Rio Texas Methodist Federation for Social Action

Meeting with Texas Impact

Rio Texas MFSA is pleased to welcome Bee Moorhead of Texas Impact to our November meeting to discuss the results of the November 6 election and their plans for the 2019 Texas Legislative session!  We have been partners in advocacy for many years, and we are excited to learn about their upcoming programs.

Texas Impact is a statewide religious grassroots network whose members include individuals, congregations, and governing bodies of the Christian, Jewish and Muslim faiths.  Texas Impact advocates for freedom, justice, and economic opportunity for all people, consistent with the values of mainstream faith communities.

The meeting will be at Saint John’s United Methodist Church, at 2140 Allandale Road, in Austin.

Snacks and mingling begin at 6:30 pm, followed by the program at 7 pm.

The Texas UMW Legislative Event is a three-day annual conference in Austin, TX, scheduled for January 27-29, 2019. The event will include speakers, workshops, panels and breakout sessions about public policy issues, faith and social justice and how to meet your elected officials.

Online Registration is now live

What you should expect: 

– Up-to-date information on important policy issues

– Grounding in how United Methodist Social Principles relate to the Texas Legislature

– New ideas about connecting faith and public life in your local community

– Fostering relationships with your elected officials and staff

– Advocacy training on a shared legislative agenda to meet with your representatives on the Tuesday of the event

It has been about 30 years since a small group of faithful women from across Texas came together to launch a new project: an annual event where UMWs could learn about legislative issues related to United Methodist Social Principles and the priorities of United Methodist Women. Now, hundreds of UMWs gather annually for briefings on current public policy issues and to learn about ways to engage their local communities in social justice work. Come and be a part of the movement this year!

United Methodist Women’s Legislative Event is open to all. Find out more and invite a friend by using the events Facebook Event, contacting your Annual Conference’s Social Action Chair or Texas Impact staff.

Since the new administration has come into power, Texans across the state are taking peaceful action to stand up for social justice issues — we have come together, resisting the politics of fear and hate. We have seen a regressive legislative agenda in Texas in the past, but it seems even more harmful this year.

Join the resistance and show the opponents in our Capitol this session that they don’t represent our values. Find an issue that’s important to you and register for an advocacy and resistance event (and tell your friends):

Cover Texas Now Advocacy Day 2017

Monday, March 6 at 11:00 AM

Join health care advocates from across Texas on March 6 at 11 am at the Texas Capitol to advocate for health care for all Texans! Urge lawmakers to:

• Defend the progress we’ve made under the Affordable Care Act;
• Protect Medicaid for low-income children, seniors, pregnant women, and Texans with disabilities; and
• Insist on expanding health coverage to the uninsured

Learn more about Advocacy Day, and RSVP to attend, here. If you can’t make it to Austin on March 6, but you’d still like to make an impact, please consider a $5 or $10 donation today, to help pay for the buses and meals to bring supporters to the Capitol. You can donate to Cover Texas Now’s campaign here

Transgender Advocacy Day at Texas Capitol

Monday, March 6 at 7 AM -7 PM

Girl Advocacy Day

Monday, March 13 at 9 AM – 1 PM

All In For Equality Advocacy Day in Austin

Monday, March 20 at 7 AM – 7 PM

Planned Parenthood Texas Lobby Day 2017

Wednesday, April 5 at 9 AM- 9 PM

Blue Ribbon Lobby Day 2017

April 10 at 8:30 AM – 6 PM

March for Science

Saturday, April 22 at 10 AM – 1 PM

The 2017 legislative session promises to be a time of high stakes and hard choices.  It’s never been more important for people of faith to be informed and engaged.

Texas Impact Weekly Witness is your opportunity to put faith into action and advocate for the common good at a time when your state needs it! Here’s the game plan:

Every Monday at noon starting on January 16, Texas Impact will hold a short, focused advocacy training in Murchison Chapel at First United Methodist Church, Austin. We–and often colleagues from our partner organizations–will present timely, insider information on a “focus issue of the day,” as well as updates and next steps on other issues that are on our legislative agenda.

Following the training, participants will make scheduled or unscheduled legislative visits with their own legislators and other key members, and sometimes attend committee meetings or take advantage of other timely opportunities.

Weekly Witness will take place in Murchison Chapel at First United Methodist Church, Austin (directions).

