It’s been a crazy few months here at VPIRG, with our advocates have been hard at work in the State House day after day and our team of field organizers doing an incredible job hitting the phones, organizing events, meeting with activists, and having the face-to-face conversations that truly drive our work. Here are just a few highlights!
AUTOMATIC VOTER REGISTRATION
We’ll post a full an update on our legislative accomplishments next week, though I’ll quickly note a big victory for our democracy with the automatic voter registration bill signed into law last week. When many other states are making it harder to vote, it’s great to Vermont continue to expand access to the polls.
CANVASS LAUNCH
Our team of 7 canvass directors convened for a two-day retreat over the weekend to prep for the launch of the 2016 summer canvass on Monday. These young leaders will recruit, train, inspire and manage the dozens of staff who will educate tens of thousands of Vermonters about carbon pollution tax reform.
ACTIVIST TRAINING
On Saturday, April 16th VPIRG and our Energy Independent Vermont coalition members hosted a statewide activist training to help take our big climate campaign to the next level. It was truly an inspiring day as over 100 activists from all over the state came together to swap ideas, share strategies, and set goals for a successful summer and fall campaign. We also took a cool aerial photo of us all spelling out E-I-V, which you can see on the campaign website here.
BUSINESS & CITIZEN LOBBY DAY
On Friday, April 22nd (aka Earth Day), we joined Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility, Seventh Generation and Ben & Jerry’s in organizing a citizen lobby day and a press conference announcing the major milestone of our 500th business endorsement of pricing carbon pollution in VT. My top highlight was printing a poster as tall as me. It took months for our organizers to recruit this list and the visual turned out great!
YOUTH LOBBY DAY
We joined 350VT in sponsoring the first ever Youth Rally for the Planet last Thursday, April 28th. I’ve worked with a lot of students, but the commitment and hard work of this coalition of high school students and teachers was beyond compare! The crew of Harwood Union High School coordinated the efforts of over a dozen schools and hundreds of students. Check out this Facebook album for pics.