Follow-up from webinar “The Tech Billionaires Are Coming for Fair Share. Here’s How to Fight Back.”

Thank you so much to everyone who joined us last night for our webinar “The Tech Billionaires Are Coming for Fair Share. Here’s How to Fight Back.”! 

You can watch the video here. And feel free to share it with friends! 

Next Steps

This Thursday at the State House: Our Annual Lobby Day

This Thursday is a big day. The MA Senate will be voting on their draft of the PROTECT Act, and it’s our annual lobby day.

We have just three months left in the formal legislative session, and we need to keep the momentum going.

Join us at the State House as we advocate for priorities from our Legislative Agenda.

We need the MA House to take action where the MA Senate has already: by strengthening data privacy protections and reining in politically motivated book bans.

We need the MA Senate to take action to strengthen the PROTECT Act and protect our immigrant communities, and to rein in utility profiteering and pass an energy bill that doesn’t scapegoat Mass Save.

We need both chambers to say NO to corporate extortionists trying to get themselves ANOTHER massive tax cut.

We need both chambers to commit to investing in people not prisons and not let the prison moratorium that advanced out of committee in both chambers stall.

And rather than wait until the November ballot, we have the opportunity to get the Legislature to pass rent control and Same Day Registration.

Progressive Mass 2026 Lobby Day

Thursday, May 7, 10 am (Doors open at 9:30 am)

Massachusetts State House

RSVP here

All are welcome, whether it’s your first time or your fiftieth time at the State House.

Online Panel, Generation Engaged: Understanding Youth Advocacy


Thank you so much to everyone who joined our panel discussion on youth activism. If you missed it, you can view a recording of the event here


Hear directly from young advocates across the country as they share their experiences speaking out and driving real change in their communities. This conversation is a powerful opportunity to learn and connect with the next generation of leaders. Includes time for audience Q&A.

Progressive Mass Intern and Acton high school senior, Suravi Bhatia, will facilitate. 

Saturday, May 2nd
4pm online
Click here for a recording

Moderator

Suravi Bhatia (MA). Suravi is a graduating senior at Acton-Boxborough Regional High School and an incoming Government student at Harvard University. Her primary issues of focus are educational equity and civic engagement among young people. She is driven by the belief that education can address critical societal issues, from civic disengagement to racial injustice, by training the next generation of students to understand and engage with topics of interest. That core belief is reflected in her work with the Coalition for Anti-Racist Education, both previously as a CARE Activator fellow who directed the Youth Leadership for Our Times Summit and currently as an LNG fellow in partnership with Progressive Mass. 

Speakers

Bhavika Kalia (MA). Bhavika is a current junior at Somerville High School, is a passionate youth advocate who has been involved with climate change, prevention, and health equity work. Viewing the world through a one health lens, she has organized prevention-focused initiatives as a Youth Ambassador for Somerville Positive Forces, co-founded Middle School Climate Action Clubs in her town, and been an integral part of several youth advisory boards, councils, and coalitions. Through her past experiences, Bhavika has learned to approach activism from both a community-oriented and statewide perspective. Most importantly, Bhavika strives to support other young people in creating change in their own.


Oluebube Okafor, or Obey (MA). is the daughter of two Nigerian Immigrants which has made her incredibly involved in affairs regarding diversity and disparities. Being the President of Model UN and Multicultural Club has allowed her to continue to promote diversity through Fashion shows but also major cultural events through dance. Through her nursing internship, she has also been a huge advocate to bring awareness towards the black maternal mortality rate. 


Dominic Mimbang (GA). Dominic is a national student leader and advocate from Douglas, Georgia, focused on expanding access to mental health resources and educational equity. Through his work with organizations like Work2BeWell and Active Minds, he has helped develop and implement mental health curricula reaching tens of thousands of students, with a focus on culturally responsive and multilingual support. In his community, he founded Knowledge Empowers, a youth initiative providing workshops and resources for students, and has led policy efforts including a proposed Georgia bill to establish excused mental health days in schools. Dominic has also advocated on a national level through programs like American Legion Boys Nation, where he passed legislation supporting ESOL students, the ACLU, where he lobbied on Capitol Hill for student free speech rights, and he has been accepted to both Harvard University and Yale University.


