Welcome to the June Dispatch! Thank you for being 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; as well as to process and make sense of all that’s going on; AND also ways 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!

ICYMI—Last month, we gathered with Joan Blades, co-founder of Living Room Conversations, to discuss tips and strategies for courageous conversations with family, friends, or neighbors who share values but opposing views. Check it out here!

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

1. JUNE ORGANIZING ZOOM MEETUP: Our third monthly organizing Zoom is happening this month on Tuesday, June 17th at 7:30 pm ET / 4:30 pm PT with our workshop “Organizing Strategies—Tactics of Off-Line/Analog Organizing,” where we’ll be skilling up and getting creative with organizing tactics and tools to bring together community and build resistance. Sign up here to join us and learn more! 

2. ACTION OF THE MONTH: NO KINGS: Trump has gone too far. On Sat, June 14th—the same day Trump is throwing himself the most un-American birthday party complete with a military parade—we’re coming together to say NO KINGS. More than 1,400 actions are taking place across the country in direct response to Trump’s authoritarian overreach and the billionaire-backed agenda gutting our federal resources and threatening our livelihoods. Peaceful protest is a powerful way to engage in our democracy! Event organizers on the ground are trained in de-escalation and are working closely with local partners to ensure No Kings events are peaceful and powerful. Will you join us (and bring your friends)? Find a mass mobilization near you. 

3. FUN, JOY & POWER: 

• Resistance Lab: When injustice, threats of political violence, and uncertainty about the future feel overwhelming, history reminds us that we are not powerless. We carry a legacy of proven tools, tactics, and collective courage from past movements like ours that can defend democracy and rekindle hope for a bright future. Last month, MomsRising partnered with U.S. Representative Pramila Jayapal’s Resistance Lab to break down how to build the resistance and power the movement we need. Get caught up! Check out the workshop recording. 

  • ​​​​​​Practice applying this in your own lives and organizing in your own community with the Resistance Lab worksheet! 

• Call your Senator and tell them: No cuts to Medicaid! The U.S. Senate is considering MASSIVE cuts to our health care right now. The most recent budget resolution proposes cutting at least $880 billion in Medicaid funding, ripping away healthcare coverage for critical—and in many cases lifesaving—services for the 72 million people who use Medicaid. The time is now to raise our voices and urge the Senate: no cuts to Medicaid! Click here, and we’ll connect you to your Senator.

  • Make sure you also sign our letter telling your U.S. Senators to VOTE NO on the Republican tax and budget bill.

  • Bonus: Click here to send a letter to the editor to say: Kids need Medicaid for mental health! We’ve provided you with a draft letter and all the talking points you’ll need.

4. 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 June library: *When you meet up to talk books, take a picture and post it on social media with #MomsRising to show others that they aren’t alone!

• Non-fiction: 

  • Free to Be: Understanding Kids and Gender Identity by Dr. Jack Turban: An essential resource for understanding and navigating gender identity from an acclaimed expert on the mental health of transgender and gender diverse youth.

    • Bonus! Check out Dr. Jack Turban’s segment on the MomsRising podcast: Breaking Through! Starts at (14:59).  

• Fiction: 

  • Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson: A climate-fiction (AKA “cli-fi”) book exploring how humanity might react to a climate crisis and the possibility of a post-capitalist world.  

• Need some book ideas for the kiddos in your life this month? Here you go: 

  • Love Makes a Family by Sophie Beer (baby-3): A fun, inclusive board book that celebrates the one thing that makes every family a family: LOVE.

  • The Hips on the Drag Queen Go Swish, Swish, Swish written by Lil Miss Hot Mess and illustrated by Olga de Dios Ruiz (ages 4-8): Sung the tune of "The Wheels on the Bus," celebrate being your most authentic self in this playful picture book.

  • Julián Is a Mermaid by Jessica Love (age 4-8): A picture book about an Abuela pouring into her grandson Julián’s journey to be and love his true self.

  • Beyond the Gender Binary by Alok Vaid-Menon (ages 12-17): An important primer to deconstructing the gender binary and exploring how gender is a malleable and creative form of expression. 

*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.

5. MUTUAL SUPPORT OPTION: What is mutual aid? Different from charity— where resources usually 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. 

*MUTUAL SUPPORT ACTIVITY OF THE MONTH FOR YOU:  One of the common tools of mutual aid is a mutual aid fund—a grassroots resource gathering and sharing strategy to directly meet community’s needs often created during a time of crisis, separate from nonprofit organizations or formal government assistance. Here, you can find just a few trans mutual aid funds that are open to donations or applications for assistance. These funds will help trans folks across the U.S find shelter, obtain medical care, and protect themselves from state violence. 

5. BONUS RESOURCES!

• Queer Sex Ed Resources by and for Young People: Check out five youth-led queer sex ed resources that are making sexual health education more inclusive and affirming for LGBTQ+ young people. 

• Resources for LGBTQ+ Parents: Family Equality offers a comprehensive suite of resources tailored for LGBTQIA+ parents.

• Queer Summer Camps! Check out this list of safe spaces for LGBTQIA+ kids to be authentically themselves this summer. 

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 May dispatch and looking for more resources? Check it out on our blog.