services

5. Reach out to seniors, veterans, and political groups who can help us identify target voters and direct them to our web page

6. Conduct outreach to our target audiences—people who could use our help

7. Match volunteers with people needing help

8. And…other items to be decided upon after discussion and planning.

Please join our group, VoteSmart. Click here, and use the form to provide us with your information.

Home Address is optional, but please provide it--or at least your street and zip code--to help us plan where we can have carpools. Phone number is optional, share if you wish. In the Comments section, let us know if you can help plan, help with outreach, help on election day, etc.

Dawn Wolfson

Civil Rights Now Workgroup

Come and join the EDP Civil Rights Now Workgroup for our six-month anniversary as we rally for all human rights and equality for all: Civil Rights, Immigration Rights, Healthcare, LBGTQ, Labor/Union Rights, Students’ Rights.

March For Our Rights

Saturday, July 14 

10 am                    Meet at the El Dorado County Fairgrounds Green Gate

                              facing Placerville Drive.

11 am                     March to the corner of Placerville Dr. and Ray Lawyer Dr.

11:30 am to 1pm    Speakers and Singing led by New Freedom Choir

1pm                        March back to the fairgrounds

 Margaret Mead: "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed it is the only thing that ever has."

Immigration Rights Workgroup

The El Dorado Progressives Immigration Rights Workgroup is starting up again.

Our first meeting is being held on Tuesday, July 10 at 6 pm in the community room of the Placerville Raleys. Our mission is to enable the immigrant community to have a voice through political and social engagement. I invite YOU to attend. We will be discussing the different ways in which we can be involved. I see this group using two approaches.  

1. Being politically active by supporting rallies, attending local governmental meetings and contacting local representatives to show our support of the immigrant community and to protest their poor treatment by the current administration.

2. Working directly with the immigrant community to Get Out the Vote (GOTV). I especially invite the help of anybody who has firsthand experience in working with the Hispanic community and/or knows Spanish.

Rebecca B. Guinn

Contact me by direct email: Rebeccabguinn@gmail.com or through the EDP website contact form.

Donations for Dulce and Juan's Fundraiser

Dulce Soto is a local citizen whose husband, Juan, traveled to Mexico as part of the process of becoming a legal resident. But, when he tried to re-enter the U.S., he was stopped at the border. EDP has been selling raffle tickets to raise funds for Juan’s legal bills and the family’s expenses (they have four children). Our raffle has been a smash and at this point we’d like to expand it a bit. Do you have any nice items that you might donate as prizes? Think of a weekend at your time share or cabin… baked goods such as your award-winning cake… a bottle or two of boutique wine… you get the picture! If you have something to offer, just bring it along to the EDP Annual Picnic and BBQ on July 15. If you want to donate but cannot be at the Picnic, drop a message to: eldoradoprogressives@gmail.com. Thank you for considering!

EDP General Meeting for June--Honoring the spirit of Juneteenth

General Meeting Information

Sunday, June 10, 3 to 4:30
Placerville Town Hall, 549 Main Street
 
EDP to Observe Juneteenth
 
The monthly meeting of the El Dorado Progressives will honor the holiday of Juneteenth. Juneteenth recognizes the events of June 19, 1865, when a Union army general announced in Texas that the war had ended and that the slaves had been emancipated two-and-a-half years earlier, January 1, 1863. For most, it was the first they’d heard of their freedom.
 
After the Civil War, Juneteenth became a widespread celebration throughout the country commemorating the end of slavery but especially in the south.
 
The June meeting of EDP will honor the spirit of Juneteenth. Mike Saunders will give an introduction and then show excerpts from a film, “A Class Divided.” Afterward, members of the Civil Rights Now Workgroup will lead breakout sessions and group discussion regarding discrimination.

Watch the movie here, or on Vimeo

A Message from the Steering Committee

Immigration Rights workgroup

The EDP Steering Committee feels strongly that EDP should be taking action in different ways on immigration issues, especially in light of the current administration's practices of separating children from parents at the border and breaking up families in the States through deportation.
 
Up to now it has been the EDP practice to have workgroups form when leaders with a passion for an issue came forward and took charge. We are breaking with that tradition here because we feel strongly that we need to reassemble our Immigration Rights Workgroup, which has been quiet for several months since Mandy Bryant stepped down. We thank Mandy Bryant for her leadership of this group in the early days of EDP, and we hope someone will step forward and fill her shoes.
 
We hope you will consider this. We have support tools for workgroup leaders that would aid you in setting up. We recommend that workgroups have co-leaders so it is unlikely you would be carrying the full work burden. 

