Archives for September 2013

Soulsville Neighborhood Community-Police Relations Forum

The Community-Police Relations (CPR) project is a groundbreaking partnership between citizens and law enforcement officers that is challenging both groups to overcome their differences and distrust to work together on the deepest problems of our community. The CPR Group held a community forum in the Soulsville neighborhood on Monday, August 26th.  Here are some thoughts from one participant:

I believe it to have been a total success. I enjoy seeing the number grow as we move from different areas of the city. It really touched me to hear about the young lady who had her house broken into 15 times and still manages to have a positive outlook for her community and the police. I believe from what I observed that everyone has a willingness to work together in order to make positive changes. I heard different members talk about wanting to help and do more within their community to have positive changes occur. Each one of the members within my breakout group were positive and had feedback and asked questions about where the change will come from, how change can occur and this is a long term effort. Overall I believe that we are about to see history change right before our eyes as to the battle we are about to join to make a difference.
– L. Price

I believe that the Orange Mound Community and Police Relations forum was a game changer. It was the largest turn out that CPR Memphis had at that time. It showed us that the people are indeed concerned about their communities.  We were able to break up into 3 very large groups of Facilitators, Law Enforcement and Community members. In those groups we each were able to voice direct concerns of the actions of Police Officers in that area and throughout the city. The Officers were very open and gave feed back on many issues not just the ones that people were speaking of. That one of the things that  this platform allows which is  transparent dialogue about the grey areas of Law in a neutral setting. It was encouraging.

– Kelvin Cowans, Tri-State Defender

Upcoming CPR Community Forums

Hickory Hill Forum
Monday, September 30th, 6 – 8p (5:30 sign-in)
Hickory Hill Community Center, 3910 Ridgeway Road
Outreach Contact: Mr. Sonny Robinson, bongotiger1@gmail.com
CPR Coordinator: Melisa Miller-Monie, melissa@midsouthpeace.org

Youth CPR Forum/Gandhi-King Conference
Friday, October 18th at BRIDGES.  Please contact, CPR Coordinator, Melisa Miller-Monie for details on how to get involved. Email: melissa@midsouthpeace.org

LGBTQ Community Forum
Tuesday, November 19th, 6 – 8p (5:30 sign-in)
Holy Trinity Community Church, 685 South Highland Street
CPR Coordinator: Melisa Miller-Monie, melissa@midsouthpeace.org

For more information about the Community-Police Relations project, please contact:

Melissa Miller-Monie, CPR Organizing Coordinator
Phone: 901-725-4990, Email: melissa@midsouthpeace.org

The CPR Team- Bridging the Gap between Community and Police Relations: Mid-South Peace and Justice Center, Community Leaders, Memphis Police Department, Shelby County Sheriff’s Department, Playback Memphis, and a third party facilitator.

Fall Workshops and Trainings

After a very productive year of anti-oppression workshops and organizer skill trainings, we are delighted to announce the workshops and trainings for the last months of 2013. Read on for details on Founding and Funding your Grassroots Group Workshop, Media 201, Core Organizer Training, and Training for Social Action Trainers.

We would also like to mention that our last Grassroots Organizer Training for Power in Spanish (G.O.T. Poder) was a complete success! This training, unique in the Mid-South, had 20 participants from different backgrounds and of a range of ages, and had an emphasis on nonviolent direct action. In light the current proposal of the bill for immigration Reform, the Latino community organizers of Tennessee are getting ready to take more drastic actions.

On Wednesday, September 12th, one of G.O.T. Poder’s participants, a long time activist of the Latino community of Memphis and MSPJC board member, Cristina Condori, was arrested in Washington, DC with other 100 women from all over the country. They were part of the nationwide action organized by We Belong Together, urging the house of Representatives to keep families together, stop deportations of fathers, mothers and kids, and pass a fair immigration reform bill.

MSPJC  continues offering support and trainings for our communities develop and discover the power we have with in our selves and with each other.

Upcoming Workshops and Trainings

Founding and Funding your Grassroots Group Workshop

Learn the process, skills and actions you can use to found and sustainably fund your grassroots group.

Led by Jacob Flowers

REGISTER NOW  Registration online or by phone is required for all workshops.

This session starts with an in-depth look at the mission, vision and values that you are organizing from and ends with concrete actions that you can take to fund your work sustainably over the long term.

Join us to learn how you can found and fund your organizing group to be successful from the beginning.

Date: Saturday, September 21

Time: 2p.m. – 5p.m. Please be on time.

