Hi there! Welcome to Easy A–Your go-to source for quick and easy actions you can take in five minutes or less about the issues you care about.
Are you a busy mom? Or maybe your work is so hectic you can’t think about anything else during the day? A lot of us are also taking care of parents or other loved ones too, leaving little time for anything else.
The good news is that these are things you can do while you’re waiting in the school pick up line, on your lunch break, or even at your kid’s soccer practice – anywhere you happen to be! And you can easily share Easy A with your friends so they can be in the know, too! We’ll send you a new action to take every week–just one, we promise –and it will always be something you can do in five minutes or less. Ready to get started? Let’s go!
Read This: Dear 2026
The end of 2025 is in sight, and for a lot of us, that is cause for celebration!
The year started with the inauguration of the Trump administration, and from day one, they took actions that harmed average Americans. From dismantling the Department of Education, to enacting tariffs that raised the prices of our everyday goods, to shutting down diversity and inclusion efforts everywhere, to snatching our neighbors right out of their homes and workplaces – they made much of 2025 a total dumpster fire.
So maybe you’re celebrating the END of this painful year, but believe it or not, there are also some good things that happened. We want to celebrate those, too.
It would’ve been easy to give up in January and just try to get by, but we refused. Instead, we started the year with our historian friends Heather Cox Richardson and Timothy Snyder who inspired us to not give in to extremism, and to go local to protect democracy instead. In doing so, we accomplished some pretty amazing things:
- Our membership grew by over 190,000 people!
- TroubleNation exploded to more than 800 local groups!
- We launched our new RWB App and more than 29,000 of you are already using it!
- We celebrated incredible election wins in November that set the stage for an even better 2026.
So if we take away one main lesson from 2025, it’s that if we stick together, hold onto hope and joy, and keep going, we can do great things!
Now we’re kicking off our most fun and forward-looking year-end celebration ever, and for the next few weeks, we want you to join us!
We’re not just saying “good riddance” to a year filled with mostly crappy things, we’re celebrating how we turned it around and have lots to look forward to in 2026.
A new year offers us endless possibilities. We’re taking this time to reflect and plan, and that’s where our Dear 2026 campaign comes in. We’re writing letters to our future selves, celebrating the work of intrepid women with our first ever Troubbies awards, and donating to support more women’s democracy-saving work next year.
But to kick things off, we’re starting with a little fun. We designed this special deck of tarot cards to give you some insight into what your 2026 with Red Wine & Blue holds. Give the deck a shuffle, pull the card you’re most drawn to, and see what special message you receive for 2026.
Then, if you have a little extra time, head on over to our Dear 2026 campaign page to learn about the rest of our year-end celebrations and our intentions for an amazing year ahead. And feel free to share with friends!
*Note, this is all for fun and entertainment! We aren’t tarot experts and we can’t predict the future, but we know one thing’s for sure – we’ll keep fighting extremism in 2026 and we want you with us!
Watch This: Maternal Mortality Rates in the U.S.
Last week we learned about the horrifically-high maternal mortality rate in the U.S., and how women of color are most affected. Recently our own Jasmine Clark, co-host of The Suburban Women Problem podcast and a Georgia State Representative with a PhD in Microbiology, spoke on the floor of the Georgia State House about maternal mortality rates. The Speaker of the House cut her off and denied her the full 2 minutes to speak.
We find it particularly offensive for a Black woman to be silenced when she is speaking about this crisis in maternal healthcare, and we aren’t going to be quiet about this issue.
Watch Jasmine’s speech below, and stay tuned next week for an opportunity to raise your voice about the maternal mortality crisis!
Read This: Maternal Mortality Rates in the U.S.
Did you know that the U.S. is the only developed country in the world with a high maternal mortality rate? “Maternal mortality” refers to when women die during pregnancy, childbirth, or shortly after the end of their pregnancy due to complications. In 2021, we were ranked 55th in the world for maternal mortality, despite having an advanced healthcare system. Other developed nations rank much higher, like the Netherlands, Spain, Germany and Australia, and most of Europe.
If that’s not bad enough, our maternal mortality rate has actually been increasing in recent years! We are moving in the wrong direction and more women are dying.
In 2021 the maternal mortality rate in the U.S. was 32.9 deaths per 100,000 live births. To put that into perspective, 1,205 women died from maternal causes. That’s a 40% increase in just one year! Those women were our sisters, our daughters, our partners, and our friends.
And women of color are much more likely to die from pregnancy or childbirth than white women. In 2021, Native American women’s maternal mortality rate was 4.5 times that of white women, and Black women’s rate was 2.6 times the rate of white women.
Although not all states track maternal mortality rates, we do know that certain regions, like the south, have higher maternal mortality. And states with stricter abortion laws often have the highest maternal mortality rates. With abortion restrictions increasing throughout the United States, and the resulting deserts of maternal healthcare, experts fear the maternal mortality rate will continue to increase in the U.S.
That means more women will die — people we know and love, possibly even ourselves — due to complications with pregnancy, childbirth or the immediate postpartum period, and that’s unacceptable.
The big question is, what can we do about it? You just took the first step by reading about the problem. Stay tuned for more info and how to take action. Thanks for completing your Easy A action for this week.
Take It One Step Further: Subscribe to the Suburban Women Problem on Substack
As you know, many of our weekly Easy A actions, like the latest series on the problem with school vouchers, have been informed by our awesome podcasts, The Cost of Extremism and The Suburban Women Problem. You know those “Listen to This” clips we share with you? Those come from our pods! If you’ve enjoyed learning from their in-depth coverage of important topics — even if you don’t have a chance to listen — then we have some exciting news for you!
