A couple more neighborly actions
Medicare for All, insurance coverage for people who want abortions, a PIPP for low-income utility users, free food for Elmwood, Safe Lots for houseless neighbors & more
Morning, everyone. Here are a few more things we can do with and for our neighbors this week.
TOMORROW, 5/12, BY 4pm (to sign up) / 5/13, 4pm onward (to testify), remotely: Speak in support of one of the bills creating Medicare for All in RI, House Bill 5628. Some of you may already have your testimony laid out from the house version of this bill, others may be testifying for the first time—if so, this is a good one to choose. Tell the representatives what accessible health care would do for you, for people you love, for people you work with, for our state. Sign up here to testify aloud (you don’t need to have your testimony prepared when you sign up). If you’re not available Thursday night, written testimony can go to housefinance@rilegislature.gov.
TOMORROW, 5/12, BY 4pm (to sign up) / 5/13, 4pm onward (to testify), remotely: In that same hearing, there’s a bill that would increase health insurance coverage for the cost of an abortion for Rhode Island residents who wish to end a pregnancy: House Bill 5787. Sign up here to make health care and control over our own bodies and futures more accessible for more people—again, it’s the same hearing as the Medicare for All one, so you can put your two testimonies together. Email info@thewomxnproject.org if you’re in need of arguments to make.
TOMORROW, 5/12, BY 4pm (to sign up) / 5/13, 4pm onward (to testify), remotely: It looks like 5809, the House bill enabling a Percentage of Income Payment Plan for low-income households’ utility bills will also be part of this hearing! Those of you who testified in support of this in front of the Senate committee may have your testimony ready. If not, I think you can easily come up with reasons why gearing utility bills to a household’s total expenses would reduce burdens, open up possibilities and potentially save lives—but if you’re drawing a blank, let me know and I’ll gather some points for you. Sign up here to testify aloud when you testify on the other bill(s) at this same hearing, or email your testimony to housefinance@rilegislature.gov.
5/15, 4pm, remotely: Join this teach-in on the history of the Nakba (Catastrophe)—the invasion, colonization and apartheid of Palestine—and Palestinian resistance, how Palestinian liberation is tied to liberation here in RI and everywhere, and how Rhode Island residents can help, even from afar. If you’ve been seeing this in the news and feeling helpless, this could be a good place to start.
Anytime this week: The Peace and Plenty Garden in the Elmwood neighborhood is bringing back their free food stand and diversifying their food corridor for a second season. I somehow had no idea about this and it seems great! Can you kick in to help them put in some fruit trees and other food plants?
Anytime this week: I’m refreshing this fundraiser to create temporary zones of safety for people who have to live in their cars or tents. This helps to meet people’s short-term needs for hygiene and a relatively harassment-free sleeping place; it also helps to show our state that everyone needs a safe place to stay.
With love,
Kate