News

On September 28-30th, ten grassroots community groups from across the city came together for the Movement Building Training, hosted by MSPJC. This exciting training was facilitated by two national organizations, Center for Community Change and Green for All.

The MSPJC training team worked hard collaborating with them in designing the curriculum to fit the needs of the groups present, and what transpired was a dynamic weekend in which new, powerful connections were made and lots of important internal work was done within each attending organization as well.

Groups had the chance to develop powerful narratives to tell others who they are and why they’re doing the work. They also had an opportunity to do campaign planning and develop an action plan of tactics to reach a specific goal they’re working towards. We also did lots of important big group learning and connecting. Many people present said they had never been in a training before where they felt so much support, like we were a family. Groups present included: Memphis Center for Independent Living/ADAPT, Tennessee Equality Project, Memphis Bus Riders Union, H.O.P.E., Comunidades Unidas, Women’s Action Coalition, Grow Memphis, M3, Change Memphis, Vance Avenue Collaborative, and S.O.L.I.D.S. This was a huge power building opportunity, and we are thrilled that we’re already seeing new collaborations and engagement from many of the groups which were present.

H.O.P.E. is the name of a Mid-South Peace and Justice Center sponsored organization whose members are exclusively people who are 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.

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DIGNITY:
H.O.P.E. members hit the pavement running this month, volunteering  with the Community Alliance for the Homeless for the 100k Homes campaign: Memphis 100, which will get 100 of the most vulnerable individuals of the street and into permanent supportive housing before Christmas.

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H.O.P.E. was instrumental in securing the funding for this campaign back in May, and to seal the deal, H.O.P.E. members spent three days getting up at four o’clock in the morning to do outreach and conduct surveys to connect 100 of our brothers and sisters with the housing and supportive services that they so desperately need.

“Of the 259 interviewed, more than half will be near death within the next two years.
Almost all of them sleep outside year round and over half of them have serious medical conditions.”

H.O.P.E. will continue to fight for funding that makes campaigns like this possible!

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Mutual Emotional Support:

H.O.P.E. wants to thanks the Krav Maga Center of Memphis for joining forces with H.O.P.E. to produce a series of monthly self defense classes for women experiencing homelessness!

92% of women on the street have experienced the victimization of physical or sexual assault. This will provide our members who are women with a way to develop their survival skills and strengthen the interpersonal bonds they have with one another in a safe andsupportive environment.  This, along with the added component of mutual emotional support and group counseling  will lead us to the creation of a H.O.P.E. Women’s Caucus, to specifically address the issues of women on our streets. We already know that the women in our group are some of our strongest leaders. We are looking forward to the next steps of strengthening these skills and building the internal capacity of H.O.P.E. to continue to win real tangible victories for our members.

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Solidarity:

This month, H.O.P.E. men and women stood together with our LGBT brothers and sisters to support the the Non- Discrimination Ordinance, which the Memphis City Council passed with a 9-4 vote on October 16, 2012.  This ordinance now provides city employees with equal protection from discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity as well as disability, age, sex, national origin, and ethnicity.

H.O.P.E. knows that homelessness is a rainbow issue; there is no issue that we can’t find common ground with in the struggle for civil rights and equality. During a past H.O.P.E. meeting, members voted to support the work of TEP and will continue to support our LGBT members.

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Self Determination:

H.O.P.E. members have met every Monday at the Memphis Center for Independent Living, over the past several months to develop a business plan for a worker owned and operated tee-shirt printing co-op. This month, H.O.P.E. members finalized and voted to approve the business plan and bylaws for Street Wise ink CO-OP!

H.O.P.E. would like to thank Dan Levin, our business advisor for his tireless commitment and involvement in this project.  Here is an excerpt from our business plan:

“Street Wise Ink is a collaborative group of homeless and formerly homeless men and women joined together sharing knowledge to create a silk-screening business.  Based on the principle of “Teach a man to fish,” Street Wise Ink members are empowering themselves to break the chains of homelessness.
This will not only provide a sustainable income to Street Wise Ink members, it will also raise awareness of issues surrounding homelessness and provide additional revenues back to the community.
Additionally, extraordinary member creative talents and reinvestment from wholesale sales, will allow for the development of a retail revenue stream from member-designed items.”

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Feeding the Movement:
H.O.P.E would like to thank Just for Lunch and Trolley Stop Market for making a commitment to donate meals each month for our weekly H.O.P.E. meetings at The Manna House! There are lots of ways to feed the movement, and we would like to thank all of our allies for their  continued support.

