Author: Bud

Our June General Body Meeting will be held Sunday, June 1st at 2:00PM in the Daniel Boone Regional Library Friend’s Room.

• RSVP
• Meeting Agenda
• Meeting Guide
• Virtual Meeting Link

COLUMBIA, MO – The St. Louis, Kansas City, and Mid-Missouri chapters of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) have reached their fundraising goal in their campaign to erase millions of dollars in medical debt for working people across the Midwest. For each dollar raised in this campaign, the Missouri DSA Chapters will be able to erase over $100 dollars of medical debt through their partnership with Undue Medical Debt. Undue Medical Debt has estimated that the Missouri DSA chapters campaign will allow forgiveness of over $3.5 million of medical debt in Kansas and Missouri.

Thank you to everyone across our communities who contributed to this fundraising effort. Special thank you to DSA Salina, who contributed early in our campaign. Your contributions will help to alleviate the crushing medical debt impacting so many.

Medical debt is a crisis affecting millions, forcing families to choose between paying medical bills or covering basic needs like rent and groceries. Across the country, more than 20 million people are burdened with $220 billion in medical debt, with Missouri families among the hardest hit. The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) has long been at the forefront of the fight to replace this barbaric system with Medicare for All so that every person has access to the care they need regardless of what’s in their wallets.

If you would like to be part of our work to build an economy, a society, and a medical care system that works for all of us, not just the moneyed few, join DSA, and be a part of our fight.

Our March General Body Meeting will be held Tuesday, March 11 at 6:30 PM in the Daniel Boone Regional Library, Conference Room B.

• RSVP to March Meeting
• March 2025 General Meeting Agenda
• Meeting Guide
• Virtual Meeting Link

In one month, the City of Columbia will cast their votes for our next mayor. The ballot contains three choices: one that represents the status quo, along with two right-wing challengers. As an organization, we wholeheartedly denounce these two “alternative” candidates. Tanya Heath believes we can tackle homelessness by promoting better gut health and handing out IDs. Blair Murphy racks up tens of thousands in campaign contributions from his wealthy friends while calling for “law and order” and proclaiming he is too afraid to go downtown. We agree with the implicit message of the endorsement offered by our friends in LiUNA Local 955 that neither of these candidates would make life better for working families in Columbia. And we believe both of these candidates present a distinct threat to the LGBTQ+ safe haven ordinance that we worked so hard to pass.

Although we reject the alternatives presented on this year’s ballot, we must be clear that the status quo is unacceptable. The status quo is city workers, from trash collectors to bus drivers, being underpaid and under-resourced while police budgets continue to bloat without producing any greater public safety. The status quo is a Boone County Jail “facing significant overcrowding,” mostly from individuals who have not been convicted of a crime but simply cannot afford to pay their bail. The status quo is offering our unhoused neighbors more police instead of adequate housing and allowing rents to keep rising so corporate landlords can continue to pad their pockets at the expense of working people. The status quo is an underfunded public transit system that leaves too many of us without adequate means of getting where we need to be.

Columbia deserves more than what this year’s ballot has to offer. We deserve a government at every level that works for all of us, not just the wealthy few. And as we think about this race, we also think about the efforts of the New York DSA chapter to support the mayoral campaign of Zohran Mamdani, who is running on a platform of freezing the rent and providing free bussing and childcare to all. We think of the work of Austin DSA to elect Mike Siegel to the Austin City Council on a platform of strong action on climate change, building more affordable housing, and expanding access to mass transportation. We think of the efforts by Seattle DSA to win a ballot initiative for democratically governed social housing. We think of our own work in creating and supporting the Jobs with Justice Neighborhood Pledge, which for years has pushed Boone County electeds to endorse a platform of increasing affordable housing, rebuilding and expanding our public infrastructure, and addressing the structural inequalities in our community.  All of this and more is possible here in Columbia, just as it is everywhere else. We can achieve a better city, state, country, and world if we work together to build it.

COLUMBIA, MO – The St. Louis, Kansas City, and Mid-Missouri chapters of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) have launched a campaign to erase millions of dollars in medical debt for working people across the Midwest—and the community is already stepping up in a big way. In just the first 24 hours, the campaign has raised over $1,600, enough to wipe out more than $160,000 in medical debt for families in need.

Medical debt is a crisis affecting millions, forcing families to choose between paying medical bills or covering basic needs like rent and groceries. Across the country, more than 20 million people are burdened with $220 billion in medical debt, with Missouri families among the hardest hit.

“Healthcare should be a right, not a privilege,” said McKenzie Ortiz, Communications Director of Mid-Missouri DSA. “No one should have to skip the care they need because they can’t afford it. We’re taking action to bring real relief to families in our community.”

Through this campaign, DSA chapters will raise funds to purchase and erase medical debt at a fraction of its cost—on average, a $1 donation eliminates $100 in medical debt. The goal is to erase more than $3.5 million in medical debt for working families in Missouri and beyond.

How to Get Involved
Mid-Missouri DSA will be organizing fundraisers and community outreach events in the coming months.

Anyone who wants to support the effort can:

Donate to the campaign at https://unduemedicaldebt.org/campaign/midwest-socialist-fundinomenon/

Join the effort by emailing midmodsa@gmail.com

This initiative is part of DSA’s broader fight for Medicare for All, ensuring that no one in Missouri—or anywhere—has to go into debt just to get the healthcare they need.