Mid-Michigan DFA: The Quick Update

Mid-Michigan Democracy for America (DFA) is now the second largest DFA chapter in Michigan with 114 progressive activists registered online, and we are still growing.

The fall season has been a whirlwind of activity for Mid-Michigan DFA as we had two rounds of local candidate endorsements, an annual social gathering, and co-sponsored three different local events, including the VOA benefit concert in Lansing. But I’m getting a little ahead of myself here. Let me get you caught up on the full scope of our activities over the last 12 months or so:

The monthly meeting is held the first Wednesday of every month at 7 p.m. at the SEIU office at 1026 E. Michigan Avenue in Lansing. (And, no, we do not use the Roberts Rules of Order for our meetings.) We rotate the pizza and pop duties at each meeting, so you can eat and talk progressive politics. Please put Mid-Michigan DFA on your calendar and plan to join us.

Our primary web site for membership is www.dfalink.com/midmichigan. Please register with the site and you will receive regular event notices, etc. Our DFA link web site has a variety of information about our past events. It has our monthly meeting notes posted, as well as a copy of our bylaws, and other tidbits.

Here are some things Mid-Michigan DFA has accomplished recently:

We had a volunteer night at Planned Parenthood. We recently had MMDFA volunteers at the Michigan Equality rally in Lansing. We helped with the Prop A phone bank last fall. We supported and donated to the newly-created Hispanic Caucus of the Democratic Party. We actively assisted with the collection of petition signatures for a ballot proposal to increase Michigan's minimum wage, an effort that spurred the legislature to act on the issue.

We've created a Federal PAC from scratch. We created a State PAC from scratch. We held a bowling night this year to raise money for the state PAC -- and everyone was invited and we had a decent turnout, including a county commissioner. See photos of the bowling event here: http://www.flickr.com/gp/14931550@N07/6Dr235. The federal PAC last year published a series of ads in the Livingston Argus against Mike Rogers. We recently had a state PAC fundraiser which introduced the endorsed local candidates. See pictures here http://www.flickr.com/gp/14931550@N07/4To0BK. More fundraising for the PACs is on the way.

MMDFA t-shirts and hats were sold to our members. (I recently randomly saw someone wearing one of our T-shirts at local festival.) We held a successful rummage sale for our general fund.

We just launched this blog, which will be one-to-watch as we going forward with it.

Mid-Michigan DFA recently endorsed progressive candidates for the Lansing City Council, East Lansing City Council, Lansing School Board, and Lansing Community College Board of Trustees. See pictures of the deliberations here: http://www.flickr.com/gp/14931550@N07/ZE45B3.

A casual/social membership meeting was held with Rep. Barb Byrum (who got tied up in the big budget mess that whole weekend).

This fall Mid-Michigan DFA co-sponsored the benefit concert for Volunteers of America homeless shelter and supported Michigan Equality/Soulforce's screening of the movie "For the Bible Tells Me So." We also co-sponsored the Peace Education Center’s theater production of “My Name is Rachel Corrie.”

I hope you can join our efforts with Mid-Michigan DFA. The email address for the group is midmichigandfa@yahoo.com. Please feel free to contact us by email if you have questions.


-- Tom Rico
reporting for MMDFA