, 

It sure feels like summer is here – school is out; the temperature and humidity are both climbing; my tomatoes are growing and so are the mosquitos, and the CCI Action Fund Annual Convention is coming up!

That’s right – July 17th will be our second virtual convention, and you don’t want to miss it! Gather with us online to let our radical imaginations lead the way — together, we have the power to organize and create the world we want to live in. 

We'll be joined by an amazing lineup of movement thinkers and doers: Tobita Chow, Heather McGhee, George Goehl, and Misty Rebik!

In other news – we’re seeing lots of inspiration in the work around us. Last week, CCI members led a powerful action against their former workplace to demand better working conditions.

Thursday night we dug in even more on the American Rescue Plan – and how we can organize to ensure millions of dollars flowing into our communities will actually get to those who need it most. Check out the video from that meeting here.

And, today our Clean Water Action Team is launching their DEEP Dive into Iowa’s water crisis – read on to check it out!

For People and Planet,

Adam Mason (he/him)
State Policy Organizing Director 

To be as powerful, strategic and effective as possible, CCI Action needs you!  

Join, donate today and your gift will support work that stands up against corporate power, supports an end to racist policing, builds Iowa communities that are resilient in the face of climate change, and wins Medicare for All! 

These are a few links that are informing our work - we've shared them so that you can too! 

• How did a growing and necessary conversation about race in America—a conversation that a majority of Americans in 2020 said they wanted to have—become hijacked by an attack on a field of study called critical race theory? Read this Common Dreams piece by James Haslam on how we fight back against the GOP's new attacks on democracy.
  
  
• At least 15 states are trying to ban schools from teaching critical race theory and the 1619 Project. The reactionary movement stretches back to the 1920s and the KKK. [The Guardian]
  
  
• Following the global wave of demonstrations after the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis last year, Republican state legislatures mounted a counterattack, introducing a deluge of "anti-riot" bills designed to make it easier for law enforcement to clamp down on demonstrations perceived as disorderly. In Iowa, this looked like the so-called "Back the Blue" bill. [Salon]
  
  
• Bruce Rastetter is back with a bad plan to build pipelines across Iowa that will capture carbon dioxide emissions from ethanol, fertilizer and other industrial plants before being permanently sequestered, enabling the industry's growth. [Des Moines Register]
  
  
• New from Austin Frerick: Iowa once had a diversified farm economy. A 1935 guide commissioned by the Federal Writers’ Project described the variety of produce grown within the state, and the regional specialties that flourished. The area around Davenport, near the border with Illinois, was known for its onions, while Northern Iowa specialized in sugar beets. Grapes grew out west near Council Bluffs and Omaha. Peaches were concentrated in the south along the Missouri border. Muscatine, in the southeastern corner of the state, was famous for its melons. [The American Conservative]
  
  
• Gov. Kim Reynolds is a failure. And we have the proof. Here’s our report card for Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds. She has failed Iowans on every issue. [Des Moines BLM]