In April, we began our virtual strike in collaboration with climateactionpwc and The Greater Prince William Climate Action Network. Our strike theme this week is People over Profit, and that means doing that by addressing the climate crisis and the coronavirus crisis.

Over-development can lead to increased flooding and erosion in PWC, contributing to the larger issues of climate change and environmental destruction. Often the new developments don't commit to significant renewable energy or green initiatives. Residents are very aware and often push back, only to be voted over anyway. It's time we put people over profit and loosen the grip of real estate companies and fossil fuel companies in the county.

We are asking our Board of County Supervisors to explicitly include in the county budget measures that will ensure a clean and sustainable environment for all.

In addressing the COVID-19 crisis, local representatives must prioritize people over profit, especially supporting our gig/retail/service industry workers, medical workers and other at risk people by expanding social safety net programs, providing accessible health treatment and providing economic relief to PWC residents. #PeopleOverProfit

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Mothers Out Front San Francisco community team members, Tina Martin and Kathie Piccagli, attended a state regulatory hearing in Oakland on March 9th regarding setbacks for new oil and gas drilling and fracking operations. At the last CalGEM Public Health Pre-Rulemaking Workshop before California’s shelter-in-place order took effect, they joined Last Chance Alliance allies to advocate for a 2500-foot health-and-safety buffer zone to separate toxic drilling from schools, playgrounds, homes, and hospitals, etc. To help make their case, they displayed a vivid poster of a child swinging near oil derricks, painted by Mothers Out Front South Bay team member Susan Butler-Graham. 

Thanks to everyone who spoke up to protect the health of our communities and the future of all children!

In the face of the COVID-19 outbreak, we want to ensure that our staff and members are placing their health and wellbeing at the forefront. It is important that we adapt how we work in the near term to ensure as best we can that we are prioritizing the health and safety of our staff and members. 

In accordance with CDC and WHO protocols of social distancing, Mothers Out Front staff and member leaders will be looking at how we creatively continue to move our campaigns forward in a digital capacity while also ensuring access to all who need it. 

Some ways we’ll be moving digital include:

• Moving portions of upcoming state leader meetings to online gatherings
• Host trainings in messaging, social media and other digital tools to help teams move campaigns to a digital space
• Offer training videos to support digital work
• Offer digital campaign tools to create social media, call-in and email, etc., campaigns to teams

We will be updating this page frequently with the latest information and resources. If you have a resource you'd like to contribute, please email [email protected].

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Mothers Out Front Fairfax County are in the news and credited with raising the sense of urgency for a transition to Electric School Buses for Delegate Mark Keam.

After the Fairfax County chapter of Mothers Out Front brought the issue to Keam’s attention, he began to view the matter as equally urgent.

“I have two kids, one with severe allergies and seasonal asthma. I never put two and two together about the health impacts of using diesel school buses,” he said. “We’re exposing a lot of kids to one of the most toxic fuels on the roadway: diesel.”

Read the whole story:

[embedlycard url="https://ggwash.org/view/76195/virginia-electric-school-buses-diesel-environment-climate-change"]

Mothers Out Front Fairfax County were mentioned in this article as proponents of #CleanBuses4Kids in their community!

As for the school buses, Frisch said while running for office that they were one of his top goals. (The initiative also supported by Del. Mark Keam (D-35th District) and groups like Mothers Out Front Fairfax.)

Now, as the program is becoming a reality, he said it is a “fantastic” opportunity for the district.

“Dominion Energy will cover the difference in cost so that school districts pay no more for electric buses than they would for diesel models,” according to the FCPS website, which added that the company will also cover the cost of the charging stations.

See the whole story:

[embedlycard url="https://www.tysonsreporter.com/2020/02/19/tysons-school-board-rep-wary-of-dominions-role-in-electric-school-bus-plan/"]

On February 19th, hundreds of people gathered to raise their voices against the building of the toxic Weymouth Compressor station. Several people from other organizations  took direct action to slow down the work on the site. Mothers Out Front and others in the crowd stood with signs in support. Anne Goodwin, of Mothers Out Front (and Music Out Front), energized everyone through leading chants and songs.

We know continuing to build out fracked gas infrastructure puts our communities at risk today and our children's health and happiness on the line for tomorrow.

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Mothers Out Front California were present and accounted for at the Rally at the State of the State on February 19th! Together with our allies, we were also #InTheNews!

Adelita Serena from Woodland, an organizer from Mothers Out Front, said, “We are here today asking the governor to listen to us as we share our three demands. We are putting pressure on him to be the climate leader that he has to be for the state and the nation. California is seen nationally as one of the most progressive states, yet it is still a major oil producer. I’m so happy that there are so many diverse people from young to old here today.”

See the whole story:

[embedlycard url="https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2020/02/22/18830901.php"]

Mothers Out Front Westchester Rivertowns team showed up to speak for #ElectricSchoolBuses in their district! 15 moms were in the house and two are quoted in this article!

Two vol­un­teers for the group Moth­ers Out Front used the pub­lic com­ment por­tion of the Feb­ru­ary 13 Tar­ry­town School Board meet­ing to urge the Board to com­mit to a plan that would phase out diesel-pow­ered school buses in fa­vor of zero emis­sion elec­tric buses. Thir­teen other Moth­ers Out Front mem­bers were there to show sup­port.

Arline Se­gal, a res­i­dent of Sleepy Hol­low whose two grown sons were K-12 Tar­ry­town stu­dents, spoke about the dele­te­ri­ous health and en­vi­ron­men­tal im­pacts of diesel buses. Switch­ing to elec­tric, she con­tended, can re­duce a ve­hi­cle’s emis­sions by 70%, as elec­tric buses pro­duce no ex­haust. Cur­rently, stu­dents are ex­posed to high lev­els of par­tic­u­late mat­ter emit­ted from diesel ex­haust, which con­tains 40 chem­i­cals clas­si­fied as “haz­ardous air pol­lu­tants” un­der the Clean Air Act. These pol­lu­tants are linked to de­creased lung func­tion, res­pi­ra­tory ill­ness, can­cer, and poor school per­for­mance.

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Mothers Out Front was proud to join our allies from the Last Chance Alliance to call for climate action in Sacramento on Wednesday, February 19th during Governor Gavin Newsom's State of the State Address.  

A group called Last Chance Alliance was among those represented at the rally and they want the governor to end all new fossil fuel projects in California, create a plan to phase out all drilling for crude oil and natural gas, and provide support people in related jobs most impacted by such a transition.

"Parents around the state are appalled that California allows fossil-fuel production right next door to where our children live, study and play--prioritizing fossil-fuel profits over the health of our children and communities," insisted Linda Hutchins-Knowles, Senior California Organizer for Mothers Out Front. 

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