Introducing a new staffer, plus events for your calendar from our expanding roster of county chapters. And recent blog posts. Note that the founding convention of People's Action is coming up in DC at week's end; be in on it.

Welcoming our Movement Politics Director and latest member of the PM staff, Alexiss Kurtz [email protected]

 PROGRESSIVISM ON THE MARCH

Progressive Maryland will be joining more than 30 other grassroots organizations from around the country in Washington, DC starting Sunday, April 23 for the founding convention of our new national organization, People's Action. At the convention we will:

● Build a Long-Term Agenda that points the way to transformative change and guides our campaigns now

• Go on the offense at every level – from cities to statehouses to the halls of Congress

• Commit to stopping the attacks on people of color, immigrants, women, Muslims and LGBTQ people

• Gather with friends and allies to celebrate what we have won and the movement we are building together.

To prepare for Sunday's convention, we are holding an organizing call on Thursday, April 20 at 7 p.m. to provide more information about People's Action, the convention agenda, and logistics. Everyone who has registered to attend is encouraged to join the call. Click the link to sign up and receive the call-in details.

FROM ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY

We have an AA County chapter meeting tonight (Monday, April 17) at 5:30 in a new location. Details are on takeactionaac.com and also Facebook. Facebook event is here: https://www.facebook.com/events/1898243493727828/?ti=icl

Annapolis March for Science is Saturday at 10:00 am. We'll have Rally and speakers at Lawyers Mall then march to Susan Campbell park at City Dock. 

There is a D33 Candidate Mixer tonight (Monday, April 17) at the Severna Park Library. Facebook event here: https://www.facebook.com/events/1804339873218439/?ti=icl

Voter registration training on Wednesday (April 19) with AA Co Indivisible - Facebook event here. https://www.facebook.com/events/1940217756213574/?ti=icl

HOWARD COUNTY

Fair Elections:  Wednesday, April 19 at 7 p.m. there is a Howard County Council meeting that will include testimony on the Howard County Citizens' Election fund bill introduced by Council members Jon Weinstein and Jen Terrasa. Volunteer Opportunities: Sign up today to testify on Wednesday, April 19 7:00 p.m. (Rally at 6:30) 3430 Court House Dr. Ellicott City, MD  21043, Banneker Room, George Howard Bldg.

Howard County Chapter: We are forming a Howard County Chapter of Progressive Maryland.  Dave Bazell is the chapter head.  We have a facebook page--Progressive Maryland HoCo, and twitter feed--@ProgressiveHoCo Post questions on the Howard County Progressive Maryland Facebook page.

PRINCE GEORGE’S COUNTY

PG County Chapter Meeting: Thursday, May 11th at 7 p.m. Location: TBA

BALTIMORE CITY

Baltimore City Chapter: Volunteer Opportunity: Sign up today to help create a Baltimore City Chapter of Progressive Maryland. Please contact Movement Politics Director [email protected] for more information. 

MONTGOMERY COUNTY

Over the weekend, Progressive Montgomery members participated in the Tax March calling on Donald Trump to release his tax returns and advocate for a fairer tax system that benefits everyone, not just the top 1%. You can see photos from Progressive Montgomery member Stephen Melkisethian here.

Upcounty members of Progressive Montgomery are meeting at 6:30 tonight to discuss organizing opportunities in council district 2 as well as to coordinate for the upcoming Science March. The Transformative Community, Family Economic Security, Outreach, and Communications teams all have meetings this week to plan upcoming projects. For more details, contact lead Montgomery County organizer Justin Vest and be sure to visit www.progressivemaryland.org/montgomery to become a member of the Montgomery County chapter and join one of our teams.

On Wednesday, April 19th the Montgomery County Council will be having its very first town hall event of the year. Our District 5 team will be on hand to sign up new members. Click the link to RSVP to attend the town hall.

On Saturday, April 22 members will be participating in the Science March in DC.

FUTURES:

Leadership Training Program:

• Training: Look out for two upcoming leadership training this summer.
  • 1 Day training on May 20th 
  • 3 Day training on the 23rd-25th
• Existing Trainees: Complete survey and schedule a one-on-one with Movement Politics Director [email protected]

FROM OUR ALLIES:

Sunday, April 23: Our Revolution Maryland Statewide Meeting in Silver Spring (ATU Conference Center at the former Meany Center campus, 10000 New Hampshire Ave. 20903, 3:30-4:30 p.m.)

  It all happens for free… right? Not exactly. Organizing for change in our society and our politics requires both people and money. Keep change moving with a quick, secure impulse-buy contribution here.

 Reading the Progressive Maryland BlogSpace: our blogs for the previous week are shown below, but if you want a handy way to keep track – and never miss a blog post – you can sign up to get this Weekly Memo by email. Remember this is your blogspace and your participation is heartily invited. See something going on that you don’t like – or that you do like and hope to see more of? Send us your thoughts; submit to the moderator at [email protected]

We recently published these blogs:

 April 13, 2017 Progressive Maryland celebrates Assembly wins due to hard work by activists

In a busy three months, Maryland's Assembly session showed lots of progress for progressives, but with much more to do to fight the agendas of Larry Hogan and Donald Trump. PM legislative coordinator Jennifer Dwyer puts up the tote board, and the tasks ahead.

April 12, 2017 Hogan's Assembly session: He's probably glad it's over

With the major newspapers burbling about Larry Hogan's wonderful Assembly session (because he got two bills on the last day), a cooler voice comes from veteran observer Barry Rascovar in Maryland Reporter, who opines that Hogan had a rough session and is probably glad he's about to get Annapolis back to himself to start spinning up his 2018 re-election mirage...

April 11, 2017 Five-year struggle ends with passage of paid sick leave bill

Maybe even sweeter because of the five years it took to get here, progressives celebrated one of the top victories of the 2017 Assembly session -- the passage of paid sick leave for about three quarters of a million Maryland workers and their families, many in low-paid jobs and struggling to survive. As noted at the bottom of this blog post from our allies at Working Matters Maryland, Gov. Hogan still needs to be persuaded to accept the inevitable -- passed with veto-proof margins -- and make it law now. This post, first made on April 7, has been updated.

April 10, 2017 Progressive Maryland's Weekly Memo for April 10-16

As the General Assembly drops the balloons and goes home on Sine Die today, we pat ourselves on the back for a quite successful session and note that our work continues all over the state. Plus recent blog posts you may have missed.

AND TAKE NOTE: With the end of the legislative session, attention is turning to the 2018 gubernatorial race. Progressive Maryland member (and regular blogger here) Hal Ginsberg made a case for Ben Jealous in this op-ed in the Baltimore Sun. 

Keeping up with the blogs is easier with the index. The blogs published in the PM BlogSpace since June 2015 are all available with descriptions and links here.