Press Release: 8/7/2025
Just Say NO to New Pipelines and New Prisons
As the Trump administration rolls back progress on climate action, we need states like Massachusetts to be bolder. And that means not entrenching polluting fossil fuel infrastructure.
Eversource Gas is holding an Open House and Listening Session on August 7th at 6pm to take a concrete step towards getting their permits and building a toxic and dangerous pipeline expansion project from Longmeadow to Springfield.
Springfield Climate Justice Coalition is once again calling on organizations in Western Mass and beyond to stand with them as they send a powerful message to the Healey administration, elected officials and Eversource Gas: “We do not want Eversource to build a polluting pipeline that would run through environmental justice residential neighborhoods, and dangerously close to schools and community hubs in Springfield!”.
RSVP In Person (if you live in Western Mass): https://bit.ly/InPersonRSVP
RSVP Online (open to everyone!): https://bit.ly/ZoomRSVPaug7th
If you join in person:
The Springfield Climate Justice Coalition is organizing a dynamic outdoor event before the Open House, calling public attention to the dangers of this project and Eversource’s deceitful and self-serving intent in building it. We will gather at 5:15 pm sharp in Stearns Square (one block north on Bridge St) for a street theater performance and call to action, followed by a mini-march to the Eversource Open House at the UMass Center at Tower Square, 1500 Main St.
The Open House (6 to 8 pm) will consist of a short presentation by Eversource, followed by Q & A. Eversource will be providing food and child care, as well as language interpretation in Spanish and Russian. We need the place packed with opponents of this dangerous project, raising all the questions Eversource wants avoided. Wear red!
If you join online:
Tune in at 5 pm to the livestream of the Springfield Climate Justice Coalition’s dynamic outdoor event before the Open House. Then take action together, writing to our elected officials to pass S.2290 / H.3547 “An Act preventing gas expansion to protect climate, community health and safety”. Eversource will begin their powerpoint at 6:30pm, which we will encourage folks to log into. This is open to everyone who cares about our climate future!
RSVP In Person: https://bit.ly/InPersonRSVP
RSVP Online: https://bit.ly/ZoomRSVPaug7th
Healey Wants to Spend $360 Million on a New Prison. Tell Her No Way.
For years, our friends at Families for Justice as Healing have been organizing against a proposed $50 million new women's prison to replace MCI-Framingham.
How has Governor Maura Healey responded? By proposing a $360 million new women's prison.
Incarcerated and formerly incarcerated women and girls have been clear: what we need is not a new prison, but greater programming for those currently incarcerated, better reentry programs for people when they return to community, and greater community investments in housing, health care, education, and economic security and opportunity.
Think of how much that $360 million could do if it went instead to keeping communities safe and ending cycles of incarceration and harm.
Join FJaH in telling Governor Healey to stop the $360 million new women's prison with the action toolkit at bit.ly/FreeHerMA.
Call daily between 9am and 5pm only - (617) 725-4005
Email any time using this form: https://www.mass.gov/info-details/email-the-governors-office
Sample Email/Script:
“Hello, my name is _________________ and I am your constituent. I oppose your plan to build a $360 million women’s prison. Spending hundreds of millions of dollars on prison construction is not investing in people’s wellbeing and will not make our communities safer. Our communities need this money for housing, healing, healthcare, treatment and more. We could actually make Massachusetts a model for the rest of the country by releasing many more women and implementing alternatives to incarceration rather than building yet another prison.”
Share Your Fair Share Story
On November 8, 2022, Massachusetts voters passed Question 1: the Fair Share Amendment. We chose a fairer tax system, guaranteeing that the richest one percent will pay more to fund our public schools, colleges, roads, bridges, and public transit. Now, Fair Share is at work, already funding more than $6 billion in transportation and public education investments—with more to come. See a list of Fair Share investments to date at fairsharema.com.
How is the Fair Share Amendment positively impacting your life, family or work?
- Are your children receiving free school meals, or learning in a newly-renovated school building?
- Are you riding a regional transit authority bus for free, or paying a reduced fare on the MBTA?
- Are you attending tuition-community college, or receiving state financial aid to make public college more affordable?
- Are you driving on newly paved roads, or riding on subway trains that are faster?
- Are you receiving child care financial assistance, or sending your child to a child care program that's benefitted from new grants to child care providers?
- Is your city or town receiving more money for local roads and schools? (hint: if you live in Massachusetts, the answer is YES!)
Raise Up Massachusetts is collecting stories about the many ways the Fair Share Amendment is making a difference in the lives of Massachusetts residents. If you have a story about how Fair Share is positively impacting your life, family or work, please share it with us here.
Progressive Mass's New "Power Lunch" Series
What comes after calling your state rep and state senator? Getting others to do so as well.
Join Progressive Mass for our "Power Lunch" phone bank series (Thursdays at noon), where we will be building our collective power in service of a better Commonwealth for all. This week's phone bank will be on the Safe Communities Act.
No prior phone banking experience required! Each phone bank starts with a fun ice breaker question and a training.
Unlock Democracy in Massachusetts
In 2000, Massachusetts passed a constitutional amendment that took away voting rights from people incarcerated for a felony conviction. This stripping of rights was in response to political organizing happening in prison. The Empowering Descendant Communities to Unlock Democracy project and allies aim to get voting rights restoration on the statewide ballot. If you are a registered voter in Massachusetts, please take a minute to fill out our pledge form now: https://tinyurl.com/uvrpledge. Once the Attorney General approves the language, organizers will reach out to those who filled out the pledge with dates/locations for nearby signature collection efforts.
The EDC to Unlock Democracy is is committed to ensuring that democracy does not stop at prisons and jails in Massachusetts. It is a collaborative project between the Democracy Behind Bars Coalition, the African American Coalition Committee at MCI-Norfolk, Healing our Land, Inc., and more. To get in touch email EDCtoUnlockDemocracyMA@gmail.com.