EscInd: Keeping Up with the Resistance for February 27, 2017

Welcome to Keeping Up with the Resistance! We are trying a new feature where we share our stories or updates about civic activities in which we’re participating.  If you would like to share your own stories or updates about an event, meeting or other civic activities, email us at EscondidoIndivisible50@gmail.com with the subject line “Keeping Up with the Resistance”.
 

And a reminder, if you’re free tomorrow, February 28, 2017, and want to meet other progressives in Escondido, the Escondido Democrats is having a mixer for new or prospective members at the Offbeat Brewing Company, 1223 Pacific Oaks Pl, Escondido, CA 92029, from 6:30 PM - 8 PM.
 

We held our kickoff meeting on January 26, 2017 and since then, we had a planning leadership meeting on February 7, 2017 to strategize. The main takeaway from both meetings was that we want to focus locally and on our 7 elected officials: Mayor Abed, Assemblymember Waldron, Senator Anderson, Representative Hunter, Senator Harris and Senator Feinstein. The main outcome from the meetings is our weekly action plans.

As a group: we did a teach-in about Indivisible at the Escondido Democrats' general meeting on February 11, 2017; joined Indivisible Fallbrook and Indivisible North San Diego County at #ResistTrumpTuesdays Rallies in Rep. Hunter’s El Cajon and Temecula office; joined other San Diego Indivisible groups at “Where’s Hunter?” Rally on February 23, 2017 in El Cajon; attended the Stand Up for Our Healthcare Coverage Rally on February 25, 2016, and held our first teleconference last Wednesday on February 22, 2017.  We’re 100 plus strong, and it’s only been a month since our kickoff meeting!
 

A kickoff meeting was held in early February and since then, there have been weekly meetings between Indivisible group leaders from California’s 50 congressional district to organize CA 50 district activities.  Group represented include Indivisible: San Diego Central, Indivisible East County San Diego, District #50, Indivisible Fallbrook (@Indivisible_F), Indivisible North San Diego County, Indivisible Ramona (@IndivisibleRam1), and TWW: Duncan Hunter CA-50 Focus Group.  
 

The main takeaways from these meetings are to focus on local issues and to show up representing Indivisible. Photograph, video record and share your civic engagement and participation. We want to show how deep the Indivisible movement nationally and locally, and to present the distinctness of each individual group within a larger coalition and movement.
 

This last meeting on February 26, 2017, centers around the upcoming town hall meeting with Representative Hunter.  The town hall meeting is being held on March 11, 2017 from 10:00 to 11:30 at Ramona Mainstage, which is usually an entertainment venue and is estimated to hold around ~300 ppl. We are encouraged to get there early as the town hall will be first-come, first serve, and we’ll try to find a workable overflow area for those who can’t get in.
 

A kickoff meeting was held this past Sunday, February 26, 2017, in San Diego, CA with about ~50-60 Indivisible & affiliation group leaders.  We met to discuss creating a regional coalition to provide a support network for our current and new groups.  The meeting was pretty organic, and there was a lot of ideas going back and forth with many of us new to activism & group organizing.
 

The main takeaway was to stay on message: we all have different styles and focuses, but we are all united in our resistance to President Trump’s autocratic, discriminatory and radical agenda. Don't let us be distracted by attempts to discredit us.  Keep a positive image, and continue to resist, to personalize our civic engagement (why and for whom you're resisting) and to tell our own stories.
 

Swing Left (@swingleft), an organization focusing on defending or turning swing districts blue in U.S. House. One of the swing districts on their radar is district CA-49 where Rep. Darrell Issa won by only 1,621 votes (<1%). Swing Left held their campaign kick-off meeting on February 12, 2017.  You can read the recap of the meeting here at Medium and listen to the meeting here at SoundCloud. Their goals are to a) connect, b) inform and c) empower.  Their 1st phase is research and recruitment:

If you don’t live in a swing district, you can adopt a swing district close to you.