“We’re gonna rise up, rise up ‘til it’s won”
2023
Free DART K-12 Victory!
After over a year of campaigning and petitioning the DART Board, we finally won free transportation for students K-12!
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GAFs Gotta Go / GAF Vete Ya!
Local Campaign
We are allies in Singleton United/Unidos’s campaign to shutdown the General Aniline & Film (GAF) plant in West Dallas. We have volunteered, marched, canvassed, provided personnel, and seated people at townhall meetings for the campaign.
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Listening Canvasses
Chapter Deveopment
To kick things off, our Chapter Development team is hosting Listening Canvasses- where we go door to door in our community to ask people what issues matter most to them. We will then use this info to help us form our next local Green New Deal campaign!
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Events at Movement House
Venue Space
We have had a blast hosting so many different environmental and social justice groups at our house for their events and meetings! Groups including Dallas Social Queer Org (DSQO), Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), Yes in My Backyard (YIMBY), Emma Goldman Book Club, Greenspace Dallas, and more.
2022
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Free DART For Students
Local Campaign
#FreeDARTForStudents is a team advocating for free public transit for K-12 students in the City of Dallas. We launched this campaign in July 2022, and have since spoken to over 150 DART riders, received over 1,000 signatures on our petition, and have organized for dozens of community members to speak at DART Board meetings. We are in the final stages of this campaign as City Council and the DART Board are considering funding Free DART For Students!
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Movement House Development
Educational + Social Programming
The Movement House is used as a shared living space and community center. Residents in the house have created a native plant food garden for the neighborhood to learn from and enjoy. The Movement House team has put on a wide range of events and workshops such as clothing swaps, music jam sessions, documentary nights, reading club, outdoor game day, and more! We also open up the space for other groups to use for their own events - free of charge.
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Guest Speaking
Presentations for the Community
We have created several presentations about the Green New Deal, Taking Direct Action, and Local Organizing that we offer to schools, churches, and any other group looking to learn more about climate activism. Interested in having us present or host a workshop at your school, church, or organization? Feel free to reach out! We would love to connect. Email us at sunrise.movement.dallas@gmail.com.
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Words & Vibes
Transformative Justice
Hosted a bi-weekly virtual conversation space called “Words and Vibes,” in which we discussed a broad range of topics regarding transformative justice like reproductive rights, the conflict in Palestine, to the meaning of love.
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Hosted the Movement Gathering
Sunrise Movement held a national gathering right here in Dallas! Folks from all over the country came to Dallas to collaborate on the implementation of Sunrise 2.0 - our Movement’s next 3-5 year plan. The weekend included trainings, workshops, peer-to-peer discussions, and relationship building.
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GA Runoff Phonebank
When a key position in Congress opened up, we hopped on board to help in the runoff race between Hershel Walker (R) and Raphael Warnock (D) by hosting our own phone bank to mobilize voters. We are happy to report that Raphael is now a proud Senator of Georgia!
2021
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Founded the Movement House
Base Building
Five fellow organizers and artists moved in together in October ‘21 to establish a community space for all organizers in Dallas! Located in NE Dallas, the Movement House is derived from a spirit of sharing- sharing space, resources, knowledge, time, solidarity, and love. We hope this space will continue to grow into a thriving pillar of the Dallas community!
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Hunger Strike in D.C.
→ Biden + Build Back Better Act
When Biden failed to deliver on the climate action he promised to us, five Sunrisers went on a hunger strike outside of the White House for 15 days- including two Sunrise Dallas members. Watch this clip from NowThis News to see the national coverage of this strike.
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Gulf South March
→ CCC in BBB
When Congress introduced the Civilian Climate Corps as part of Biden’s Build Back Better Plan, we knew we had to go all out! So in the summer of ‘21, the Sunrise Houston, Austin, New Orleans, and Dallas hubs came together to embark on the “Gulf South March”. Together, we walked a total of 400 miles from New Orleans to Houston, meeting and learning from incredible organizers and community leaders along the way. We ended our march with an action on Ted Cruz’s lawn, demanding that Biden keep his word and deliver on his climate mandate.
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Good Jobs For All
National Campaign
An essential component of the Green New Deal is a “Federal Jobs Guarantee”, which would protect people from the risk of unemployment and establish a labor force to do the critical work of building green infrastructure and caring for one another. As part of this campaign, we called for Congressman Marc Veasey to sign our Good Jobs For All pledge! Check out this video to learn more about it.
