The Amp

April is Second Chance Month when the Prison Fellowship and its partners recognize the dignity and potential of 70 million Americans with criminal records who have repaid their debt to society. Join the campaign and discuss the issue using the values of Redemption and Mobility.

• Messaging and communication tools: The Opportunity Agenda's Foster Successful Reintegration; Prison Fellowship's model resolutions for state and local officials, petition and social media toolkit;
• Hashtags: #SecondChanceMonth #SecondChances and #SecondPrison

April is Medicaid Awareness Month. The coronavirus crisis has made the need for equitable and affordable access to healthcare clear. A handful of states have not expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, despite research confirming that Medicaid expansion increases access to care, improves financial security, and leads to better health outcomes. Medicaid expansion has also played a vital role in reducing racial disparities in health care access. When talking about Medicaid, cite the values of Economic Security and Community.

• Messaging and communication tools: The Opportunity Agenda's Talking about Economic Justice; Protect Our Care's Medicaid Awareness Resources; Center for American Progress' Who Receives Medicaid? A State-by-State Breakdown; Center on Budget and Policy Priorities' Medicaid Briefs: Who is Harmed by Work Requirements?
• Hashtag: #MedicaidMatters

On this day in 2016, the Sacred Stone Camp was founded in protest of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL). To mark the anniversary, Indigenous Environmental Network is rallying in D.C. with Native youth from Minnesota and the Dakotas at 11 a.m. at the Headquarters of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in DC. They are asking the Biden Administration to stop the proposed Line 3 project through northern Minnesota, shut down the Dakota Access Pipeline, and #BuildBackFossilFree. 

Messaging and Communication Tools: #HonorNativeLand: A Guide and Call for Acknowledgement (U.S. Department of Arts and Culture); 

Hashtags: #StopLine3, #ShutDownDAPL, and #BuildBackFossilFree

This day marks the anniversary of the assassination of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Use this occasion to talk about the accomplishments of Dr. King as well as his unfinished work, such as the Poor People's Campaign. Cite the values of Equality, Voice, and Community.

• Messaging and communication tools: The Opportunity Agenda's Opportunity for Black Men and Boys: Public Opinion and Equality; The Kairos Center's Quotes from Rev. Dr. King’s Last Years: “A Revolution of Values”; The MLK Center's MLK50Forward.org; Poor People's Campaign's weekly themes. 
• Hashtags: #IHaveADream, #PoorPeoplesCampaign

On this day in 1931, the first Scottsboro Trial started. Despite lack of evidence, nine African-American teenage boys were ultimately convicted of rape by an all-white jury. The trial has particular relevance given recent Supreme Court cases on racial bias in jury selection. Use this anniversary to discuss the continued need for criminal justice reform, especially as it affects people of color living in poverty. Cite the values of Equality and Voice. 

• Messaging tools: The Opportunity Agenda’s 10 Lessons for Talking About Criminal Justice Issues; The Road Ahead for Social Justice: Broken Windows Policing and Transforming the System: Criminal Justice Policy Solutions
• Hashtags: #transformcj; #unbreakablecj; #CurtisFlowers

Today is the birthday of labor organizer and activist Dolores Huerta (1930). Use this anniversary to discuss the concerns of immigrant workers in the U.S. today. Cite the values of Equality, Voice, and Economic Opportunity. 

• Messaging tools: Independent Lens’ "Dolores" (Documentary) and The Opportunity Agenda’s Talking about the Importance of Unions and Economic Security
• Hashtag: #doloreshuerta and Twitter handles: @DoloresHuerta and @Dolores_Movie

Seven days after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act which included the Fair Housing Act. Under the leadership of President Trump's Housing Secretary Ben Carson, enforcement of fair housing laws was stepped back. And in 2019, fair housing groups settled an historic lawsuit with Facebook after alleging that its advertising platform enabled landlords and real estate brokers to exclude people of color, and other protected groups from receiving housing ads. Use this hook to discuss home opportunity and fair housing. Cite the values of Voice and Economic Security.

• Messaging tool: The Opportunity Agenda's Why Fair Housing, Fair Lending and Equal Opportunity and Reforming HUD’s Regulations to Affirmatively Further Fair Housing; The National Fair Housing Alliance's The Fair Housing Act at 50
• Hashtags: #FHAct50; #FairHousing

On this day in 1935, the worst dust storm in American history caused immense economic and agricultural damage across several states in what came to be known as “Black Sunday.” Combined with an eight-year drought, multiple dust storms caused crops and businesses to fail and forced many residents to flee in search of work in other states (as chronicled in books like John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath). It’s important to commemorate how government intervention helped alleviate the crisis in the 1930s and how vital federal aid today can help Americans weather environmental catastrophes due to climate change. Cite the values of Economic Security and Community when talking about this anniversary. 

• Messaging and communication tools: The Opportunity Agenda’s Talking about Economic Justice; Gulf Coast Rising’s Final Report; CultureStrike’s Climate Change is a Racial Justice Issue; Movement Generation’s Propagate Pollinate Practice; Peoples Climate Movement’s Resources
• Hashtag: #DustBowl; #ClimateStrike; #ClimateEmergency

April 15 is traditionally Tax Day, though the deadline has been extended to May 17 this year due to the coronavirus crisis. Tax Day provides a great opportunity to connect the harms caused by the Trump-GOP tax scam under President Trump's budgets, which slashed critical services such as healthcare and education, and GOP calls to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Cite the values of Economic Security and Community when talking about taxes on this day. And maybe take a moment to get a head start on your filing before the actual deadline in May! 

