Newsletters
August 2022
As students return to school this August, Hoosier Action leaders are returning to campaign mode! This fall we are launching local campaigns and planning a series of Town Halls centering Hoosier voices. We continue our outreach efforts into rural and small town communities, fostering deep conversations around what matters most to our neighbors.
Building Our Narrative Power
On August 25th, over a dozen Hoosier Action leaders traveled from small towns across the state to Indianapolis for a day-long training session to strengthen their communications skills and build narrative power with faith, labor, and community leaders from across the state. At the training, we broke down the elements of winning narratives, and had the opportunity to practice constructing our own local campaign narratives.
Making Meaning of the Indiana General Assembly’s Special Session
Following the unprecedented special session of Indiana’s General Assembly in July, we came together to update the public on the new laws passed, including the criminalization of abortion care in almost every case. With the help of IU Maurer Law School Professor Jody Madiera, we unpacked the impacts of this ban, which will go into effect September 15th. We also outlined the inadequate funding allocated for family support.
Register To Vote Before Oct. 11th
If you want to be able to use your power as a voter, you need to make certain you are registered by October 11th! Register to be a voter in Indiana, double-check, or update your voter registration by going to https://indianavoters.in.gov.
If you have any questions about voting rights or voter registration, reach out to Hoosier Action’s Communications and Policy Director, Tracey Hutchings-Goetz at tracey@hoosieraction.org.
BARTHOLOMEW COUNTY CHAPTER
The Bartholomew County Chapter is leading a fight to ensure that tenants in Columbus have safe, quality, and affordable homes! Join the Bartholomew County Chapter for our upcoming Columbus Community Town Hall on Sept. 22 from 6:30-8:30pm (ET) about our housing and our future! No matter our background or where we’re from, all of our families need a safe place to call home. But safe, affordable housing is becoming more and more out of reach for too many of us in Columbus. We must come together now to make certain that the future of our town is a place where ALL families, no exceptions, can find and keep a safe roof over our head. We’re coming together to share our stories with our neighbors and our local elected officials. If you are interested in joining the Bartholomew County chapter, contact Stephanie Zhang at stephanie@hoosieraction.org.
JACKSON COUNTY CHAPTER
“My experience at the weeklong leadership training is that each and everyone of us have the potential to be leaders. I am extremely interested in bringing different groups of people together in our county.
— Sandy Freese, Jackson County member after attending weeklong leadership training
Our Jackson County chapter will be leading our next Action Party on August 10th as we text our neighbors about the MAT Act! The MAT Act is SO CLOSE to passing the Senate and we need to do everything we can to move Senator Young to be our champion and cosponsor this bipartisan bill that saves lives. That’s why we are going to text our neighbors to take action. Join us!
Register here: https://secure.everyaction.com/A5DCwLzDBUirNp4Oz-K54g2
The MAT Act is a common-sense solution to increase access to treatment & cut through federal red tape to prevent overdoses and save Hoosier lives, increase participation in treatment, & reduce stigma of drug use so that no one dies to a preventable overdose death.
MORGAN COUNTY CHAPTER
The Morgan County Chapter met with their State Senator, President Pro Tempore Rod Bray this month! At the meeting they discussed the need to improve Morgan County’s crisis response system, so that Hoosiers struggling with mental health and addiction issues receive help, not handcuffs. Leaders also discussed the importance of funding family support, so that all Hoosier kids can pursue their dreams and fulfill their potential. If you’d like to get involved with the Morgan County Chapter, reach out to organizer Tasha Coppinger at tasha@hoosieraction.org.
OHIO RIVER VALLEY CHAPTER
The Ohio River Valley Chapter is in full fall campaign mode! We are fighting for more naloxone, the lifesaving overdose reversal medicine, in New Albany. On August 31st, International Overdose Awareness Day, we launched our campaign with a canvass of small businesses in downtown New Albany to see if they would be interested in carrying naloxone. We had success in getting a few businesses to sign onto the campaign! We are looking for more businesses to join, so let Will know if you own or know of a local New Albany business who would want to join the campaign. You can email him at will@hoosieraction.org.
