alliance4action Newsletter
May, 2021
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Greetings! And goodbyes! May is the time of year when we welcome all the wonderful cactus flowers and enjoy the stunning beauty of the desert! It is also the time we say goodbye to our winter visitors as they head back north, with hopes that the snow is melted! It seems that as we have been getting vaccines, and the weather has warmed, we have finally been able to visit in person (outdoors) with our winter visitors and alas, now they are leaving!
However, the good news is that thanks to Zoom technology, which we have now learned, we can still stay connected! As our a4a meetings are via Zoom, no matter where you are in the country, you can still be a part of our meetings! In fact, you can invite your friends from the north country to join us!
We will continue to meet the third Sunday of each month through June at 2pm. You can find the link to a4a meetings, as well as the featured speaker on our website, https://alliance4action.org. Looking forward to seeing old friends and new faces in those Zoom boxes! Together, we make a difference!
Arlynne Ostlund, Chair
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May General Meeting
Sunday, May 16th, 2 p.m.
Presentation by: Gabriella Cázares-Kelly, Pima County Recorder
Ms. Cázares-Kelly is the first Native American elected to a Pima countywide seat
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alliance4action Treasurer’s Report
April, 2021
Beginning Balance as of March 31, 2021 $4734.36
Income 19.21
Expenses 0.00
Adjustment for deposit error -148.72
Ending Balance as of April 26, 2021 $4604.85
Maggie Sievers, Treasurer
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a4a Action Groups
Climate
A great letter by Dr. David Dunham was published in t  he GV News Sunday, 4/25, encouraging us to contact our Members of Congress asking them to support HR 2307, the Energy Innovation and Carbon Fee Act, or similar legislation. HR 2307 would put a price on carbon with an accompanying dividend distributed to US households. David cited a statement by 3,589 US economists in the Wall Street Journal advising that such a carbon fee and dividend plan must be included as part of effective climate policy.
In March, David spoke at our a4a Climate Conversation Zoom session and demonstrated EN-ROADS, MIT’s online Interactive Climate Solutions Simulator. The simulation, comparing the expected effectiveness of various proposed climate solutions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and slow the rise of global temperatures, demonstrated that putting a price on carbon would have an important and dramatic effect on decreasing carbon pollution and limiting dangerous global warming. You can explore the EN-Roads climate policy simulator yourself in order to visualize and better understand the complicated relationships between climate, energy and policy at https://www.climateinteractive.org/tools/en-roads/.
Two of our members will soon be meeting with representatives of Citizens Climate Lobby and Congresswoman Ann Kirkpatrick to discuss the benefits of HR 2307.
Connie Williams and Connie Aglione co-led an 8 session OLLI course this spring called “Climate Conversations.” The class is being offered again as a 6 session course in the summer semester but currently has a wait list. If you are interested in taking part, the OLLI Monsoon season (July/August) will provide a final repeat of the series. Registration for the OLLI Monsoon season begins May 17th. We’d love to have you join us. Email [email protected] for more information.
Education
The a4a Education Action Group will meet Monday, May 17th at 4:00 pm via Zoom. Our speaker will be Roxana Rico, Superintendent of Continental School.
Ms. Rico will address how Continental functioned during COVID-19, the difficulties of students, educators and staff, and what their community needs will be when classes begin in the fall, especially reading enhancement. We hope all members can join us. Email [email protected] for the Zoom link and more information.
Health Care 
The Health Care Action Group met on April 20th with nine present. Our current issues are:
- Drug Pricing Reform
- Nursing Home and Elder Care Reform
- Affordable Care Act Reform
- Progress Toward Universal Coverage
We discuss policy and politics regarding health care. Our issues are coinciding in that the Biden administration and Congress are grappling with dropping the Medicare age and widening benefits and/or improving the ACA and making current changes permanent, the idea is to fund all this with drug pricing reform savings.
Two of us, along with other a4a Leadership Team members, met with a Senator Sinema staffer to discuss the two voting rights bills, S1 and HR4. We think we made an impression but got no tangible commitments as to Sinema’s strategy.
The next meeting is May 19, 2021 at 1 pm via Zoom. Please join us. Email Laurie Jurs at [email protected] for more details.
Immigration
"What's Happening at the Southern Border, Explained"
Source: National Immigration Forum. Read it here.
BAD NEWS REVERSED - Biden announced he would not raise  the refugee admission cap from 15,000 but later in the day agreed to announce a higher cap in May. Stay tuned for more.
SIGN THE JUSTICE FOR ALL PETITION to put universal legal representation for all families in Pima County on the ballot in 2022. The alliance4action and Green Valley Democrats are hosting a Justice for All drive-through petition signing on Sunday, May 23 rd. See announcement above.
CALL TO ACTION
Please contact your two senators and your congressperson to encourage them to urge President Biden to raise the refugee admissions into the U.S. to 125,000 as he promised during his campaign. And, contact Biden at the White House directly with the same message. (see the National Immigration Forum article, above, for additional information and background)
If you'd like to learn more about immigration and the a4a Immigration Action Group, please contact Gail Frank ([email protected]). We'd love to have you join us for our Zoom meetings on the 2nd and 4th Friday of each month (9:00 a.m. AZ time) and take our Calls to Action related to both the injustices and benefits of immigration.
Racial Justice
The Racial Justice A  ction group continues to explore opportunities to support local groups led by people of color. At its last meeting, the group read reports provided by team members for two organizations:
Justicia ParaTodos/JusticeforAll (https://www.pimacountyjusticeforall.org)
Justicia Para Todos offers very direct and specific opportunities for supporting the 2022 Ballot Initiative by posting signs, canvasing, hosting informational sessions and gathering signatures.
Books for Classrooms ( https://www.booksforclassrooms.org/programs/)
The program has strict guidelines and has reached a large number of students. The books sent to schools ensure that students read about their specific culture so the students can see themselves in the stories.
The group discussed taking on a legislative advocacy role to support local groups. With the elections in 2022 and the a4a role as a politically progressive organization, a legislative advocacy role for the Racial Justice Action group would be appropriate. This topic will be discussed at the next meeting on Thursday, May 6th at 4:00 p.m.
Please email Sydney Chayes at [email protected] if you have questions or are interested in joining our group.
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Save the Date!
a4a Program Meeting
Katie Hobbs
Arizona Secretary of State
Sunday, June 20th, 2 p.m.
via Zoom
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Upcoming Community Events
Quail Creek Democrats
May 15, 3 p.m., Online
Monthly Speaker Series
Sam George of the People’s Choice for President. Details and Zoom registration at: https://www.qcdemocrats.org/events.
Green Valley Democrats
May 8, 3 p.m. Sandra Kennedy, Arizona Corporation Commission. Topic: What are the new requirements for Arizona’s utilities to deliver 100% carbon-free electricity?
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89328982328?pwd=b1haam0wRkpyMXBXYTVTUC9jcmE2dz09
May 21, 3 p.m. Terry Bracy has served as a political adviser, campaign manager, congressional aide, sub-cabinet official, board member, and adviser to presidents.
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83199688132?pwd=RWpILzhMRGMvQksrNUdveVdwQ2F6Zz09
More information at: https://greenvalleydemocrats.org
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