Hey folks! 2 weeks always feels like quite a gap between updates- but perhaps that’s because we’ve always got a lot going on.:)
Let’s jump right into some announcements!
Announcements:
1.) Sunrise Holland 2.0!
The past two editions of our newsletter have mentioned this, but we’re thrilled to announce that the new hub structure platform is dropping TOMORROW, Wednesday, June 22, at 2pm EST!!
Two internal members of Sunrise Holland have been working to revamp everything, including the Sunrise Holland structure “bylaws”, the social media brand book, our event planning guidebook, the event implementation general rulebook, a directory of leadership roles, an accountability rulebook, and recruitment resources!
In Sunrise Holland 2.0, we’ll focus more on educating ourselves about various issues so that we have a better understanding of what we are fighting for. We also hope to improve on our modes of activism by balancing protest presence and community education. We are so excited to meet these goals and many more! Stay tuned for the special announcement release of the new hub structure platform TOMORROW!
2.) PRIDE Month
Happy Pride!! Since June is Pride month, we’ve been working on creating a toolkit of advocacy resources for the LGBTQ+ community and allies. We’ll be releasing it soon, so stay tuned for that!
In the meantime, go over to our social media and comment on our PRIDE post to tell us how you’re celebrating PRIDE!
AND, if you want to do something EXTRA special- consider making a video on YouTube! YouTube has a program in which, for the entire month of June, anyone can create and post a “YouTube short” in honor of Pride, and for each, YouTube will donate to the Trevor Project, the world's largest suicide prevention and crisis intervention organization for LGBTQ+ youth.
And if you create a video, we’ll give you a shoutout on our social media and share the link to your video in our next newsletter!
3.) Juneteenth!
Celebrating Juneteenth!! ❤️💛💚🖤
Juneteenth is a deeply joyous celebration, and a time for reflection and introspection. Because Black Americans are free of chattel slavery, but not from racism. Not from white supremacy, which still threatens Black Lives on every single level (health, medical care, livelihood, the law, access, etc.).
✊🏾We celebrate the freedom fighters who worked to end chattel slavery and inspired the movement to end racism. We celebrate the Black people of yesterday and today.
‼️ Yet remember: your celebration must include introspection- a commitment to understanding your history and its present impacts, unlearning racism, and participating in this movement. Otherwise it is inevitably problematic.
Check out the resources in the Antiracism and Unlearning White Supremacy Toolkit!
4.) Joseph Alfonso for Congress!
We’ve endorsed Joseph Alfonso for Congress! Many of you have already seen this on our website and social media, but we’ve officially endorsed veteran Joseph Alfonso for Congress.:)
About: Joseph is from New York, raised by working class immigrant parents. He worked hard to support his family growing up, and, after graduating high school, chose to serve our country as a combat veteran in the U.S. Marine Corps. He married his wife, also a veteran, in 2012 and moved to West Michigan, where he worked as a banker and sales attendant. Yet he really missed working in public service, so he began working in an important role for the City of Kentwood before choosing to run for office. If Joseph wins this race, he will be Michigan’s first Hispanic representative.
Our support: we KNOW Joseph is the candidate we want to serve us in Michigan’s 4th Congressional district. Bill Huizenga is not the candidate who will support our future, protect our climate, and fight for our safety and safe livelihoods. Joseph is a Green New Deal (GND) champion, will advocate to protect our water quality, will support social security, immigration law reform, public utility and career expansion, gun violence prevention, equality, and so much more.
5.) VOLUNTEERS NEEDED!!
Jospeh Alfonso is our candidate. We need him, and he needs us.
If you want the power to change what happens in our cities, state, and nation- if you want to REGAIN YOUR VOICE- we need you to actively support his campaign, to help him get into office.
We’ll be phonebanking for Joseph on June 24 - June 30. Phonebanking is incredibly easy; you just sign on for a short shift, use an app that connects you to voters, and you read off of a script to share the information with them before forwarding to the next call.
Please take a look at the open shifts and try to fit one into your schedule! Thank you so, so much for your support 😊
6.) Next Meeting!
Our NEXT MEETING will be Sunday, June 26 at 8pm! Expect a fun meeting that will last about an hour. Plans will be finalized for our Racial Equity and Environmental Justice Simulation event, we’ll be talking about a new collaboration with an organization in Holland, Community Action for Racial Justice and Equity (CARE) and we’ll discuss how to mobilize volunteers for Joseph Alfonso! Please join us if you’re interested; you can register using the link in our most recent social media post.:)
Social Media Highlight
We’ve got two posts to highlight today- for PRIDE, and for Juneteenth.:)
PRIDE post!
That’s all for today! Thank you all so much for tuning in, and as always, feel free to reply to this email if you have any questions!
Take care,
Hannah (Sunrise Holland Hub Director)