We are currently meeting with local officials about the campaign, as well as knocking on doors throughout September! You can help support the campaign by signing and sharing our petition at https://www.hoosieraction.org/naloxone. Our upcoming New Albany doorknocks will be on Thursday, Sept 15th and Thursday, Sept 29th at 6:30 pm at Mickey’s. We’ll be bringing together community members, small business owners, and elected officials on October 13th for our Town Hall at Park Christian Church in New Albany.
MOMS OF HOOSIER ACTION (MOHA) CHAPTER
The Moms of Hoosier Action Chapter are surveying rural women in Brown and Monroe Counties, inviting them to share their thoughts and experiences on reproductive care and family support. They will be hosting an Orientation: Reproductive Justice Path to Power on Sunday, September 11th from 3:00-4:30pm at our Bloomington office (1461 W. Bloomfield Rd., Bloomington) and a Rural Family Community Conversation on September 14th from 6:30-8:30pm at the Brown County Library.
Whether it’s deciding if, when, and how we grow our families or making certain that our kids have the freedom to learn and pursue their dreams, Hoosier families know what they need. Join the Moms of Hoosier Action’s community conversation to share what your family needs and listen to your neighbors. With the largest budget surplus in our state’s history and our rights up for debate, we must work together across our differences to make certain our voices are heard at the Statehouse! Want to get involved? Email Eva Bell at eva@hoosieraction.org!
GREATER INDIANA STATEWIDE CHAPTER
On Sunday, August 28th, during our Greater Indiana Chapter meeting, we supported the Moms of Hoosier Action by surveying over 600 women from rural Monroe County! At the meeting, organizers Laxmi Palde and Eva Bell updated us on the rural moms outreach. While local members of the Moms chapters were physically door knocking in Monroe County, the Greater Indiana Chapter was engaged online, texting women in rural Monroe County to share the same survey.These are with women whom we would not easily be able to reach door knocking, and through our coordinated efforts, now the Moms of Hoosier Action can now connect with even more potential rural leaders!
If you’d like to get involved with the Greater Indiana Chapter, contact Michelle Higgs at michelle@hoosieraction.org.
Our next Greater Indiana Chapter meeting is Sunday, September 25th from 3:00-5:00pm (ET) via zoom.
Be sure to regularly visit our Events page for the latest updates.
9/10 12:00-3:00pm ET Brown County Canvass (in-person)
9/11 3:00-4:30pm ET Reproductive Justice Pathway to Power: Orientation
(in-person)
9/14 6:30-8:30pm ET Rural Families Community Conversation (in-person)
9/15 6:30-8:30pm ET New Albany Doorknock (in-person)
9/22 6:30-8:30pm ET Our Homes, Our Future: A Columbus Community Town Hall
(in-person)
9/25 3:00-5:00pm ET Greater Indiana Chapter Meeting (Zoom)
9/29 6:30-8:30pm ET New Albany Doorknock (in-person)
10/13 6:30-8:30pm ET Ohio River Valley: Townhall for Our Future (in-person)
SAVE THESE DATES
11/10 6:30-8:00pm ET Training: Legislative Session 101 (Zoom)
11/15 ALL DAY Organization Day at the Statehouse (in-person)
12/10 TBD Annual Meeting (in-person)
12/15 6:30-8:00pm ET Training: Legislative Session 101 + 102 (in-person)
Join us!
Hoosier Action is a community organization made-up of members from local chapters and across the state. We work to build an Indiana where regular people have a say in the decisions that affect their lives. We have hundreds of members from South Bend to Seymour and everywhere in between. We run campaigns, hold trainings, and develop local leadership in the areas where we work; changing hearts and minds (and winning!) along the way.
Change both lives and politics in Indiana: become a member of Hoosier Action today!