Archives for December 2011

It has been more than ten years since we helped plant the seeds of what is now a burgeoning local foods movement. In the summer of 2001, a lot at the corner of Douglass and Hamilton streets became the Orange Mound Community Garden. It was all the idea of Mrs. Alcine Arnett, a lifelong Orange Mound resident and Board member of the Mid-South Peace and Justice Center. From that original plot came the GrowMemphis Urban Garden program. It was officially launched in 2007 as a collaborative effort of the Center and three low-income neighborhoods across the city. It was all made possible by the vision of community residents and the financial support of the Assisi Foundation, Heifer Project International and Grace St. Lukes Church.

This idea that began in three communities in 2007 quickly sprouted gardens in a dozen neighborhoods by 2009 and over two dozen projects today. The organization was also fortunate to retain Josephine Alexander as its coordinator in 2009. She not only expanded the resources available to gardens considerably, but she launched important initiatives including: the Youth Market in the Mound, and the Shelby County Food Policy Working Group.

As the popularity of GrowMemphis grew we made the hard decision a few years ago to begin the process to transition it into its own organization. We felt its rapid growth and future potential would best benefit the community if it developed as its own entity. Not to say that we will not always support the work and mission of GrowMemphis, it is after all something that we helped shape these past four years. But we also know that you have to give things room to grow, literally and figuratively. GrowMemphis has already grown to prominence in the local foods movement, and we are excited about its future possibilities.

The time for us to officially part ways will come at the end of this year. This is also unfortunately when Josephine leaves both organizations to become a full time farmer with her husband Randy. We are happy for her though and know that she will still be contributing to our work, just in a different way, by feeding it. This means that you will need to watch the news in the coming days as GrowMemphis makes the announcement of their next/first Executive Director.

We wish GrowMemphis the best as it moves forward in tackling food insecurity, local foods and healthy eating. We also wish Josephine the best and urge everyone to support her newest calling, Tubby Creek Farms. Also please make sure to connect with GrowMemphis through its new website, growmemphis.org.

On December 17th, the three month anniversary of the occupation movement, Memphians will join together and Occupy 4 Memphis.

At noon, rallies and vigils will be held at three locations, coordinated by ally groups. Participants should choose one location to converge on at noon.

• Occupy4Memphis::Forrest Park, Union and Manasses. Issues- War at home and abroad. Organized by First Congregational Church, Veterans for Peace, and  the Mid-South Peace and Justice Center.
• Occupy the Banks:: Wells Fargo Bank, 42 S. Claybrook Street. Issues- Private Prison Divestment Campaign, CCA and Geo Group, big banks. Organized by TN Immigrant and Refugee Rights Campaign, Youth for Youth, Communities United in 1 Voice/Comunidades Unidas en una Voz
• Occupy the Streets:: Morris Park, Poplar Ave. and Manasses. Issues- Unsheltered. Organized by the Mid-South Peace and Justice Center, the Homelessness Caucus of Occupy Memphis, and Manna House

At 1pm Occupy the Banks will march down Union Ave. to Occupy the Streets, and then both groups will converge on Occupy4Memphis. All groups will continue together down Union to Main Street, convening at 2pm at the Occupy Memphis site at Civic Center Plaza for a General Assembly where we’ll hear from leaders of these issues. We will also have activities at the Occupy Memphis site for those who are unable or not wanting to march to occupy in their own way.

MSPJC is offering our first Core Organizer Training in a weekend format January 20-22, 2012. If you’ve been wanting to take the training but can’t commit to the 8 week sessions, this is for you! You’ll receive the same 14 hours of training in the foundational skills of organizing, plus the many added benefits of taking the training and forming community in a more intensive setting. Read more information below and register here.

The Core Organizer Training teaches participants the foundational skills they need to be effective organizers and win on issues that are important to them. We are incorporating a new model of learning, one based on popular education and integrating experiential education. This allows people to learn in a hands-on, direct manner, while also drawing out the expertise that the individual already has within. The result is a training that is fully interactive and has direct application in each session. The Core Organizer Training is so new we highly recommend that even past G.O.T. Power graduates take this training, as completely new tools are used to teach the skills in a totally new way. Topics covered include: Intro to Organizing, Organizing your Community, Campaign Planning, Facilitating Meetings, Media, Transforming Conflict, and Direct Action.

What: Core Organizer Training. A maximum of 25 people will be trained in order for all to get individual support and for the maximum learning potential for the group.
When: Friday, Jan. 20: 6-9pm
Saturday, Jan. 21: 9am-5pm
Sunday, Jan. 22: 1-5pm
Where: Caritas Village, 2509 Harvard Avenue (map)
Cost: Sliding scale based on the individualʼs income. If your organization is sending you to the training, use the organizational budget to determine the fee. It costs MSPJC $200 per person to do the training. Fee includes over 14 hours of training, simple snacks and lunch on Saturday, and follow up support from a network of the mid-southʼs best organizers and activists.

If your annual income is…               You pay …
Less than $15,000              $30
$15,000-$25,000                $50
$25,000-$35,000                $100
$35,000-$45,000                $150
$45,000-$55,000                $225
Over $55,000                     $300

Registration:
Register online or call 725-4990.

