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🖇️ Spitfire Shares: Violence-Free Civic Spaces, Dragging Democracy and More!💡

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This newsletter is 1,415 words – an 11-minute read. 

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Welcome to Spitfire Shares!

This month, we're looking back and looking ahead. Spitfire was born 22 years ago from the vision and commitment of Kristen Grimm to democratize the field of public interest communications, to break the hold of proprietary IP and the DC consultancy class over the progressive social justice ecosystem and the people-led movements that fuel the real and most lasting change in our society.

Established to build the capacity for courageous and strategic communications across communities, inside organizations and within leaders themselves, Spitfire was born of a need to share wisdom, while constantly learning and evolving.

As I look forward, I could not be more proud of Spitfire's work supporting movements that advance racial, economic and social justice across the country. It seems that every day we are living history, and I am so honored to work alongside colleagues and partners who refuse to have that history written for us, by others who have a very different vision for the future.

In this second edition of Spitfire Shares, we continue to highlight insights, best practices and the latest communication trends. Please continue to share back with us by hitting the button below.

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- Jen Carnig

              President, Spitfire Strategies

                                                   Let's connect

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Violence-Free Civic Spaces

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This year, Spitfire has been deeply invested in building civil discourse and reducing civil discord. But we didn't expect to have a harrowing, real-life case study jump out of the headlines this past weekend.

Violence has no place in our political process. Period. It is essential that candidates and leaders of all stripes and background speak out against violence publicly and in no uncertain terms.

It is also critical to avoid spreading misinformation or messages that bad actors use to divide us. Our political process and democracy depend on our ability to remember that there is more that unites us than divides us, and must reaffirm our commitment to a peaceful political process.

Our work to create and sustain safe public spaces - from campaign rallies to anti-war protests - is more vital that ever. Click below to check out the latest entry in our "Best-Case Scenario" series.

 

Actions speak louder than words: one great example of role modeling civil discourse

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Taking Inventory, Trusting the Promise

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This month marks Spitfire's 22nd anniversary. Since 2002, we've supported thousands of organizations, leaders and communities working fearlessly to make this world a better place, not just in words, but in reality. A place of not only peace, but justice; inclusive, multiracial democracy with full representation and power for all the people; safe and open public and political spaces, full of community and free of violence. A world where we can all be who we are and love whom we love; where fascism and apartheid are defeated, not accommodated; where our rights and freedoms are not contingent on where we were born, where we live or how much money we have.

For more than two decades, we've trained countless organizers, advocates and allies to communicate with clarity and courage, inclusivity and intention, empathy and equity. And we've created tools to build capacity and confidence across the field of public interest communications, and share these resources freely, driven by our conviction that budgets should never dictate access to knowledge and information.

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Reflections From Our Founder


To mark the anniversary, Spitfire founder Kristen Grimm reflected on her four-step practice of taking inventory at milestone moments, noting:

Kristen reminds herself - and, by extension, all of us - to (1) have the courage to really look, (2) see where the world is calling me to focus, (3) face what might be holding me back, and (4) set off once more, not with trepidation, but wholeheartedly in a direction filled with uncertainty and possibility.

                                                 Read Kristen's post here                        

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A Fabulous Future is Possible

Drag Pac

We often remind our partners that your messenger matters as much as your message. So, who better than RuPaul’s Drag Race contestants and iconic queens Alaska, BenDeLaCreme, Jinkx Monsoon, Monét X Change, Peppermint and Willam to engage, educate and mobilize young voters to demonstrate their power at the ballot box in November?

Spitfire is so honored to have supported the launch of Drag PAC, the first ever political action committee led by drag queens. Covered fromLGBTQ Nation to UPI,McClatchyto USA Today, the launch "comes amidst a tidal wave of legislation targeting LGBTQ people across the country. More than 500 anti-LGBTQ bills were filed this year in state legislatures, according to the ACLU, and 39 became law," wrote The Hill in an article that quotes Drag PAC co-founder Peppermint as saying,

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Sure, the current state of our democracy is kind of a drag, but these inspiring queens are trying to make that a good thing.

Check out the launch announcement video below and visit the Drag PAC website to learn more.

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Holding Campaigns Accountable

     

As we know, fossil fuel money in politics is bad for us, bad for the planet, and bad for our democracy. Oil, gas, and coal companies pournewsletter millions of dollars into electing climate deniers. They go on to keep us from stabilizing our climate and securing a healthy, livable future.

Thankfully, thousands of candidates running at all levels of government have taken the No Fossil Fuel Money Pledge, rejecting the influence of the fossil fuel industry on our politics.

The No Fossil Fuel Money Coalition, with support from Spitfire and Seventh Generation, updated and refreshed their website to include an easy way to take action, urging candidates to take the pledge and exposing all who take dirty money.

By bringing to light the enormous amount of contributions fossil fuels make, we strengthen our democracy by equipping voters with information to elect responsible leaders who want to build a better future for our communities and our children rather than advancing fossil fuel profits.

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Have thoughts you'd like to share? Feel free to reach out. We'd love to feature you in our next issu

This entry was posted on Monday, July 15, 2024 at 16:12 pm and is filed under Spitfire culture. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.