Democracy Happy Hour - February 26, 2025

Fix Democracy First hosts a weekly Democracy Happy Hour on Wednesdays @ 5-6:30pm PT. Grab a drink and join us and learn about the latest democracy efforts, challenges, solutions, as well upcoming events and actions.

This is a recurring event. You only have to register once.

Local Media & Its Impact on Democracy Expert Panel Discussion

• Speaker View Recording: https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/play/FnpsH5C2BrtCLCkkNjwHkhN2SjFkA7fvmyyWLey4lvieI-ghzAdDHFkoFmtrX6kGBPNK0y9zfAtNBz51.xqIDv_ilZhU96OBe

• RECOMMENDED - Gallery View Recording:  https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/play/CnpCqBTO0IwrjcXEaguHvqfQKsdbJ_kN-CJJdMx-8ZOlIoQ-4-UrKlbTiT9QACMtbUr19uJETmg34rgK.MT2OzLTl2DDjn8FY

• Chat file (will download directly to your computer):  https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/sdownload/RCwzxwGyhUpnq19QO5BX2yZc4YfnrLFCKaGqpEfF8D88WyGaC_-fL9ONpzHn2kFIk1DBgVH2swQofqmI.bu4wlKlIoyyUrcmk

• Closed Caption file (will download directly to your computer):  https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/sdownload/ys04x2OhUdG5nJSC7u0TSeeLueekIvSTDxE4jIZ531yV4pAa-UI_EtYEBsgfiUnRteXdoYFTlC7lR4LP.KAkb-aYJvNm_pM2L

Meeting resources

• Chardonnay Beaver - Author & Multimedia Storyteller, The Facts Newspaper - https://www.chardonnaybeaver.com/;  https://www.cascadepbs.org/author/chardonnay-beaver
• Michelle Goldchain - Social Media & Video Editor at WTOP News - https://www.michellegoldchain.com/; https://wtop.com/author/michelle-goldchain/
• Andrea Otañez Professor of Journalism and Public Interest at the University of Washington - https://com.uw.edu/person/andrea-otanez/
• Joanne M. Lisosky - Professor Emerita at Pacific Lutheran University and Coauthor of the League of Women Voters of WA Study - The Decline of Local News and Its Impact on Democracy - https://www.plu.edu/comm-media-designarts/staff/joanne-m-lisosky/
• Florangela Davila - Executive Director, South Seattle Emerald- https://www.florangeladavila.com/; https://southseattleemerald.org/community/2025/02/03/the-emerald-welcomes-florangela-davila-as-its-new-executive-director
• Di Zhang – MODERATOR - Librarian at Renton Technical College - https://www.linkedin.com/in/zhangdi1/

League of Women Voters of WA Study - The Decline of Local News and Its Impact on Democracy - https://lwvwa.org/local-news#Get

Media Literacy – LibGuides at Renton Technical College - https://libguides.rtc.edu/medialiteracy

WA State Bill SB 5400 - Supporting Local Journalism - Establishes the Washington Local News Journalism Corps Program to distribute grants to support journalists to cover civic affairs in underserved communities. - https://app.leg.wa.gov/billsummary/?BillNumber=5400&Year=2025

FDF Links

• Fix Democracy First - https://www.fixdemocracyfirst.org/
• Donate to Fix Democracy First here: https://www.fixdemocracyfirst.org/donate

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Democracy Happy Hour Upcoming Topics/Schedule

• Mar 05 - Democracy Vouchers and the Promise of Fairer Elections with Jennifer Heerwig
• Mar 12 - SPECIAL Program for Civic Learning Week - Increasing Youth Civic Engagement with Hands-on Projects & Civic Seal Programs with Generation Citizen
• Mar 19 - Multi-Member Districts with the League of Women Voters of WA Education Project Team
• Mar 26 - Grand Bargain Project: Reuniting America around a Common-Sense Plan for Nationwide Prosperity

Actions, events and resources

Actions

• 5 Calls - https://5calls.org/
• Economic Blackout Day – Feb 28^th - https://www.timesnownews.com/world/us/us-news/economic-blackout-day-what-is-it-and-why-americans-are-protesting-on-feb-28-article-118169976 - Organized by he People’s Union USA - https://theonecalledjai.com/
• Join a local Indivisible group - https://indivisible.org/groups
• Join Braver Angels - https://braverangels.org/get-involved/#become-member

Events

• Increasing Youth Civic Engagement with Hands-on Projects & Civic Seal Programs – Special Civic Learning Week Democracy Happy Hour on March 12^th @ 5 pm PT/8 pm ET - https://civiclearningweek.org/event/increasing-youth-civic-engagement-with-hands-on-projects-civic-seal-programs
• What Is The Role of Nonprofits in Strengthening Our Democracy? Exploring Transformational Advocacy – March 19^th @ 11 am PT/2 pm ET - https://results.zoom.us/meeting/register/DfWU4mg0TL-IhWrkdXiFeg#/registration

Resources

• Declaration for American Democracy – Share Your Democracy Story -  https://dfadcoalition.org/story
• Democracy 2025 – Democracy 2025 is the strategic hub to protect people and their rights should the Trump-Vance administration seek to unlawfully strip away freedoms and prosperity. -  https://www.democracy2025.org/

• How You Can Protect Democracy - 29 concrete actions you can take right now to protect democracy - https://protectdemocracy.org/how-to-protect-democracy
• Paths to Understanding - The Potluck Project – https://pathstounderstanding.org/get-involved/potluck
• Take Action Network for Washington State Legislation & Actions - https://www.takeaction.network

Good News Websites

• ABC Good News - https://abcnews.go.com/alerts/good-news
• Daily Good - https://www.dailygood.org/
• Democracy's Good News - https://www.democracygroup.org/topics/democracys-good-news
• Good News Network - https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/
• Politics & Government Good News - https://www.goodgoodgood.co/impact/democracy
• Sunny Skyz - https://www.sunnyskyz.com/good-news
• The Happy News - https://thehappynewspaper.com/

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