WELCOME CHANGES IN
SJF eNEWSLETTER
SJF is planning big changes for its bi-monthly
eNewsletter. We are hoping to make it
livelier, more informative and interactive.
We want the newsletter to become a space where people can share ideas
and inspire each other.
We invite
recommendations for films; books; articles; links to resources about local issues; social
justice philosophy, research and practice; calendar notes about events (our next issue will
cover January and February events); invitations to support each other; volunteer opportunities
Raise your voice.
Share ideas. Let the conversation
begin!
Email your thoughts and recommendations to editor Karen
McAuley at nycakaren@yahoo.com And thanks!
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Calendar
Come to a Gathering of Like-Minded Friends to learn more about the Social Justice Fund
November 15 - VTA
Hosted by Doug Halter, Randy Encinas, Doug Green & Brian Kiesow
RSVP via email
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Don't miss . . .
SJFVC's Annual Grantee Reception & Celebration
Thurs, November 5 5:30-7:30 pm
Unitarian Universalist Church of Ventura
RSVP right away! Email LaToya at VCCF
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You are Invited ...
Join an exciting conversation about social change
and community organizing in Ventura County
convened by SJF
either
Dec. 1st - CSUCI, or Dec. 3rd - CLU
3:00 to 5:00 pm
Space is limited so please RSVP,
noting the location you wish to attend, to Margaret
by 11/27/09.
More information on SJF's website.
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COMMUNITY
ORGANIZERS ON TV
On October 21, Bill Moyers Journal focused on America Bracho, a public
health physician in Santa Ana, CA and her organization Latino Health
Access. They developed both a
community-based program to combat diabetes and succeeded in obtaining land for
a playground and community center so their children could play safely
outside. Watch the video.
Then read about the community organizers in our own backyard: SJF's 2009 Grant Recipients
(click here)
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GRANTEE UPDATE: MICOP
MIXTECO/INDIGENA
COMMUNITY ORGANIZING PROJECT
For the second time the Social Justice Fund for Ventura County gave a
grant to Mixteco/Indigena Community Organizing Project (MICOP). The nearly $10,000 grant, the largest awarded
to a single organization this year, supports the development of women leaders,
helping them to identify issues and implement actions to create long-term for
themselves, their families and the Mixteco community.
MICOP was Sandy
Young's brainchild. A family nurse
practitioner providing family care in South Oxnard in 2001 she noticed an
influx of women from Oaxaca-young, lonely, lost - totally unprepared for life in
the United States. "The women were so
isolated they did not even know people from the same region living in their
apartment building," Young explained. At
the very least, she thought, she could get them together. About 12 women first met in the backroom of
her clinic. They focused on practical
things: how to get birth certificates for their children, how to use public
transportation.
Although Sandy Young
was the one to create the MICOP nonprofit, it has always been
collaboration. One of its primary goals
is the training and mentoring of leaders. Over the last 8 years Mixtec leaders
have gone from planning community meetings to serving on the Board. (continue reading story here)
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FILMS TO SEE
"Capitalism: A Love
Story"
"Moore sees our abusive relationship with capitalism as a
growing plague. His movie, a genuine and
welcome rabble-rouser, lays out the history of how democracy got
corrupted. Moore's enemies label him as a fat, fatuous
irritant, who leans toward the overblown, inflammatory and clownishly
silly. What's with those crazy stunts
like making a citizen's arrest on the board of AIG or hanging yellow
crime-scene tape around the banks? To
get out attention, that's what. Moore is
a populist, not an academic. He knows
how to wield a camera like a blunt instrument.
He also knows how to put a human face on statistics as we watch banks
foreclose on the homes of families who never read the fine print. Moore's fireball of a movie could change your
life." -- Peter Travers in Rolling Stone. Watch the trailer.
"American Casino"
directed by Leslie Cockburn, begins on Wall Street and moves to Main Street,
exposing the arrogance and greed of lenders who deliberately sold extremely
profitable subprime mortgages to people in minority neighborhoods. According to The New Yorker's David Denby,
"The highlight of the film is a long interview with a former banker at Bear
Stearns who explains with great precision how collateralized debt obligations
work, a piece of chicanery so preposterous that one doesn't know whether to
weep or set off a bomb on Wall Street."
Watch the trailer.
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POVERTY. NOW
-
Number of states who cut their welfare rolls last
year: 18
- Poverty line for a single adult in the U.S. under
the age of 65: $29.58 a day
- The Census Bureau reports the current number of
Americans living below the poverty line: 39.8 million
- Expected growth of that number if economic
conditions persist: up to 46.8 million
- Percentage change of adults presenting themselves
at homeless shelters in New York from late 2007 to late 2008: +40%
- Percent of housing units sitting vacant in the
U.S. during the last quarter of 2008 according to the Census Bureau: 15% (19
million homes)
For more information ...
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| *SJF'S Endowment:
Good news! ... and a challenge
Congratulations
to us! We are half-way to meeting our $300,000 endowment goal, having
raised almost $160,000 to date. That means we have 14 months (until 12/2010) to raise
the remaining $140,000.
We can do it if we each do our part.
Tell friends, colleagues, family members about SJF;
Invite them to an event;
Set up your own appeal page on givezooks (ask me how - tk);
Set up a challenge match;
Encourage
a group (book club, church group, service organization) to join forces
- donate $500 & send one representative to the Giving Circle;
Join Just! Desserts, our monthly giving club.
*Read article in VC Star
For all you have done, Thank You. For all you will do, Thank You.
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"CREATING CHANGE NOT CHARITY"
Become part of the change and join the Social Justice Fund today!
For more information contact SJF's Administrative Director, Tricia Keen socialjusticefund@vccf.org |
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