Karyleni Alburquerque (AZ). Karyleni is a high school student from Phoenix, Arizona. She will be attending school in the fall at American University in Washington D.C, majoring In Interdisciplinary Studies: Communications, Legal Institutions, Economics, and Government. She is an advocate driven by empathy, bringing her lived experiences and the stories of those she’s met into the rooms where decisions are made. As a fellow with All in Education—the youngest member ever chosen for the program—and an intern with Living United for Change in Arizona and the Arizona Center for Empowerment, she advocates for racial, social, and economic justice, with a deep commitment to education as a foundation for equity. As a former community ambassador for Congresswoman Yassamin Ansari, she spoke with hundreds of diverse constituents in AZ-03, honoring their stories by ensuring they reached the district office or were connected to the resources they needed.  


Kate Ramsey (TX). Kate is actively engaged in local Democratic politics in a region dominated by Republican ideology, particularly in support of Texas Senate candidate James Talarico. She attends political rallies for candidates she supports, calls her members of congress, and does her best to stay aware of local politics in her city. She attends protests when she is able to in order to express her concerns. She is on the leadership team for FCS in Under Secretariat General for her model UN program. She is a teen teacher who works with students in her district and served as a Girls Nation senator this summer representing the state of Texas. 


Follow-up Links to Spring Forward: What Beacon Hill Can Do on Energy Affordability webinar

Thank you to everyone who joined last night’s webinar! And if you weren’t able to join, you were missed!

Here is the video:

Vick shared two action alerts and one upcoming event:  

Follow-up links & actions to Webinar “Spring Forward: Privacy and Power: Protecting Our Digital Rights and Democracy”

Thank you so much for joining our webinar on Wednesday “Spring Forward: Privacy and Power: Protecting Our Digital Rights and Democracy”! And thank you to our great speaker, Kade Crockford from the ACLU of Massachusetts. 

You can watch the video here: https://youtu.be/wHi4nsmLjjc.

https://youtu.be/wHi4nsmLjjc

And here are the follow-up links from Kade: 

  1. ACLU presentation: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1G9hEyXj0-3IMz16f9ctnPXQaiP7NO_bZ/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=108538486946816465140&rtpof=true&sd=true
  2. ACLU resources on privacy: https://www.aclum.org/campaigns-initiatives/data-privacy-now/
    1. Includes talking points
    2. Action: https://mobilize.aclum.org/a/pass-enforceable-data-privacy-legislation
  3. ACLU resources on facial recognition: https://www.aclum.org/campaigns-initiatives/press-pause-face-surveillance/
  4. ACLU blog on license plate readers in MA: https://data.aclum.org/2025/10/07/flock-gives-law-enforcement-all-over-the-country-access-to-your-location/
    1. Local level action: https://mobilize.aclum.org/a/email-your-municipal-leaders-flock

Hope to see you at an upcoming event!

“How MA Can Opt Out of Trump’s Corporate Tax Cuts” Follow-up Links

Thank you so much for joining for last night’s webinar “How MA Can Opt Out of Trump’s Corporate Tax Cuts”! 

You can find Phineas Baxandall’s slides from his excellent presentation here

A Few Other Links: 

Unfortunately, although I thought I had clicked record, I had missed the final step in getting it to start. My apologies. A decoupling of action and intention, if you will. But I’m glad we have the slides to share. 

This Wednesday: How MA Can Opt Out of Trump’s Corporate Tax Cuts

Budget season is coming up soon in the Massachusetts Legislature, and if legislators don’t act quickly, damaging cuts could be on the table.

Tax policy can get wonky fast, so let me give you the gist of it. When the federal government changes the tax code with new deductions and exemptions, Massachusetts incorporates those into our tax code. In last summer’s Big Ugly Bill, Trump and Congressional Republicans created a whole list of new, costly, regressive giveaways to the richest corporations. That means that unless Beacon Hill acts, those giveaways get added to MA’s tax code too.

That would mean a loss of almost half a billion dollars in the coming budget, with cuts to essential services on which we all depend. States across the country are already saying NO and opting out, protecting essential revenue, and Massachusetts needs to join them.

