Weekend E Newsletter, November 3rd
Citizen Action is hiring Deep Canvass Field Organizers in Green Bay and Milwaukee.
For more information contact Priscilla Bort at [email protected]
Join/Donate Citizen Action Today!
Join us for Citizen Action’s Annual Member Meeting, Dec. 2, 10am – Noon.
Citizen Action Northeast Organizing Co-op hosts BadgerCare Public Option Media Release Event
BadgerCare Public Option bill was introduced into the state legislature this Tuesday and the Citizen Action Northeast Organizing Co-op hosted a media event at the Green Bay Labor Temple to announce the bil’s introduction.
We were joined by State Representative Kristina Shelton and Citizen Action’s executive director Robert Kraig, as well as 10 other members and supporters. We also heard from two directly impacted folks about their lack of access to quality, affordable healthcare, and how BadgerCare Public Option would have dramatically changed their experiences.
It was a great event with good media coverage.
Watch the entire media event.
Watch local TV news story.
Watch video of media event speaker, Mark Smith.
Watch video of media event speaker, Gloria DeGrave.
Volunteer to make calls to voters in support of the BadgerCare Public Option bill. Next Monday, November 6th, 5pm – 7pm
We will be encouraging voters to call their state legislators and urge them to co-sponsor the bill.
You will be well trained. RSVP
Demanding Better Healthcare in the Driftless Region
Members of the Driftless Co-Op are demanding better healthcare in the Driftless and around the state. Our work started with a few members struggling with improper coding, claim denials, surprise bills and other healthcare injustices. We know this is a widespread problem and we are collecting more stories and building a team to take action in the Driftless.
We are also working on supporting the BadgerCare Public Option Bill introduced on Tuesday! We are raising public awareness through phone banking into each of our CAW regions and will be calling into the Driftless region on Monday, November 13th. We are also encouraging members to talk about the new bill with their friends, family and neighbors. Education is key in developing public support and encouraging our elected officials to support this important legislation. In preparation for that, we will be holding zoom meetings to review the new bill and answer any questions you might have. Please join us for one of the zoom meetings or feel free to get in touch with me to schedule a different time.
Join us Wednesday, November 8th at 10am or 5pm for a zoom meeting to review the BadgerCare Public Option Bill.
RSVP & Sign Up for Wednesday, Nov 8th at 10am
RSVP & Sign Up for Wednesday, Nov. 8th at 5pm
I invite you to join the CAW staff on Monday, November 13th at 5PM in making phone calls to progressive folks in the Driftless area to help gain support for the BadgerCare Public Option bill.
Sign up to phone bank Monday Nov. 13th at 5pm.
To find out more about the Driftless Co-Op or become a member, please call or email, Kristie Tweed, Driftless Co-Op Organizer, 608-317-1331 or [email protected]
“If We Keep Growing at This Rate, We’ll Probably Have to Start Having These Types of Events In Bigger Venues”
After a packed-house event, advocates of Milwaukee’s transformational Climate and Equity Plan learned about strategies to ensure the plan’s swift implementation. Climate and Equity Director Rafael Smith–who also chaired the task force that authored the plan–remarked, “If we keep growing at this rate, we’ll probably have to start having these events in bigger venues.”
The event’s high turnout is excellent news for our planet, and for the people of Milwaukee, who are poised to show the world that we can restore prosperity and build racial economic equity while battling climate change through investment in green infrastructure and green jobs. According to Rafael, “the turnout was impressive but even more impressive were the conversations being had and the spirit of the room. People were fired up and ready to go.”
For more information about getting involved with Citizen Action North Side Rising contact, [email protected]
Southeast Wisconsin Co-Op members testify at the Milwaukee County Budget Listening Session.
Citizen Action Southeast Organizing Co-Op members’ advocacy at the Milwaukee County Budget Listening session centered around the necessity for Milwaukee County Transit System (MCTS) to pivot towards electric buses, emphasizing the long-term economic and environmental benefits of such an investment. With MCTS’s plans to procure 30 diesel buses in 2024, members stressed the contradiction between these plans and the county’s stated commitments to sustainability.
View Citizen Action organizer Kat Klawes’ testimony here.
County Supervisor Ryan Clancy submitted a Budget amendment to transition MCTS to electric buses through funding in the 2024 Budget. The amendment is expected to be voted on November 3rd. View the agenda and documents here.