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DFW For All
Policy Platform
Sunrise Dallas joined DFW For All - a coalition of progressive organizations in North Texas that joined together during the 2021 municipal elections based on our shared values to fight for representation and accountability within our local governments.
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Dallas City Council Endorsements
→ Dallas City Council Endorsements
We endorsed the candidates Adam, Gio, Hosanna, Jesse, and Omar. Through our phonebanks, text banks, block walks, letter writing and more, we were able to get Adam, Omar, and Jesse elected!
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TX Winter Freeze
Mutual Aid + Comstock Action
When Winter Storm Uri hit Texas and thousands of our friends and neighbors were without power, food, or water, we raised over $54,000 and partnered with local mutual aid groups to help residents in need.
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Exxon Action
Direct Action
As Sunrise was pushing for a Civilian Climate Corps (CCC) to be passed in Congress- a jobs program that would create thousands of union jobs to create infrastructure resilient to our changing climate- we knew that companies like Exxon were standing in our way. We showed up to their headquarters to demand that they stop putting profits over lives, and for Congress to fight for us- not rich Fossil Fuel executives.
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Colin Allred Action
Direct Action
2020
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#CountEveryVote
Electoral Work
In order to make sure the 2020 Presidential Election remained accurate and fair, we joined a coalition of local activist groups and put together two “Count Every Vote” events. This coalition was our introduction to incredible allies like Texas Organizing Project, Working Families Party, Indivisible, Dallas Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (DAARPR), Texas Rising, TX Poor People’s Campaign, and more.
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Community Support
Working with the Community
Shoutout to groups like Oak Cliff Veggie Project, Harvest Project, Keep Dallas Beautiful, La Canastita, and more who created such awesome opportunities for our hub members to volunteer! From rescuing and distributing healthy produce, to building compost piles and gardens, to cleaning up White Rock lake, to helping get folks registered to vote- we were able to serve the community in so many meaningful ways because of these local organizations.
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Solidarity
Black Lives Matter
When the Movement For Black Lives mobilized this summer, Sunrise made it a priority to stand in solidarity. The summer of 2020 was an opportunity for our hub to learn how to be good allies by showing up for protests and demonstrations, making banners, supporting groups like Our City Our Future who reimagined what public safety could look like by putting together a “People’s Budget”, and continuing to have conversations about Justice, Equity, and Anti-Oppression within the hub.
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Delegates to the DNC
Electoral Work
We sent 6 of our members as National Delegates to the Democratic National Convention, where we were able to vote in favor of progressive policies. Progressives were even able to get things like Medicare For All and the Green New Deal onto the Texas Democratic Platform
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Supporting TX House Candidates
Electoral Work
Throughout the 2020 election cycle we threw down for a green new deal. We met with local candidates and got them to sign on to the Green Texas Act (a Texas version of the Green New Deal) and the No Fossil Fuel Money Pledge before endorsing their races. We hosted dozens of events including phone banks, text banks, and lit drops for our endorsed candidates. In the Primary election, both of our endorsed candidates won against their moderate democrat opponents. Following in the General Election, three of our endorsed candidates won a seat in the Texas House of Representatives: Jasmine Crockett, Ana Maria Ramos, and Terry Meza!
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CECAP
Policy Platform
At the beginning of 2020, Dallas unveiled its Comprehensive Environmental Climate Action Plan, or CECAP- which was an important step in the right direction! However, the plan falls woefully short of the Paris Climate Agreement emissions reductions targets, and leaves out key racial, social, and economic justice initiatives. In response, Sunrise Dallas joined in a coalition with other environmental and social justice groups like Texas Campaign for the Environment, DSA, and several labor unions. Together, we organized several large demonstrations, set up one-on-one meetings with lawmakers, and helped write 100 pages of policy proposals called the Dallas People’s Climate Action Plan. Due to our efforts, the City of Dallas established an Environmental Commission to allow residents to have a say in how CECAP is implemented!
2019
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Sunrise Arrives to Dallas!
Official Launch
December 2019, we officially launched the Dallas hub for Sunrise. We gathered as a community at the Wild Detectives to collectively envision what a Green New Deal could look like for Dallas, accompanied by some local musicians and a vegan corn dog truck!