Welcome to the September 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—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! Want to receive these Dispatches directly in your inbox? Sign up here!

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

SEPTEMBER ORGANIZING ZOOM MEETUP

Join us on Tuesday, September 15, 2026, from 7:30-8:30 PM ET on Zoom for Moms Next Door Session #8: Get Registered, Get Ready, Go Mobilize: Preparing Our Communities for Election Day. This National Voter Registration Day, join us to get election-ready and learn how to mobilize your community so every voice is heard this November! Hear directly from experts about voting this year, how to protect your vote, and how to easily organize your friends and family using our new relational organizing tool. Together, we’ll make sure everyone in our community is registered, prepared, and ready to turn out! Sign up here.

ICYMI: Last month, we hosted an incredible panel of moms—Shaping Our Future Through Impactful Storytelling. Check out the recording here!

CHECK YOUR VOTER REGISTRATION! 

September 15th is National Voter Registration Day. Take 30 seconds to register to vote, check your registration status, or share this link to encourage your friends to do the same!

Already confirmed you’re registered to vote? Explore voting options in your state and make your plan to vote here!

FUN, JOY & POWER

Add your name:

• Head Start is under attack! Sign on here to protect Head Start. 

• Tell Congress to protect Medicaid Home- and Community-Based Services. Sign on here.

Looking for a fun, impactful activity for your kids? Join the Junior Resistance Ranger Challenge!

America 433+ and the Resistance Rangers invite young advocates across all 50 states, 5 territories, and DC to step up for our public lands.  Download the Junior Resistance Ranger book today to take the pledge, uncover the complete history of our National Parks, and learn simple steps your family can take to safeguard our science, history, and environment. 

Did you know?

A new report shows that some schools are giving students false health information. And it is being funded by our tax dollars! A group called the Future of Sex Education (FoSE) looked at 14 different programs. They found that these lessons teach abstinence-only until marriage. This is an approach that experts have known for decades can actually harm young people. Instead of giving honest health facts, these programs:

• Leave out important health details teens actually need.
• Teach inaccurate information about relationships and body health.
• Use fear, shame, and judgment instead of research and science.

Congress recently cut funding from evidence-based programs. It is redirecting those funds to these harmful abstinence-only programs.

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 September library: *When you meet up to talk about books, take a picture, post it on social media, and tag @MomsRising to show others that they aren’t alone!

• Non-fiction Pick: The Perfect Birth Myth: Pushing Back Against a Broken Industry by Avital Norman Nathman (will be released on 9/17!) – MomsRising staff is anticipating the release of this very human exploration of childbirth in the U.S., the country with the most highly resourced and costliest maternal health care in the world, yet the highest rate of maternal mortality among developed countries. 

• Fiction Pick: 1984 by George Orewell – Kids are going back to school, the MomsRising team is reading banned books, and you should too!

We’ve got lots of great book ideas for the kiddos in your life this month! Thanks to @maistorybooklibrary, here is a great list of banned picture books to read this school year:

• Milo Imagines the World by Matt de la Peña (Ages 4 - 8) –Follows a young boy on a subway ride who invents creative visual backstories for the passengers he sees, learning a lesson about how you can’t judge a person by their appearance.

• Red by Michael Hall  (Ages 4 - 8) – The story of a blue crayon encased in a red label who struggles to fit in until he learns to be true to himself and embrace his true identity.

• Harriet Gets Carried Away by Jessie Sima (Ages 4 - 8) – Celebrates family, individuality, and costumery as a young girl gets swept away on a whimsical adventure while wearing her favorite dress-up outfit.

• Baseball Saved Us by Ken Mochizuki (Ages 6 - 10) – Shares the experience of a young Japanese American boy who finds hope, dignity, and a sense of community playing baseball in a World War II internment camp.

• Sofia Valdez, Future Prez by Andrea Beaty (Ages 4 - 8) – About a determined young girl who takes on city hall to transform a local landfill into a park for her community.

• Bathe the Cat by Alice B McGinty (Ages 3 - 7) – A hilarious story about a family trying to clean up before Grandma arrives while their clever cat constantly scrambles the fridge magnet chore list to avoid taking a bath.

*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: Host a Back-to-School Drive!

‘Tis the season of packing lunches, filling backpacks, and making sure our students and teachers have what they need for a successful year. Pull together some friends or fellow parents to gather whatever school supplies you can—from lunch boxes and granola bars, to notebooks and sneakers—or get in touch with a school administrator to learn how to help out. 

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!

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