Activism
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Growing Poverty, Homelessness Like No Tomorrow
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Flint: Back to the Land
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Free Anti-Poverty Organizing Materials
Bing Wins Full Term to Lead Detroit
Published November 04, 2009 @ 04:58AM PT
Lots of Mayoral races last night, with specific marching orders to revitalize and continuously improve our cities. I'll be back later today with some thoughts on their different charges, but here's a quick round-up:
David Bing is elected for a full-term in Detroit.
Wunderkind Luke Ravenstahl is re-elected in Pittsburgh.
Bloomberg wins by less than anticipated in NYC for his self-appointed third term (basically).
Menino wins easily, but also by a smaller margin than usual, in Boston. He's now the city's longest serving Mayor, beginning his 6th term today.
Lawrence, MA elects its first Latino Mayor, William Lantigua - the first in MA.
In Atlanta and Houston, no decisions yet.
Any key elections in your neck of the woods?
And Maine voters, WTH????
Help Protect Housing Vouchers
Published October 16, 2009 @ 05:05AM PT
This country needs therapy. We've gotten to the point, collectively, when common sense fails us. The breaking point? I'd point to the current mindset that it's OK to cut funding for what little housing we have for limited-income families.
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) reports that funding shortfalls for the 2009 Housing Choice Voucher Program could cause state and local housing agencies to terminate vouchers or raise rents to levels beyond the financial reach of many families.
This is why I'm in Massachusetts today, to join with activists calling for continued funding of the Housing Choice vouchers, one of the few resources to keep families housed instead of homeless. And we need your support!
How Environmental Justice Works
Published October 15, 2009 @ 09:03AM PT
Through MIT, I've had the opportunity to provide research and writing for a range of social justice clients, including grassroots groups fighting for environmental justice and green economic development. I've written occasionally about EJ here, but I've never really taken the time to define it. Embracing this frame is imperative as stimulus funds flow and talk of "green jobs" and "green development" abound.
Today, in honor of Blog Action Day 2009, in which Change.org hosts over 8k blogs from 135 countries worldwide to blog about Climate Change to raise awareness of this pressing global problem, I want to provide some important information on environmental justice, racism and equity to inform your climate change activism. To be effective climate change activists, we cannot forget the unequal and unfair impacts borne by low-income communities, often communities of color, often in the US South, on reservations and borderlands, from environmental degradation. Read on to learn more about these critical frames and see how one group in San Diego, the Environmental Health Coalition, is succeeding in pursuing environmental equity for low-income Latin@ communities there.
Dirty Bathrooms
Published October 13, 2009 @ 02:44PM PT
I think that when people forget why it's so important to support workers' rights, they should think about what the bathrooms in their offices/schools/etc. look like on a Tuesday after a Monday holiday, and what kind of conditions we'd face if workers were on strike or constantly turning over or not showing up to do the good work we never think about on a day-in, day-out basis.
This message brought to you from MIT, at the end of the day, Tuesday, October 13, the day after the federal Columbus Day holiday.
Nominate a Changemaker Today!
Published October 04, 2009 @ 01:01PM PT
Change.org has launched a new competition, Changemakers, "to identify the leading activists, elected officials, authors, bloggers, actors and thought leaders who have the greatest capacity to spark change on issues of importance."
Changemakers will be invited to write on one of the many social change issues we cover here at Change.org to mobilize the countless readers and activists we have here to take action. You can vote on those you'd like to see here at Change.org, and also nominate your own.
I voted for: Ben Jealous, Cleve Jones, Cory Booker, Gloria White Hammond, Jim Wallis, John Lewis, Majora Carter (above photo), Sister Helen Prejean, and Zainab Salbi.
I nominated Geoffrey Canada of Harlem Children's Zone, Cheri Honkala of the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign and the Kensington Welfare Rights Union, and Bertha Lewis of ACORN.
I also think I will nominate Angela Glover Blackwell of PolicyLink and James Perry of the Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Center and a leading candidate for Mayor of New Orleans.
Vote Today and Nominate your Favorite Anti-Poverty Activists and Leaders!
Photo of Dr. Majora Carter, MacArthur Genius and Founder of Sustainable South Bronx, by mospeaks
Boston Hyatt-Worker Dispute Continues
Published October 02, 2009 @ 11:07AM PT
Last week we joined and covered the boycott initiated by MA Governor Deval Patrick against Hyatt Hotels, for what he saw as the "unceremonious" termination of housekeeping staff and their replacement with "outsourced" low-wage workers from a temporary staffing agency based in Georgia. In part through Change.org member activism, Hyatt offered the laid off workers new jobs at their higher wages with benefits into 2010. In a bold, and I think very cool, move, the majority of the workers rejected the offer, demanding their old jobs back. With the help of UNITE HERE, which has also joined the boycott, the workers are generating publicity and protesting Hyatt's actions - the case offers a great window into why it's so important to support service worker unionization.
Media Layoffs Hurt the Poor
Published October 02, 2009 @ 05:03AM PT
Yesterday, within the span of an hour, I spoke with 4 persons connected to 3 different media--2 newspapers, 1 TV news--who fear, or have experienced, job loss. These are people who think it important that poverty and homelessness, and other social issues, get coverage. They will likely feel the pain of job loss on the other side of the camera. And, I fear, people in poverty will suffer even more as this trend continues nationwide. Good journalists, already hard to find, are disappearing like snowflakes in summer.
Since the financial meltdown began a year ago, journalism jobs have gone away at almost three times the rate jobs have disappeared in the general economy, according to a report by Unity: Journalists of Color. (Editor & Publisher)
