Community Forum for Economic Justice

Time 2020-09-25 07:02:01

Web Name: Community Forum for Economic Justice

WebSite: http://communityforum.typepad.com

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Join Community Action for Education’s monthly virtual meeting for a discussion about the use of police/school resource officers (SROs) in SBCSC schools. During the past month, growing numbers of the public are demanding transformative changes for public safety institutions, specifically focusing on the role of police. Educational advocates have raised similar questions about school safety.The panel will include:Patrol Division Chief Eric Crittendon, a co-founder and past president of the Indiana School Resource Officers AssociationCAFÉ activists Trina Robinson, Regina Williams-Preston, and Linda WolfsonLearn about the role of SROs, review their practices in South Bend schools, and discuss alternative options that use preventative and restorative approaches rather than responsive punishment. Wednesday, August 5, 2020 at 6:00 PMCommunity participation is encouraged in our virtual panel discussion and Q Avia Zoom or live on CAFE s Facebook Page. PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD: The VITA program is now available to do free tax preparation. Because of the coronavirus, it is being conducted without face-to-face interaction. The program, sponsored by Goodwill Industries of Michiana, is open to taxpayers whose income is $66,000 or less. It will run through the end of the tax season, July 15. Anyone interested in making an appointment should call Goodwill at 574-472-7321. An Invitation to View and Discuss a prize-winning documentary on Public EducationThe Community Forum for Economic Justice, Community Action for Education, Michiana Advocates for Public Education, South Bend Chapter of Indiana Black Expo, Black Lives Matter South Bend, and The Civil Rights Heritage Center will sponsor an online showing of Backpack Full of Cash during the weekend of April 17 - 19.Narrated by Matt Damon, this feature-length documentary explores the growing privatization of public schools and the resulting impact on America’s most vulnerable children. Filmed in Philadelphia, New Orleans, Nashville and other cities, BACKPACK FULL OF CASH takes viewers through the tumultuous 2013-14 school year, exposing the world of corporate-driven education “reform” where public education -- starved of resources -- hangs in the balance. See the trailer for this documentary at www.backpackfullofcash.com.Based on recent developments, we feel there is a consistent effort to destroy traditional public education in South Bend, rather than to provide an alternative. And so we want to continue to learn about and to discuss the education reform” movement.Due to COVID-19 Stay-at-Home restrictions, we will make the video available online for a limited time (Friday, April 17 - Sunday, April 19) to those who register in advance. On Sunday, April 19, 2020, we will discuss the film at a virtual meeting that will begin at 3 P.M. You must use this form to register in order to receive links to the events. From Chris Cobb, from the Open Space and Agricultural Alliance:I am writing with important news about stopping the IEC. After 21 months of delay, the Economic Development Division has finally released the “Indiana Enterprise Center Area Master Plan” for public comment. It’s been 21 months since the general public last had a chance to weigh in on the IEC, so now we need to make our voices heard!! We can get this plan sent back to the drawing board, if we clearly demand responsible community development in St. Joseph County that protects farms, rural communities, and open space!This e-mail contains detailed information about what’s in the plan and how to submit comments, but there are also several important events next week where we need to turn out strongly, so I am going to give the information about those events first. Then the rest of the e-mail will address the plan.Key Turnout Event!Tuesday, March 10: 6:00 p.m. County Council meeting. Members of the New Carlisle Town Council will be bringing their resolution for a moratorium on IEC development to the County Council to urge the County Council to act on their resolution. We need to turn out to this meeting to show our support for the resolution and for the Town Council for listening to their constituents and taking a stand against the IEC. OSAA will also be urging the County Council to take action on our resolutions that the Council to take oversight of Redevelopment Commission spending and protect farmland by initiating a new Comprehensive Land Use planning process. If you can be there Tuesday night, please come! This is a great opportunity to make sure the Council knows that we expect them to take action!Turnout EventTuesday, March 10, 9:00 a.m. Redevelopment Commission meeting. The first check point for the IEC management plan will be a vote by the Redevelopment Commission. They won’t be voting until after the public comment period on the plan ends on April 10, but OSAA will begin reaching out to the Redevelopment Commission about the problems with the IEC plan at their meeting next week. If you don’t have work obligations, please consider joining/supporting other OSAA members in addressing the Commission. Full disclosure: this is likely to be a long meeting—it is listed as 9 a.m. - noon—and we may not get to speak until the end, so this may be an all-morning commitment.Commissioner Candidate DebateMonday, March 9, 6:00-7:30 p.m. Indiana University South Bend, 1001 Wiekamp Hall. Sponsored by the League of Women Voters, this debate will feature candidates running for the District 2 Board of Commissioners seat. This is an opportunity to hear the