Check out the 2017 Texas Impact Legislative Priorities – https://texasimpact.org/Priorities

Weekly Schedule:

• March 6: Health Care (Cover Texas Now Advocacy Day) — Webinar RSVP
• March 13: Hunger, Poverty and Payday Lending — Webinar RSVP
• March 20: Religious Freedom — Webinar RSVP
• March 27: Death Penalty-Kristin Houle — Webinar RSVP

We will provide additional issues for emphasis in our next newsletter, or get them online.

Alms and Advocacy

Texas Impact serves as a resource to bridge the gap between you and your neighbors across the state. Through our Weekly Witness briefings, our Lobby Days at the Capitol, our Rapid Response Calls-to-Action, and more, we provide concrete ways for you to make a difference.

For the next forty days, join Texas Impact in our 2017 Lenten initiative “Alms and Advocacy.” Each day, we’ll be posting seasonal prayers, reflections and legislative calls to action on our Facebook page. We hope you’ll make use of these resources in your own Lenten discipline, and that you find advocacy for God’s children to be a meaningful addition to your spiritual practice. To commemorate the Lenten discipline of charitable giving, we encourage you to support our work financially as well.

Alms and Advocacy will culminate in Texas Interfaith Advocacy Day on April 20. Join people of all faiths at the Capitol to learn about the Legislature and advocate for issues that matter to you.

The 2017 legislative session promises to be a time of high stakes and hard choices.  It’s never been more important for people of faith to be informed and engaged.

Texas Impact Weekly Witness is your opportunity to put faith into action and advocate for the common good at a time when your state needs it! Here’s the game plan:

Every Monday at noon starting on January 16, Texas Impact will hold a short, focused advocacy training in Murchison Chapel at First United Methodist Church, Austin. We–and often colleagues from our partner organizations–will present timely, insider information on a “focus issue of the day,” as well as updates and next steps on other issues that are on our legislative agenda.

Following the training, participants will make scheduled or unscheduled legislative visits with their own legislators and other key members, and sometimes attend committee meetings or take advantage of other timely opportunities.

Weekly Witness will take place in Murchison Chapel at First United Methodist Church, Austin (directions).

Check out the 2017 Texas Impact Legislative Priorities – https://texasimpact.org/Priorities

Weekly Schedule:

• February 6: Immigrants, Refugees and Human Trafficking
• February 13: Foster Care and Domestic Violence (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Legislative Event)
• February 20: Public Education — Webinar RSVP
• February 27: Climate, Water, Energy, and Other Environmental Issues — Webinar RSVP

• March 6: Health Care (Cover Texas Now Advocacy Day) — Webinar RSVP
• March 13: Hunger, Poverty and Payday Lending — Webinar RSVP
• March 20: Religious Freedom — Webinar RSVP
• March 27: Death Penalty-Kristin Houle — Webinar RSVP

We will provide additional issues for emphasis in our next newsletter, or get them online.

Join United Methodist Women from all over Texas in Austin for three days of learning, engagement, and advocacy. The UMW Legislative Event is an informative and inspiring event that is right here in Austin, January 22-24, 2017. You can attend all three days or any part of the event. The 2017 keynote speakers are the Hon. Leticia Van de Putte and the Hon. Hope Andrade!

The event includes workshops on the environment, health, poverty, and social media for civic engagement; strategy meetings by Senate district; presentations on state budget priorities, addressing poverty, protecting religious freedom, displaced people, and caring for creation; and legislative visits to the Capitol.

29th Annual Legislative Event

UNITED METHODIST WOMEN IN TEXAS

Program planned and produced by Texas Impact

JANUARY 22-24, 2017

Austin, Texas

The Way Texas Works

Join Women from All Around the State
To Engage Issues That Matter

Register at: https://texasimpact.org/content/2017-united-methodist-womens-legislative-event-registration-now-open

Texas Impact and the Texas Legislature

The founder of Methodism, John Wesley, famously said, “The Gospel of Christ knows no religion but social; no holiness, but social holiness.”  The November meeting of the Rio Texas Methodist Federation for Social Action (MFSA) will welcome Yaira Robinson from Texas Impact, as our speaker.  Texas Impact is a statewide religious grassroots network whose members include individuals, congregations, and governing bodies of the Christian, Jewish and Muslim faiths.  Its mission is to help people of faith participate faithfully and effectively in public policy discussions concerning issues of broad religious social concern, through non-partisan education on policy issues and training in civic participation.  Yaira will speak about what we, as people of faith, should be particularly aware of as our legislators convene in just three short months.

Please join us at Saint John’s UMC, 2140 Allandale Road, on Thursday, November 10 at 6:30p for snacks and mingling.   The program begins at 7p. All are welcome.