Join us on Wednesday for our next Spring Forward webinar where we will hear from Phineas Baxandall of MassBudget about what’s at stake and what you can do.

Spring Forward: How MA Can Opt Out of Trump’s Corporate Tax Cuts

Wednesday, March 18, 2026

7 pm, Zoom, RSVP here

Can’t make it? You can still email your state rep and state senator about taking action.

Follow-up Links (Video, Slides, & More) from “Spring Forward: How MA Can Stand Up to ICE” Webinar

Thank you so much to everyone who joined us today! We are doing another “Spring Forward” webinar next Wednesday about opting out of Trump’s regressive corporate tax cuts. Learn more and RSVP here.

Watch last night’s event here:

Find Laura Rotolo’s slides here.

Some links Laura mentioned: 

PROTECT Act Hearing (3/18) 

Email Your Legislators / Gov. Healey

Call Your Legislators 

  • Find your legislators’ numbers at https://scorecard.progressivemass.com/
  • Quick phone script: “Please take urgent action to protect Massachusetts communities from ICE. We need to join other states in banning 287(g) collaboration agreements that deputize state and local law enforcement as ICE and ban informal collaboration between state and local law enforcement and ICE.” 

Call Gov. Healey

  • Phone Number:  (617) 725-4005 (only available 9 to 5) 
  • Quick phone script: “Please tell Gov. Healey MA needs to stop collaborating with ICE. I appreciated that she signed an executive order to ban new 287(g) agreements with state agencies, but we need to ban all such agreements, including the existing one with the Department of Correction.” 

Our New “Spring Forward” Series

This weekend, it will be simple to move the clocks forward, but it will take a lot more work in the coming weeks to move Beacon Hill forward.

To help educate and drive action, we are thrilled to host a series of virtual events about critical policies that the State House needs to pass and how we can work together to make it happen. This March, we’re kicking it off with the following two events:

Wednesday, March 11: How MA Can to Stand Up to ICE

7 pm, Zoom, RSVP here

Every day brings new horror stories about ICE’s violent, law-breaking activity across the country and here in Massachusetts. What can a state like Massachusetts do to stand up to ICE? Laura Rotolo, the Field Director at the ACLU of Massachusetts, will explain what we can get done this legislative session in Massachusetts and how you can help make it happen.

Wednesday, March 18: How MA Can Opt Out of Trump’s Corporate Tax Cuts

7 pm, Zoom, RSVP here

Trump’s regressive corporate tax cuts are going to cost Massachusetts nearly half a billion dollars this year alone — on top of billions of dollars in cuts to Medicaid, SNAP, and other federal programs we rely on. States across the country are already saying NO and opting out, protecting essential revenue, and Massachusetts needs to join them. Phineas Baxandall of Mass Budget explains what’s at stake.

In solidarity,
Jonathan Cohn
Policy Director
Progressive Massachusetts


TOMORROW: Hearing on the PROTECT Act

Wednesday, March 3, 11 am, State House, B1

The PROTECT Act (H.5158) was filed just over a month ago by the Massachusetts Black and Latino Legislative Caucus to strengthen protections for our immigrant communities and make sure that state and local law enforcement are following their duty to serve and protect, rather than doing the work of federal immigration enforcement.

The House Public Safety Committee is holding a hearing tomorrow, and the Protecting Massachusetts Communities Coalition has put together a testimony guide to help you write testimony to the committee about why it is so vital for Massachusetts to take action to stand up to ICE and protect our immigrant communities.

THURSDAY at the State House: Declaration of Independence from ICE

As ICE agents shoot, kill, and execute people in Minnesota, the people in Massachusetts stand in solidarity with the people in Minnesota:ICE out of Minnesota, ICE out of MA, and ICE out from all of our communities.

Join Indivisible Mass Coalition, Progressive Mass, ACLU-MA, MIRA, Brazilian Center, and Field First this Thursday, January 29 from 10:30 am to 12:30 pm at the MA State House to talk with your legislators and demand action now.

RSVP here.

You can also join a prep webinar tomorrow, Wednesday January 28 at 7:00 pm to get talking points to help facilitate a productive conversation with your legislator.

Register for the webinar here.

Can’t join in person? You can still take action.