U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow To Headline Event Honoring Michigan Sierra Club’s Pioneering Leader Anne Woiwode

NEWS MEDIA ADVISORY

For Saturday, January 23, 2016

U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow To Headline Event Honoring 

Michigan Sierra Club’s Pioneering Leader Anne Woiwode

Media Contact:   David Holtz 313-300-4454/david@davidholtz.org

Senator Debbie Stabenow will join other prominent environmental and public officials Saturday from 4pm to 6pm in Lansingfor an event honoring Anne Woiwode, the Sierra Club Michigan Chapter Director who is retiring after 35 years of pioneering major environmental achievements for the Great Lakes State.

Who:	Sen. Debbie Stabenow, state Sen. Curtis Hertel, Sen. Gary Peters (staff), Michigan Sierra Club  and other environmental leaders and Honoree Anne Woiwode
What:	Special Reception celebrating Anne Woiwode’s historic career with Sierra Club and her accomplishments, including establishing Michigan’s 90,000 acres of wilderness under the Michigan Wilderness Act
When:	Event begins at 4pm to 6pm with speakers scheduled at 4:45pm
Where:	Greater Lansing Housing Coalition, 600 West Maple Street, Lansing, MI

Background

After serving as Sierra Club’s Michigan Chapter Director since 1985, Anne Woiwode retired this month.  A former Meridian Township trustee, Woiwode was instrumental in the establishment of 90,000 acres of wilderness under the Michigan Wilderness Heritage Act in 1987.  Woiwode, who received national recognition in 2014 for her work, spearheaded Sierra Club’s efforts to protect rural families and farms from industrial agricultural pollution and is a nationally recognized expert on environmental policy and law.  She has testified on hundreds of environmental bills and is the foremost expert in Michigan on natural resource issues.   In recent years, Woiwode led the Sierra Club’s successful fight to halt the construction of nine proposed coal-fired plants in Michigan and to move the state away from reliance on polluting fossil fuels and toward clean energy.  Woiwode began her environmental work in Michigan as a Sierra Club volunteer leader in 1980.  On Saturday she will return to that volunteer role when she is expected to be appointed Sierra Club Michigan Chapter’s Conservation Committee Chair. 

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Sierra Club Seeks Political Interns for Fall 2016

 Sierra Club Michigan Chapter – 2016 Political Internships

What is the Sierra Club?

The Sierra Club's members and supporters are more than 2.4 million of your friends and neighbors.  Inspired by nature, we work together to protect our communities and the planet. Founded in 1892, the Club is America's oldest, largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization. Our mission is to: (1) Explore, enjoy, and protect the wild places of the earth; (2) Practice and promote the responsible use of the earth’s ecosystems and resources; (3) Educate and enlist humanity to protect and restore the quality of the natural and human environment; and (4) Use all lawful means to carry out these objectives.

Internship Responsibilities

In this internship, you will directly assist candidates running for public office that the Sierra Club has endorsed. The Sierra Club has an extremely rigorous endorsement process and focuses on the most competitive races with the best environmentally-minded candidates. In this internship, we will train you on the basic skills of campaign organizing, educate you about environmental issues impacted by politics, and then deploy you to be part of a candidate’s campaign for two to three months. Potential responsibilities include helping organize fundraisers for a candidate, coordinating voter contact, organizing phone banks, recruiting Sierra Club members to volunteer for a candidate, canvassing, coordinating press conferences and press releases for a candidate, helping with a candidate’s earned media strategy, running social media accounts for a candidate, policy or campaign research, performing data entry and office work.

Qualifications

The ideal applicant will have an interest in politics, knowledge or interest in environmental issues, be proficient in Microsoft Office applications, and have experience with google drive, facebook, twitter, blogs, and email.  Applicants must be able to communicate effectively, take direction on projects, work independently, be flexible, and be prepared for a fun and fast-paced campaign environment.

Logistics

Internship positions are available in 2016 for the fall semester (September-November). This internship is unpaid but comes with a small stipend and can earn you class credit (you will need to work this out with your academic advisor). The internship is coordinated through our Lansing office but you will be deployed to work for a campaign that is somewhere close to where you are located. Interns must be available to attend a full-day training on Saturday, September 10^th. Internships can be arranged for between 5 to 40 hours per week with flexible scheduling.

To apply, send your resume to Mike Berkowitz at mike.berkowitz@sierraclub.org, with a brief (one-two paragraphs) statement describing your interest in this internship. The application deadline is Monday, September 5^th.

Results

People who participate in this Political Internship often go on to achieve professional and academic success. After interning, multiple interns have become lawyers, social workers, political campaign managers, Sierra Club employees, staffers for other non-profit organizations, elected officials, and professors. Many former interns also achieve leadership roles within the Sierra Club Michigan Chapter such as Political Committee Representatives, Legislative Committee Representatives, Citizen Lobbyists, and campaign leaders.

Citizens Groups Call for Expanded Voting Rights on MLK Day

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

News from Engage Michigan

January 18, 2016

Contact: Marissa Luna, 989-798-3051, marissa@engagemichigan.org

Citizens Groups Call for Expanded Voting Rights on MLK Day

Legislators should make voting more accessible

MICHIGAN – Today, in the spirit of Martin Luther King Jr., voting rights groups are calling on elected leaders in Lansing to expand citizens’ voting rights and oppose voter suppression legislation. 

Several bills were introduced and/or passed in 2015 that would negatively impact voters’ ability to participate in elections. Governor Rick Snyder signed a bill to eliminate straight ticket voting. Another bill that was introduced would put up numerous roadblocks to local officials who want to make voting more convenient and accessible in their communities.

The organizations listed below sign on to the following statement:

“Voting is our right and our responsibility. The integrity of our elections depends on every eligible citizen being able to register and cast their ballot. Martin Luther King Jr. knew that and dedicated his life to ensuring that every eligible citizen in America had the right to participate in our democracy. We continue in 2016 in carrying on his quest by urging our representatives to modernize and streamline elections in order to make voting more accessible, convenient, accurate, and fair.”

Michigan State Conference NAACP

APIAVote-MI

Sierra Club Michigan Chapter

The Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law

Fair Elections Legal Network

League of Women Voters of Michigan

Michigan Election Reform Alliance

Michigan Muslim Community Council

Michigan Center for Election Law

American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan

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