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Metro Organizer May 13, 2009 |
Event I Organizer Roundtable: The Power of a Story Event I Fair Housing Forum Event I Headwaters Foundation for Justice 25th Anniversary Celebration Event I Chalchiutlicue Environmental Justice Summit & Cultural Celebration Training I You Be the Change! Community Engagement Training Program Resource I Maximizing the Return on our Transportation Stimulus Dollars Resource I Job Sprawl: The Changing Geography of Metropolitan Employment Article I Community Members March to Demand Minority Hiring for Stimulus Projects Partnership Opportunity I Sign on to Climate Justice Principles Job Opportunity I Good Jobs First -- Research Analyst, Washington, DC Event I Organizer Roundtable: The Power of a Story Noon-1:30 pm Effective organizers know the power of story. Well-crafted stories share experience, vision and mission. Organizers tell stories purposefully, invitingly and often. Stories are remembered and continue to motivate and give meaning long after the first telling. Please come to this Organizer Roundtable to learn techniques to make storytelling a more effective part of your organizing strategy. Loren Niemi will present. For Loren, storytelling is at the core of forty years of working as a community organizer, public policy advocate and trainer. Loren has rich experience working with neighborhoods and nonprofit groups to articulate their dreams and resolve their conflicts. Organizer Roundtables are free but registration is required. Light snacks will be provided. Please bring your lunch! Event I Fair Housing Forum 2:30 pm 6:00 pm The Fair Housing Implementation Council is undertaking a study to evaluate fair housing throughout the Twin Cities metro area. Federal, state and local fair housing laws prohibit discrimination in housing based on race, family status, disability, sex, public assistance, national origin, color, sexual preference, age, religion, marital status and creed. Please attend one of these two Fair Housing forums to hear preliminary findings of the study; provide your knowledge, opinions, and feelings about fair housing choice; and offer your suggestions on how to eliminate impediments to fair housing. Event I Headwaters Foundation for Justice 25th Anniversary Celebration 5:30-9 pm Twenty-five years ago, a handful of people looked for a new way to address social justice, and Headwaters Foundation for Justice was formed. Today, the foundation has grown to distribute nearly $1,000,000 each year and has provided capacity-building support to more than 1,000 community leaders. The Headwaters Foundation invites its partners, grantees and activists to celebrate twenty-five years of working for social change! The event will start with puppets from In the Heart of the Beast Theatre and will feature music by the Quilombolas, a spoken word performance by Ibe Kaba, a special Fund of the Sacred Circle presentation, and much more! This event is free, but please make your reservation now! Event I Chalchiutlicue Environmental Justice Summit & Cultural Celebration May 29-31 Danza Mexica Cuauhtmoc of Minnesota and the Chalchiutlicue Environmental Project cordially invite you to participate in any and all of their fifth annual environmental justice summit and cultural celebration. This three-day event will include a conference, community celebration and festival honoring the waters of the world. Training I You Be the Change! Community Engagement Training Program Community Action Partnership of Ramsey and Washington Counties is excited to be accepting acpplications for its You Be the Change! Community Engagement Training Program for individuals living at or near the poverty level. This free training is designed to increase low-income leadership in Ramsey and Washington counties. The individuals selected will be expected to commit to approximately 50 hours of participation (including 20 hours of training in leadership and civic engagement skills) over a six-month period. Please note that applicants must be over the age of 18 and be a resident of Ramsey or Washington County. To request an application or to get more information please contact Sina Black at 651-603-5879 or e-mail sblack@caprw.org. The next class starts May 29th! Resource I Maximizing the Return on our Transportation Stimulus Dollars How can we get the most bang for the buck out of the $27 billion in flexible transportation funds from the stimulus package that the federal government is sending to states? Smart Growth America has created a fact sheet with the most up-to-date research on this important question. Some of its recommendations: fix it first, reduce infrastructure costs and make equitable transit investments. Resource I Job Sprawl: The Changing Geography of Metropolitan Employment Since 1998, almost every major American metro area has seen a drop in the share of employment located downtown as jobs have increasingly moved into farther-out suburbs, exacerbating “job sprawl” – a phenomenon that threatens to undermine the long-term prosperity of the nation’s vital economic engines. According to a report released today by the Brookings Institution, the current economic crisis and implementation of the federal stimulus package offer new opportunities to reorient traditional metropolitan job growth patterns in smarter ways. The report underscores that state and regional leaders must coordinate economic development and land-use strategies to promote more robust, inclusive and sustainable future growth. Article I Community Members March to Demand Minority Hiring for Stimulus Projects Louis King Jr. was eating breakfast in downtown Minneapolis late last month and noticed no people of color among workers on a street project. King, president of Summit Academy OIC, walked 20 blocks of the project on Marquette and 2nd avenues. He said one woman and no people of color were among the 74 street construction workers he saw. Partnership Opportunity I Sign on to Climate Justice Principles The environmental justice movement is rooted in the knowledge that pollution’s effects often disproportionately impact the health of people of color, Indigenous Peoples and low-income communities. The effects of climate change are no exception. The Climate Justice Working Group, a partnership of the Women's Environmental Institute and the Environmental Justice Advocates of Minnesota, believes that climate policy must protect and involve our most vulnerable communities.The group is seeking organizations to show solidarity in this position by signing on to its Ten Principles for Just Climate Change Policies in Minnesota. Please contact Karen Monahan, EJAM organizer, at 612-436-5402 or karenejam@yahoo.com for more information or to sign on. Job Opportunity I Good Jobs First -- Research Analyst, Washington, DC Good Jobs First is a nonprofit, non-partisan resource center promoting corporate and government accountability in economic development and smart growth for working families. The organization seeks a research analyst to perform research and writing on economic development subsidies, smart growth and corporate accountability. The job, which will be based in Washington, DC, will also involve work on the federal stimulus bill. To contribute a news item for the next Metro Organizer, please contact Tracy Nordquist Babler at tracy@metrostability.org. Like the Metro Organizer? Donate to the Alliance. Get this from a friend? Subscribe to the Metro Organizer. Alliance for Metropolitan Stability I 2525 Franklin Ave E, Suite 200 I Minneapolis, MN 55406 I 612-332-4471
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