MSPJC Volunteer

Grassroots Organizer Training for Power (GOT Power), 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 oppression awareness and liberation education.
Our method of education is Popular and Direct Education. Direct education means education that directly confronts and challenges the current system of injustice, which includes traditional education. Rather than traditional education, which gives all the expertise to textbooks and teachers, Direct Education invites the expertise of the people themselves. Direct Education is about liberation and empowerment — going to the direct source of wisdom: the community itself!

Please contact us to get more information and schedule a training in your group or community. Fees are negotiable, scholarships are available and donations for scholarships are greatly appreciated.

Trainings can be designed specifically for established groups, organizations, campaigns, coalitions, etc. Comprehensive weekend workshops on specific organizing skill sets, issue or community-specific formats are available.

Trainings in Spanish are also available. All trainings are offered in English or Spanish as requested. We work and collaborate with bilingual trainers and facilitators.

G.O.T Poder – Entrenamientos en Español

For more information visit G.O.T.Power or write to GotPower@midsouthpeace.org

 ≈• Please Let Us Know What You Think ≈•

The Training Department of the Mid-South Peace & Justice Center (G.O.T. Power) would like to hear from the movement community. We want to know what you think about us and how we could better support your work or group! Please take a couple minutes to complete this short survey. This survey is for everyone, whether you have attended a workshop or not! Feel free to list your name or remain anonymous.

G.O.T Power Survey

https://midsouthpeace.org/2018/05/02/2834/

Holding an effective meeting that meets the needs of your participants can be a tough job! In this workshop participants will have the opportunity to go through the characteristics of a good Facilitator and basic tools for an effective facilitation, as a warm up for practicing facilitation skills when disruption happens based on participants real experiences.

Date: Thursday, May 24th

Time: 6p.m. – 8:30p.m. Please, be on time.

Location: 1350 Concourse Ave, Suite 451, Memphis, TN 38104 – A Step Ahead Foundation. Free parking in the Crosstown Concourse parking garage. Use main entrance, take elevator to 4th floor. Follow signs for A Step Ahead Foundation.

*Limited to the first 12 people who register.

Cost: $20-$45 Sliding scale.

REGISTER HERE

Registration online or by phone is required to attend.

More information

 

H.O.P.E. (Homeless Organizing for Power and Equality) will erect Tent City at Morris Park (747 Poplar Avenue) on THIS SATURDAY, May 5, 2018.  The National Low-Income Housing Coalition is planning a National Housing Week of Action to bring awareness affordable housing for low-income recipients, and H.O.P.E is joining the fight! Currently the City of Memphis doesn’t invest anything in direct homeless services. The funding that is allocated for housing service providers in Memphis, comes largely from Federal grants, and in uncertain times like these, and with Presidential administrations and Congress being what they are, we think it’s incumbent on our Mayor and City Council People make a compassionate investment of local funding to address homelessness in the ‘City of Good Abode.’ Many people don’t even realize that Memphis doesn’t have a free shelter. The ones that do exist, are dangerous, often require participation in religious ceremonies as a prerequisite for services, and don’t comply with the Americans With Disabilities Act. H.O.P.E’s Tent City will dramatize the plight of Memphis’ most vulnerable residents,  and call on local officials to do more to address Memphis’ growing housing crisis.

At 2PM, we’ll begin with a rally, then there will be a community cookout, and to finish the evening, there will be a movie. H.O.P.E would like to make sure that this event serves our community and those directly affected by homelessness, so we chose Morris Park on Poplar Ave, where hundreds of those without homes, and those made poor by an unjust economic system, come in search of a meal on any given Saturday, provided by area churches.

How can the community help?  We’re looking for tents, as well as a donations of bottled water and snacks for the actual day.  We also need monetary donations to purchase National Low Income Housing Coalition’s stickers and t-shirts to wear In addition, we need volunteers to pass out snacks and to help with sign making.  If you can donate to H.O.P.E.’s Tent City or volunteer, please contact Tamara by cell at (901) 254-5964 or by email at tamara@midsoutheace.org

Support H.O.P.E. – Feed the Movement!

One of the ways we learn about the needs of the homeless community and strategize around ways to best support one another, is through our weekly Wednesday meetings in which we invite people experiencing homelessness to fellowship, share, and brainstorm.For many groups and organizations offering free food at meetings is a plus for their attendees, but for H.O.P.E. it is a necessity due to the fact that most often the meal offered at H.O.P.E. meetings, may be the only meal they will have all day.

If you are an individual or a restaurant, you can help by donating a prepared meal, once a month, for our Wednesday afternoon meetings.  Don’t have time to cook or buy prepared foods and bring them to our meeting space? We also accept monetary donations towards this cause.We’d like to give a special shoutout to Marco’s Pizza on Belvedere & Madison Ave for providing our meal, one week out of every month! As always, all forms of donations are tax deductible to the extent allowed by law.

If you have questions or would like to support to HOPE by making a donation, please call Tamara @ 901-254-5964 or email tamara@midsouthpeace.org.

Last week the Juvenile Justice Project was invited to work with student activists leading the school walkouts in response to gun violence. They wanted to spread knowledge to their peers on a range of issues relating to non-violence, sexual assault, voter registration, and more! We conducted a Know Your Rights Workshop with these organizers and gave them scripts to help prepare them for National Walkout Day.

Most of us, even us “woke” folks, have been well schooled on what we think our rights are when it comes to encounters with police officers. Cop dramas and movies have informed many of our beliefs about the way police interact with the public, and often this has shaped the way we engage with law enforcement in real life either consciously or unconsciously.

