Citizen Action Weekend; Friday, June 17th – Sunday 19th
Friday, June 17th – Sunday June 19th
Happy Juneteenth Day!
RSVP for Citizen Action Brew Fest 2022! Next Wednesday, June 22nd, 6pm, Milwaukee Office. Presented by the UAW.
We hope you are saving the date for our much anticipated Brewfest Fundraiser 2022, next Wednesday June 22, 6 to 8 PM. You can Register here.
This is our first major in-person event since COVID hit with full force. We have a great new office at 4716 W. Vliet St. to show off, with plenty of safe outdoor space.
We just added our newly endorsed candidate for U.S. Senate, Lt. Governor Mandela Barnes, to the speaker’s list.
We will have great socially responsible and union beer, other libations, non-alcoholic beverages, food, and best of all a great opportunity to reconnect with fellow progressive activists and leaders.
Please join us for one of the most festive progressive events of the year, and donate what you can to win big electoral victories in 2022 and beyond!
Historic Wisconsin Climate & Jobs Package released at the State Capitol!
At a News Conference at the State Capitol Thursday, Citizen Action of Wisconsin joined State Representative Supreme Moore Omokunde and State Senator Chris Larson to unveil a framework for what will be the first comprehensive legislation ever introduced in Wisconsin or in the Upper Midwest to actually meet the international climate targets needed to avert catastrophic climate change.
Citizen Action’s Robert Kraig and Rafael Smith joined Rep. Moore Omokunde and Sen Larson to announce a bold new Climate and Jobs Package, the first to actually meet the international greenhouse gas reduction targets. See coverage from Milwaukee Public Radio, Wisconsin Examiner. Watch the full news state capitol news conference here
When combined with Governor Evers’ Clean Energy Plan, and President Biden’s commitment to winning transformational climate change investments at the federal level that direct 40% of the benefits to marginalized communities, this legislative package is another sign that a critical mass of leaders are serious about meaningfully addressing the climate crisis in a way that improves equity. We are hopeful that other legislative proposals at the necessary scale will be introduced, because no problem of this magnitude will be addressed by any one piece of legislation.
The Climate and Jobs Package will be the first legislative proposal that is up to the scale of the climate challenge. There is an overwhelming scientific consensus that we face runaway climate change unless we start a bold transition very soon and achieve dramatic reductions in greenhouse emissions by 2030. The good news is that we have it well within our means to rapidly transition to a sustainable future that also generates greater opportunity for Wisconsin working families. It will also finally hold for-profit utilities accountable for doing their part.
The Climate and Jobs Package, which will be formally introduced in the next legislative session, will match the climate transition with a large-scale jobs program that will open the fast growing green economy to everyone in Wisconsin left out of good family supporting careers. Embracing a green conversion creates an unparalleled opportunity to address the 40 year decline in the availability of living wage jobs for everyone who wants one, especially those in marginalized urban and rural communities left behind by outsourcing and deindustrialization. The legislation when formally introduced will also assure a just transition for all the workers currently employed in the fossil fuel economy.
“It is long overdue for the Legislature to initiate a broad public discussion of reforms at the scale of the climate change and economic opportunity crisis in Wisconsin,” said Robert Kraig, Executive Director of Citizen Action of Wisconsin. “Wisconsin has it well within its means to address the climate challenge and open economic opportunity to all those who are being left out, if it can develop the political will to act boldly and decisively.”
Learn more and take action by contacting your state legislators.
CONTACT your state legislators and urge them to support the Climate & Jobs Package!
Make Phone Calls for Mandela Barnes! Next Wednesday, June 22nd, 5-8pm
Join us and our national network, People’s Action, in volunteer phone banking for our endorsed U.S Senate candidate Mandela Barnes! This is a great opportunity to elect our progressive champion, who is powered by people and running a movement politics campaign. Join our movement to elect one of us to the U.S Senate.
You will receive training at the beginning of the phone bank session.
Citizen Action Membership Drive in June & July.
Join & get a FREE Citizen Action T-Shirt
In the months of June and July, Citizen Action is having a Membership Drive to build our base to build our power in preparation of the November 2022 elections.It’s a great time to join one of our 7 Organizing Co-ops as a dues paying member and as a regional leader to build strategy and take action to win this year and beyond.
