News

Manna House, located at 1268 Jefferson, is a house of hospitality in the Catholic Worker tradition that provides showers, clothing, coffee, and sanctuary for poor and homeless persons in Memphis, Tennessee. Recently, Saint Vincent de Paul soup kitchen, which served a hot meal everyday to people in the crosstown area, including most of the guests of Manna House, closed and has no scheduled re-opening date.  Volunteers at Manna House and the soup kitchen are will fill in the gaps as best they can, however, preparing and serving serving close to two hundred sacked meals everyday is not an easy task.

Manna House, a dedicated advocate for people experiencing homelessness,  has been a strong ally and supporter of the Mid-South Peace and Justice Center and H.O.P.E. (Homeless Organizing for Power & Equality) for a long time, and we are calling on our members and friends to help them meet the needs of the men and women they serve daily.

If you are able to assist by providing turkey and cheese sandwiches on wheat bread, and/or bananas please contact Lisa Anderson with Room at the Inn at 901-246-8052.  Food donations can also be dropped off directly to Manna House at 1268 Jefferson Ave., Monday – Friday, between 9:30 and 10am

Thank you in advance for your support!  You can read more about Manna House in the Thursday, August 15th edition of The Commercial Appeal, Wendi C. Thomas: At Manna House, the homeless receive hospitality, not charity.

• Soulsville Contact: Mrs. Betty Taylor, btaylor7221@att.net
• South Memphis Alliance Contact: Ian L. Randolph,  IanRNDLPH@yahoo.com
• CPR Coordinator: Melissa Miller-Monie,  melissa@midsouthpeace.org

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 forums give you the opportunity to share your story and vision for Community-Police Relations, and will be used to develop and implement recommendations toward positive outcomes through dialog  Be a part of the conversation as the community sets the vision of how we will deal with crime and violence in our city.

Don’t forget to like CPR Community-Police Relations Memphis on Facebook

What Happens at the CPR Forums?  Keep it Here, Keep it Real, and Keep it Safe!
Four central questions are posed to forum participants:  What is your vision of community and police relations? What are the barriers preventing you from reaching your vision?  What are the solutions to reach your vision of community-police relations? How do you reach your solutions to accomplish your vision?

After each forum, participants are invited to be a part of the Community Engagement group representing their community. The Community Engagement group will later join the CPR Core Group to discuss recommendations toward reconciliation.  The first Community Engagement Forum will be held Saturday, August 31st.

UPCOMING:
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

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.  

MATA Public Hearings Bring Attention To Priority Crises

Memphis Area Transit Authority has historically been able to accommodate the trend of eastwardly moving jobs for its riders, 90% of whom are people of color, a majority, women who earn below poverty level income. MATA’s most populated and often overcrowded route is the 50 Poplar which acts as a pipeline for transporting workers from the North End Terminal downtown to jobs in East Memphis. However, most of these riders are not from neighborhoods around the North End Terminal. They travel inbound from distant neighborhoods some tens of miles away. The buses that get them to the North End Terminal are lifelines for these riders. Due to recent cuts in local and federal funding, MATA will be reducing these routes drastically.

This July MATA hosted two public hearings in one week for residents to comment on proposed cuts to bus service. Each hearing drew over 150 people and many went on the record giving their own proposals and concerns about our shrinking bus system. Memphis Bus Riders Union did weeks of canvassing to make sure that as many people as possible could plan to attend this opportunity to speak face-to-face with MATA officials. But MBRU organizers had no illusions that these public hearings would address the real problem of budget cuts. “We’ve got people in low income communities who are already under served, who are going to be cut off from their jobs, cut off from their grocery stores, cut off from city services these are people who already are down in society,” explained Shahin Samiei, Memphis Bus Riders Union. “City council has been cutting MATA’s budget for years now and this is the problem, this is the outcome,” added Samiei.

In response to a great deal of coverage from the local news outlets, some council members made statements of their own. Councilman Harold Collins and TN State Rep. Joe Towns addressed the public with promises to prioritize public transportation in the future. “Maybe we stay with the commitments we have now, but going forward I think it should be an adjustment made on the PILOTs and the length of them and the amount of percentages the City of Memphis relieves,” said Memphis City Councilman Harold Collins about MBRU’s proposals that funding for public transportation could be found in the millions of dollars Memphis gives away in tax incentives to corporations like International Paper and Electrolux. Councilman Lee Harris, who’s district continues to suffer from lack of bus service said in an interview that the City Council needs to “form a separate transportation committee just to make sure we didn’t get into a bind like this one where we’re shocked and surprised that there’s going to be such dramatic cuts that are going to effect hundreds and hundreds of families, not to mention, the 40 or 50 folks at MATA that are going to be laid off as a result of this.”