positions of candidates Jordon Budreau (R), Oliver Davis (D), Derek Dieter (R) on the IEC and other county issues. (As of this writing, Dave Thomas (D), who is running for reelection, is not scheduled to be present.) By attending the debate, we show the candidates we are paying attention to what they say. OSAA is a bi-partisan organization, so we don’t endorse candidates, but we will publicize the candidates’ statements (and, where applicable, their records) on development issues.Responding to the “Indiana Enterprise Center Master Plan”You can find the plan on the St. Joseph County Website at https://www.sjcindiana.com/1798/IEC-Area-Management-Plan-DraftOn that page, you can find links to each of the plan’s chapters, and there are links to forms that you can use to submit comments on every chapter. Please submit comments! The more comments they receive, the harder it will be for them to hide the fact that people don’t want an industrial megaplex. Because Bill Schalliol and the consultant team will do everything they can to spin the result of the comments to make them look better than they are, we recommend the following strategies to keep them honest:1) Save your comments in a file of your own and pass them on to County elected officials. The comments are being handled by consultants—The Antero Group, to be precise—and the current plan appears to be for them to “collate” the comments, so if a lot of people make similar comments, they may just record them as a single comment. We’re going to be pushing for full transparency – every comment received should be made public – but until we get a commitment to full transparency, we recommend that you e-mail copies of your comments to the Board of Commissioners (sjccom@sjcindiana.com) and the County Council (cocouncil@sjcindiana.com). That will ensure that all the comments are in the public record.2) Take control of the conversation. The comment form on each chapter includes 3-4 questions. The last question in each set is an open response, but the earlier questions all ask for very specific types of information that the IEC consultants are looking for. We recommend that you use the open response question to give your real responses, in your own words, rather than letting them control the conversation with narrow questions.3) Don’t limit your comments to fit in the small boxes. Although the comment form only shows a small space, there is actually plenty of room for as long a comment as you would like – you just can’t see it all in the window. You can enlarge the window by pulling on the triangular lines in the lower right corner of the box.4) Don’t get overwhelmed by the size of the document: keep your comments focused on the crucial issues of the size and location of the IEC. Read as much of the document as you like—I’ve read the whole thing twice—but realize that most of what’s there is just PR: it’s all is designed to try to make the same big, bad plan Bill Schalliol has been pushing all along look new and better. You can find everything you need to know on page 7, where the plan states: “At 7,200 acres, the IEC is the ninth largest industrial megasite in the US.” The approved Comprehensive County land use plan limits industrial development in the New Carlisle area to 2,000 acres, and there’s already 2,000 acres of industrial development there. The county should be putting industrial development where it will actually benefit the community: on reclaimed brownfields in South Bend that will bring jobs where they are needed! That’s the bottom line. Everything else in the plan is just distraction to get us arguing about details instead of pointing out the fundamental problem with the IEC plan.If we keep our focus on the real issue here and state our concerns plainly and strongly, they won’t be able to hide from our comments, and the real consequences of the IEC will be visible for everyone to see! Let’s seize the opportunity to speak out and get our county leaders to change course by rejecting the IEC!Thank you for all you do!Chris CobbP.S. More Details about What’s in the Plan Continue reading "IEC Events and Information" Earlier this month, four South Bend women traveled to Indianapolis to share their organizing experiences at this year’s Prosperity Indiana Summit, “20/20 Seeing Opportunity through the Lens of Values.” The Summit is designed to push the boundaries of traditional community and economic development thinking and practice. Prosperity Indiana’s mission is to build a better future for our communities by providing advocacy, leveraging resources, and engaging an impowered network of members to create inclusive opportunities that build assets and improve lives.Their session, “REAL. CHANGE. NOW!” featured presentations byRegina Williams-Preston, President of the Community Forum for Economic JusticeStacey Odom, CEO of the nonprofit, Odom Community DevelopersConsuella Hopkins, Redeveloper, CEO and Founder of Swella’s VilleJen Betz, A leader of the Open Spaces and Agricultural Alliance of St. Joseph CountyInclusive economic development is not just about building buildings or businesses; it s about building people. It’s about making change people can see, touch, and feel right now. Benefit from lessons learned in South Bend – recognize development anywhere impacts residents everywhere. Only through collaborative action among policymakers, business owners, and residents will we achieve the goal of “Development Without Displacement.” Hear strategies for increasing engagement and codifying reflective practice. Learn to use stories as data to identify and fill policy gaps. Apply these lessons to the current debate on a mega-industrial complex threatening thousands of acres of some of the best farmland in Indiana.These dynamic