This week’s Community Outreach alert highlights local, intensive efforts to build campaigns and institutions that offer alternatives to the destructive systems that currently prevail in the U.S.
To be effective, these campaigns need resources–both human and financial. Please consider how you might join in solidarity with these varied efforts.
Please donate!
Help fund the Launch of Unchained. Unchained organizes and advocates to dismantle the carceral state and guarantee access to dynamic and culturally-relevant education. We invest in people locked up by police and locked out of schools to build power and chart a path toward liberation by making racial and economic justice a reality.
Support the work of OGs Against Violence. Cliff Ryan has been serving the community, working in conflict resolution, violence prevention, and violence interruption through his OGs Against Violence Program. This fundraiser will allow us to reimburse him for some of the (free) training that he is now offering to the community to broaden the reach of his program and also allow him to offer OG buttons, wristbands, and T-shirts to children and youth who want to be spokespeople for his OGs Against Violence message.
With your help, Friends of Farmworkers will provide temporary housing for immigrant farmworkers, such as injured workers who need a safe, reliable place to stay in their time of need. Please join us in our goal of helping to maintain this essential space. Please help fund Slocum House today.
Contribute to the Syracuse Nan Youth Move Huddle. The NAN National Youth Move Huddle brings together young people on a monthly or bi-weekly basis to discuss solutions to some of their most pressing issues and then put their formulated ideas into action. Youth Move Huddle has been pivotal in creating spaces for young people to organize around issues that directly impact them.
*Volunteers needed*
Have 5 hours per week for at least the month of June? Your help is desperately needed to help in getting a head start on getting an accurate 2020 Census count. Please email Fabiola at fortiz@workerscentercny.org or Marianna at Marianna.kaufman@gmail.com.
Now, on to your calendar…
COMMUNITY OUTREACH EVENT CALENDAR FOR JUNE 5-12
New York Health Act Day of Action in Albany
Tuesday June 5th 9 AM – 3 PM Albany, NY
Please join us in Albany for the annual statewide lobby day to advocate for the New York Health Act – the bill to guarantee healthcare to ALL New Yorkers (like Medicare-for-all for New York State!) The New York Health Act passed the Assembly in 2015, 2016, and 2017 with huge majority support. We need to pass it in the Assembly again this year and keep pushing the Senate to get this to the Governor’s desk to make health care equality a reality for New Yorkers.
Press Conference: Syracuse Residents Demand Jobs on I-81
Tuesday June 5th 12 PM Press Conference State Office Building 301 E Washington St.
We believe that city residents deserve equal opportunity to work on public works projects, especially those that affect their lives. The billion-dollar, publicly-funded I-81 Viaduct Project will significantly impact many struggling Syracuse neighborhoods, particularly those of color. It is only fair that capable and willing city residents from these neighborhoods benefit from the high-paying I-81 jobs coming to their city.
Syracuse Peace Council’s Street Heat
Tuesday June 5th 4:15 PM – 5 PM Hancock Airbase, opposite main gate 6000 E. Molloy
Saturday June 9th 9 AM – 9:45 AM by Regional Market Main Entrance Syracuse
Tuesday June 12th 4:15 – 5 PM south end of Northern Lights Mattydale (opposite 81 off ramp)
The Syracuse area hosts Hancock Air National Guard base where the Guard’s 174th Attack Wing conducts drone assassination and target identification missions using MQ-9 Reaper drone in Afghanistan and probably elsewhere. Syracuse Peace Council’s Street Heat holds a monthly presence outside Hancock Airbase to call for an end to the illegal and immoral killing of human beings by weaponized drones, which are piloted remotely from the base.
Join us! Signs provided or bring your own progressive signs. Contact for questions (315) 478-4571
Call Governor Cuomo on June 6 to Ban the Plastic Bag!
Wednesday Jun 6th 9 AM – 11:59 PM · New York State
On June 6th, call Governor Cuomo and urge him to ban the single-use plastic bag and place a fee on alternative bags by supporting S7760/A9953, the ‘New York State Bring Your Own Bag Act’.