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If you are interested in how you can support the work of H.O.P.E. members, please contact Paul Garner @ 901.725.4990 or paul@midsouthpeace.org and don’t forget to like us on Facebook for more H.O.P.E. updates!

Join us for the Annual Member Meeting of the Mid-South Peace and Justice Center. This annual gathering is an important opportunity for all members to participate in setting the direction of our work. We have much to celebrate!

Already this year we have:

• H.O.P.E. has won over $750,000 in funding for vital services for those experiencing homelessness. This seed funding has enabled our city to receive $5 million in additional funding to help those suffering most from the violence of poverty. They have also worked to hold service providers accountable to the people they serve through direct action, making sure that funds allocated to help those experiencing homelessness are used responsibly and effectively.
• Launched a comprehensive Police-Community Relations project that is working to develop a community led vision of how we deal with the crime and violence in our neighborhoods.
• Pushed back against SB2508, an anti-homeless law that makes sleeping on state property a Class A offense carrying more penalties than simple assault or domestic violence.
• G.O.T. Power has trained and supported over a hundred grassroots community organizers. This included Core Organizer Trainings in English and Spanish and a recent Movement Building Training for almost 75 grassroots leaders.
• Supported the development of a culture of organizing through the coordination of a series of movement circles built around local populations and for the first time a statewide movement circle as well.
• Developed GrowMemphis into an independent 501(c)(3) organization that is leading the food justice movement in the mid-south.
• Moved our offices and created a Social Justice Resource Center that we share with GrowMemphis and the TN Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition. We also have space available for other social justice groups to share.

Come join us as we celebrate our successes and plan for future victories. We will share a meal; get updated about our current work and accomplishments over the past year; and elect new Board members and officers.

MSPJC Annual Member Meeting
Saturday October 20
BRIDGES, 477 N. Fifth St.
5pm-7pm

This is your organization. Come help us shape it!

All current members are welcome. Not a member? You can join online at www.midsouthpeace.org/membership Any amount makes you a member. Please join now.

The Annual Member gathering is immediately following the Gandhi-King Community Conference. Please join us all day on Oct. 20^th as we work to build a movement around the critical issues in our community. TheGandhi-King Conference registration fee is on a sliding scale starting at free. But all paying attendees receive a complimentary membership in the Mid-South Peace and Justice Center. BUILD A MOVEMENT :: JOIN THE MOVEMENT

We are pleased to announce the 2012 GKC Community Conference, to be held on October 20th at BRIDGES. This year’s conference has a unique local focus on the key issues that are most important to our communities in securing lasting peace for all.

Register now! Registration is based on a sliding scale starting at free. Please sign up and attend to change our community.

This is an annual movement building space for activists, organizers, grassroots leaders and people that just want to improve their community and the world to gather in a unique environment that will leave them better equipped and connected to better our community.

The day long conference will be broken into three sessions that will build on one another so that you will leave inspired, connected and ready for action.

• IgniteAction: A series of short, dynamic and engaging presentations on the issues that are most pressing in our community. Each short presentation will be led by an inspiring grassroots leader from the community focusing on the key issues of equality, poverty and homelessness, community led development, immigration reform, healthcare, education reform, and community-police relations.
• Peoples Assembly Forums: Going deeper into the topics that were just presented to develop our own analysis of the issues and collaborate on ways that we can create change. Each session will be led by a panel of organizers working on these critical issues and will feature an open space discussion.
• G.O.T. Power? (Grassroots Organizer Training): Apply the knowledge and analysis around community issues using new skills. Deepen your skills in participatory workshops designed to build upon your knowledge and experience so that you can take effective action. Workshops will include yoga and meditation, creating and working with media, greening your community, nonviolent direct action, embodied activism with Playback Memphis, nonviolent communication, and more.

Take a moment to register for this amazing opportunity. You will leave connected, inspired and already engaged in action.

The Community Conference will be held at the BRIDGES facility (477 N. Fifth St.) and will feature a sliding scale registration fee with no-one turned away for lack of ability to pay. This is a community conference and we are working to make it as accessible as possible to all people in our community.