The 2024 County Budget is set to be approved on November 9th. Interested in helping with the Green Futures campaign and advocacy to transition MCTS to electric buses? Reach out to SEWI Co-Op Organizer Kat Klawes ([email protected]). We are actively seeking testimony and statements to bolster the campaign for a greener, cleaner Milwaukee.
Citizen Action Northwest Co-op helping build a new coalition in Eau Claire
Every month, Citizen Action Northwest Co-op Organizer Jeremy Gragert joins other organizers from a half dozen other progressive groups organizing in Northwest Wisconsin for a meeting in Eau Claire to share what each others’ organizations are doing, and discuss ways to collaborate and work together on a wide variety of important issues from health care, to environment, to racial and economic justice.
Last month the group visited with Pat Kreitlow (left), a former State Senator (2007-2011) from Chippewa County who is now a journalist with Civic Media and UpNorthNews. Pat has an UpNorthNews radio show on Civic Media.
Pictured with Pat in the back row from left to right: Jeremy Gragert, Matthew Conte (Rural Organizer, Wisconsin Farmers Union), and Chris Hambuch-Boyle (Northwest Wisconsin Regional Organizer, Wisconsin Public Education Network). Pictured in the front row from left to right: Bess Werner (Regional Organizing Director, For Our Future WI), Joella Striebel (Public Affairs Regional Coordinator, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Wisconsin), and Pa Thao (Executive Director, Black & Brown Womyn Power Coalition). A coalition is building in Eau Claire!
For more information about the Citizen Action Northeast Organizing Cooperative contact: [email protected]
Demand Federal Nursing Home Staffing Regulations
The Biden Administration published a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) that would, for the first time, establish a national minimum staffing standard for nursing homes participating in Medicare and Medicaid.
The comment period ending November 6th in which the public can weigh in on this proposed rule.
This NPRM is an important development in the fight to improve nursing home quality of care and working conditions. Though the proposed regulation needs improvement, it is a paradigm shift in regulating nursing homes to ensure better care. Given the workforce and the discriminatory staffing that occurs in nursing homes, it is also a major step forward in addressing racial and gender inequity.
You do not have to be a policy expert or professional caretaker to submit a comment. If you have family members who are considering nursing home care, live in nursing homes or work in nursing homes, you are encouraged to submit a comment and to share your own experience with this issue. Remember that once your comment is submitted, it will become part of the public record.
Save the Date: Healthcare Action Monthly Meeting, Wednesday, November 29th
Citizen Action in the News
The Citizen Action news conference in Green Bay on the introduction of the BadgerCare Public Option bill with lead author (and Citizen Action member) Rep. Kristina Shelton (D-Green Bay) received prominent coverage by WBAY TV 2 Green Bay/Fox Valley.
Citizen Action’s Robert Kraig was on the Earl Ingram radio show for the full hour with a focus on what the corrupt giveaway to the billionaire owner of the Milwaukee Brewers says about the state of democracy in Wisconsin. The bill, which is supported by Gov. Evers, Speaker Vos, and a unified corporate elite, sailed through the Assembly but is currently stalled in the Senate due to bipartisan opposition.
The Earl Ingram show broadcasts weekday mornings statewide on the growing Civic Media network. Robert appears Wednesdays from 9 AM to 10 AM. Station list here.
Listen to “Be like Ady Barkan” Battleground Wisconsin Podcast
We discuss the passing of healthcare activist Ady Barkan, who turned his fight against ALS into a crusade to break the monopoly power of the corporate insurance giants that are failing millions of Americans.
We explain the importance of the introduction of the BadgerCare Public Option bill in the state legislature, and discuss our news conference at the Green Bay Labor Council with lead legislative author Representative Kristina Shelton. The bill is the only one dealing with the skyrocketing cost of health care in this Legislative Session, as the GOP continues to introduce culture war issues that do nothing to improve the lives of average Wisconsinites. In a related development, a new national report finds that nearly 7 in 10 U.S. adults say they receive medical bills they cannot afford and many are skipping needed medical care.
The huge Brewers stadium subsidy bill is pulled from the floor, delaying action on the bill. What does it mean that even with a full court press by the unified corporate elite, Governor Evers, and Robin Vos, there are not enough votes in the Senate to pass it. While too many state politicians have been busy trying to ram through $546 million to a billionaire, the City of Waupun takes a rare step to invest public funds in child care after the GOP blocks all state action to address the access crisis.
We close by reviewing news the Public Service Commission will be announcing electric rate increases this week, as We Energies says it will accelerate plans to stop burning coal and reaffirms an Oak Creek plant shutdown.
Listen to the show!
Social media post of the week