Memphis Bus Riders Union is urging the public to attend the MATA board meeting Wednesday, August 7th at 3:30 pm at the Central Station, 545 S. Main at the corner of GE Patterson. MATA’s board of commissioners will be voting on the proposed changes. We hope the board will consider postponing the vote as we push Mayor AC Wharton and the City Council to release enough funding to restore MATA’s budget and stop the cuts.

G.O.T. PODER!

Grassroots Organizers Training for Power, is a unique training in the Mid-South, the only one offered in Spanish for developing community organizing skills.

MSPJC’s fourth annual grassroots organizer training for the Spanish-speaking community will take place Friday, August 9th through Sunday, August 11th. This three-day, 16-hour training has been vital for the growth of Latino grassroots organizers in Memphis and the Mid-South. In this year’s training, participants will have a unique opportunity to share and grow with a respected local and state activist of the Latino-Immigrant community of Tennessee!

Información en Español aquí.

Please spread the word about GOT PODER! to Latino and bilingual organizers, activists, allies, friends and members.  For more information or to register, please check G.O.T. PODER, contact Gio López at gio@midsouthpeace.org, or call 901-725-4990.

Please help us to make G.O.T. PODER possible for all who need it.
Any donation in any amount counts!

90% of our participants come from families with low-income; and most of the time, scholarships are requested. MSPJC knows that we can’t deny this training to the people who need it the most.  Participants are asked to contribute towards the cost for this training. We use a sliding scale based on their annual income, from $30 for individuals to $300 for organizations or other entities.

It costs MSPJC $200 per person to do the training. This includes materials, 16 hours of training, simple snacks, breakfast and lunch on Saturday, and follow-up support from a network of the mid-southʼs best organizers and activists.

You can help us to continue offering this amazing opportunity to the Latino community at a low-cost by making a generous donation to G.O.T. PODER!

You can make your donation safely online, by phone, or check payable to MPSJC, 3573 Southern Ave., Memphis TN 38111, memo: “G.O.T. PODER”

• When donating online, please mark the option “In Honor of…” and write “G.O.T. PODER” in the box labeled “First Name”  to make your donation specific. You can use the email address gio@midsouthpeace.org Thank you so much!

Community-Police Relations Forums Breathe Life into the Voice of the Community!

The Community-Police Relations 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 forums give you the opportunity to share your story and vision for Community-Police Relations, and will be used to develop and implement recommendations toward positive outcomes through dialogue.

Be a part of the conversation as the community sets the vision of how we will deal with crime and violence in our city.

Read about the July 27th CPR forum in Frayser here.

What Happens at the CPR Forum?

Under the guiding principle to “Keep it Here, Keep it Real, and Keep it Safe,” forum participants are asked four central questions:

1. What is your vision of community and police relations?
2. What are the barriers preventing you from reaching your vision?
3. What are the solutions to reach your vision of community-police relations?
4. How do you reach your solutions to accomplish your vision? .

CPR forums use small group dialogues and other methods, such as Playback theatre, in which real stories are shared and played out by actors on the spot..

UPCOMING CPR COMMUNITY FORUMS

Orange Mound Community Forum
Sat., Aug. 10th, 12 – 2:30pm (11:30a sign-in)
2453 Park Ave. Memphis
Host: Pastor Steve Hardrick- Life Change N. Ministries
Outreach Contact: Kelvin Cowan- kelvincowans@hotmail.com

South Memphis/Soulsville Neighborhood Association Forum
Sat., Aug. 28th, 12 – 2:30pm (11:30a sign-in)
Union Valley Baptist Church, 1051 E. McLemore
Soulsville contact: Mrs. Betty Taylor –btaylor7221@att.net
SMA- Ian L. Randolph –  IanRNDLPH@yahoo.com

Getting Involved With CPR

After each forum participants are invited to be a part of the Community Engagement group representing their community. The Community Engagement group will later join the CPR Core Group to discuss recommendations toward reconciliation.  The first Community Engagement meeting will be held Saturday, August 31^st  at 1000 S. Cooper from 12-2pm

For more information contact:

Melissa Miller-Monie
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, Sheriff Office, Playback Memphis and a Third Party Facilitator. 

PROJECT HOMELESS CONNECT 4

Sign up to volunteer HERE!

Thursday, September 19, 2013
8:00 am – 4:00 pm
Cook Convention Center
255 North Main Street

You can make a difference. 1,000 people experiencing homelessness and in need of services are expected to attend this fourth installment of a massive outreach and service event to break down barriers that make it difficult to leave homelessness. We need just as many volunteers!

Services Anticipated:
Medical and vision (limited), housing counseling and placement, employment services, Food Stamps, Medicaid, and Social Security, as well as Veteran’s Benefits and related services, substance abuse and mental health, HIV/AIDS testing, legal assistance, counseling and support, IDs, barber shop, donated goods, and food.