The Suburban Women Problem is now on Substack! Each week, they’ll be sharing stories, updates, and key information about their podcast topic, and you can get those posts delivered directly to your email inbox! What a great way to do a deeper dive into topics you’re wanting to learn more about.
Check out The Suburban Women Problem on Substack here: substack.redwine.blue and subscribe to get the posts right in your inbox!
Do This: Sign the Petition to Stop School Vouchers
Ok, now that you know more about the harm that school vouchers can do to a public school system, you’re probably wondering what you can do to help — We’ve got you.
We are committed to protecting public schools so that all children can learn and thrive, and we know you are 100% with us on that. Let’s take the next step together: sign our petition to protect public education for all kids.
Thanks for taking action this week!
Watch This: The Problem with School Vouchers
Now that you’ve read about school vouchers, let’s dig a little deeper. Watch this video with education journalist Jennifer Berkshire where she shares how school vouchers are not a new idea. These programs have been around for awhile, but get renamed and rebranded by those who advocate for them because they know they are unpopular. Voters have historically rejected vouchers because they don’t want taxpayer dollars going to private religious schools, and because they see how school choice programs don’t benefit most students. We support public education as an institution that benefits all of us.
To hear more of our discussion about school vouchers, check out the full podcast here, or stream anywhere you get your podcasts.
Read This: The Problem with School Vouchers
School vouchers sound fairly innocent, don’t they? But did you know that school vouchers take taxpayer funds away from public schools and direct it to religious and private institutions that are not held to the same standards of education, equity and opportunity?
Proponents of school vouchers like to call this “school choice” — implying that vouchers are giving parents more options in their children’s education. But in reality, the actual choice is with the schools. Private institutions — even if they’re receiving public funds through voucher programs — are not required to admit students and can deny entrance to anyone. This means students with learning disabilities, students of color and students from lower socio-economic backgrounds often get left behind. All while these funds are diverted from public schools, making it harder for them to serve everyone.
So if school vouchers don’t give all students more choice in education, what’s the point? The real reason behind school voucher programs is to defund public education. It’s one step in a plan to eventually privatize education in the United States. We can’t let that happen. All students deserve access to well-funded public schools that provide equitable opportunities to learn and succeed.
Do This: It’s Survey Time. We Want to Hear From You!
Happy New Year! ? Red Wine & Blue is committed to listening to the people who make up our sisterhood – people like you! That’s why we want to hear from you.
We want to make sure we never lose sight of what our women care about – because that tells us what Red Wine & Blue can and should do. That means finding out from you whether you are finding the work we are doing – and the way we do it – valuable.
With that mission in mind, we are hoping that you’ll take a few minutes out of your day to complete our 2023 Red Wine & Blue Survey!
Take It One Step Further: Look Back on 2023, Look Ahead to 2024
There’s just a few days left of 2023 and we want to celebrate with you! Not gonna lie, it was a busy year. We accomplished SO MUCH and we did it together, as a community of badass superheroes. Check out our 2023 Year in Review now:
We are so proud of our wins – You should be proud too! – And looking ahead, we know that 2024 is going to be an even bigger year. And we could really use your help.
There are so many different ways to get involved with RWB and making a year-end donation is one of them. It’s an easy way to invest in the future of our fight against extremism. If you make a donation this week, your gift will be doubled thanks to a generous matching gift donor! That means $10 becomes $20, $25 becomes $50! If you’re a first time donor, your gift will even be tripled!
Are you ready to take the next step and help us continue our fight against extremism in 2024? Click here to make a donation and become a Red Wine & Blue superhero!
Oh, and one more thing: Happy New Year! ?
Do This: Become a Troublemaker!
Wow, what a year! We accomplished a ton in 2023. Thank you for being a part of our community – We couldn’t have done it without you.
Here are some other amazing things that happened this year: 
- Over 20,000 people attended Red Wine & Blue events.
- 110 members of our community ran for office.
- RWB members in Ohio collected 57,000 signatures to help put Reproductive Freedom on the ballot. And then they passed the ballot measure enshrining repro rights in their state constitution!
- TroubleNation (our national distributed organizing program) started in the fall and already has 112 grassroots groups in 37 states, with 38,000 mostly female members!
- Across multiple states we stopped extremists from winning seats on school boards.
- Over 14,000 people attended an RWB training in 2023. Were you one of them? If not, now’s your chance!
Are you ready to level up in 2024? How about making it one of your New Year’s resolutions to cause a little good trouble next year? We can help you get started with one of our upcoming Troublemaker Trainings. These trainings are super easy to fit into your schedule – They are entirely online, so you can do them from anywhere, and they’re only about one hour long. You’ll learn how to be a Troublemaker and meet like-minded women. You might even make a new friend! So are you ready to take the next step? Sign up now for a Troublemaker Training this January!
Watch This: We’ve Got a Theme Song!
One of the amazing things about the Red Wine & Blue community is all the unbelievably talented women it includes. We’ve got actors and singers, writers and artists, teachers and organizers. And we love seeing the creativity that our members bring to their activism.
In fact, one of our members, Mariama Whyte, even wrote a song for us! It’s called “We Came to Make a Change,” and it’s guaranteed to get you feeling fired up. Check it out now. And sorry, not sorry for getting this ear worm stuck in your head!
We’re gearing up to make some major change in 2024 with the support of everyday superheroes like you. Together, we will protect reproductive freedom, push back on book bans, defeat extremism in our communities, and stand up for democratic values. Click here to supercharge our work in 2024. Thanks so much for your support!