Birddog Election Tactics Training: How to win the world we want
Wednesday June 6th 6 PM – 8 PM · Bishop Harrison Diocesan Center
Please RSVP: https://goo.gl/forms/YQ4hxPueoRFoDjui2 We need at least 15-20 RSVPs to hold this training. Your RSVP will also help determine the amount of food and materials that will be needed.
“Birddogging” is the activist tactic of putting a policy maker on the spot, in public, and hopefully on camera, with inescapable questions that win the room. All that is necessary is to pose a question directly to the person who has the power to give us what we’re asking for. This form of simple, direct advocacy, when applied consistently, is amazingly effective–and yet, astonishingly rare. In 2018’s election year, birddogging is how we will win the policies we need. Let’s get off the internet, and focus our energy on people who actually have the power to give us what we want, in person and in-public, especially when candidates are most accessible and amendable, during election season!
Bi-weekly Meeting/Reunión Quincenal
Wednesday June 6th 6:30 PM – 8:30 PM · 2013 E Genesee St, Syracuse
Bi-weekly meeting of the Syracuse Immigrant and Refugee Defense Network. Anyone interested in joining is welcome. We will be meeting in the common area on the second floor. Wheelchair accessible. Please do not wear any fragrances. Spanish translation can be provided.
Public Information Meeting: Police Body Cams
Wednesday June 6th 7 PM – 8PM Institute of Technology 258 E Adams St, Syracuse
Thursday June 7th 12 PM – 1 PM Onondaga County Public Library 447 S Salina St. Syr
If attending one of the public information meetings hosted through the office of the mayor, please consider the following guidelines thoughtfully compiled by our friends at SPAARC (Syracuse Police Accountability And Reform Coalition)
Best practices for accountability and transparency in the implementation of police body camera programs:
- Cameras should not be turned off and officers should be disciplined for turning them off.
- Officers should not be able to view body camera footage when writing reports about officer-community members encounters.
- Body camera footage should be FOILable and not excessively redacted
- The CRB should have access to unredacted copies of all body camera footage of police officer—community member encounters.
Body camera policies and community recommendations should be posted publicly online.
Did Socialism Fail in Venezuela?
Wednesday June 6th 7 PM – 8:15 PM · 129 Sims Hall (Syracuse University)
Western media blames Venezuela’s crisis on its pursuit of what Chávez called “21st-century Socialism.” But if socialism is workers’ power, then it’s hard to argue Venezuela is actually socialist. So what are the real causes of the crisis? And who should socialists support when the fight is between an increasingly authoritarian “socialist” state and a right-wing, neoliberal opposition?
Join the Syracuse ISO for a discussion of the crisis in Venezuela, competing views of contemporary “socialist” states, and what it means to say that the emancipation of the working classes must be conquered by the working classes themselves.
39th Annual Freedom Fund Awards Dinner
Thursday June 7th 5 PM – 9 PM · Holiday Inn Syracuse-Liverpool-Exit 37 (Liverpool, NY)
SYRACUSE NAACP FREEDOM FUND AWARD DINNER
Freedom, Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow
Our honored guests include; Emcees for the evening, Bea Gonzalez, VP for Community Engagement at Syracuse University and Sharon Owens, Deputy Mayor for the City of Syracuse; our keynote speaker for the evening, NYS Comptroller, Thomas P. DiNapoli;and, back by popular demand, serving as our Honorary Freedom Fund Award Dinner Chairs, are Floyd and Deborah Little. We also have a wonderful line-up of award recipients this year, who are very deserving of this recognition. The reception will begin at 5:00 P.M. & the dinner and program will begin at 6:00 p.m.
