2017 Town Halls
May 15: Working America on how to get involved in canvassing in red and purple districts, specifically CA-10 and CA-21. A legislative advocate from Committee for Green Foothills lead an environmental advocacy training
April 17: NRDC and The Sierra Club on greenhouse emissions, California’s water problems and solutions, and why California may be the beacon of hope in an administration hostile to environmental protection
April 15: NRDC and The Sierra Club
- Support AB378
- Oppose CA Water Fix
March 27: Electoral Integrity with CAVO, FairVote, and We the People
- Support open sourcing
- Assess the necessity of plurality and runoff systems and ranked voting
- Train in phone banking for elections in and out of your district and county
- Write to local Board of Supervisors to institute consistent transparency, accountability and oversight measures for all local law enforcement surveillance decisions
February 23: Swing Left District 10 and SIREN
February 8: ACLU Webinar on AB165 and Women’s March Huddle
- Oppose CA AB165
- Women’s March Action #2 from 10 Actions in 100 Days: create vision board, headlines in 2021
April 15, 2017: NRDC and The Sierra Club
There is hope. That was the message delivered by Maxwell Baumhefner and David Olsen of the Sierra Club.
Support AB378: The state’s cap-and-trade program requires companies to buy permits to release greenhouse gas emissions (meaning: major polluters buy credits for their carbon emissions). Although AB378 wants to extend this program, due to expire in 2020, and supports its goal to reduce emissions to 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2030, lawmakers and the NRDC are concerned that the benefits have not reached all communities.
The Sierra Club focused on how we can take action to oppose the California Water Fix. The word “fix” is misleading. This initiative consists of two pipelines, 30 miles long, 40 feet each in diameter, and 150 feet below ground. It is expensive ($15-67 billion project) with major cost uncertainties when water and conservation organizations have low cost, many existing solutions that would not further damage the environment and be half the cost.
Also discussed: The #PreserveCA package: Three new bills were recently introduced by California Senate Pro Tem Kevin de León and other state champions, all designed to protect California against environmental harm from the anti-environment antics of the Trump Administration and Congress.
California Assembly Speaker pro Tem Kevin Mullin has introduced AB 1405 to deploy more clean energy resources during peak electricity demand, in order to meet the State’s 2030 greenhouse gas (GHG) and renewable energy targets.
More details on the background, legislation, and actions.
Monday, March 27, 2017: Electoral Integrity with CAVO, FairVote, and We the People
- CAVO: How are the actual machines and technology being used to count votes? Why is Open Source the necessity of a fair democracy?
- FairVote: Plurality systems, runoff systems, ranked voting — what are they and do they undermine or strengthen the electoral process?
- We the People: What is phone banking? Does it work? And how can you do it?
The electoral process encompasses everything from campaigning (finances, tactics used), choosing the candidates (primaries, party machinations), to the actual voting (voting day, voter suppression) and tallying of votes (the systems used, protocol, delegates).
In our last event we concentrated on just three of these issues.
More details and follow up action here.
Watch the Facebook Live Video.
March 7, 2017: Electronic Frontier Foundation
From the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Shahid Buttar led participants in a letter campaign to the local San Mateo County Board of Supervisors requesting the sponsorship and support of a comprehensive bill protecting citizens’ right to privacy from electronic surveillance.
More details on the event, information and action…
February 23, 2017: Swing Left and SIREN
Jeremy Barousse, Community Organizer of SIREN which is a nonprofit dedicated to the protection of immigrants ranging from working directly with immigrants and communities (drop in citizenship and documents and Know Your Rights workshops) to Work in school districts to protect children and their families from Salinas to Palo Alto and working on all levels of government including on bill SB54, California Values Act, first in nation of its kind, which needs our support!
Both houses of Congress are controlled by Republicans. The only way to get any change through is to turn the House. We can start with ensuring swing districts in California go Democrat. Each blue district adopts a red or purple one and offers support and resources.
The Bay Area’s swing district is CA District 10. How to get involved with District 10:
- Ground game: data and local coordination.
- Drive voter registration.
- Help canvass for progressive candidate.
- Phone bank remotely.
Current rep is Congressman Jeff Denham, a Republican elected in 2012. He won by a 3.4% margin in 2016.
More details on SIREN, SB54 and follow up action!
More details on Swing Left and swinging California District 10!
Wednesday, February 8, 2017: Huddle & ACLU Webinar
Huddle: Action 2 of the Women’s March 10 Actions, 100 Days.
Led by Esther Selks, people wrote down and shared their vision for what headlines on January 1, 2021 could look like.
Attendees posted on what they have already done since November 8th. The answer: a lot!
Webinar: California sets an example for the rest of the country. What happens here matters to your town and to the country!
During the webinar, we learned about the process of the California legislation, how to effectively reach reps, the pressure points where you can have the most impact, and how to critical action on California AB 165.
This bill guts existing privacy protections for students and teachers, putting at risk sensitive information about them and their families—information such as their religious practices, immigration status, health, or political activism.
More details on AB165 and follow up action
Watch the Facebook Live Video.
January 23, 2017: ACLU, SIREN, PPMM, and Santa Clara District Attorney’s Office
Our speakers included: Tessa D’Archangelew of ACLU-Northern CA, Lupe Rodríguez of Planned Parenthood Mar Monte, Paola Estanislao of the Human Trafficking division of the Santa Clara county District Attorney’s office and Priya Murthy of SIREN.
Local activists provided initiatives and tools to make becoming an active citizen easier: Katie Miserany of callsforchange.com. Gabriella Musacchia and Sita Wilson-Stukes of Together We Will – San Francisco Bay Area (membership portal here), and Brent Turner of CAVO.
