Happy 2026—welcome to your January Dispatch! Thank you for starting the new year as a part of our growing, powerful Moms Next Door program!

What’s the Moms Next Door Dispatch? Each month, you’ll receive the Moms Next Door Dispatch (Scroll down!)—a monthly toolkit that will arrive in your inbox to provide you and your community with ideas on how to self-organize and take action, how to process and make sense of all that’s going on, AND how to remain calm, find joy in community, and recharge as we build a brighter future! Sign up now to get these monthly dispatches in your inbox and learn new ways to connect!

Here’s the January Menu of 5 ways for you to engage this month, on your own—or with your small group near you:

JANUARY ORGANIZING ZOOM MEETUP

Join us on Tuesday, January 27, 2026, on Zoom for the first workshop session in our 2026 Moms Next Door program: Revolution Resolutions: Boycotts, Intentions, and a Bright Future! We’ll start the year with a conversation about economic resistance tactics. Sign up here—we look forward to seeing you.

ACTION OF THE MONTH 

Renee Nicole Good should be alive today, and we are grieving her loss. Our hearts are with her family, especially her children, who should never have had to carry this grief. Enough is enough. Safety does not come from terrifying families. It’s built through care, dignity, and accountability. 

SIGN ON: Tell Congress to exert real oversight, demand a full investigation, including the release of all information and the body camera footage from federal agents, and to stop cutting our healthcare and other programs for families in order to fund the growing lawlessness of ICE.

And as we grieve for Renee, we grieve for the countless others this administration has terrified, injured, abducted, and traumatized with human rights abuses in the name of immigration enforcement. Here are some resources for how to support immigrants in your community and how to talk to your children about ICE and immigration, as well as other tough topics that weigh heavily on our hearts: 

• How to Talk to Children About ICE and Immigration - FamilyWorks

• How to Talk to Kids about Tough Topics - Sesame Workshop (Includes a broad range of topics like divorce, foster care, grief, and more)

• Tips for Talking to Your Kids - Corazón Norte (Includes discussion for creating emergency preparedness plans with your children)

FUN, JOY & POWER

• We’re celebrating a major win from the first week of January! Seventeen Republicans broke ranks with their own House Republican leadership and President Trump, and they joined every single House Democrat to pass a great bill that would continue the expired ACA tax credits for 3 years and protect affordable health care for millions of Americans—amazing! Our advocacy is working! We’ve built the momentum and the pressure—now we need the U.S. Senate to follow suit and pass a clean extension of the ACA tax credits in order to make healthcare affordable. 

  • SIGN ON: Keep up the pressure: Tell the U.S. Senate to extend ACA tax credits now! 

  • CALL IN: We made it easy for you. Just text "ACANOW" to 888-418-5699 to be connected to call your U.S. Senators.

• How many years have gone by already in the first few weeks of 2026? The news cycle has been upsetting, constant, and unrelenting. Here is a great resource on boundary setting with information and news consumption, so we can continue to bear witness to what’s happening around us without burning out.

• We need your voice to protect mifepristone, an essential medication safely used for many health issues, which is currently under attack! SIGN ON: Tell Congress to save lives by ensuring access to mifepristone!

 WHAT WE’RE READING THIS MONTH

• For people wanting to start book groups for change or just looking for good books, here’s what’s in our January library: *When you meet up to talk about books, take a picture and post it on social media with @MomsRising to show others that they aren’t alone!

• Non-fiction Pick: Algorithms of Oppression by Safiya Umoja Noble – A revealing look at how negative biases against women of color are embedded in search engine results and algorithms.

• Fiction Pick: The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai – An epic story of love, family, and identity about two Indian immigrants living in the US. 

