400 signatures for town halls!

We reached 400 signatures on our town hall petition today! The next congressional recess starts May 25, and North Dakota’s congressional delegation hasn’t announced any events. We need your help to build momentum.

Can you ask 3 of your friends to sign the petition today?

We’ll continue urging our representatives to hold in-person town halls until they schedule them regularly across the state. We know there are many questions and concerns from North Dakotans about federal actions, like the recent cuts to AmeriCorps.

AmeriCorps Cuts in North Dakota

In North Dakota, AmeriCorps participants work in schools, child care, and community-capacity building in rural areas of the state. The ND News Cooperative investigated how recent AmeriCorps cuts have impacted our state. Here are some of the stories:

• Elgin-New Leipzig Public School (160 total students in K-12) lost funding for their three AmeriCorps members: one who focused on K-3 reading, another on K-6 math, and one who worked with 7th and 8th graders on math.
• The Souris Basin Planning Council based in Minot lost grants for over $263,000 to cover 33 AmeriCorps participants, who support nonprofit and community capacity-building statewide.
• Cooperstown (population 983) lost AmeriCorps participants who served in after-school programs, in a community daycare, and at a community gym program. 

From the Cooperstown program: “The daycares that my members worked in with younger children who are developmentally behind, who are socially behind, no one can pay for the services themselves,...Our community is small, there’s not enough funding to provide these services.”

North Dakotans are ready to be heard directly by our members of Congress on cuts to services. The question is: are our representatives ready to listen?

- League of Women Voters of North Dakota Team