As a special offer for our Membership Drive during the months of June and July, we are offering all new members and any existing members who increase their membership a FREE Citizen Action of Wisconsin T-shirt!
When you join one of Citizen Action’s Organizing Co-ops, you join a network of hundreds of progressive leaders from around the state. Our members represent us in the state legislature and on local city councils, county boards, and school boards. They take the lead to develop and execute campaigns to make bold policy change. They go to their town board rooms, the state capitol, and as far as the White House to share their stories about how our faulty policies impact their lives.
Join one of our co-ops today to join our state-wide network of change makers.
Citizen Action North Side Rising meeting discusses solutions to Reckless Driving that address the climate crisis.
Last weekend, North Side Rising hosted a community meeting in Milwaukee. North Side Rising members Maggie Morse and Julie Welliger wanted to tackle the issue of reckless driving in Milwaukee. The meeting discussed the challenges and looked towards real solutions that can be accomplished with good community organizing.
We learned that the solutions are right before our eyes.
We do not need to entangle our youth in the criminal justice system through excessive policing, we can adopt the “Complete Streets” redesign proposed by the Milwaukee City-County Task Force on Climate & Economic Equity, and make our streets safe for our children, cut greenhouse emissions, and make reckless driving nearly impossible.
To find out more Complete Streets and getting involved in North Side Rising contact: [email protected]
Grassroots protests halt water bottling plant in Eau Claire
A hundred residents of Eau Claire rallied outside of their City Hall on Monday to protest California-based Niagara Water Bottling Company’s plans to build a water bottling plant in the city. Right before a City Council vote Tuesday on a development agreement to allow the plant, the company pulled the project in the face of weeks of protest, including from some city council members.
Citizen Action member and City Council member Andrew Werthmann is pictured above speaking at a protest this Monday. While the City Council voted to postpone the proposal indefinitely, the company could still come back with a different proposal in a year. It is not over yet.
Listen to a special interview with Andrew Werthmann on the Battleground WI Podcast.
WATCH the Citizen Action 3rd Congressional District Candidate Forum
Last week, the four Democrats running to replace Ron Kind in the U.S. Congress joined Citizen Action members and leaders for a candidate forum focused on questions from our platform. The forum was organized by 3 Citizen Action Organizing Cooperative and members from those coops asked questions.
Watch and take our member survey reviewing the forum and telling us what you think Citizen Action
should do in the election.
Citizen Action is hiring!
Citizen Action in the news
Citizen Action’s Robert Kraig and Rafael Smith joined Rep. Moore Omokunde and Sen Larson to announce a bold new Climate and Jobs Package, the first to actually meet the international greenhouse gas reduction targets. See coverage from Wisconsin Examiner. Watch the full news state capitol news conference here
Citizen Action was part of an excellent protest in Greenfield in favor of Women’s Abortion rights. Citizen Action Health Care Co-op Organizer Karen Kirsch helped organize the event. Watch TV news coverage here.
Citizen Action’s Robert Kraig was on the Earl Ingram Radio Show for the full hour to discuss the perilous state of Wisconsin politics, and our endorsement of Mandela Barnes for U.S. Senate. Listen here.Citizen Action’s Robert Kraig was on the Jeff Santos show to discuss the continuing headwinds faced by the Biden Administration. Listen here.
Listen to “Eau Claire water: A victory for community organizing” Battleground Wisconsin Podcast
We have a special interview this week with Eau Claire City Council member Andrew Wethmann about a California water company’s failed scheme to get access to city water. It was a victory for community organizing and local democracy and a cautionary note about the threat of big water companies cutting secret days to steal our water resources.
Speaking of conspiracies against democracy, we reflect on the first two public hearings by the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th attack on the United States Capitol: What are the revelations so far and is there any political impact? Disgraced Michael Gableman faces discipline after ‘misogynistic’ comments in court last Friday. Robert tells us if a Congressional Budget Reconciliation deal is back on life support in Washington, offering a glimmer of hope that the critical climate, health care, and tax fairness elements of the Biden domestic agenda can be enacted this summer.
We open the show with a reminder to our listeners to attend our Brew Fest Fundraiser, presented by the UAW, next Wednesday, June 22nd at 6pm in Milwaukee.
Listen to the show