If you would consider future participation with the Immigration Rights Workgroup—in any capacity—please contact any member of the Steering Committee or send an email here.

The Steering Committee thanks you for considering this.

Social Organizing Workgroup

By Kristy McKay

The Social Organizing Workgroup held its first "Meet & Greet," just-for-fun gathering for Divide residents in Cool last week. Although we weren't large in number, we connected hugely. Such joy meeting fellow liberal thinkers in our very own neighborhood!

We want to arrange more of these types of social meetings in communities throughout El Dorado County. Would you like to help? If you're interested, please come to a quick meeting on Sunday, June 10, at 2 pm, right before the General EDP meeting. Also, we are beginning planning for the annual picnic at Lotus Park in July. Email me at: EDPSocial@tegnelink.com.

Civil Rights Now Workgroup Update

Mike Saunders, Melinda Velasco

The month started off with A Day of Action—our Thank You Card to Starbucks event, the Memorial for Stephon Clark, and a Support Rally at Starbucks. We had about thirteen people in attendance and it was covered on the Fox40 News at 10 pm.

The Monday Protests continue at noon on the corner of Ray Lawyer Drive and Placerville Drive. Look for a six-month special event in July. The protest group has evolved into “Picketing for Justice.” The mission statement is: To educate and inform, to increase awareness of racism and white privilege wherever it exists, and to encourage open, honest, and science-based discussion about racism without anger or fear.

“The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.”  Martin Luther King

During EDP’s statements in support of SB54 at the El Dorado County Board of Supervisors, Mike Saunders asked the Board about the Human Rights Commission and submitted an application to the board for the commission. The Board is still accepting applications for members to sit on the HR Commission. If you are interested in applying, know your county supervisor, and fill out an online application here.

The workgroup’s next meeting will be held June 17 from 9 to 11 am at the Placerville Food Co-op. 

Healthcare Workgroup

Margaret Madams, Maureen Dion-Perry

May 14th: Monthly Social and Workgroup Meeting: reproductive health wallet cards in Spanish arrived from the printer. Thanks again to El Dorado Public Health for their support. We had discussions around House Parties, Community Conversations on Healthcare, and plans for the booth at the El Dorado County Fair.

May 18: Rene and her husband hosted a very successful House Party. A nice group of 15 people showed up and there was a lot of participation and questions. Many misconceptions about the costs of healthcare were corrected. We watched the movie FIX IT: Healthcare at the Tipping Point. It clearly shows how we can do a lot better for businesses and individuals. One local horror story, an 83-year-old friend shared that she recently was prescribed a medication that cost $10,000. Overall, it was a very good and inspiring evening. We plan to do more House Parties like this.

Looking ahead to June:

June 11: The next monthly Social and Workgroup Meeting, 6:30 pm, will be a potluck goodbye party to three wonderful, valued members: Kathy and John McCoy are moving to be closer to family in the Vallejo area, and Helen Mansfield is headed north to Oregon. Location: The Madams’ home in Placerville. Contact Margaret or Maureen for the address and gate code. Partners/spouses invited too.

June 14th-17: Stop by and say hello to us at the El Dorado County Fair.

June 15: Sierra Renaissance Society is hosting one of our community conversations about Healthcare, 1 to 3pm at the Cameron Park Community Center. For details, click here.

Protecting Public Lands

Patty Wilson
 
On June 7, our workgroup hosted a potluck picnic at the Pioneer Cemetery and Marshall Gold Discovery Park. We visited historic headstones and the grave of one of the last samurai founders of the Wakamatsu Settlement. Then we had a wonderful picnic in the park with gorgeous scenery all around.
 
Check out our recently launched Protecting Public Lands Workgroup webpage. With Peter Madams’ help, we are constantly updating it with events, actions you can take, and even a good news section!
 
Since Trump’s election, our precious environment has been under relentless attack. Trump and his administration are certainly not friends of our public lands. We are passionate about staying informed and pushing back against Trump’s agenda. We want to “Keep the Public in Public Lands.
 
Activities and events:

• We have had one tour of the Sherwood Demonstration Garden and plan to do so quarterly as it changes with the seasons.
• We also hope to write postcards and letters to our representatives as well as letters to the editor of our local paper.
• Working to defeat Rep. Tom McClintock is also high on our priority list. Some of his greatest campaign contributors are from the oil and gas industries and he has repeatedly shown a willingness to sell off our public lands.
• We want to sponsor local hikes and informative chats and possibly partner with other environmental groups.

If you feel as we do, please consider signing up for our emails so you can keep abreast of our activities. Hope to see you soon!