Next Gathering & More Updates

Dear Friends,

Good news! We have a date and location for our next FORWRD-ATX In-Person Gathering:

Thursday, April 3, 6:30 pm
The Griffin School
5001 Evans Avenue, 78751

Please RSVP by filling out this form. We’ll have plenty of space for breakout sessions devoted to specific tasks and topics — and we’re excited to hear your thoughts about what those could be. Thank you, Griffin School, for hosting us!

In the meantime, we’re building an organizing council and are looking for a FORWRD-ATX Treasurer. While you will help shape this position, we know we need someone who can manage our funds by doing some simple bookkeeping, open up a Venmo account, and pay our expenses. We're looking for someone who's ready to roll up their sleeves and jump in; please reach out to Lex Sanford if you are interested! ([email protected])

UPDATE: a small group of volunteers met last weekend to begin planning an Empty Chair Town Hall to target Rep. Mike McCaul on Saturday, March 22 at 2 pm. We’re still on the hunt for an appropriate venue; if we don’t find anything by the end of the day TODAY, we will shift to a virtual event with a local in-person protest. (Got a venue idea? Let Amy Webberman know. -[email protected])

Please stay tuned — we’ll send out an SOS message as soon as our plans are solid! We will need help with graphics, publicity, research, outreach, logistics, program, and much more. In person or online ... let's do this!

This week, Trump’s approval rating on 538 dipped into negative territory for the first time in his second term. A new Reuters/Ipsos poll found that 51 percent of the nation believes our nation's economy is on the wrong track. And the markets keep reacting to Trump and Musk, in ways that they can’t control or suppress.

Tesla stock? Down. Consumer confidence? “Dropped sharply in February.” The protests are getting bigger and the opposition is getting stronger. 

And we are just getting started.

Just a reminder to send any listings for our shared calendar to this email address! Our awesome calendar team captain Wendy Salome is keeping this resource updated and we’re very grateful. 

And if you’d like to get on the email list for Kelly Holmes’ regular doses of inspiration and info-sharing for Central Texans, you can drop her a line ([email protected]). And if you want to encourage anyone to JOIN US, please send them this form. 

Finally: DeDe Church, who’s hosting an organizing event for her friends and neighbors in Northwest Austin this weekend, had the great idea that we could all wear blue bandanas to public events like protests or rallies to identify each other. (Or any blue scarf, towel, dishcloth, etc.) Melanie scooped up 25 this morning to pass out at Saturday’s rally at the Capitol with Lloyd Doggett, Greg Casar, and special guest Elizabeth Warren.(!!!) Michaels and Oriental Trading Company sell them for less than $2 each in case you need one. Great idea, DeDe — and have a great meeting!

We’ll look for all of you on Saturday with blue bandanas … and we hope you’ll join us on April 3 to keep moving FORWRD together.