Democracy in Action - Women Working for a Better World

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Issues We Care About

•Political Action – using DIA resources to identify/develop candidates for political office.

Best wishes, Mayor Kooiker. DIA looks forward to working with you for continuing improvement of quality of life for all Rapid City residents and for visitors and rural residents who depend on her business community and public services.

Read DIA's letter to Mayor Kooiker listing some issues on which we hope to partner with his administration.

Click here for contact links and numbers for Sen. Johnson, Sen. Thune, Rep. Noem, Gov. Daugaard, state and local elected officials.

•Responsible Environmental Stewardship

Read the Cong. Research Keystone XL Pipeline report here. Contact our congressional delegation. Some members of Congress are pushing the Administration for a Nov. approval deadline. Write the President at The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20500. Write to Secy. of State Clinton at United States Department of State, Keystone XL EIS Project, P.O. Box 96503-98500, Washington, D.C. 20090-6503 For our health, land and our state's core industries of Agriculture and Tourism, stop Keystone XL!

•Local Social Action

Promote the Black Hills 211HelpLine

Invest in kids - - Learn more! Rapid City Starting Strong Initiative.
Let's work together for this scholarship program so that every child from a low-income family has a chance for pre-school.

Supporting "Solutions," a class taught by Brenda Swanson to mentor Native American girls and encourage education, employability and personal goals.

•Fostering a Local Progressive Climate

Download and share the 2011 edition of Recycling in Rapid City: How, What & Where, an SDDIA-RC publication.

In cooperation with Materials Recycling Facility (MRF) at the Rapid City Landfill and Solid Waste Operations Superintendent Karl Mersbach and his staff, Democracy in Action produced this third edition. Watch for it at the RC Homebuilders Show and online at RCMRF website.

DIA Enviro Committee continues to work with the Green Cities Task Force and with Sustainability efforts at SDSMT and WDT.

Democracy in Action works for protection of clean, safe water.

Pennington County Septic Ordinance was passed unanimously by the County commissioners after months of meetings and a series of contentious public hearings. The ordinance establishes installer and installation guidelines plus septic inspection and registration every six years with a $20 permit to be filed with the county. DIA member Karen Hall was a member of the draftting group. DIA members have been actively involved in testimony in support of the ordinance.

Karen Hall and Jim Coleman were elected by the County Commissioners to fill vacancies on the Planning and Zoning Commission after being interviewed by the Commissioners. Congratulations, Karen and Jim.

•Nurturing DIA

Be Informed! Here are links to local resources on DIA's Points of Advocacy.

Access to Affordable Health Care

•A Click a Day Makes a Difference
If you check email daily, sign up at The Hunger Site The Hunger Site to receive a daily reminder. You can quickly navigate to click for free mammograms for poor women at the breast cancer site, or click for child health, literacy, animal rescue and rain forest, too. This is not a scam-- it costs you nothing but a few seconds a day

Responsible Environmental Stewardship

Read Clean Water Resolution adopted by Pennington County Commissioners

We advocate responsible environmental stewardship and our Position Statement on the Environment “supports mandatory recycling by residential, commercial, industrial and government entities.” Read the letter we sent July 2, 2009 to Public Works Director Robert Ellis, The Mayor and City council Members.

Please download, use and share Recycling in Rapid City, an SDDIA-RC publication, 2nd. edition, produced in cooperation with local businesses and RC Sold Waste Management.

Read Opinion/Editorial: "Lifestyle, Off-Shore Drilling and the Price of Gas" by Karen Hall, DIA member and an environmental engineer.

Strong Public Schools

Click on Our Rapid City Schools. Mission: Promoting excellence in education to grow our economy, increase opportunity and enhance the quality of life in Rapid City.Our Rapid City Schools was launched to make it easier for parents and community members to get the information they need about our schools. Subscribe here.

Native Justice and Racial Reconciliation

Democracy in Action Postion on Bear Butte
Democracy in Action supports efforts to preserve Bear Butte and protect it from commercial encroachment because it is a significant sacred cultural site for indigenous people and an endangered National Historic Landmark for everyone.

Empowerment of Women

SDDIA is a member of SD Women's Advocacy Network and supports a lobbyist during the legislative sessions.

"Pro-Life" is a "spin" term that I refuse to use,” writes Ellen Snortland [sister Mary Snortland is a Rapid City resident] in the Passenda Weekly. Read the full text of Snortland's article.

"Sarah and HIllary and Susan B. and Matilda: Revisiting our History to Renew Our Democracy"by Sally Roesch Wagner, a SD native, who gave permission to post this article.

It's still THE issue! Read "Quiet Campaign Against Birth Control" by Cristina Page, author of “How the Pro-Choice Movement Saved America: Freedom, Politics and the War on Sex." Pa is spokeswoman for birthcontrolwatch.org.

Economic Opportunity

Global Cooperation

SDDIA members have supported a scholarship at SDSMT for an Afghani woman.

"Every gun that is fired, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who ae cold and are not clothed. The world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children."------Dwight D. Eisenhower

Civil Public Policy Dialogue

SDDIA sponsors or co-sponsors forums for candidates and public issues.

Bill Moyers writing in Christian Century April 17, 07 on democracy and journalism:
So here is the deepest crisis as I see it: we talk about problems, issues, policy solutions, but we don’t talk about what democracy means—what it bestows on us, the power it gives us—the astonishing opportunity to shape our destiny. i mean the revolutionary idea that democracy isn’t merely a means of government, it means of dignifying people so that they have a chance to become fully human. Every day I find myself asking, why is America forsaking its own revolution?

“Take Back Our Language: The Reframing of Political Issues” by DIA member Shirley Frederick October 2006

According to linguist George Lakoff, people do not think in facts. They think in frames. If a fact doesn’t fit the frame, it fails to register. Some examples of frames:
Language always comes with what is called "framing." Every word is defined relative to a conceptual framework. If you have something like "revolt," that implies a population that is being ruled unfairly…and they are throwing off their rulers, that would be considered a good thing. That’s a frame.