Calling All #ChangeMakers!

Hello attendees, and I-tried-to-attendees, of Hands Off: Ending Sexual Assault in Texas,

What. A. Night.



To recap:

• We learned about the landscape of sexual assault in Texas from TAASA to better understand the problem we face.
• We learned about legislation addressing the issue to better understand the solutions proposed (and got to meet Representative Joe Moody's Chief of Staff, Senator Kirk Watson, Representative Victoria Neave and Representative Donna Howard in the process!).
• We learned how to frame a story to be effective from Cliff Walker and Jamarr Brown who are fighting some of the toughest fights of our day in Texas. Easy doesn't make for a good story, after all.
• Lastly, but most importantly, we practiced delivering testimony in preparation to move 9 draft bills that would improve many lives across our state. And got direct feedback from one of the most effective state legislators of all time, our founder Wendy Davis.

We were all floored by the depth of the stories you had to tell and your courage and confidence in sharing them. It was one of those moments where the students teach the teacher a lesson or two.

To summarize: it was a pretty special evening, and we're so appreciative of all of you who showed up to share it with us. For those who missed it, or want a refresher, here's the presentation we ran through at the training.



So what's next?

We need y'all to take these skills and bring them in full force to office visits, committee hearings and more over these next few weeks to get these bills passed.

We'll be keeping you informed here, and ask that you forward these emails to anyone in your network that might also be able to flood the Capitol with calls, letters or visits to push for change.

And we've got our first call-to-action fast-approaching on Monday, 3/13:

• Who? The Criminal Jurisprudence Committee is holding a hearing on Representative Neave's bill.
• What? HB 1729 to Fund Rape Kit Testing.
• When? 2:00pm on Monday, 3/13.
• Where? Texas State Capitol, room E2.014.
• Why? Check the bottom of page 8 on the handout from our training.
• How? By sharing your story. Your voices are the ones that matter in convincing the committee that this bill is worthwhile, so we hope you'll bravely share that 3-minute testimony as you did with us last night.

We'll be in touch with more updates, but Monday is the start of something big - so don't miss this first step!

Much love,

Alicia, Wendy and the Deeds Not Words team

P.S. Interested in plugging into other social change initiatives? Be sure to subscribe to our once-weekly newsletter!