• Messaging tools: The Opportunity Agenda’s Quick Tips for Talking About Poverty and Taxes; Americans for Tax Fairness' Fair Taxes Calculator; Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Lightbox Collaborative's "I Love Taxes!"; Topos' Taxlandia; 
• Hashtags: #TaxDay; #TaxDay2021; #WhatsInYourReturn 

On this day in 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote his famous open letter from Birmingham Jail. King was incarcerated for disobeying an injunction against public protest in Birmingham. The letter outlined King’s belief in nonviolent civil disobedience in the struggle for civil rights. He wrote, "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere". This anniversary provides an opportunity to discuss the ongoing work of intersectional racial and economic justice. Cite the values of Equality, Voice, and Opportunity. 

• Messaging and communication tools: The Opportunity Agenda’s Ten Lessons for Talking About Race and Ten Tips for Putting Intersectionality into Practice
• Hashtag: #birminghamjail

On this day in 1939, jazz singer Billie Holiday recorded “Strange Fruit,” which is considered to be the first significant song of the civil rights movement. The song directly addresses lynching in the South, an issue that activists and journalists like Ida B. Wells and the NAACP had been challenging for many years. Use this anniversary hook to discuss the power of artists in addressing social injustice. Cite the values of Voice and Equality. 

• Messaging and communication tools: The Opportunity Agenda’s Working with Cultural Influencers and The Case of the Cultural Influencers; BBC’s Strange Fruit: The Most Shocking Song of All Time?; Biography’s The Tragic Story Behind Billie Holiday's "Strange Fruit”; Radio Diaries’ Strange Fruit: Anniversary Of A Lynching
• Hashtag: #StrangeFruit #BillieHoliday

Today is Earth Day, a day to support environmental protection. Use this hook to talk about environmental injustice. Discuss proposals like the Green New Deal that would address climate change while creating jobs and economic opportunity. Use the values of Community and Voice.

• Messaging and communication tools: The Opportunity Agenda’s Talking About Economic Justice; Molly Crabapple’s Green New Deal film, A Message from the Future (video); 99% Invisible’s podcast episode Crude Habitat (about the events that inspired Earth Day)
• Hashtags: #EarthDay; #GreenNewDeal; #GND

The 2021 Poetic Address to the Nation takes place today at 7 p.m. ET. A project of the (non-governmental) U.S. Department of Arts and Culture in conjunction with The Theater Offensive and MassCreative, the Poetic Address presents the work of artists in response to USDAC's annual collecting of stories for its People's State of the Union Address. Register for the streaming event here.

On this day in 2017, New Orleans began removing Confederate monuments from the city. Many monuments remain across the U.S., and several cities and states continue to celebrate Confederate Memorial Day in late April. As of 2020 it remains an official state holiday in South Carolina, Mississippi, Alabama, and Tennessee. Discuss this anniversary and the underlying problem citing the values of Community, Voice, and Equality. 

• Messaging and communication tools: TruthOut’s It’s Time to Honor Victims, Not Perpetrators, of US Brutality; Southern Poverty Law Center’s Whose Heritage? Community Action Guide and Whose Heritage? Public Symbols of the Confederacy
• Hashtags: #LoseTheLostCause; #WhoseHeritage

On this day in 1993, the March on Washington for Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Equal Rights and Liberation became one of the largest protests in American history with more than one million participants. “Transgender” was omitted from the title because organizers failed to gain support for its addition. Cite the values of Community and Voice when discussing this anniversary. 

• Messaging and communication tools: The Opportunity Agenda’s Ten Tips for Putting Intersectionality into Practice; Queer Detainee Empowerment Project’s World Report on the LGBT Immigrant Experience; Center for American Progress’ Protecting Basic Living Standards for LGBTQ People and ICE’s Rejection of Its Own Rules Is Placing LGBT Immigrants at Severe Risk of Sexual Abuse; Social Justice Sexuality’s Intersecting Injustice: A National Call to Action Addressing LGBTQ Poverty and Economic Justice for All; Immigration Legal Resource Center’s Special Considerations for LGBTQ Immigrants
• Hashtag: #LGBTQ

Lesbian Day of Visibility provides a platform to speak out on the issues facing female sexual minorities. Use this hook to discuss intersectional issues for the LGBTQIA+ community, including racial and economic justice. Cite the values of Economic Security, Community, and Voice.

• Messaging and communication tools: The Opportunity Agenda’s Ten Tips for Putting Intersectionality into Practice; Queer Detainee Empowerment Project’s World Report on the LGBT Immigrant Experience; Center for American Progress’ Protecting Basic Living Standards for LGBTQ People and ICE’s Rejection of Its Own Rules Is Placing LGBT Immigrants at Severe Risk of Sexual Abuse; Social Justice Sexuality’s Intersecting Injustice: A National Call to Action Addressing LGBTQ Poverty and Economic Justice for All; Immigration Legal Resource Center’s Special Considerations for LGBTQ Immigrants
• Hashtag: #LesbianVisibility

On Workers Memorial Day, labor unions and organizations working for occupational safety remember those who have suffered and died on the job, while renewing the fight for safe jobs. Cite the values of Economic Security, Community, and Voice when discussing this day. 

• Messaging and communication tools: AFL-CIO Workers Memorial Day Toolkit; National Employment Law Project's Workplace Fatalities Rising Under Trump OSHA as Enforcement Declines and Trump Administration Rolls Back Workplace Injury Reporting Rule
• Hashtags: #1uSafety; #IWMD2021; #SafeAtWork; #SaveOSHA