It’s 2026, and we’re setting goals—and we’ve got lots of great book ideas to help the kiddos in your life do so too (Via @maistorybooklibrary)!! This New Year, read these books to support kids who want to… 

• Build resilience when facing challenges – Lily’s Dream: A Fairy Friendship by Bea Jackson (Ages 4–8)

• Improve their social skills and make new friends – Let’s Play! A Book About Making Friends by Amanda McCardie (Ages 4–7)

• Celebrate, instead of hiding, their uniqueness – Millie Fleur’s Poison Garden by Christy Mandin (Ages 5–7) 

• Explore their creativity and imagination – The Curious Why by Angela DiTerlizzi (Ages 4–8) 

• Learn to count to 100 – Richard Scarry’s Best Counting Book Ever by Richard Scarry (Ages 3–7) 

• Feel confident about making mistakes and trying again – Ping’s Perfect Pot by Helen H. Wu (Ages 4–8) 

• Understand and manage mixed emotions – Olive All at Once by Mariam Gates (Ages 4–8) 

• Learn to cook – Look and Cook Snacks: A First Book of Recipes in Pictures by Valorie Fisher (Ages 4–8) 

• Step out of their comfort zone and try something new – Bear in a Bathrobe by Maddie Frost (Ages 4–7) 

• Go on new adventures and explore new places – Far, Far Away by Molly Beth Griffin (Ages 4–8) 

• Have the confidence to speak up for themselves and others – Rocket Says Speak Up! by Nathan Bryon (Ages 3–7) 

• Be more in tune with the natural world – Wilder Child by Nicolette Sowder (Ages 4–8) 

• Help the environment and learn about climate change – How to Explain Climate Science to a Grown-Up by Ruth Spiro (Ages 6–10) 

• Accept and love their bodies as they grow – I Love My Body Because by Nomi Ellenson & Shelly Anand (Ages 4–8) 

• Feel empowered to make a difference and stand up for what they believe in – Anjali Can! by Sheetal Sheth (Ages 4–8) 

• Feel more in control of their anxieties/worries – The Worry Monster by Catherine Cook-Cottone (Ages 4–8) 

• Deal with disappointment and find a silver lining – Bea’s Bad Day by Tom Percival (Ages 4–7) 

• Feel confident about asking for help when needed – Way Past Embarrassed by Hallee Adelman (Ages 8–12) 

• Learn more about financial literacy and saving money – I Am Money by Garrett Gunderson & Julia Cook (Ages 6–10)

*Want to support your local bookstore? Use the Bookshop finder to locate bookstores near you and women, Black, AAPI, LGBTQIA+, Latine, and Indigenous-owned bookstores online.

MUTUAL SUPPORT OPTION

What is mutual aid? Different from charity— where resources usefully flow in one direction from donors to recipients—mutual aid is community-driven and reciprocal, built on community-based solidarity. And many parents and caregivers are already doing this (think: your local PTA, community gardens, or even kids’ birthday parties). In creating communities of love, we also want to turn them into communities of support, protection, and action to prepare for what’s ahead. Curious how to get started? Here’s how to create a mutual aid pod in your community!

MUTUAL SUPPORT ACTIVITY OF THE MONTH: Families belong together, and kids belong in classrooms. Yet many families in our communities are living with the constant fear of ICE tearing their families apart.

Check out our resources below to learn how you can become a leader in your neighborhood or your school community and help create a welcoming environment that keeps our kids, parents, providers, educators and school workers safe! 

• Protecting & Supporting Immigrant Children & their Families in Early Learning Spaces - MomsRising 

• Five Ways to Support Immigrant Children in Your Local School Community - MomsRising

Some ways to support include:

1. Working with teachers and administrators to advocate for safe school policies;

2. Writing a letter to the principal of your child’s school, local superintendent, or school board, urging them to affirm their commitment to ensure schools are safe and welcoming;

3. Sharing “Know Your Rights” information and resources to help educate your community, school, school district, and childcare provider; 

4. And more!

Thank you for being here. We are looking forward to strengthening connections and community in refreshing, educational, and joyful ways with you in the coming months!

P.S. Missed the November dispatch and looking for more resources? Check it out on our blog.