In the Memo this week: links to our recent blogs – Kirwan finale and next steps, as well as SCOTUS DACA hearings and vigilance against the chipping away of working families’ gains. Plus PM’s one-day power-building training Dec. 7, battles on school improvement and Medicare for All, news and events from PM’s chapters, and events from our progressive allies.
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 This week: links to our recent blogs – Kirwan finale and next steps, as well as SCOTUS DACA hearings and vigilance against the chipping away of working families’ gains. Plus PM’s one-day power-building training Dec. 7, battles on school improvement and Medicare for All, news and events from PM’s chapters, and events from our progressive allies.
STATEWIDE
LEADERSHIP GATHERING ONLINE TUESDAY, DEC. 17 (new entry since email Memo was sent)
Scheduling issues with the approach of the holiday period have led Progressive Maryland to reschedule its statewide leadership meeting as a video gathering Tuesday, Dec. 17 from 7 to 9 PM. Watch for more about the event soon.
GAIN THE SKILLS IT TAKES TO BUILD POWER AND MAKE IT WORK FOR WORKING FAMILIES
December 7 Movement Leadership Training 9 AM – 5 PM ET MCEA, 12 Taft Ct, Rockville, MD 20850 -- Progressive Maryland is hosting a 1-day Movement Leadership Training for current and prospective members. Folks from Montgomery County, Prince George's County, and Central and Western Maryland are encouraged to attend. This is an agitational training designed to develop grassroots leaders' skills around building power in alignment with their self-interest. The training costs $25, which covers lunch, snacks, and materials.  Sign Up Now
The Push for More Support for Community Schools is at the heart of the Kirwan Commission proposals to improve Maryland’s schools – which is being finalized now. A recent poll shows that about three out of four Marylanders want more money spent on public schools but need more info on that plan, which has rolled out a decade-long reform plan that could cost about $3.8 billion more each year once fully implemented, as Danielle Gaines reported for Maryland Matters. But you can find out lots more from our roundup of the blogs we have published on education reform in the second half of 2019; see below in our blogs recap section. See also the advocacy work of the “Blueprint for Maryland’s Future” coalition, including Progressive Maryland and teachers’ organizations statewide.
MEDICARE FOR ALL IS GAINING SUPPORT NATIONALLY AND IN MARYLAND The Medicare for All town hall held in Gaithersburg on Oct. 20 by our allies in the Maryland Progressive Healthcare Coalition (MPHC) is now available on a video stream and is already approaching 18,000 views. Take a look at the explainer, an introductory talk by Our Revolution president Larry Cohen (retired president of the Communications Workers, CWA) and a panel of expert analysts who also respond to some solid questions from the audience. https://www.facebook.com/OurRevolutionMD/videos/531692600951283/
OUR CHAPTERS AROUND THE STATE
Advocates for criminal justice reform in Prince George’s County are circulating this petition for the removal of Police Chief Henry Stawinski, arguing that “Chief Stawinski fails to hold police officers accountable under Maryland and federal law for acts of criminal misconduct, including for such acts as murder and other forms of violent assault;” and that he “permits Prince George’s County police officers to use excessive force, especially when dealing with black people.” A more complete account of the activists’ arguments is at the petition link.
Is hosting organizing training: December 7 Movement Leadership Training 9 AM – 5 PM ET MCEA, 12 Taft Ct, Rockville, MD 20850 -- Progressive Maryland is hosting a 1-day Movement Leadership Training for current and prospective members. Folks from Montgomery County, Prince George's County, and Central and Western Maryland are encouraged to attend. This is an agitational training designed to develop grassroots leaders' skills around building power in alignment with their self-interest. The training costs $25, which covers lunch, snacks, and materials.  Sign Up Now
Take Action Anne Arundel County
Lower Shore Progressive CaucusÂ
Baltimore will host the Progressive Maryland Statewide Meeting Saturday, Dec. 14 – see above.