We look forward to connecting, learning, and working with you to create the peace and justice vision of Dr. King and Gandhi. You can find updated info including the full schedule on our website, www.gandhikingconference.org

Almost a month ago, 23 Latino Community Members and strategic allies from Memphis,  Jackson, and Nashville, TN came to the Mid-South Peace and Justice Center to attend the grassroots organizing training named, “GOT PODER.”

It was not the first time that Mid-South Peace and Justice Center has conducted this training with the Latino Community, but was actually a third event for M.S.P.J.C.  More trainings focused on local communities in need, have also been planned.

Presently, the Latino community of Memphis and surrounding areas are working very hard to stop disenfranchisement laws.  They have been learning that the most effective way to stop these laws is to be organized.  History has been teaching us this, not only with the Civil Rights movement of the 1960‘s but also the Chicano Movement, the Grape Strike lead by Cesar Chavez, and a most recent movement that struggles with laws dehumanizing immigrants.

In 2012, Memphis is no exception to this struggle.  While most people could say that Memphis is not like Arizona or Alabama in regard to discriminatory laws such as SB1070, 287G or HB 56, etc.;  it is accurate to say that every year TN legislators are tempted to implement a copycat proposal of those bills.  The common ground of such bills is to prohibit undocumented families from having access to housing, education, work and critical public services*.

In response, members of the Latino community, whether documented or not, and their allies are educating themselves in how to be organized, promote equality, and practice solidarity in the stand against discrimination.

*For more information about TN immigrant issues please visit the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition website www.tnimmigrant.org)

Following the GOT PODER Training, several attendees participated in the organization of a multi-cultural immigrant celebration named “Memphis Unafraid“ welcoming the Undocubus* to Memphis.  This was a bus with approximately 30 undocumented immigrants traveling from Arizona to North Carolina giving a simple but very important message: “We are the undocumented- without papers and without fear”.

• *For more information about The Undocubus visit www.nopapersnofear.org

The Undocubus riders were encouraging undocumented immigrants to come out of the shadows of fear and take action for their own human rights, as well as vicariously the rights of others being represented culturally.

After a cultural celebration full of dance, poetry, theater, music and storytellers, three Memphis-Latino community members joined the Undocubus on their journey.  Two of those were Raul Venegas and Jose Salazar; both of whom also had been part of Got PODER and Core Organizing Training.  The third was Daniel Marquez- father of  West TN organizer Gabriela Benitez for T.I.R.R.C. (TN Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition).

One of the several stops for the Undocubus riders was Knoxville, TN.  This is a city that has been threatened by anti-immigrant laws and whose Sheriff had once refused discussion with the immigrant community.  The Undocubus riders, allies and community members let their voices be heard with a Nonviolent Direct Action blocking an intersection close to the Sheriff office.

Four people were arrested, with one of those being Marcela Lou- another participant of GOT PODER training.  This was the first time in history that Latino community members, consisting both of documented, undocumented and immigrant allies were arrested in a Nonviolent Direct Action (N.V.D.A.) in this state.

Following further discussion with these courageous participants of the Undocubus and the N.V.D.A. in Knoxville, TN and hearing of the impact GOT PODER has had on them for taking action has encouraged M.S.P.J.C. to continue the work of training people and training communities for social justice for all.

The M.S.P.J.C. training staff would love to serve your group or organization. Please contact allison@midsouthpeace.org to talk about how we can create a training that meets your groups’ needs.

We also have trainings in Spanish.

Ofrecemos Entrenamientos en Español, por favor contacte  a gio@midsouthpeace.org

(H.O.P.E.) is the name of a Mid-South Peace and Justice Center sponsored organization whose members are exclusively people who are currently or have formerly experienced homelessness. Fresh off the heels of victory in our ROAD HOME campaign, where H.O.P.E. won more than $500,000 of County funding for homeless and veterans issues this organization is eager to continue the fight for our people.

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Dignity & Self-Determination: A “Street Wise” Co-op

One of H.O.P.E.’s long-term projects is the formation of Street-Wise Ink, a worker-owned tee shirt printing co-op to facilitate part time income sources for its members. H.O.P.E. members have been attending workshops where they are being trained in silkscreen printing to create t-shirts for organizations, church youth organizations, political campaigns and grassroots organizing groups. This service will be fully owned and operated by the members themselves.

H.O.P.E. members involved in the co-op have also been attending regular weekly meetings to discuss the business aspect of running a co-op; drafting by-laws, a feasibility study, and business plan, as well as discussing membership dues, pay structure, and branding. Most recently, the co-op has been designing and printing shirts for the Mid-South Peace and Justice center to sell at the Cooper-Young festival on Saturday, September 15.

