June 2022
We need the House to vote on Medicaid Expansion!
“I am stuck in an impossible choice where every month it’s a decision between which needs I’m going to meet and which I’m going to let go: will it be heating or a check-up? I have to make these choices every month because the healthcare system has refused to take care of me up to this point.” -Watauga County
County to county, our healthcare stories create a picture of need for working people, with 600,000 North Carolinians living in a healthcare “coverage gap.” North Carolina has one of the highest rates of uninsured people in the country. Our 600,000 people in the coverage gap means that even though they are working to pay rent and feed their family, they still earn too much to qualify for health insurance assistance and too little to be able to afford insurance.
Click here to get specific information about the healthcare gap in your county.
Many people with chronic health conditions forgo care, often resulting in serious and costly illnesses. We need Medicaid expansion for treatment of chronic conditions like asthma, diabetes, hypertension, and cancer screening. We need Medicaid expansion to help rural hospitals keep their doors open.
Is the N.C. General Assembly REALLY willing to work for poor and working people?
The Senate passed Bill 149, “Access to Healthcare,” TODAY! That shows that there is room for hope and action. Can we work together to insure that Rep. Tim Moore will bring Medicaid Expansion to a House vote? We owe it to each other to close the NC healthcare gap. Representative Tim Moore, please bring Bill 149 Expanding Access to Health Care in North Carolina”, to the floor. We are counting on you.
Primary ReCap: We aren’t letting fear win.
More than 1.4 million North Carolinians turned out to vote in the 2022 primaries—our state’s biggest primary turnout in 20 years.
At Down Home, we chalk that up as a success. What we see in the small towns and rural places where we organize is that more and more people are engaging with electoral politics up and down the ballot because they see—and feel—how much these elected positions impact their daily lives.
Everyone, not just North Carolinians, seemed to be interested in our recent primaries. Any television channel you turned on—CNN, Fox News, NPR—was following the results as they rolled in. Why? Because we are a purple state, yes, but also because our state is seen as a test-case for Trump’s influence. So who’s running the NC GOP?
Teachers and public education are under attack
There’s a coordinated campaign against teachers and public education right now.
We’ve heard concern from parents from counties across the state: Rockingham, Johnston, and Alamance, to name a few. To distract from our kids’ woefully underfunded classrooms, they’re using divisive tactics like book bans and teacher challenges to drive a wedge between parents and educators.
In Guilford County, an AP English teacher last week had to defend teaching an award-winning book about a Black family dealing with Hurricane Katrina. The challenge was part of a larger pattern of extremists trying to silence the voices of Black and LGBTQ authors.
We want to give our children a real education that’s based on critical thinking and diverse experiences, not an echo chamber of political talking points.
That’s why students at this affluent majority-white school defended their teacher and honored the book, Salvage the Bones, which they said gave a different perspective from the one they see every day. And that’s why we got the WIN in this one book ban battle.
So we must remember we are in the majority. If we show up, we win. Do you agree that students need books and not censorship?
10,000 Rural Conversations Project
What a summer! Down Home is having 10,000 conversations this year with rural folks across the state. Last month, we held listening sessions and wrote about what we heard in:
- Granville County, where we heard concerns about working people getting left behind by pro-growth developers that didn’t include them
- Person County, where folks talked about fighting for job and education opportunities in the face of an old boys’ network and continued segregation
- Johnston County, where working people need better transportation and education in the face of an influx of new residents
Upcoming Events
Let's celebrate FIVE YEARS of Down Home!
Down Home began five years ago from today, in the wake of the violence and white supremacy that came with the election of Donald Trump. It started with the belief that when all the institutions fail us, the people will know what to do. You, our staff, and our members truly are the ones we have been waiting for.
We’ve come a long way in five years, and we still have a long way to go. We’re building power and changing the political landscape in North Carolina. And we’re doing it TOGETHER. That’s why we need to celebrate our victories together and why you’re invited to our Pig Pickin’ in Alamance County!
Find An Event Near You
Alamance County
The Miseducation of Alamance County
North Park Sertoma Building, Burlington
Wednesday, June 2, 6:00pm
Down Home NC 5-Year Anniversary Pig Pickin !!!
Green Level Municipal Park, Green Level
Saturday, June 11, 10:00am
Know Your Rights
Graham
Wednesday, June 15, 6:00pm
Ashe County
Ashe County Talks!
Ashe County Public Library, West Jefferson
Thursday, June 9, 5:00pm
Down Home 101
Virtual
Thursday, June 23, 5:00pm
Cabarrus County
Down Home 101
Kannapolis
Thursday, June 9, 6:00pm
Let’s Talk Cabarrus: Listening Session
184 Booker Dr SW, Concord
Thursday, June 23, 5:30pm
Granville County
What’s the Scoop, Granville?
Richard H Thornton Library, Oxford
Tuesday, June 7, 5:30pm
Deep Talk & Dine
Family Diner, Oxford
Saturday, June 25, 1:00pm
Person County
Person County Meets Down Home NC
Huck Sansbury Rec Complex, Roxboro
Saturday, Jun 4, 2:00pm
Person County Talks
Huck Sansbury Rec Complex, Roxboro
Friday, June 24, 6:00pm
Watauga County
Down Home 101
Boone
Thursday, June 9, 6:00pm
Down Home 101
Private location, Boone
Saturday, June 25, 3:00pm
What’s Up Watauga?
Private location, Blowing Rock
Sunday, June 26, 2:00pm
More events in your area can always be found at www.mobilize.us/downhomenc
Down Home Alamance County members spoke out at Graham City Council to call on the city to fire Officer Douglas Strader. The officer was fired from Greensboro PD for excessive deadly force and has since been caught on camera using force against young Black men in Graham.
June Chapter Meetings
Alamance Chapter Meeting
Down Home Field Office, Burlington
Saturday, June 25, 4:00pm
Register Here
Cabarrus Chapter Meeting
Virtual
Saturday, June 25, 2:00pm
Register Here
Ashe Chapter Meeting
Louise’s place, Lansing
Tuesday, June 7, 6:00pm
Register Here
Down Home is hiring multiple positions, from part-time canvassers on our Field Team to full-time regional managers in our Organizing Department! Do you want to make a big difference in small towns and rural places this election year? Well, we want you to, too! Check out our job descriptions listed on our website and consider applying today!
Rural Stories
Sign up to get a Reclaiming Rural story every month in your inbox that helps to redefine the rural South and what we are all about. Sign up here.
Membership
Down Home members not only support our work but also help create our platform, vote on endorsements, and guide our way forward. More here.
Rural News
Our once-a-month GRITS news round up brings you news from across rural North Carolina and all the best things we are watching, reading, and listening to.