To volunteer, please sign up on the Community Alliance for the Homeless website:communityallianceforthehomeless.com or call (901) 527-1302, Monday – Friday, 8:00 am – 5:00 pm. Volunteers must be 18 years of age or older.

Growing Strong

The H.O.P.E. Garden Crew has taken off!  Members have been educating themselves about the sustainable food movement, working in community gardens throughout the city, and laying the groundwork for their own garden in Midtown, where many of our members reside. Right now, the Garden Crew is planning a community outreach effort and ‘garden party’ to get input and involvement from the surrounding neighborhood.

“We want to show the community that even if some of us do not have homes, we are still  important,” said one member. “We have the desire and drive to make the neighborhoods in which we live more beautiful, sustainable, and vibrant places for the entire community.”   

You can provide support for this project by donating hand rakes, shovels, hoes, garden gloves, wheelbarrows, tarps, untreated lumber, screws, nails, wooden palettes, sling blades, hand pruners, water hose, volunteers, organic seeds, and other assorted garden supplies. (No chemical fertilizer, please.) If you would like to donate supplies, or join us in the garden one day, please contact Dallas Holland at dallasholland@gmail.com

Know Your Rights

On July 20th, H.O.P.E. members organizing with our ‘Street-Watch’ project hosted their third  ‘Know Your Rights’ workshop at Cathedral of Grace Church on East Person, near Hamilton High School in South Memphis. Special thanks to Courtney Golden, Subliminal Thought Organizer, Brandon Shaw, Isaac Kimes, and Josh Spickler with the Shelby County Office of the Public Defender.  We are looking forward to next month’s workshop, which will be held at the same location in late August.

Street-Watch is dedicated to educating our brothers and sisters on the street about their rights when encountering law enforcement as well as focusing on how as a community, we can document instances of police harassment and abuse. We believe we can use data compiled from complaints to pinpoint areas where police harassment is most likely to occur, and help identify ‘problem 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.

Feeding the Movement

H.O.P.E would like to once again thank Just for Lunch who have just hired one of our members! We would also like to 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.

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

“This room is packed like the 50 Poplar” Cynthia Bailey, organizer with the Memphis Bus Riders Union quipped on the microphone Tuesday to a packed room of over 150  bus riders and drivers who attended MATA’s first public hearing on route cuts and changes to come this August.

The evening was marked with many heartfelt comments from riders whose livelihood will be diminished by job loss, increased travel time, loss of access to grocery stores, health services and other necessities. Some crammed together in the doorways of the room to listen to the truth being told. “I have been on a bus when people have called in and said, this bus is running late. And you know what their manager says? Don’t even worry about coming in. That’s sad. There is no way we can get ahead if we do not have a quality public transportation system,” said Sheila Williams. Shouts of “tell it” and “amen” could be heard through the applause. City budget cuts to public transportation have increased at a time when MATA is already dealing with a shortfall in federal funding and a 3.6% increase in ridership.

Memphis Bus Riders Union brought a message that directed the frustration straight to the source. “I’ve been up there on the 5th floor” said MBRU organizer Georgia “Mother” King, speaking of the City Council’s recent budget hearings that left MATA with a 17% cut in city funding. “I’ve seen what goes on up there in committee. I know y’all (MATA) are broke. If the city can give these multibillion dollar corporations all these tax incentives then we know where the money is. We’ve got to fight for it”. MBRU continues to argue that MATA needs a dedicated revenue stream for adequate funding in every budget cycle. Mayor Wharton has broken his campaign promise to make public transportation a priority by willfully balancing the city budget on the backs of low income residents.

Join MBRU Thursday July 25th at MATA’s second public hearing is 5:30 pm to 7;30 pm at the Airways Transit Center 3033 Airways blvd. Then join us Saturday July 27 from 12 pm to 2 pm at the Memphis Center for Independent Living 1633 Madison Ave. for a work and strategy meeting. We are organizing a public forum of our own to be held on August 3rd. Please call 901.205.9737 or email MemphisBRU@gmail.com to find out how you can get involved!

Press coverage from the hearing:

MATA Proposes Layoffs, Route Cuts And Changes WREG

MATA Riders Protest Proposed Route Changes WMC TV

MATA Looking at Cutting Several Routes FOX 13

MATA Facing Layoffs, Route Changes from Budget Cuts ABC 24

ACTION ALERT!!
Please attend the Memphis Bus Rider’s Union meeting this Saturday, July 20th, 12 – 2 pm at  Memphis Center For Independent Living, 1633 Madison Ave (#2 bus route). Help restore an additional $270,000 MATA’s drastically cut budget.

(Mayor A C Wharton defending corporate welfare)

This June, the Memphis Bus Rider’s Union (MBRU) joined hundreds of firefighters, sanitation workers, police and other public employees in what was described by budget committee chairman Jim Strickland as the “worst budget season” he’s ever experienced: weeks of heated committee meetings and two all-day budget hearings where dozens of bus riders stayed late into the night (many missing the last line out at 11:15 pm) in order to speak on the budget before it was finalized.

