The Covid-19 pandemic clearly shows why the U.S. needs a health care system that gives every resident access to health care at every stage of life.  A system that relies primarily on employer-provided medical insurance is inadequate.  Even unemployed people need affordable health care.  This nation needs a system that offers health care for all, all the time.

Have your say about this Thursday evening June 25 at 5:30 in our statewide call to create a Health Care Task Force. Please join us for a timely conversation about health and racial justice.   RSVP for the virtual meeting here.  

Federal protection against evictions ends July 25 and Maryland judges say they will processs evictions after that. The governor is being pushed to strengthen protections for low-income renters and mortgage-holders, and municipalities have the power to control rental policy, as this report in Maryland Matters details. Will renters work together to get relief? Watch our statewide call on the pandemic's impact on the long-term housing crisis in Maryland, with testimony for advocates and activists.

Progressive Maryland continues its work to humanize the state response and demand that working families don’t get sacrificed to the needs of the ownership class—or to “justice” gone bad.

We are fighting for transformational change in policing, for decarceration, for better state government response to the needs of the state’s over 20 percent unemployed, and for relief for the many who can’t afford to meet rent or mortgage payments to the few. Plus complete details on our huge Justice Task Force launch call last Thursday, reports from our increasingly active chapters around the state, and our recent blog posts. And see late-breaking updates on preserving our victory in the Fight for $15 and our Health Care Task Force meeting Thursday, June 25. Read on in the Memo.

Last Thursday's amazing turnout for the launch of our Justice Task Force (see it all here) brought 400-plus participants on virtual media to engage with justice activists including Gabe Acevero, a member of the House of Delegates, and Maurice Mitchell of the Movement for Black Lives and the Working Families Party outline the paths to racial justice and policing for the people. And it was a conversation. See what the participants had to say on the chat panel in the virtual event -- it was anything but a passive audience. Check it all out here.

In our statewide virtual town hall TONIGHT, we will share our strategy to achieve our goals of addressing the crisis of structural racism and policing and demanding justice for our Black communities in Maryland. 

If you have not done so already, click here to RSVP and join the conversation. from 5:30- 7 PM, virtually hosted by Progressive Maryland/Marylanders United.

Progressive Maryland this week issued a statement against police brutality in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter protests around the state, around the country, and now around the world.

They are supporting a set of principles by the Movement for Black Lives, tailored to address the issues of policing and systemic racism in Maryland.

As the state begins its patchy and sometimes risky emergence from stay-home orders and business shutdowns, Progressive Maryland continues its work to humanize the state response and demand that working families don’t get sacrificed to the needs of the ownership class—or to “justice” gone bad.

We are fighting for transformational change in policing, for decarceration, for better state government response to the needs of the state’s over 20 percent unemployed, and for relief for the many who can’t afford to meet rent or mortgage payments to the few. Plus reports from our increasingly active chapters around the state, and our recent blog posts. Read on in the Memo. Note correction to Prince George's Chapter meeting; email Memo is in error.

Gov. Larry Hogan is getting plenty of flak on the many areas where his administration has failed to meet the challenge of the COVID-19 virus in Maryland.

Both out-of-work Marylanders and their representatives in Congress are bringing the heat on Hogan’s lagging Labor Department and slow or no unemployment compensation payments.

Wednesday June 17 Maryland workers will unite in protest against the state's broken unemployment system.

Ahmaud Arbery

Breonna Taylor

George Floyd

Nina Pop

Tony McDade 

We are angry. We are hurt. We are grieving. We are fighting. And we won’t stop saying their names. We are calling on everyone to join our critical fight for racial justice and Black lives.

Elections are an important part of organizing – though there’s more to it than that, of course. But elections get people moving and show how power can be built, voter by voter, person by person. And progressives can win. See below for our winners in Baltimore, MoCo, the Lower Shore and Prince George's. And for the "more to it than that" part, read on for chapter meetings in Baltimore and MoCo, responding to protests (Larry Hogan as bad example) and how history comes along and makes demands, ready or not, on us. Plus COVID-19 response, chapter news and our recent blog posts -- all in the Monday Memo.