Thank you to the 70+ attendees, our local allies and citizens. Whatever party you are, democracy works only if we’re engaged. We heard your feedback and strive to incorporate our community’s needs!
More details on the event and follow up action.
Watch the Facebook Live Video.
PANELISTS
Tessa D’Arcangelew
ACLU-Northern California, Leadership Development Manager
Tessa is the Leadership Development Manager at the ACLU of Northern California, where she manages the ACLU chapter program across Northern California. She is also an organizer with the technology and civil liberties team.
In her work with the chapter program, Tessa provides support and connects chapters to resources within the organization as they pursue local monitoring and advocacy, community education, and participate in state and federal campaigns. She leads efforts to provide chapter board members and local activists opportunities to build skills and experience in local organizing and advocacy tactics. Tessa loves the opportunity to get to know our amazing activists with diverse stories and captivating histories of political engagement.
Tessa leads the ACLU-NC campaign to help cities and counties adopt ordinances that create mechanisms for transparency, accountability, oversight and meaningful community input when considering surveillance technology. Several major cities and counties in the bay area are currently working to adopt such an ordinance.
Prior to joining the ACLU-NC, Tessa worked as a Field Assistant for the Yes on Prop 34 Campaign – a statewide movement to replace the death penalty with life in prison without the possibility of parole. She also managed a political canvassing office for a range of international aid organizations. In 2008, she worked on President Obama’s re-election campaign in Charlottesville, Virginia and on the campaign of congressional candidate Tom Perriello.
Tessa also worked as a Programming Assistant at the Intercultural Community Center and as a DJ for student radio at Occidental College. She graduated cum laude with a B.A. in Diplomacy and World Affairs.
Guadalupe Rodríguez
Planned Parenthood Mar Monte, Director of Public Affairs
Guadalupe “Lupe” is Director of Public Affairs at Planned Parenthood Mar Monte is the largest Planned Parenthood affiliate in the country. Previously, Lupe was the Program and Policy Director and interim Executive Director at ACCESS Women’s Health Justice.
Lupe served on the board of directors of Essential Access Health (formerly the California Family Health Council), and now chairs the board of ACCESS Women’s Health Justice, and is the treasurer of the board of California Latinas for Reproductive Justice. She is serving her third term as the Chair of the Santa Clara County Commission on the Status of Women, and was recently elected to the board of the Silicon Valley Chapter of Democratic Activists for Women Now (DAWN).
In 2010, Lupe was honored with the ‘Generation Award for an Emerging Leader’ from the California Coalition for Reproductive Freedom, and she received the “30 Under 30” Health Care Leaders award by Silicon Valley Latino magazine in 2013. She has a BA in neurobiology from Harvard University.
Priya Murthy
Services, Immigrant Rights, and Education Network (SIREN), Policy and Advocacy Director
As the Policy and Advocacy Director, Priya develops, manages and implements the policy advocacy and community organizing programs at Services, Immigrant Rights and Education Network (SIREN). She monitors and analyzes policies affecting immigrants in Silicon Valley and represents the organization in coalitions and before policymakers.
Prior to joining SIREN, Priya served as the first Policy Director of South Asian Americans Leading Together (SAALT), a national immigrant and civil rights organization based near Washington, DC.
Previously, she practiced immigration law, representing clients facing removal, worked for various immigration courts, and worked at Amnesty International’s National Refugee Office. She currently serves on the National Governing Board of the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum (NAPAWF) and as the State Advocacy Liaison for the American Immigrant Lawyers Association Northern California Chapter. Priya received her Juris Doctor from Tulane University Law School and her Bachelor of Art in Peace and Conflict Studies from the University of California, Berkeley. Priya was born in India and raised in Mountain View and Cupertino.
Paola Estanislao
Deputy District Attorney, Human Trafficking, Santa Clara District Attorney’s Office
DDA Paola Estanislao earned her undergraduate degree at the University of California, Berkeley and law degree at Santa Clara University School of Law. Paola has been a prosecutor for over eight years, having worked in the Los Angeles and San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office before coming to Santa Clara County. At UC Berkeley and in law school, Paola developed an interest in anti-human trafficking efforts when she learned about the plight of Filipina domestic servants in the United States and all over the world. Paola co-heads Santa Clara County’s L.E.I.H.T. (Law Enforcement Investigating Human Trafficking) Task Force and aims to develop an expertise in labor trafficking. She is fluent in Tagalog.
LOCAL ACTIVISTS
www.callsforchange.com : Katie Miserany has ten years’ experience leading large-scale marketing initiatives for successful technology companies, including RelateIQ (acquired by Salesforce) and Tiny Prints (acquired by Shutterfly). She is currently the head of marketing for LeanIn.Org and serves as a marketing advisor to GoPro and several VC-backed startups.
Together We Will-San Francisco Bay Area: Gabriella Musacchia and Sita Wilson-Stukes are currently an administrators for Together We Will (TWW) San Francisco Bay Area and have leadership roles on the TWW Call 2 Action & Political Strategy Advisory Board.
Dr. Musacchia, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of Speech-Pathology and Audiology at University of the Pacific and a Research Scholar in the Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery Department at Stanford University Medical School. Ms. Stukes is a 2017 New Leaders Council 2017 Fellow and was formerly a Program Director for Eating Disorders Information Network.
CAVO: Brent Turner was instrumental in the creation of the San Francisco County Voting Systems Task Force and his efforts are endorsed by the National Organization of Women. Brent has been recognized as a ground breaking activist for sustainability, and dedicates himself to local, state and federal election issues. He currently is on the board of directors for the National Association of Voting Official, West Coast coordinator for Democracy Spring, and an Assembly District Delegate for Assembly District 24. Mr. Turner is a graduate of Lincoln Law School in San Francisco and a community activist whose efforts have included volunteer work for the homeless as well as environmental issues.