EVENTS FROM OUR PROGRESSIVE ALLIES
TUES Nov 26 Solidarity with UFCW Local 400 workers challenging their Safeway and Giant bosses, who are stonewalling at the bargaining table – we say no give-back; all fight-back. Tomorrow (Tues. Nov. 26); check the Maryland sites where the struggle happens. Two-hour shifts morning and afternoon in Germantown, Oxon Hill, Silver Spring, District Heights, Waldorf, La Plata – see them all.
THURS, Dec 5 Webinar on linked climate justice issues with journalist/activist Naomi Klein, 8-9:30 PM, Greenbelt Community Center Room 114, 15 Crescent Road, Greenbelt. Klein will analyze relations between Palestinian liberation, white supremacy and climate justice. Discussion will follow. Webinar sponsored by Jewish Voice for Peace; local event, open to the public, by Greenbelt Climate Action Network and Prince George’s Peace and Justice Coalition.
SUN Dec 8 Future of Healthcare Town Hall — 1:30 – 4 PM Miller Branch of Howard County Library System 9421 Frederick Road, Ellicott City  21042. Details at link.
FRI Dec 13 Maryland Sierra Club Benefit in Annapolis (Eastport), guests Steuart Pittman and Sarah Elfreth, 6-8 PM, info and RSVP here.
SUN Dec. 15 Maryland Legislative Summit, 10 AM to 5 PM at UMBC Catonsville. Details at https://mailchi.mp/038a7a4d5fb0/bills-for-the-week-of-march-5th-1056375?e=d378240ba7
SUN Dec. 15  MoCo DSA 🌹General Branch Meeting 2 PM, Silver Spring Library, 900 Wayne Ave, Silver Spring, MD 20910 DSA members and state delegates Gabe Acevero and Vaughn Stewart discuss the upcoming 2020 state legislative session. Follow link for full details/updates.
Baltimore progressives, Check in on the wide-ranging Baltimore Activist Alert calendar and tip sheet at http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/
Reading the Progressive Maryland BlogSpace: our recent blogs 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 blog posts:
November 19, 2019 Union, progressive coalition take lead on fair funding for Kirwan schools plan
SEIU Local 500 and progressive coalition partners have laid out what everyone agrees is needed to fund the schools -- and the Maryland -- that we all want. That's a genuinely fair tax regime that requires corporate Maryland to stop looting the state for private gain and CEO megasalaries. Unspoken here is the barrier of corporate toady Gov. Larry Hogan's ruling-class grip on the state budget process -- the new leadership of the General Assembly will have to take bold new steps to wrench it loose.
November 18, 2019 Progressive Maryland Weekly Memo for Monday, November 18, 2019
Links to our latest blog posts, plus the Progressive Maryland statewide meeting Dec. 14, school improvement and Medicare for all -- plus progressive events across the state
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PROGRESSIVE MARYLAND’S CONTINUED BLOG COVERAGE OF THE KIRWAN COMMISSION AND MARYLAND SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT CAMPAIGN
Assembly majority ready to move on Kirwan school improvements AND construction
November 8, 2019
Kirwan funding group meets tomorrow; recommendation expected this week
October 14, 2019
How the community school approach leverages all local improvement efforts
October 09, 2019
Underfunding our schools is undermining our future
October 02, 2019
September 19, 2019
Teacher Pay Dominates Discussion of Proposed Kirwan Education Formula
September 11, 2019
BATTLE LINES DRAWN FOR STRUGGLE FOR BETTER SCHOOLS IN MD -- $$$ AT ISSUE
August 20, 2019
PG Civic Academy tomorrow charts course for school and community improvements
July 31, 2019
Teachers across Maryland flexing their political muscle
July 13, 2019
>REMEMBER – these blog posts are frequently expressions of political opinion from our wide-ranging membership and circle of allies. They are not expressions of opinion by Progressive Maryland. Don’t be surprised if they sometimes vary in their political content. You might even disagree with them – a good reason to contribute a blog of your own. Send it to the moderator, Woody Woodruff, at [email protected].
>>Keeping up with the blogs is easier with the index. The blogs published in the PM BlogSpace from June 2015 through December 2016 are all available with descriptions and links here. You can follow blogs for 2017-18 starting from here
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