YOUR NETWORK FOR INFORMATION AND VEHICLE FOR ACTION
Mississippi United is here to connect you with people, organizations, and actions that will move Mississippi forward.
ABOUT
MISSISSIPPI
UNITED
Mississippi United is here to connect you with people, organizations, and actions that will move Mississippi forward. We want to make it easier for Mississippians to communicate with elected officials, connect with organizations doing good work and sharing helpful information, and build community with one another.
We’re not a nonprofit. We’re a service. Think Substack, but instead of just feeding you information about what’s going on in the world, we give you the tools to help change the world. If it sounds overly ambitious to you, you’re right! Rome wasn’t built in a day, and progress won’t come to Mississippi overnight. At Mississippi United, we believe that by joining forces with one another and speaking up about things that matter to us, little by little, we can change the landscape of this beautiful place we call home. We will see improvements in educational outcomes, better access to high quality healthcare, and more Mississippians living with dignity. Pair that progress with all the great things Mississippi already has going for it, and Mississippi and her people will truly begin to thrive.
So how does Mississippi United work, exactly?
Through our website and e-newsletter, Mississippi United provides opportunities for Mississippians to engage with public officials about various issues affecting the people of our state, stay informed about those issues, and come together in meaningful (and usually fun!) ways to advocate for change. About every ten days or so, we send out an e-newsletter to our subscribers. At a minimum, each e-newsletter will have at least one action item – an easy way for you to engage with policymakers on the issue at hand. Usually that action item is our Featured Letter(s) that you can read over and sign on to before it’s delivered to the appropriate leaders the following week. We even provide the opportunity for you to include personal comments you'd like to share with the recipient(s) of the letter. Oftentimes, the e-newsletter also includes links to Call your Representatives and provides a script about a particular topic of concern. Bottom line is we want to make it EASY for you to TAKE ACTION on the issues that matter to you.
Each e-newsletter will also highlight upcoming activities featured in Mississippi United's Calendar of Events. The Calendar of Events will alert you to opportunities to show up in your community, from Ocean Springs all the way to Tunica – to attend a protest, or a legislative hearing, or a meeting at a Congressman’s office, for example. Perhaps it’s lunch and learn, or a food drive, or a happy hour. The point is, we think the showing up and building community and making friends part is just as important as the taking action part. So we make it EASY for you to know when and where to SHOW UP.
Finally, the e-newsletter also features new additions to Mississippi United's Resource Library. There’s so much information out there – some good and some just plain terrible. So we update the Resource Library regularly to include whatever we’re reading or listening to that informs our letter/action item for that particular week. The Resource Library is organized alphabetically by issue area and includes direct links to helpful information.
Who funds Mississippi United?
Our generous subscribers do. While you do not have to contribute financially in order to subscribe to our e-newsletters, sign on to our Featured Letters, use our Call your Representatives scripts, or access our Calendar of Events or Resource Library, contributions from subscribers help us keep the lights on. In fact, even if you’re not able to contribute financially, we still want you with us! Your name at the bottom of a letter and your face at a meeting with a senator and your voice on the other end of a call to the attorney general, for example, are the MOST IMPORTANT part of what we do. And we want you to join us regardless of your ability to support our work financially. That said, if you feel the service we provide adds value to your life, and if you’re able to support us financially, please do!
Is Mississippi United an umbrella organization?
No. Mississippi United does not have any formal affiliations with any other groups or organizations. That said, we work with and learn from organizations doing good work all the time. We believe collaboration with other groups and people who share a similar vision for Mississippi's future is a must. And the benefit of not having any formal affiliations is that we don't ALL have to agree on ALL the same things ALL the time.
What if you agree with Mississippi United on some, but not all, of the issues?
This is the MOST unique thing about Mississippi United. It’s totally fine if we have different opinions on things – just don’t participate with us on issues that you don’t agree with or don’t care about. For example, let’s say you’re with us on stopping ICE from terrorizing our immigrant neighbors here in Mississippi, and you’re in favor of making sure more Mississippians have adequate health insurance, but you personally don’t have a problem with using taxpayer dollars to support private schools in the state (i.e. “school choice”). So be it! That just means that when Mississippi United calls for action on immigration or healthcare, you join us, and when we send a letter opposing school choice, you sit that one out! We don’t have to all think exactly alike to get things done. So when it feels right, join us, and when it doesn’t, don’t.
What else can we do to help move Mississippi Forward?
We hope you will use Mississippi United as just one of many tools in your toolbox for making positive change. Here are a few other ideas:
(1) Determine who represents you in the Mississippi State Legislature and the United States Congress and how best to contact them. Go ahead and save their information in your phone and get used to calling them. Remember, they represent you, and you absolutely should call them about issues that matter to you.
(2) Learn some talking points about topics you care about, and practice using them. We think it's especially important to be able to articulate reasons others might side with you on an issue. For example, maybe you think childcare is totally unaffordable for most families and the state or federal government should help make childcare more accessible. Perhaps you believe it would make it easier for parents to go to work everyday and would provide better early education opportunities for children. Others may not care about these points. But they may be interested in knowing that for every $1 invested in affordable childcare, there is an estimated $7 return. Think about it. Childcare enables a parent to go to work everyday. That parent then has income to buy groceries, pay rent and utilities, go to the hair salon, afford health insurance, eat out at a restaurant, shop in local stores, and pay income, sales, and other taxes. And the childcare workers and their employers benefit in the same ways as well. So not only does that one family benefit from being able to afford childcare, but the whole community ultimately benefits as well. So while some may be temped to say, "Oh, but how could the state possibly afford to subsidize childcare?" a great response may be, "But how can the state afford NOT to subsidize childcare?"
(3) Get (or stay!) involved in direct service that helps Mississippi's vulnerable populations. If you regularly volunteer at a soup kitchen or food pantry or as a tutor in an after school program, or if you are a teacher or healthcare provider or even a family member working directly with folks who are struggling, understand how important that work is -- not just for helping those direct recipients of your work, but also to inform policy that impacts all of us.
(4) Show up! The more you can physically show up -- for protests and rallies, meetings with public officials, legislative hearings, city council meetings, school board meetings, town halls, public talks, lunch and learns, coffee shop meetups, what-have-you, the better. Showing up is important for three main reasons. First, it's contagious. When people see others physically coming out from their homes, away from their screens, it inspires those people to get involved as well. Second, it influences policymakers' behavior when they see that people are paying attention and speaking out about issues. And third, it just feels good to be with others who share a similar love for Mississippi and a vision for how much better things could be for all of her people.
(5) Finally, rest when you need it! With 1,300 of us and counting, Mississippi United is like a church choir. When you need to pause to catch your breath, the rest of us will keep singing for you. We can't all be present and do all the things all the time. We have children to raise, jobs to do, homes to manage, elderly relatives to care for, friends to visit, and maybe even hobbies that serve no other purpose than to bring us a little joy. But bottom line is we all can DO SOMETHING, and Mississippi United is here to help make it a little easier on you, whenever you're ready.
