ORGANIZING NOTES
May 5, 2026
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Becca Kornet, Progressive Mass Western Norfolk County
Alejandra Rivera, Policy Manager at the Mass Coalition to Prevent Gun Violence, led a breakout group at Progressive Mass’s 2026 Annual Meeting on January 31st about the effort to repeal recent gun safety legislation. In 2024, Maura Healey signed a new gun safety bill into law – An Act Modernizing Firearm Laws. While Massachusetts already had strong gun safety laws, this legislation closed many loopholes (e.g., regulation of ghost guns), making it MA’s most significant gun safety legislation in a decade and raising the Commonwealth to an A grade rating on the Giffords Scorecard. The law went into effect in July 2024; by October of that same year, extremists filed a petition to repeal it.
This question will be on the ballot in November 2026. While we won’t know the question number until the spring, we do know that we need to vote YES to keep the current legislation as it is and not repeal it. As is often the case, the yes/no wording on ballot questions can be confusing or counterintuitive, so it’s critical we start getting the word out to our networks now so we can build awareness and education.
The group behind the push to repeal the legislation is GOAL – the Gun Owners Action League. Their messaging is often misleading. For example, their website is TheCivilRightsCoaltion.com, which may lead people to assume a very different intent. They are well-funded, with about $170K in the bank to fund their campaign.
To learn more, get involved, or make a financial contribution to help them combat the spending that is sure to come up from our opponents, go to https://www.yesforasafema.com. Vote YES for a Safe Massachusetts!
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Founded in 1989, Merrimack Valley Project is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization focused on uniting congregations, unions, and community groups in organizing leaders and campaigns for racial, social and economic justice in the Merrimack Valley region and beyond. Our organizing approach includes storytelling, relationship building, and training to develop the power of community leaders. Most recently, these have included preventing the closure of Holy Family Hospitals in Haverhill and Methuen, and playing a critical role in successful statewide campaigns to increase the state minimum wage, protecting rideshare drivers, and winning passage of the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights.Today, MVP has grown to over 35+ member groups across the region and beyond. MVP places a strong emphasis on developing the capacity of faith communities to act on their commitments to social justice, and is part of a growing faith-and-values-based organizing movement in America. We are proudly an affiliate member of Massachusetts Communities Action Network (MCAN). MCAN is a statewide network of faith-and values-based community organizations working for economic and racial justice. MVP is made up of 40+ member groups from Amesbury to Westford. The current work is to expand leadership and membership from the seacoast area to the greater Merrimac valley. The next organzing meeting will be part of this effort to expand and grow continually from regional groups to larger groups making greater changes at the state level and beyond. On Thursday, May 7th in Newburyport they will be hosting a “Community Building 101: Leveraging People power to Influence Local Officials” They will be exploring practical methods for defending imiigration rights, collaborating effectively, holding power to account and making sure commuity member leave with an action plan for their communities. Register Today!
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Join the fight to help people Save Money with Clean Heat. Fight climate change without breaking the bank. The Save Money with Clean Heat campaign aims to cut carbon emissions from all 2 million MA homes to net zero by 2050, saving the average homeowner $2,000 per year without any tax increases. This campaign supports legislation that will move Massachusetts off its dependency on gas and towards a safe, clean, and climate-friendly energy future.SIGN HERE
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Massachusetts Stipend Reform
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Massachusetts voters deserve a legislature that works for them, not one where their elected representatives must bend to leadership’s will or risk loss of pay.The 2026 ballot initiative ties reasonable compensation to performance, promoting a more transparent, accountable, and effective legislature. With your support, we can deliver a major win for democracy, while building momentum for even more progress. To get this initiative onto the ballot, we need 75,000 signatures from MA voters. We have just 2 months to gather the signatures. Please volunteer!
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Mass Freedom to Read is a new coalition of organizations that represents Massachusetts parents and readers, authors and creators, libraries, booksellers, and publishers. We believe that freedom of expression, including the freedom to read, is a fundamental American right, protected by the First Amendment. Now is the time for the Massachusetts state legislature to pass a comprehensive Freedom to Read bill that protects librarians and educators from harassment for doing their jobs; and protects authors, creators, booksellers, and publishers from economic harm due to censorship. If you support freedom of expression and the freedom to read, join us in supporting the passage of An Act Regarding Free Expression (H.3594/S.2328) by signing up at http://eepurl.com/ji3oJw .
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Over the past two years, more Americans have died from COVID-19 than from breast cancer and prostate cancer combined. Last Wednesday — in sworn, televised testimony before Congress — RFK Jr. said “COVID is gone.”
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Turning Up the Heat on Citizens Bank
Help turn up the heat on Citizens Bank for financing ICE prisons. The De-ICE Citizens Bank coalition, which includes dozens of Indivisible groups across the eastern United States, is holding two major events in April to crank up pressure on the only major bank bankrolling the country’s two largest ICE prison companies, CoreCivic and The GEO Group.
On April 23, from 8 to 10 AM, the coalition is holding a major protest at the bank’s corporate annual meeting at its headquarters in Providence. The coalition is looking to have hundreds of protesters singing and chanting as shareholders enter the annual shareholder meeting, which starts at 9 AM. Sign up HERE.
A People’s Shareholder Meeting to De-ICE Citizens Bank will be happening from 8 AM to noon outside the building. We’d love to have your support!
You can find out more at De-ICE Citizens Bank.
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Local Visibilities Schedule
Watch for weather and wind chill cancellations here! But another good way to keep up with day to day and weekly changes is to join a Signal Group
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Folks can sign up for De-ICE Hanscom’s contact list at this link.
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No Fear Street Theater stands out on Burlington Mall Road every Saturday from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm with signs, costumes, and flags to show support for our immigrant neighbors. We are not there merely to make propaganda against ICE. We are there to make propaganda against fear. This is a creative, participatory protest. If you support immigrants and their constitutional rights, join us! Let them know it’s Chirstmas time at ICE! Caroling & Yuletide readings – English & Spanish, Dec. 22-24th! Sign Up HERE
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Virginia Voters Approve Redistricting Plan That Could Boost Democrats’ Seats in Congress
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This past few months I was proud to continue my work as a Phone Bank host with Swing Blue Alliance. It was incredible to work with a team of devoted trainers and callers to activate voters across the Commonwealth of Virgiania. Virginia voters approved a mid-decade redistricting plan Tuesday that could boost Democrats’ chances of winning four additional U.S. House seats in November’s midterm elections that will decide control of the closely divided Congress. Members of the Swing Blue Alliance Phone Bank Team that worked on this campaign share the following: >1,260,000 dials on Scale To Win (an auto dialer) 200,000 convos, 2,300 converts from lean no or undecided to support from the callers last last days’ debriefs: A grandma who brought 15 family members with her to the polls; a mom with a baby who found out from us that there was curb side at EVERY POLLING place; a woman who lost her husband the very morning, they both had voted the day before and even in her grief, wanted to forward RGG’s text to all her friends; 6:10 call tonight to a voter who didn’t know about the election, got info about her voting location and literally walked the block to the poll with caller on the phone still and made it. The case has major implications for the November midterms as both parties have sought to redistrict mid-decade in hopes of winning a majority in the House. If Virginia’s map is upheld, it would offer Democrats more pickup opportunities for the fall midterms, and more importantly a way to fight back against the Supreme Cort decision against the Voting Rights Act. In the words of Margaret Mead “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtfu committed citizens can change the world”. Every day Americans helped other every day Americans make sure that their voice and their vote was heard. Becc O’Brien ORMA Staff
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- Climate Change
- Housing Justice
- Medicare for All
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Campaigns End, Movements Endure
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