Location: MSPJC, 3573 Southern Ave. Memphis TN 38111 wheelchair accessible

Cost: $20-$45 Sliding scale.

*Limited to the first 18 people who register.

REGISTER NOW  Registration online or by phone is required for all workshops.

Some scholarships may be available.

Donations for workshop scholarships gratefully accepted!

For more information call 901-725-4990 or email to gio@midsouthpeace.org

Media 201 Workshop

In this advanced media workshop we will focus on practicing the skills of:
•Media Planning
•Messaging
•Creating talking points
•Pitching your story
•Advanced interviewing techniques.

REGISTER NOW for Media 201 Workshop

Registration online or by phone is required for all workshops.

Date: Saturday, October 26

Time: 2p.m. – 5p.m. Please be on time.
Location: MSPJC, 3573 Southern Ave. Memphis TN 38111 wheelchair accessible
Cost: $20-$45 Sliding scale.

*Limited to the first 18 people who register.

REGISTER NOW  for Media 201 Workshop

Registration online or by phone is required for all workshops.

Some scholarships may be available. Donations for workshop scholarships gratefully accepted!

For more information call 901-725-4990 or email to gio@midsouthpeace.org

Core Organizer Training

MSPJC is offering our second weekend Core Organizer Training of 2013 on November 8-10.

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 train using popular education and integrating experiential education, allowing 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.

Topics covered include:
Intro to Organizing, Organizing your Community, Campaign Planning, Facilitating Meetings, Media, Transforming Conflict and Nonviolent Direct Action

REGISTER NOW for Core Organizer Training

What: Core Organizer Training. A maximum of 20 people will be trained in order for all to get individual support and for the maximum learning potential for the group.

Where: 3573 Southern Ave. Memphis, TN 38111

When: Friday, November 8:  6-9pm
Saturday, November 9:  9am-5pm
Sunday, November 10:   1-5pm   (No partial attendance allowed)

Cost: If your annual income is:

Less than $15,000             You pay: $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

Sliding scale based on the individual’s 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 15 hours of training, simple snacks and lunch on Saturday, and follow up support from a network of the mid-south best organizers and activists.

REGISTER NOW for Core Organizer Training
Registration online or by phone is required for all trainings. Some scholarships may be available.
Donations for workshop scholarships gratefully accepted!

For more information call 901-725-4990 or email to gio@midsouthpeace.org

Training for Social Action Trainers – TSAT

In collaboration with Training For Change, MSPJC is glad to announce the host of our second TSAT in the Mid-South, to be in December 6, 7 and 8, 2013.

For Registering and more detailed information about this training please visit Training for Social Action Trainers.

G.O.T. Power, a Mid-South Peace and Justice Center’s training program, is committed to building our community’s capacity through building skills in grassroots organizing, providing support to people doing community work and offering anti-oppression and liberation education.

For more information call 901-725-4990 or email to gio@midsouthpeace.org

Find our workshops on Facebook and share them with your friends!

H.O.P.E. is the name of a Mid-South Peace and Justice Center-sponsored organization whose members are exclusively people currently, or have formerly experienced homelessness. For over a year now, H.O.P.E. has been organizing and agitating around the issues that are a priority to the homeless community. For meeting times and dates, call 901-300-0006. 

H.O.P.E. Women’s Caucus
Background

Research indicates that the majority of women who experience homelessness also experience violence, with domestic violence being one of the primary catalysts for homelessness in women’s lives. Homelessness is also associated with a variety of health issues, all of which can be difficult to address while meeting one’s basic needs.

The H.O.P.E. Women’s Caucus is a safe space for H.O.P.E. members who identify as women to work together on the issues that disproportionately affect them, including reproductive health and violence.  Co-sponsored by the Center for Research on Women at the University of Memphis, the Women’s Caucus meets regularly for “Dinner and Discussion,” from which a core group of organizers has emerged to focus on the unique challenges faced by women experiencing homelessness.

Most recently, the Women’s Caucus has taken up health issues, with nutrition, reproductive health, and overall wellness being major themes of discussion.  Women’s Caucus members have tried healthy new foods and exercises together, from gluten-free pizza crusts to restorative yoga.

In the next month, Women’s Caucus will begin a two-phase self-defense program.  During the first phase, the core organizing members will take self-defense classes. These classes will meet twice a week for five weeks, and will equip participants with the fundamental skills needed to handle an attack, and get out of violent situations safely. In the second phase, members will participate in “train the trainer” style classes to learn the techniques of teaching self-defense strategies to other women.  This two-phase model builds upon an evidence-based Lay Health Advisor model used around the country to implement community-based healthcare programs.

