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SiX and the Green Wave
For the second year, SiX joined U.S. abortion activists and Green Wave leaders (the Green Wave is the movement for safe and legal abortion originating in Argentina) from Argentina, Mexico, Colombia, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, and Chile to share strategies for expanding abortion access. The international gathering aimed to learn from each other's successes and challenges in navigating complex environments where abortion access remains marginalized, criminalized, and surveilled.Â
SiX's Senior Director of Reproductive Rights joined the panel "The Rise of Trump, Bolsonaro, Milei, Bukele, and How We Resist Authoritarianism." Speakers explored major political messages and moral panics that have propelled extremist movements forward as well as intersectional strategies and coalition-building practices to banish the dark future of authoritarianism.
Learn more about the gathering here.
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Photo by Ana Lucia NietoÂ
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AI & Defending Democracy
The rapid development of AI poses a myriad of serious threats to our democracy, from supercharging disinformation to making it easier to manipulate voters. History tells us that efforts to undermine the freedom to vote disproportionately target Black, brown, young, and rural voters -- but states are taking action. In Colorado, SiX’s state director worked with legislators and community organizations to pass House Bill 24-1147, requiring political candidates to clearly label advertisements that feature content generated by AI. Colorado is also the first state in the nation to pass legislation tackling the threat of AI bias in pivotal decisions. Read more here.
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Congressional House Agriculture Committee Votes Flawed Farm Bill Out of Committee
The House Agriculture Committee advanced the Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2024 (HR 8467). The 942-page bill faced criticism from advocates for increasing subsidies without enhancing farm safety measures, repurposing funds to make it more difficult for farmers to transition to more sustainable climate-friendly practices, and failing to prioritize local and regional food systems and nutrition programs. Â
Every American, especially every state legislator, has a reason to care about the Farm Bill due to its broad-sweeping implications on items that we all care about including: funding nutrition programs like SNAP, funding university agricultural research and education, funding training for new and beginning farmers, and funding conservation incentives that can help to mitigate climate change. To read more about the 2024 Farm Bill and stay up-to-date, visit the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition.Â
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New Federal Grant Guidance Empowers States to Protect Workers
The Uniform Guidance is a set of federal guidelines that determines how states and localities can spend federal grant money, including contracts to private companies. New “uniform grants guidance” by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) ensures “that a variety of pro-community, pro-equity, and pro-worker policy tools are not prohibited by the guidance." The updates to the Uniform Guidance are critical as billions in federal funds flow to cities and states from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), CHIPS & Science Act, and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). State and local governments will now be able to attach policies to this funding to maximize benefits for communities, workers, and small businesses. Read more from our friends at In The Public Interest here.Â
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Holding Big Oil Accountable
The majority of U.S. voters support holding Big Oil accountable for its climate lies in court, new polling from Data For Progress shows. When asked if fossil fuel companies, who knowingly lied about the reality of climate change for decades, “should be held legally accountable for their contributions to climate change,” 62% of voters said yes. Read about SiX’s collaborative governance efforts with partners, funders, and state legislators in the CROP cohort to proactively center agriculture that's good for climate and community here.
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Celebrating 10 Years of SiX
At this year’s national conference, SiX will mark our 10 year anniversary of working with state legislators to advance bold, people-centered change to create an equitable, resilient, healthy, and prosperous future for all! Do you have a success story of working with SiX that you'd like to share? We would love to amplify it! Click here to set up a joyful interview today!
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State legislators, if you’d like to go deeper into SiX’s issue areas, join our legislator cohorts: the Economic Power Project, the Cohort for Rural Opportunity and Prosperity, and the Reproductive Freedom Leadership Council!
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