and dedicated community activists will repeat their presentations at the March public meeting of the Community Forum for Economic Justice. When: Tuesday, March 17, 2020 ---- 6 pm to 8 pm Where: Civil Rights Heritage Center (1040 W Washington St. South Bend) You are invited to join us. Promoting a Just Wage Economy:What makes any given wage just or unjust? Concerned that wages for most Americans have been flat for four decades?Worried that economic inequality between the rich and everyone else is at its most extreme since the 1920s?Wondering how to improve people s pay in an era of rising housing, health care, and higher education costs?A group of scholars and students from the Higgins Labor Program at the University of Notre Dame has developed a Just Wage Framework Online Tool to probe this central question. Designed to engage stakeholders from across the spectrum -- including employers, workers, unions, policymakers, community organizations, and faith groups -- the Just Wage Initiative fosters discernment, dialogue, and deeds in promotion of a fairer, more inclusive economy. Join us to learn about our new Just Wage Tool and participate in this urgent conversation about how to tackle poverty and income inequality. Tuesday, February 11, 2020 ---- 6 PMCivil Rights Heritage Center1040 W Washington St., South Bend, IN 46601 Sponsor: Community Forum for Economic Justice Wednesday, January 29, 2020 at 6 pmCivil Rights Heritage Center1040 W. Washington St., South Bend Topic: Understanding the Consent DecreeWhy it s still relevant in 2020 In February, 1981 the South Bend Community School Corporation was placed under a court-ordered consent decree by the United States Justice Department. The decree is part of a judgement by the U.S. Supreme Court called the Brown v. the Board of Education. This ruling strikes down the practice of separate but equal education of minorities and declares it unlawful. A discussion will follow presentations from:Dr. Darryl Heller, the Director of Civil Rights Heritage Center, will provide a historical perspective,David Albert, the attorney involved in legal efforts to integrate the South Bend’s schools in the 1980s, andTrina Robinson, former NAACP President and former NAACP Education Chair.*************************** Leaders of the South Bend Community School Corporation are currently negotiating an agreement with Purdue Polytechnic High School that would allow a charter school to operate within South Bend’s Washington High School. There currently are two Purdue Polytechnic High Schools in Indianapolis, one that opened in 2017 in the downtown area and one that opened in 2019 in the Broad Ripple area north of the City. Neither has been in operation long enough to offer documented evidence of successful outcomes. Although Superintendent Todd Cummings and Board of Trustees President John Anella enthusiastically support the new Charter High School, many members of the South Bend community have serious concerns about the potential impact on our public-school system from this collaboration. A public meeting on Saturday, January 11, will provide an opportunity to discuss these concerns. We have invited a group of parents and education activists from Indianapolis to join us in the discussion and to share their experiences with charter schools. Leading that delegation will be Dountonia S. Batts, the former Executive Director/Organizer of the Indianapolis Public Schools Community Coalition Inc. She is a board member of the Network for Public Education, a board member of the Indiana Coalition for Public Education, an Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools City Table Leader, and a member of the Indiana Coalition for Youth Justice. You are invited to participate in this important discussion.Saturday, January 11, from 1 to 3 pmCivil Rights Heritage Center, 1040 W Washington St. South Bend The event is sponsored byCommunity Forum for Economic JusticeCAFÉ (Community Action for Education)MAPE (Michiana Advocates for Public Education)SBCSC STUDENTS: WHERE HAVE THEY GONE?WHY ARE THEY LEAVING? South Bend schools’ enrollment is down nearly 700 students this year, and it’s predicted that an additional 500 will leave by the Fall of 2020. The questions of where these students have gone and why they’re leaving the South Bend Community School Corporation are the topic for discussion at a public forum on Wednesday, October 30, 2019, from 6 - 7:30 pm, at the Civil Rights Heritage Center, 1040 W Washington St. SB The event is sponsored by CAFÉ (Community Action for Education).Panel members providing background for the discussion include: Superintendent Dr. Todd Cummings, SBCSC. Rep. Ryan Dvorak, Indiana House of Representative, District 8 Don Wheeler, Michiana Advocates for Public Education Trina Robinson, President of CAFÉ Regina Williams Preston, South Bend Common Council, District 2 DEVELOPMENT WITHOUT DISPLACEMENT!BOTH A CITY ISSUE AND A COUNTY ISSUENext meeting of the Community Forum for Economic Justice:Tuesday, September 17, 6 - 8 pmLaSalle Branch Library, 3232 Ardmore Trail, SBFeaturing community activists from South Bend St. Joseph County, who will share their stories of protecting neighborhoods against any negative effects of economic development. Each will provide a short summary of their efforts, followed by a discussion of why we need development without the destruction of people’s homes or their quality of life.Chris Cobb: Protecting farmland and the environment in New CarlisleKathy Enders: Keeping the South Shore out of the Ardmore neighborhoodTom Zymslo: When a farming area is transformed into an industrial hubJasmine Brown: Revitalize West Side neighborhoods for the people who live there

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