Dear BID Friends:

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We have made a difference in 2023!

As the year ends, we are proud and grateful for the work we have done together as grassroots activists in the Tri-State area. We’ve made a difference in our local and national communities at a time when our voices are most needed. As always, we remain focused on protecting and advancing our democratic values and rights and collaborating with like-minded groups to advance our message and impact.

We’re encouraged by the success of this year’s initiatives supporting women’s reproductive rights:
2023 has been an enormously successful year for abortion-rights ballot initiatives in states across the political spectrum. The elections provide indisputable proof that Americans care deeply about their individual rights, particularly women’s reproductive rights, and are willing to show up at the ballot box to defend them. These election victories were made possible by a powerful on-the-ground network of abortion and women’s rights advocates, a political force that has confounded pollsters and pundits and that has previously received little attention from the media. We feel blessed to be a part of that national movement.

But we still have reason to worry…
With the 2024 Presidential election less than a year away, there is much at stake. The possible reelection of an authoritarian Donald Trump, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives’ inability to advance domestic and international legislation, along with their dangerous, extreme agenda, all pose a serious threat to the fate of our democracy and our civil society. 

The stakes are high. We need to step up and do one more thing.
We know you’re exhausted, burnt out, and in self-protection mode from the last 7 years of domestic and international turbulence, COVID, and now two disturbing wars. However, we need to mobilize once again for the latest most important election of our lifetimes. Thought leaders are warning us that November’s election will be a choice – a tipping point back to democratic norms or into deep, authoritarian chaos.

Every one of us needs to step up and participate in a meaningful way:

• Ask one more friend to become part of your activist circle.

• Get one more person to register, one more to the polls.

• Get your children and grandchildren to vote and become warriors for democracy around issues they care about: abortion rights, climate change and gun reform. 

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The stakes are high. We need to step up and do one more thing.We know you’re exhausted, burnt out, and in self-protection mode from the last 7 years of domestic and international turbulence, COVID, and now two disturbing wars. However, we need to mobilize once again for the latest most important election of our lifetimes. Thought leaders are warning us that November’s election will be a choice – a tipping point back to democratic norms or into deep, authoritarian chaos.

Our BID 2023 achievements:
For the past seven years BID has worked towards our mission of protecting voting rights, women's rights, and civil liberties, while fighting against racism, homophobia, Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, all forms of hate, as well as supporting candidates/elections that are in alignment with our mission.

We approach the end of 2023 on a positive note, celebrating important achievements:

• Addressing voter registration, by determining which districts/states/races were most critical and partnering with Field Team 6 – a highly sophisticated postcard writing vehicle – to urge voters to get registered.

• Conducting postcard writing initiatives with the help of our BID members and other Bergen County organizations to process more than 5,000 hand-written cards to likely voters in Virginia and Kentucky with successful outcomes in both states.

• Targeting and contacting new potential voters in New York State, urging them to get registered for the November 2024 cycle.

• Expanding our circle of impact by connecting with other like-minded organizations such as WEDO (Women Empowered Democratic Organization), a local organization advancing women in local and state leadership roles, National Council of Jewish Women, a grassroots organization that focuses on matters important to women and families, Westchester for Change Larchmont/Mamaroneck Indivisible, a group of community activists working for social and political change, and Stanton Strong, a non-partisan advocacy organization defending a woman's right to choose.

We are grateful for your participation and support.
We want to express our gratitude for your participation in our journey together this year. We are now facing an uphill battle as we head into 2024. It will be difficult and only a few thousand votes might easily determine the ultimate outcome. But if each one of us steps up, we can continue to be part of a grassroots movement that will protect our democracy and make our children and grandchildren proud.

What’s Next for 2024? Stay tuned!

We know you’re exhausted, burnt out, and in self-protection mode from the last 7 years of domestic and international turbulence, COVID, and now two disturbing wars. However, we need to mobilize once again for the latest most important election of our lifetimes. Thought leaders are warning us that November’s election will be a choice – a tipping point back to democratic norms or into deep, authoritarian chaos.

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The stakes are high. We need to step up and do one more thing.

As we enter the critical, high-stakes election year of 2024, we will be planning a series of get-out-the-vote postcard writing campaigns to promote voter registration and remind people to vote either in person or by mail.

 

BID will also focus on becoming information warriors, spreading truthful information vs. disinformation. We will be providing you with resources, polling data, and detailed information about important progress and achievements that are not making its way to the general public.

 

It will include communicating President Biden’s historic accomplishments, most of which take time to be realized on the ground for voters to experience firsthand. (We believe too many ignore or downplay the president’s achievements when in fact he has assembled an impressive legislative record which many believe is more than any president since Lyndon Johnson.)

In closing, we wish you and your loved ones a safe, healthy, and peaceful holiday season and new year!

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With warmest regards,

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Lori Sackler, Mary Hubert and the entire BID Steering Committee 

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