• Access to affordable health care
• Strong public schools
• Responsible environmental stewardship
• Native justice and racial reconciliation
• Civil public policy dialogue
• The empowerment of women
• Economic Opportunity
• Protection of Civil Liberties
• Advancement of the arts
• Global cooperation

Strong public schools

Responsible environmental stewardship

• DIA hosted T.R.A.S.H. on Friday, Feb. 20, in John T. Vucurevich Event Center at the Dahl Arts Center. The benefit performance by T.R.A.S.H was DIA’s principal annual fund raiser. DIA has real “trash” on its agenda in 2009 with promoting recycling and sponsoring community education about solid waste issues as a major objective. The 2009 edition of Recycling in Rapid City: How, What & Where, an SDDIA-RC publication was distributed at the benefit.

• Congratulated Mayor Hanks.

Dear Mayor Hanks:
Democracy in Action members congratulate you on your election as mayor.
Our organization has a strong interest in local government, and we would like to open discussions with you on how we can work together to address the following DIA environmental goals: • Making recycling mandatory. • Protecting the Rapid Creek floodplain from future construction . • Using city rights to Rapid Creek water in lieu of pumping from underground aquifers. • Conserving water . • Working with the Pennington County Commission to address septic tank issues not covered by city ordinance . • Funding stormwater drainage and treatment appropriately. • Using city resources to support and promote the Farmers’ Market. • Addressing global warming by becoming a Cool City

Civil public policy dialogue

• Published this 2008 Voters Guide on ballot issues and candidate endorsements.  We made small contributions to endorsed candidates. We hosted SD Legislative Candidate Forums in every district except District 30. We worked with County Auditor Julie Pearson to find neutral and accessible polling  places for the general election. We encouraged our members to sign up for GOTV efforts and poll watching. 

• Sponsored forums including Energy and Recycling issues in cooperation with BIU, No Child Left Behind, The Food Tax Referendum, Stem Cell Research, the Patriot Act and a dialogue between school board candidates.

Access to affordable health care

Native justice and racial reconciliation

• Our '07 Fundraiser celebrated our official separation into an educational organization, SDDIA, and SDDIA-PAC, a political action committee. We honored Laurrette Pourier of SANI-T and Charmaine Whiteface of Defenders of the Black Hills.
  
• Sessions on cultural competency Stood with Defenders of the Black Hills at the Meade County Commission to preserve Bear Butte Went to a prayer vigil with the Defenders of the Black Hills Attended a 5 week workshop on White privilege Spoke to the Interfaith Racial Alliance about the Bear Butte concerns

Empowerment of women

• SD said No to Initiated Measure #11

  For the second election in a row, South Dakota voters rejected by a double-digit margin an attempt to ban abortion in the state.

  "Independent streak defines West River abortion thinking"
  By Kevin Woster, Rapid City Journal staff Monday, November 03, 2008
  "By 56 percent to 44 percent, state voters in 2006 rejected a proposed ban that would have allowed abortions only when needed to save a woman's life. And it wasn't just because of the pounding it took in Sioux Falls, Brookings, Vermillion and other East River communities with a more liberal philosophical and political slant....Referred Law 6 got hammered out here in the conservative west, too, by a margin that settled the issue emphatically....
  Seventeen out of 22 West River counties voted against the abortion ban in 2006, while 19 of 44 East River counties supported it. And in the West River counties overall, Referred Law 6 was rejected by a wider margin -- 60 percent to 40 percent -- than it was statewide."

• SD Democracy in Action produced a documentary film"South Dakota Faces Abortion" and sponsored three public forums on Initiated Measure 11. Measure 11 was defeated but opponents promise to reintroduce the abortion ban as legislation or as another initiative.
  

  View "South Dakota Faces Abortion" Choose your internet connection speed
  Dial-In	DSL/Cable/T1

  Download (561 MB)
  (Right click and select "Save As..." to download)
  

     Please copy and distribute the film as widely as possible.
   
  Democracy in Action sponsored free public forums on Initiated Measure 11
  

  SD Faces Abortion was shown at a premier in Sept.2008 and with a Denise Ross documentary Unintended Democracy in Oct. 2008. Sponsored Sacred Choices film with panel of pastors against Measure 11. Sponsored forum on Medical and Legal Ramifications of Initiated Measure #11 with panel of doctors and lawyers.
  
  
  SD Democracy in Action sponsored radio ads supporting a No vote on Initiated Measure 11 that would have outlawed most abortions and criminalized physicans' efforts to provide health care in complex circumstances. To hear the 2008 SDDIA radio spots, click one of the links below.
  

My Niece
Keep Government Out
Rape
My Wife Linda
Full Term Pregnancy
Exceptions Medical Records

• Joined AAUW South Dakota, Democracy In Action – Rapid City, South Dakota League of Women Voters, NARAL Pro-Choice South Dakota, National Women’s Political Caucus – South Dakota, Planned Parenthood Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, South Dakota Advocacy Network for Women and the South Dakota Coalition Against Domestic Violence & Sexual Assault to ask that Governor Rounds find practical solutions to unintended pregnancy in the state of South Dakota. Sent a letter to Governor Rounds outlining the need for sound policy and called on the governor to provide the leadership necessary to reduce the number of unintended pregnancies and the need for abortion in South Dakota. 4-22-08
• Sponsored 2006 radio ads opposing Measure 6 that would have outlawed all access to abortion without exception in South Dakota. To hear the 2006 SDDIA radio spots, click one of the links below.
              Stan Adelstein
              Jack Billion
              Dr. Marvin Buehner
              Legislator Guide
              Voices of Faith
              Women's Voices
  
  Attended committee hearings in Pierre on emergency contraception in the emergency room Testified at the Governors task force on abortion Wrote a women’s response to the Abortion Task Force findings.

Protection of Civil Liberties

• Talked to our legislators about our concerns with the Patriot Act Organized a demonstration opposing the nuclear option Addressed the city council concerning the Patriot Act and asked them to pass a resolution supporting the Constitution and the Bill of Rights Met with the Editorial Board of the RC Journal

Milestone Celebrations

Organized Women’s Equality Day with Zonta and AAUW to celebrate women suffrage. We celebrate women's Equality Day every year!

Reached beyond our boundaries