A decision by the council chairman Edmund Ford, Jr. to hear all budget amendments prior to public comment forced the packed chambers to wait hours into the night, only to speak after all the important amendments had been made and voted on. Nevertheless MBRU’s determination to see it through was unwavering. Thanks to the work of our members and supporters doing outreach, contacting city council members, and recruiting and mobilizing riders, community organizers and local leaders, we were able to restore $606,000 of the $2.4 million slash to MATA’s budget. This money allows MATA to continue providing some services that where proposed to be cut, including :

• Weekday night service after 9:15 pm (annual cost $179,000)
• Service on Christmas, Thanksgiving, Independence Day & Labor Day ($37,000)
• Route #5-Central ($82,00)
• Saturday night service after 7:15 pm ($44,000)
• Sunday night service after 5:15 pm ($27,000)

Many bus riders will be able to keep their night jobs because of these efforts. But many will still lose access due to reduction in service areas and times.

There is still an opportunity to restore an additional $270,000 to MATA from the operations budget. This money was lined up in Mayor Wharton’s budget proposal for the Economic Development Growth Engine (E.D.G.E), however E.D.G.E. will not need the money this year and thus, it could go into reserves. On the other hand, if the Council diverts the funds to MATA, bus riders would immediately experience less reduction in desperately needed service. MATA officials have prepared a strategy for this additional funding if it passes, applying the $270,000 directly to high-traffic, fixed-route trips:

• 6 additional trips for the 20 Bellevue
• 5 additional trips for the 39 South Third
• 4 additional trips for the 42 Crosstown (NEW ROUTE)
• 4 additional trips for the 53 Summer

Memphis Bus Riders Union will continue to push for this operations budget money to be allocated to the underfunded operations budget of MATA. We meet will meet this Saturday, July 20th, 12-2 pm at the Memphis Center For Independent Living, 1633 Madison Ave. (across from the Cash Saver), which can be reached by the #2 bus. We have plenty of work to do; putting stamps on letters, phone banking, making t-shirts and fans; forging our collective dream in revolutionary fire and hammering out tangible victories. Join the Memphis Bus Riders Union and STOP the destruction of public transportation!

For more information on MBRU and how you can get involved, call (901) 210-3768 and join our email list by sending a request to memphisBRU@gmail.com

Recently Restored Homeless Services Funding at Risk Again

Your help is needed now.  Please call County Commissioners James Harvey and Justin Ford at (901) 222-1000 today and urge them NOT to balance the budget on the backs of the poor.  Support the Community Alliance for the Homeless

Once again, funding for desperately needed homeless services is on the chopping block, and H.O.P.E. is calling on you for assistance!

Last year H.O.P.E. won historic funding in the county budget for homeless services.  Those dollars were critical in the implementation of the “100 Homes” program, which has been successful in housing the most vulnerable in our community- those who are projected to die in the next two years without intervening housing and supportive services. This was a real victory that would not have been possible without your support, and we were happy to put that battle behind us. However, because the Shelby County Commission has not passed a new tax rate, this newly restored funding for wraparound services for the “100 homes” campaign is once again at risk.

“Ending homelessness can only happen when federal, state and local government align with non-profits, philanthropies under the umbrella of a comprehensive strategic plan such as this,” said Katie Kitchin, executive director of the Community Alliance for the Homelessness. “Homelessness is already down 13 percent in our community, and with these two projects, we can expect even further reductions to come.”

Please call County Commissioners. James Harvey and Justin Ford at (901) 222-1000 and urge them NOT to balance the budget on the backs of the poor and to support the Community Alliance for the Homeless.

Also, please join H.O.P.E. this Wednesday, July 17, 8:30 AM at County Commission to support our members who will be speaking out to ensure this funding that has already helped so many in our community doesn’t get cut!

Read more about what this funding means in the Tri-State Defender.

For more informations, please call Paul Garner, Organizing Coordinator for H.O.P.E. at 901.725.4990

We are proud to announce that the 2013 Gandhi-King Conference will take place October 18-19 at BRIDGES in Memphis, TN. The conference will feature a Youth Conference on Friday specially tailored for middle and high school aged youth.

The Community Conference will take place Saturday and is open to all community members of all ages who are interested in building, collaborating and learning together to make a positive change in our community. Both conferences will feature speakers, workshops, presentations, and opportunities for action.

Keep up to date as we release more information at www.GandhiKingConference.org

Interested in presenting at the conference?

We are actively seeking individuals and organizations interested in presenting a workshop or other opportunity at the conference. Come and share your skills, perspective and knowledge. Please review the Call for Proposals page here. Submissions are due by September 1, 2013.