Support Medicare-for-All Canvassing in Austin

Product Description

Austin, Texas, United States

Supporters

On Sunday, November 19th, the Austin DSA Health Justice Working Group held the soft launch of our canvassing campaign in support of Medicare-For-All and Paid Sick Leave.

26 DSA members showed up to train, roleplay, canvass, and help us get ready for our Big Launch. It’d be an overstatement to say that it went off without a hitch, but overall it exceeded expectations and went a lot smoother than we could realistically hope for. In less than 2 hours of actual door to door canvassing we got 100 people to sign up in support of Medicare For All and Paid Sick Leave, 45 of whom expressed interest in joining us for future actions or signing up with DSA. That means that, for every hour of a member’s time, we got two people to sign on in support of our Democratic Socialist vision for health justice and one person to sign up to join our campaign.

I don’t want to get too far ahead of myself; but to me this suggests this is the beginning of a campaign with the potential to grow and scale up really quickly. We’re going to try to build on this momentum; in the coming weeks, we’re going to follow up with everyone who expressed interest in joining our campaign, as well as phone banking every member of Austin DSA. We’re an organization with around 800 members; there’s no reason we can’t be the most formidable canvassing organization in the city. But it’s going to take a lot of time and effort on the part of our membership. Please sign up with the Health Justice Working Group if you want to be a part of this effort. We need everyone we can get to be a part of this.

On Tuesday, November 21st we had our first phone banking party at our new co-chair’s house. We’ll have more phone banking parties in the coming weeks, and we’re hoping to hold an event with guest speakers prominent in the national fight for Medicare-For-All as well as the local fight for Paid Sick Leave before our Big Launch. As you may know, the Big Launch is going to be held on December 10th, and we’ve secured the use of the AFL-CIO hall for the event. Please mark that date on your calendar now; it’s going to be the biggest event Austin DSA has ever held and it’s going to mark the real beginning of an ambitious campaign for our chapter. We learned a lot from Sunday’s event, and we’re confident that we’ll be able to provide ample training and logistical support to ensure that the Big Launch is a big success. And there’s going to be an afterparty that evening to celebrate everything we’ve done so far and everything we plan to do in the future.

If you can’t be there on December 10th (or even if you can), please consider supporting the campaign financially. We need to print literature, buy food (and coffee!), and secure locations in advance of future canvass events. Unfortunately, we can’t beat capitalist trash without socialist cash, and it’s going to take a sustained campaign to win universal free healthcare for everyone.

Get involved in the fight by emailing [email protected] or by leaving a message on our Facebook page, facebook.com/atxdsa

In solidarity,

James Cole, Austin DSA Health Justice Working Group

Chris Wang, Austin DSA Tech Committee

We’re printing a new run of stickers for health justice. Pitch in at least $5 and get two sent to you via First Class Mail. These high-quality, heavy-duty stickers are union-made right here in Austin.

DISCLOSURE: This campaign is organized by the individuals listed below, not Austin DSA. Donations are not deductible for federal tax purposes.

Est. Delivery Date: Early 2018

7 claimed

Unlimited

Est. Delivery Date: Early 2018

7 claimed

Unlimited

Jacob Weiss

7 years ago

$10

Brian Degman

7 years ago

$25

Gordon Fossum

7 years ago

$25

Stanley Stuart

7 years ago

$50

Ryan Pollock

7 years ago

$25

Anonymous

7 years ago

$25

Joshua Barrington

7 years ago

$10

Chris Sandoval

7 years ago

$50

Elizabeth Scott

7 years ago

$40

Taylor Backman

7 years ago

$135

Isaiah & Lizzie Maldonado

7 years ago

$10

Rachael Pence

7 years ago

$5

Anonymous

7 years ago

$5

Anonymous

7 years ago

$50

Chris Wang

7 years ago

$25

Brianna Carney

7 years ago

$10

Michael Bennett

7 years ago

$5

James Cole

7 years ago

$25

Chris Wang

Hello Supporters of the Austin DSA Health Justice Canvassing Campaign! We’re writing to update you on the status of the campaign. As you know, we’ve been very active in putting together a couple of events for this campaign. In case you haven’t heard, here’s what we’ve got coming up. Your contributions have helped make these events a possibility: December 8, 7:00pm – 8:30pm Medicare For All/Paid Sick Days Town Hall with Tim Faust and Greg Casar IBEW Local 520 (4818 E Ben White Blvd, Ste 300) Tim Faust is a single-payer activist with DSA who has been traveling the country talking about Medicare for All and the broader fight for health justice. He is currently an MPA student at NYU and, with his partner, produces HEAVYxMEDICAL, a podcast about health policy and metal music. Their book Health Justice Now: Single-Payer And What Comes Next will be published next year by Melville House. His writing appears in Jacobin and Vice and other places. Gregorio “Greg” Casar is a native Texan, the son of Mexican immigrants, and an Austin City Council Member representing District 4 for his second term. Greg previously served as the Policy Director for Workers Defense Project, and introduced Austin city council’s resolution requiring employers to provide Paid Sick Leave. December 10, 10am – 3:00pm Big Launch! Medicare-For-All & Paid Sick Leave Canvassing AFL-CIO Hall, 1106 Lavaca St, Austin, TX Help us make this Austin DSA’s largest event ever! DSA members and friends will meet at the AFL-CIO union hall for a comprehensive and fun training session! We’ll then head out into the community to talk to hundreds of Austin residents about building a national movement to win universal healthcare (Medicare-For-All) and a local movement to win paid sick days for all workers in Austin. Afterward, we’ll have an after party to celebrate our work and get to know each other better. There’s a few other ways to get involved with the campaign this week. First, there’s a phonebank party: December 7, 6:30pm – 8:30pm Canvass Campaign Phonebanking Courtney Szigetvari’s Place (12706 Lamppost Ln) There’s also going to be a final literature prep and assembly party (we are going to need extra hands for this!). December 9, time TBA Canvass Lit Assembly Party Dave Pinkham’s Place (email [email protected] for more details) Please help out if you can. There’s still plenty of work to be done, and nobody is going to do it for us. Let’s make this weekend a memorable one for Austin DSA! In Solidarity Chris + James

Hello Supporters of the Austin DSA Health Justice Canvassing Campaign!

7 years ago

Chris Wang

James Cole