Optional Action

General Resources

Contact your representatives in government at the local, state and national levels

Find out what is happening in local, state and national government

  • Deerfield area: check Patch or Deerfield Review for news stories, and check Deerfield Village page under "Government" and "Community" tabs for various ways of getting information
  • Illinois: go to www.ilga.gov and search for legislation by key word
  • National: Check what legislation is pending in Congress by going to www.congress.gov and search by key word

Resources on various issues

Guns/Mass Shootings

Here are two organizations that may help you take the action you asked about today. You can simply use their website or search them on Google to get to their Facebook pages (which may be updated more), OR you can also sign up for email alerts or text alerts.

nationwide:

  • Everytown https://everytown.org/ This is a coalition of other organizations. See their Act button. You can get text alerts from Everytown. These connect you via your cell phone to a pre-recorded message on the issue, then automatically connect you to your member of Congress with specific talking points to share with that person on the issue. For example, the week of Nov. 6, 2017, they were promoting the Senate bill S1539 which is meant to keep guns away from domestic abusers (like the TX shooter). This takes about 20 seconds.
  • Another options is the Gabby Giffords organization https://giffords.org/act/)

state of IL:

  • People for Safer Society http://www.peopleforasafersociety.com/ They teach you how to use Witness Slips to share your opinion with state legislators (not just your own representatives in the IL General Assembly). They give information or advice on how to check for pending legislation on your own, by going to ilga.gov, then searching for something like "bump stock" and pending legislation comes up. (Incidentally, the House rejected a bill recently, but there are other bills that are in the works - read that story here.) You can also write directly to your IL representative (see contact info above).
  • Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence http://www.ichv.org/ Under "Advocacy" they have instructions on how to write (to newspapers, to legislators), and they also have other links on legislation.

NET NEUTRALITY

LGBTQ+

presentation from Melanie & Kath

ENVIRONMENT, CLIMATE, the EARTH

see our separate page on this issue

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