HOW CAN YOU HELP WOMEN’S CAUCUS? 

Women’s Caucus needs to raise $800 for Phase 1 of our self-defense program.  If you can contribute to this cause, please do so here.  Remember that any amount is helpful, so give what you can!  If you are interested in getting involved with the H.O.P.E. Women’s Caucus in any other way, or if you have questions or suggestions for the group, please contact Project Coordinator, Ace F. Madjlesi at acemadjlesi@gmail.com.

Many thanks to Tiffany Futch, Jamie Young, and Elokin Capece for their dedicated support to this group.

Street-Watch

On August 31st, members of  H.O.P.E.’s Street-Watch Initiative, hosted a ‘Know Your Rights’ forum at St. Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral for people who live on the streets of Memphis.This was the fourth in a series of workshops held at different churches and community centers across the city over the past four months across the city. Employees of the Law Offices of the Shelby County Public Defender and other attorneys informed an engaged crowd on their rights when encountering law enforcement and how to assert them. Meanwhile, Street-Watch members and volunteers assisted participants with filling out surveys about their experiences with law enforcement, as well as complaint forms to document instances of police harassment.

“We believe that over time, we can use data compiled from these complaints to pinpoint areas where police harassment is most likely to occur, what time of day or night, and begin to weed out officers who believe that a badge and a gun give them the right to treat people on the streets of Memphis like second-class citizens,” said Marcus Mitchell, an organizer with the project.

Street-Watch will continue to host educational forums, and with the help of data collected from complaints and surveys, members plan on organizing street teams, equipped with video cameras to document the harsh realities of life on the streets of Memphis, and the mistreatment that men and women often face when they are profiled for “appearing homeless.”

Feeding the Movement

H.O.P.E would like to once again thank Memphis Center for Independent Living for providing us with space for our meetings while we seek a permanent location. There are lots of ways to feed the movement, and we would like to thank all of our allies for their continued support. For more information about how you can support HOPE or our different project areas, Please contact Paul Garner(901)725.4990, or paul@midsouthpeace.org. Like H.O.P.E. on Facebook!

We are excited to announce our 2013 Plenary Speakers Medea Benjamin (CodePink Women for Peace) and Jaribu Hill (MS Workers Center).

Join these dedicated advocates, activists, organizers and grassroots leaders for peace and social justice in our communities.

You can register for the conference here. 
Registration is on a sliding scale, based on ability to pay, with no one turned away.

We Are the Change. We Are the Movement.

Speaker Bios:

JARIBU HILL

Jaribu Hill is a civil and human rights attorney and Executive Director of the Mississippi Workers’ Center for Human Rights(MWCHR), an organization which uses a human rights organizing framework to fight discrimination in housing, employment and voting. The MWCHR is a worker advocacy organization that provides organizing support, legal representation and training for low-wage, non-union workers in the state of Mississippi. Through direct action campaigns, organizing sessions and trainings, it raises awareness among workers as to the many ways their human rights are violated in the workplace and in their communities. Jaribu previously worked with Amnesty International in Oxford, Mississippi as a Soros Justice Fellow where she did education and advocacy work that focused on issues affecting juveniles and inmates with mental retardation who are on death row. While in law school, Jaribu was an Ella Baker Intern with the Center for Constitutional Rights. After law school, Jaribu became a Skadden Fellow in the Mississippi office of the American Civil Liberties Union. Later, Jaribu went on to direct the Southern Regional Office of CCR.

In addition to founding the MWCHR, Jaribu also founded several other organizations, including theSouthern Human Rights Organizers’ Conference, Black Women’s International Roundtable, CUNY Law School Mississippi Project, and the Fannie Lou Hamer Sister Roundtable. She is also a singer and composer and was lead singer with the renowned singing duo Serious Bizness for over 15 years.

MEDEA BENJAMIN

Medea Benjamin is a co-founder of both CODEPINK and the international human rights organization, Global Exchange.  She has been an advocate for social justice for more than 30 years. Described as “one of America’s most committed — and most effective — fighters for human rights” by New York Newsday, and called “one of the high profile leaders of the peace movement” by the Los Angeles Times, Medea has distinguished herself as an eloquent and energetic figure in the progressive movement. In 2005 she was one of 1,000 exemplary women from 140 countries nominated to receive the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of the millions of women who do the essential work of peace worldwide. In 2010 she received the Martin Luther King, Jr. Peace Prize from the Fellowship of Reconciliation.