MSPJC offers many workshops publicly, but we also offer our workshops to organizations and people working around a specific issue, with workshops tailored to meet the organization or group’s individual needs. We are able to offer one of our Core organizer workshops, or we can design a workshop to meet your organization or group’s specific needs. If you are interested in bringing MSPJC to your organization or group to do a workshop, please contact center@midsouthpeace.org.

The Youth Movement Circle will be coordinated entirely by its participants—all high school and college students representing youth constituencies throughout Memphis. The issues important to each constituency are the issues we will take action on using the collective power of the entire circle. Together our power is magnified. Together we make real change.

This is the mission statement for the Youth Movement Circle, a space for youth activists from organizations all across Memphis to team up to increase their organizing power. After months of planning, the Youth Movement Circle held its first meeting Saturday, December 3rd, at the National Civil Rights Museum. Eighteen youth and adults attended, each representing an organization in Memphis. The NAACP Youth Council, Stand for Children, Bridge Builders Change, Youth for Youth, the Progressive Student Alliance, and Facing History and Ourselves all sent delegates to the first meeting of what will become a space for Memphis-area youth to come together as one voice.

Despite the blocked traffic from the St. Jude Marathon, participants came eager to tell their stories and join in the movement to create real change in Memphis. The meeting started out with a chance for everyone to share a vision for his or her community, city, state, country, or world. Youth and adults spoke of a world where all undocumented students have access to education, where there is discussion amongst people of different beliefs, where youth can truly fight for their rights, where everyone has access to healthy food, where the undocumented can take action, where students and youth are represented better and more accurately in society, where a community is in place to help new immigrants adjust, where the community is informed and empowered, and where students can connect with the power of the Civil Rights Movement. Many of the participants’ visions overlapped, reinforcing the need for a space where youth can challenge injustice, not separately, but together as one cohesive and powerful unit.

The meeting then moved on to a discussion about the dynamics of power. We examined where we are on the power scale and how we can organize a movement to shift this scale. The group looked at how Occupy Wall Street is doing just that, as well as how the movement against corporate greed began. The youth then participated in a game called “Ten Chairs of Inequality,” meant to represent the unjust distribution of private wealth in the US.

All of this set the stage for the most important part of the meeting—a chance for the youth to speak about the problems they see in society. The issues named could all be traced back to one simple truth: a youth voice is sorely lacking in the discussions that decide the future of these same youth. From broad issues of inequality to specifics like passing the Dream Act, the group covered it all. The list, which includes the new Tennessee Voter Photo ID law, prison privatization, and the racial divides amongst youth, is a testament to why the Youth Movement Circle exists: youth know the problems that ail our society and are eager to do something about them.

Join the movement and stay connected by joining our Facebook group. Next meeting is set for January 7th. Look for more details soon!

The Mid-South Peace and Justice Center is thrilled to announce the completion of the 2011 Memphis Survival Guide (MSG.) MSG is a an updated version of our handheld user-friendly directory of all homeless service providers, runaway services, drug and alcohol rehabilitation programs, shelter and meal services offered in the City of Memphis.

The guide also includes information on the Memphis/Shelby County Emergency Housing Partnership (260-HOME) as well as a daily schedule of meal services, including some maps and pictures to aid clients in finding the services that they need. We have included information about our friends at Food not Bombs and our discussion group for the homeless who are victims of harassment. As well as Grassroots Organizing Training (G.O.T. Power) program in hopes of helping the homeless to be able to effectively advocate and organize on their own behalf.

In the coming weeks, we will be working to distribute 5000 copies of this guide to various service providers, church congregations, neighborhood and community organizations and directly to those directly homeless themselves in the coming weeks.

This includes organizations and local government agencies who’s work also interacts with those who are unsheltered. This includes the Shelby County Public Defender’s office, Shelby County Division of Corrections, General Sessions Pre-Trial Services, Memphis Emergency Medical Services, Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare, and the American Red Cross.

Not only will this guide help those in need find the services they require, but we also feel it will help service providers by reducing the time they have to spend calling, searching and directing client groups that are outside of their scope of service to other providers. The clients will already know which providers do what and when.

Special thanks to Mairi Albertson with Memphis Housing and Community Development, and Nancy Bailey of the University of Memphis Tiger graphics. Peace and Justice Center Staff and interns, Gio Lopez and Jeremy Herman. Thank you all very much for your hard work.

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StreetWatch Initiative

StreetWatch is a project of the Mid-South Peace and Justice Center and a team from the Homelessness Caucus of Occupy Memphis to document potential cases of police harassment and highlight the harsh realities of life on the streets of Memphis.

This team of volunteers are all individuals who are currently experiencing homelessness and in the coming weeks, videos of observed instances will be uploaded to our YouTube channel.

This also serves as a potential joint organizing opportunity for H.O.P.E. and Occupy Memphis in preventing/combating the rumored upcoming police sweep of those experiencing homelessness in the Downtown/medical district area that happens almost every holiday season.