If you are interested in contributing your support to this project, please contact Paul Garner @901.725.4990

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Solidarity: “H.O.P.E. for 100”

In July, H.O.P.E. joined as a member of the Memphis/Shelby Homelessness Consortium. The Consortium is made up of more than 40 member agencies, led by the Community Alliance for the Homeless, a nonprofit that provides planning, technical assistance and service coordination to public and private agencies working to end homelessness in Shelby County.

H.O.P.E. member Robbie Howard is the group’s official representative on this body and has been attending the committee meetings for Outreach & Chronic Homelessness.  Back in May, H.O.P.E. secured $510,000 in the county budget for homeless services. $250,000 of these funds is set aside to provide early outreach and In-home case management and wrap around services for 100 of the most vulnerable individuals experiencing homelessness in our city. These are individuals who are projected under current conditions to die within the next two years without housing and services. These funds will bridge the gap for these individuals moving into permanent supportive housing until their Medicare benefits are processed. Now, H.O.P.E. and the Community Alliance for the Homeless need your help. We are seeking volunteers to assist in street outreach to identify 100 unsheltered individuals who qualify for these services and get them off the street by Christmas of 2012. If you are interested in assisting in this process, please register here.

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Mutual Emotional Support: H.O.P.E. For Steve :: Update!

H.O.P.E is pleased to announce that we have raised enough funds to help our member, Steve pay his rent for the month of September! We would like to thank everyone who has made a contribution to help Steve in his time of need. Thanks to you and the generosity of other H.O.P.E. supporters, we were able to raise enough funds to keep Steve in his place and off the streets for another month while he awaits the start of his disability benefits. H.O.P.E. is committed to ending homelessness here in Memphis and across the US, however we realize that if we can keep one individual from falling through the cracks of society, it is just as important as addressing the systemic issues of inequity that cause homelessness.  We appreciate your continued support in this struggle and want you to know that by answering the call, you have made a huge difference for Steve by not only giving him the security of a roof over his head, but also the piece of mind that he is not alone in his personal struggle for a brighter future. Steve will continue to work with H.O.P.E. to advocate for himself and others who are caught in similar situations. Please spread the good news to your friends and family!

The Mid-South Peace and Justice Center is facilitating a three-day workshop to foster the development of skills and capacity for groups and organizations involved in grassroots organizing work across our region. We hope this training is an opportunity for us to support one-another and come together into the Memphis Movement! 

What is it?

This is a training for new and established groups that are working to better their community. It is not a training for service providers; this is for groups engaged in grassroots community organizing. This is not your ordinary training. Your group will learn how to use the power of  story to move people to action, you will work together to identify tactics and plan strategy that can be immediately implemented in your work together, and you will support one another in becoming individual leaders leading a collective movement.

Who should come?

Are you involved in a group or campaign that is working for social, economic, environmental or racial justice? Does your group want to build their individual skills and develop a group plan to win on their issues? Are there 5-10 people in your group that will commit to the entire training? If the answer is yes to all three then you should definitely come. If you are unsure about some of the questions please contact us and lets figure it out. This is more than a training; it is a space for movement building. It’s not a movement without you and your communities issues. Sign up now!

How does my group sign up?

To sign up and get more detailed information  contact Giovanna Lopez at gio@midsouthpeace.org or 901.725.4990. There is no cost to participate in this training opportunity. We are asking that each group identify 1-2 lead contacts that will commit to bringing 5-10 members of your group to the training. Participants must commit to the entire training which runs Sept. 28-30 (Fri. 6-9pm; Sat. 9am-5pm; Sun 1-5pm.)

Homeless Organizing for Power and Equality (H.O.P.E.) is the name of a Mid-South Peace and Justice Center sponsored organization who’s members are exclusively people who are currently or have formerly experienced homelessness. Fresh off the heels of victory in our ROAD HOME campaign, where H.O.P.E. won more than $500,000 of County funding for homeless and veterans issues this organization is eager to continue the fight for our people.

PLAY TO STAY CAMPAIGN

On Thursday, July 19^th  at the Peer Center at 669 Madison Ave members of  “H.O.P.E.” held a protest against numerous complaints of sexual harassment against clients and female members of staff by a Peer Center employee.