Since the September 11, 2001 tragedy,  Medea has been working to promote a U.S. foreign policy that would respect human rights and gain us allies instead of contributing to violence and undermining our international reputation.  In 2000, she was a Green Party candidate for the California Senate.  During the 1990s, Medea focused her efforts on tackling the problem of unfair trade as promoted by the World Trade Organization. Widely credited as the woman who brought Nike to its knees and helped place the issue of sweatshops on the national agenda, Medea was a key player in the campaign that won a $20 million settlement from 27 US clothing retailers for the use of sweatshop labor in Saipan. She also pushed Starbucks and other companies to start carrying fair trade coffee. A former economist and nutritionist with the United Nations and World Health Organization, Benjamin is the author/editor of eight books. Her latest book is called Drone Warfare: Killing by Remote Control, and she has been campaigning to get lethal drones out of the hands of the CIA. Her articles appear regularly in outlets such as The Huffington Post, CommonDreams, Alternet and OpEd News.

The H.O.P.E. Women’s Caucus

Background

Research indicates that the majority of women who experience homelessness also experience violence, with domestic violence being one of the primary catalysts for homelessness in women’s lives.

Homelessness is also associated with a variety of health issues, all of which can be difficult to address while meeting one’s basic needs. TheH.O.P.E. Women’s Caucus is a safe space for H.O.P.E. members who identify as women to work together on the issues that affect them disproportionately, including reproductive health and violence.  Women’s Caucus meets regularly for “Dinner and Discussion,” out of which a core group of organizers has emerged to focus on the unique challenges faced by women experiencing homelessness.

Read about Women’s Caucus in the Memphis Flyer! (11/13/14)

Read Women’s Caucus’ Editorial on Amendment One, which was printed in the Commercial Appeal!(11/04/14)

HOW CAN YOU HELP? 

HOPE Women’s Caucus will be preparing care packages to conduct outreach specifically to women experiencing homelessness. These packages would be small, but would contain essential sanitary items that can be hard to come by for many women who are without shelter.

You can donate any of the items on our wish list (scroll to the bottom of the page) by dropping them off at the MSPJC office at 3573 Southern Ave.  You can also contribute financially by clicking the link below.

If you are interested in getting involved with the HOPE Women’s Caucus in any other way, or if you have questions or suggestions for the group, please contact WC Project Coordinator, Jamie Young at hopewomen@gmail.com.

Click here to DONATE to the H.O.P.E. Women’s Caucus

H.O.P.E. Women’s Caucus Care Packages Wish List
Sleeping Bags
Large Cloth Grocery-Style Bags
Warm Shoes
Small Flashlights
Soap and Waterproof Soap Containers
Toothbrushes and Trial-Size Toothpaste
Deodorant
Compact Mirrors
Reusable Water Bottles
Hair Ties and Hair Clips
Gloves, Knit Caps, and Scarves
Baby Wipes
Gallon-size Plastic Bags
Lip Balm
Tissue Packs
Bandages
Scented Lotions or Body Sprays
Nail Kits (Including File, Clippers, and Polish)
Journals and Pens
Chewing Gum
Chocolate or Granola Bars
Feminine Hygiene Products
Gift Cards or Movie Passes
Job Opportunities

No War in Syria

Violent intervention in Syria is not the answer to resolving the conflict. Let us honor the victims of violence by working to build the foundations for peace.

President Obama will address the nation on Tuesday and will likely reveal his intended actions in Syria. We need to send a message loud and clear that the people of this country stand against U.S. military intervention.

Join members of the Memphis Community to Speak Out for Peace at a RALLY this Tuesday (Sept. 10) from 5:00-7:00pm at the corner of Park Ave. and Highland St.

We need to:
• redirect our military dollars towards immediate humanitarian aid
• refocus on urgent peace talks
• halt sales to authoritarian regimes
• honor the voices of nonviolent resistance

We don’t want another war!
…a war that would kill innocent women, men, children
…a war that your tax dollars would pay for
…a war that would put Americans in danger
…another war that would add to global instability.

CALL NOW :: RALLY TUESDAY

Congress will vote on authorizing the President to go to war this very soon! Call your House Rep and Senators NOW!

Rep.Cohen 901.544.4131
Rep. Fincher 901.682.4422
Sen. Alexander 901.544.4224
Sen. Corker 901.683.1910

Rally at the Corner of Park Ave. and Highland St.
• September 10th, 2013 (Tuesday)
• 5:00-7:00pm