Thursday June 7th 5:30 pm – 7:30 PM Syracuse City Hall Common Council Chambers
Choose Your School: Chalk Your Love
Friday June 8th 12 PM – 3 PM · The sidewalks outside your local school
The school year is winding down and temperatures are heating up. Grab some sidewalk chalk and write some messages of love and affirmation for our youth to read as they head home for the weekend
Friday June 8th 8 PM – 12 AM · SKY Armory
Our friends at Sky Armory are putting on the party of the century. Featuring Cocktails, Hors D’oeuvres, Dancing and Drag Performances. Includes Barefoot Sparkling Wine Greet, and Cash Bar. Be sure and share this event and let’s show our friends our Pride!
Be The Change – Day of Music and Mission
Saturday June 9th 8 AM – 9 PM · 1085 East Genesee Street, Syracuse
What is Be The Change?
Be the Change is a weekend of music and mission located in Syracuse, NY. Our mission is to unify in music and mobilize in mission to see a culture change in our city.
We have 10 different missions projects set up with local non-profits within Syracuse as we seek to unify and mobilize.
Last year we had 10 mission projects with 200 volunteers mobilized and this year we want to go deeper!
Missions:
https://beautifulmessministries.com/bethechange/
Music:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/be-the-change-concert-tickets-45907796455
New Member Orientation/Rapid Response Training
Saturday June 9th 9 AM – 11 AM · Park Central Presbyterian Church
New member orientation and Rapid Response Team training, current members who have not attended a training are encouraged to attend. We will be covering some know your rights material.
Collective Housing Teach-in Series by TNT Southside
Saturday June 9th 12 PM – 4 PM Beauchamp Branch library auditorium 2111 S Salina St
Learn about the full range of housing choices. Between owning a single-family house to renting. Cooperative housing, condos, Land trust, and shared housing offer other models that build community and offer more than just a place to live.
Consider the full range of housing choices before you decide where to hang your hat. Compare and contrast, learn about financing, home inspection, and legal issues and choosing where to live.
Introduction to Collective Housing: Comparing models of Home Ownership
June 9, 2018, Auditorium, 12pm-4pm
Financing Home Ownership
August 11, 2018, Auditorium, 12pm-4pm
Decision making
October 13, 2018, Auditorium, 12pm-4pm
Cost: Free
Lunch will be provided free of charge!
Children welcome!
Co-Sponsored by Legal Services of CNY
Eñwatshisi•yok* A Friendship Concert
Saturday June 9th 7 PM – 10 PM Onondaga Nation School Nedrow, NY
Join us as we gather to polish the silver chain of friendship between our peoples and honor the Two Row Wampum Treaty. Evening of celebration! 7:00pm Concert
Works by Native Artists and Craftspeople
Interpreter for the deaf: Maggie Russel (Interpreter sign and wheel chair sign)
Venue Location Onondaga Nation School
(81 South, exit 16, right 1 mile, left on Route 11A, 2.3 miles on the right)
With support from: Neighbors of the Onondaga Nation (NOON), Syracuse Peace Council and the Syracuse Cultural Workers. This concert is made possible, in part, by a Tier Three Project Support Grant through the County of Onondaga and administered by CNY Arts.
Fact Finding for 81: Transportation Committee Meeting
Tuesday June 12th 5:30 PM · Syracuse City Hall
The Syracuse Common Council’s Transportation Committee is holding a fact finding committee meeting to hear from those who have done in-depth studies of the different alternatives to replace the elevated portion of I-81. The committee will discuss the different studies currently available, and will have a public comment section to take input from the community. All are welcome to attend the public meeting, to be held in the Council Chambers on the 3rd of Syracuse City Hall, 223 Washington St.
If attending the session, please note that CNY Solidarity supports the Community Grid! More information, talking points can be found on ReThink81.
Please Save the Date for:
Kathy Kelly from Voices of Creative Nonviolence July 16th All Saints Church
Also, if you haven’t already please sign the I 81 resolution. http://rethink81.org/take-action
Like and follow ReThink81 on facebook.
If you would like to add your event or fundraiser to the weekly community outreach event calendar, please email the information in 100 words or less to Marianna.kaufman@gmail.comby Monday mornings at 9am.