Actions you can take

Ways to support immigrant communities

• Training for legal professionals, Wednesday, Sept. 16, noon, virtual. Lawyers for Good Government seeks interpreters and attorneys who are fluent in Spanish or other languages to support counsel filing habeas corpus petitions seeking release for individuals detained by ICE. Learn more, sign up here.
• Distribute food to homes, Tuesdays in Northern Virginia with Food Justice DMV. Vetting is required, orientation provided. Volunteers can also collect goods, such as beans, rice, diapers, and formula (from neighbors and friends) to drop off at a local collection center. Sign up here.

Ways to support voting rights and protect elections

In-person early voting starts Sept. 18! (Follow that link to learn more.) Join Indivisible Do Something Alexandria as we hand out flyers to get voters up to speed and to the polls for Election Day on Nov. 3:

• Spread the word about proposed amendments, Saturdays, 8-10 a.m., near City Hall. We'll provide volunteers the info and handouts so you can inform community members headed to the farmers market. Sign up here.
• Greet commuters, share voting information starting this week, Mondays and Wednesdays: Sign up here for the King Street Metro Station, Mondays, 4-6 p.m. Sign up here for the Braddock Metro Station, Wednesdays, 4-6 p.m.

Volunteer with Black Voters Matter: Intro. Tuesday, Sept. 8, 5-6:15 p.m. ET, virtual. Learn how to help increase voter engagement, protect the right to vote and build permanent, progressive power in Black communities. Sign up here.

Understanding Who’s Who In a Polling Place, Wednesday, Sept. 9, 8-9 p.m. ET, virtual. Protecting the vote requires understanding what happens at a polling place. ACLU reviews the roles people play during voting and possible challenges that could threaten access to the ballot. Sign up here.

Watch "Winning Georgia and the Midterms," Monday, Sept. 14, 7-8 p.m. ET, virtual. Voting rights activist Stacey Abrams and Lauren Groh-Wargo of Fair Fight Action, assess the current threats to a free and fair midterm election and talk about the role of grassroots groups in protecting the vote. Sign up here.

Poll greeting training, Thursdays, 6:30-8 p.m. ET, virtual. Indivisible NOVA West hosts a training led by an election officer with 10 years’ experience who will walk you through the basics, including potential scenarios and voter questions. Sign up here.

Canvass for Sen. Mark Warner, Saturdays and Sundays through Nov. 1, multiple times. Location of meetups will be provided when you register. Sign up here.

Write with Postcards from Alexandria, Fridays, noon-1:30, at St. Elmo’s (1536 Kenwood Ave.) and Wednesdays, noon-1:30 at Eclairons (430 S. Washington St.), Messages will encourage Virginians to vote for Elaine Luria, Joy Powers and Shannon Taylor for the House of Representatives. For more: info@postcardsfromalx.com

Coming up:

Election protection: overview and training, Sept 15, 1-5 p.m. ET. Project Nexus, an organization that hosts trainings on a variety of topics, provides a global and historical context for where our democracy is now and tactics on how you can help. Register here.

Knock on doors for Shannon Taylor, Saturday, Sept. 19, 8:30 a.m.-6 p.m. Taylor is running to represent VA-1 in the U.S. House: Meet at John Carlyle Square for a bus ride to Ashland to flip this GOP seat to blue. Sign up here.

Ways to support civil liberties

• Attend the DeFlock Alexandria community meeting, Monday, Sept. 14, 5:30-7 p.m., Ellen Coolidge Burke Branch Library. Steven Keener of the Justice Forward Virginia Foundation will talk about what we can do as a community to push back against these invasive technologies. RSVP here.
• Learn more about license plate readers. The Alexandria Times on Sept. 2 updates the local uses of automatic license plate readers. NBC4 reports a state effort to limit use of ALPRs has bipartisan support. Check your own license plate at Have I Been Flocked?, and find out where Flock cameras are in the state.

Other resistance activities

• Author Talk: The Next Journalism, Wednesday, Sept. 9, 7 p.m. ET, virtual (and live at Politics and Prose). Tom Rosenstiel discusses his new book that makes the urgent case that the survival of democracy depends on reinventing the press. Watch it here.
• Learn more about the CLARITY Act and crypto corruption, Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2 p.m., virtual. The Progressive Caucus Action Fund, Indivisible, Public Citizen and Americans for Financial Reform host a briefing on the CLARITY Act, crypto industry's push to write its own rules. Sign up here.

Coming up:

• History, Power, and the Fight Ahead: A Conversation With Ken Burns, Wednesday, Sept. 16, 8-9 p.m. ET, virtual. Movement Voter Project invites historian Ken Burns and MVP's Jillian Johnson to review the historic challenges facing our democracy and the role grassroots movements have played in expanding and protecting it. Sign up here.

General: Trainings, meetings

• Phone bank with Ground Truth, Wednesdays, 6-9 p.m. ET and Sundays, 2-5 p.m. ET. Training is included in this virtual phone bank that has volunteers calling all types of voters to ask questions and listen deeply to voters' concerns. (See recent coverage in the NY Times.) Sign up here.
• Ground Truth Civic Action Follow-Up Letters. In this pilot campaign, Vote Forward asks volunteers to attend a virtual training then write letters to voters who opened their doors to have conversations with Swing Left interviewers (see above). Sign up here.