To help clear up these misconceptions, our unique workshops use interactive theatre to educate young people about their rights and how to better communicate with law enforcement. Participants become the actors playing out real-life scenarios without the real-life consequences of an encounter law enforcement. We run these workshops for free and we’ll come to you. We love visiting schools, youth groups, clubs, etc.  We are also always looking to train students on how to conduct these workshops and will happily train you.

We are currently in the process of setting up our Summer Know Your Rights Workshops. We will be at community centers, summer camps, church groups, and more. Contact Faith Pollan at faith@midsouthpeace.org or at the office at 901-725-4990 to schedule a workshop today!

In Solidarity,

The Mid-South Peace and Justice Center

StreetWise INK is Memphis’ only T-Shirt Screen Printing Workers-Cooperative that is organized and operated exclusively by individuals with experiences of homelessness. We provide high-quality, custom, screen printed t-shirts for a variety of needs. Individuals who have experience or training in screen printing are able to subsidize their income by working with StreetWise INK as well as to hopefully gain skills of the industry, and possibly become potential member-owners after incorporation.

As you may know, StreetWise INK was invited to attend COOPECON 2018 over the weekend. Two of our members, two potential members, and one of our Advisory Board candidates had an excellent weekend while learning from and connecting with amazing leaders in the cooperative movement from across the South. We got to meet Ed Whitfield, Co-Managing Director with Fund for Democratic Communities, and the rest of their brilliant staff. We spent time with representatives and workers of multiple cooperative collectives, agencies, and organizations. We also got to skype in with Douglas O’Brien, President and CEO of National Cooperative Business Association CLUSA International and attended break out groups with people like Esteban Kelly, Executive Director of United States Federation of Worker Cooperatives and talked about training possibilities with Melissa Hoover, Executive Director of Democracy at Work Institute.  The New Economy Coalition in St. Louis invited StreetWise INK members to attend the upcoming 2018 Worker Cooperative National Conference in L.A., Common Bound 2018, AND we found out about Opportunity Threads’ amazing work. All this in one weekend!

We also had the great pleasure to enjoy music from Alabama Blues Hall of Famer and founder of Black Belt Roots Blues Festival, Clarence “Bluesman” Davis, with the unbelievable harmonica player, Jock Webb Sr, and Ed Whitfield himself on bass.

Maybe the best part though, was getting a chance to be recharge and get encouraged, informed, and inspired for the next phases of our journey! We met so many beautiful and dedicated people that we’ll probably need to write a book one day. But for now, let us send out a huge StreetWise IINK thanks to everyone we met, and everyone who helped get us there and home again! We are so excited to put everything we learned into action! THANK YOU!

Check out this video to learn about the history of the Federation of Southern Cooperatives from Wendell Paris.

Support StreetWise INK!  If you have experience, resources, or skills you think might be helpful to StreetWise in any way, we appreciate all the ways people wish to contribute. We’re currently seeking people with screen printing skills they’d like to teach as well as individuals who are experienced in worker-cooperative business ownership and management to volunteer for whatever amount of time you have to offer. We gladly accept all donations, as your support is what keeps the free trainings free.

NEED SHIRTS??

****For Custom Order Inquiries, please fill out our Price Quote Form****

Follow us on Twitter & Facebook and send us an email at streetwise@midsouthpeace.org  if you have any questions.

StreetWise INK is a proud Community Coop Partner with Democracy at Work!

A good facilitator can make the difference between an exciting and productive meeting or planning session, and one that nobody wants to come back to.

In this workshop, participants will have the opportunity to go through the characteristics of a good Facilitator and basic tools for an effective facilitation, as a warm up for practicing facilitation skills when disruption happens based on participants real experiences.

Date: Thursday, May 24th

Time: 6p.m. – 8:30p.m. Please, be on time.

Location: 1350 Concourse Ave, Suite 451, Memphis, TN 38104 – A Step Ahead Foundation.

Free parking in the Crosstown Concourse parking garage. Use main entrance, take elevator to 4th floor. Follow signs for A Step Ahead Foundation.

*Limited to the first 12 people who register.

Cost: $20-$45 Sliding scale.

REGISTER HERE

Registration online or by phone is required to attend.

More information

———–

Grassroots Organizer Training for Power (GOT Power), 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 oppression awareness and liberation education.
Our method of education is Popular and Direct Education. Direct education means education that directly confronts and challenges the current system of injustice, which includes traditional education. Rather than traditional education, which gives all the expertise to textbooks and teachers, Direct Education invites the expertise of the people themselves. Direct Education is about liberation and empowerment — going to the direct source of wisdom: the community itself!

Please contact us to get more information and schedule a training in your group or community. Fees are negotiable, scholarships are available and donations for scholarships are greatly appreciated.

Trainings can be designed specifically for established groups, organizations, campaigns, coalitions, etc. Comprehensive weekend workshops on specific organizing skill sets, issue or community-specific formats are available.

Trainings in Spanish are also available. All trainings are offered in English or Spanish as requested. We work and collaborate with bilingual trainers and facilitators.

G.O.T Poder – Entrenamientos en Español

For more information visit G.O.T.Power or write to GotPower@midsouthpeace.org

 ≈• Please Let Us Know What You Think ≈•

The Training Department of the Mid-South Peace & Justice Center (G.O.T. Power) would like to hear from the movement community. We want to know what you think about us and how we could better support your work or group! Please take a couple minutes to complete this short survey. This survey is for everyone, whether you have attended a workshop or not! Feel free to list your name or remain anonymous.

G.O.T Power Survey