Over the past two months H.O.P.E. has received numerous complaints from it’s members about instances of lewd and homophobic language and repeated unwanted sexual propositions and the group is taking this very seriously.

As I heard our members share their experiences, we were stunned. This situation with this staff person is out of control including offering one of our members $20 to show him her breasts and telling her and others about the size of his penis, and asking a woman, “if she wanted to be in a “three way” with him and his girlfriend.“

Members of the group say that this is not the only allegation of sexual harassment that they have received from clients and past staff and rises concerns over staff of oversight within the local organization. H.O.P.E.’s members, some of which reside at the Peer Center and  others filed a formal grievance with the Tennessee Mental Health Consumers’ Association,(T.M.H.C.A.) The parent company of the local Peer Center.  The employee in question was suspended and later returned to his duties with a mere stipulation that he receive sensitivity training and is under orders not to speak to the victim accept in cases of emergency.

While we deeply respect the advocacy work of the (T.M.H.C.A.) this is simply unacceptable, especially when you consider that 92% of women who have experienced homelessness have suffered severe physical and or sexual assault in their lifetimes. How can you have a person who is supposed to be counseling these women behaving this way. It not only is unacceptable, but is a direct threat to the healing process.

UPDATE– The Tennessee Dept of Mental Health has launched an official investigation and legal counsel for H.O.P.E. is currently in communications with T.M.H.C.A. legal counsel. We also have learned that a new staff person has been hired at the Peer Center, so that those who do not wish to have peer counseling sessions with the alleged predator will have an alternative. H.O.P.E. will work comprehensively to ensure that all people who are experiencing homelessness are treated with respect, and that our shelters are places of safety and healing.

H.O.P.E is continuing to investigate allegations of criminal wrong doing at two other local homeless service providers at the request of our members. H.O.P.E. is getting a lot of reports from women experiencing homelessness that employees at a local shelter are having inappropriate sexual conduct with female clients in exchange for shelter or “PLAY TO STAY” as it has been called. In addition H.O.P.E. is also continuing to alert authorities to gross misappropriation of federal HUD dollars intended to be used to provide shelter and utility assistance for those experiencing homelessness at another local service provider.

H.O.P.E. will be performing street outreach now, and over the course of the next few weeks and months to reach out to unsheltered men and women, to document these cases to pass on to the DA and Police, to DEMAND a full investigation, and prosecution of any and all offenders.

Over the last few months our core group has had discussions over the word Reconciliation.  It is agreed the best fit for the vision our community is to build toward Police Community Relations, with a focus on: *Safety   *Security   *Solutions

In Memphis and Shelby County all residents have basic needs and wants. A few of the needs are to feel Safe and Secure, in Memphis and Shelby County Solutions are needed:

In many communities the relationship between community members and law enforcement has deteriorated to the point of breakdown. We are working with communities across Memphis and Shelby County so that they can lead a process that will move towards improved relations between their communities and law enforcement.

Policing has changed a great deal since the first policemen walked their beats in the early 1800’s. Today, most officers live miles away from their precincts and patrol large areas by car rather than by foot. As a result, police have less contact and conversation with the neighborhood residents they watch over, and this lack of communication can cause fear, mistrust and frustration on both sides, changing police-community relations for the worse.

Such confrontational relationships can exist between the police force and an entire neighborhood or just a segment of the population, such as African Americans, youth, or immigrants. In any of these situations, a positive partnership can only be developed by discarding negative stereotypes, initiating a frank dialogue based on mutual respect, and becoming open to collaborative community policing. In other words, both sides need to go through a transition. We are working to improve community police relations by….

• Creating a safe space for dialogue about the real issues between the community and police that is led by the communities suffering most from negative interactions with the police.

• Building security for our community that is based in tactics that are self determined by our communities. How do we handle crime in our community? Will we handle it with brute force? Or will we focus on community based solutions? These are the questions that we need to answer and it is those answers that should dictate policy and implementation.

• Putting forth the solutions that will remove the barriers to positive relations. This is not a project solely about dialogue and healing. It is about healing so that our community can re-engage in setting the agenda for how we deal with the problems that we face. We are here to make a change!

So, what change will we make? How will we improve? That is something we all have to decide and it is a conversation that is starting now. Join us! Contact:

Melissa Miller-Monie, Organizing Coordinator, melissa@midsouthpeace.org or 901.725.4990.

Coordinated through the Mid-South Peace and Justice Center

1000 S. Cooper St. • Memphis, TN 38104