Tri-State Social Forum

Transcription

1 Tri-State Social Forum March 24, 2007 Philadelphia, PA The Tri-State Social Forum was called because our communities are facing hard times. Those who gathered at the Forum are community-based organizations from Pennsylvania, Deleware and New Jersey. We organize in working class communities of color struggling for our human right to live with fullness and dignity. Our organizations work on a broad spectrum of issues addressing the unjust conditions that poor and working class people in the US face, from community displacement, to forced migration and prisoner s rights. We are based in the grassroots and are building the leadership of our communities to struggle for change. In organizing against these injustices, we face conditions, which isolate our communities and fragment our struggles. Local organizations from the region called for a gathering of community-based groups. The Tri-State Social Forum was an opportunity for grassroots groups and their members from the region to come together in order to share, reflect, and engage in open discussion and dialogue. Through this first gathering, our intention was to create the space for people from the grassroots who are in struggle to work towards change together. In the face of that we also recognized that this struggle is everywhere, and we lit a candle to remember all those that could not be at the table. We created a program for the day based on the popular education model of to see, to judge, and to act. We came to see the similar conditions we all face, to judge together these situations, and to leave acting in solidarity for the dignity of all our communities. continued inside

2 continued from cover To See Small groups broke out in the morning to focus on what conditions different communities face, how these conditions affect each group s ability to meet their organizing goals, what has been helpful in overcoming these barriers, and finding common themes throughout the different types of organizing work. Many of the groups expressed struggles over housing, worker salaries and wages, lack of quality education, immigration, the police, and language barriers. As groups work to organize the communities, they come up against people s fears, lack of belief in themselves, or people who expected others to solve the problems. In addition, there are the organizational problems of lacking capacity, not being able to take advantage of resources, outsiders trying to make decisions for the community, and addressing individual emergencies as the community tries to organize. Groups also recognized that they are often pitted against one another. It is important to understand who our common struggles. To Judge With these struggles groups articulated that they must have control over their own organizations meaning they must decide where resources go, how volunteers should be directed, identifying community leaders, and working together with other grassroots organizations. Space to build self-esteem and creativity need to be created with opportunities to educate each other and gain more information. To Act Once again the small groups broke out to come up with concrete recommendations for how groups can work together. All the groups realized that unity is our strength. There were three main areas with consensus because these are the areas where groups had the biggest struggles: solidarity, communications, and capacity building. To build solidarity, groups recognized the need to work together. If one group is facing a problem, the others can mobilize to support them. To do this there needs to be a means of communication. Suggestions for a listserv, website, phone tree, bulletin, and more future gatherings were made to keep in touch. To fully utilize these resources organizations need to build capacity. Joint trainings to build leadership and to create a consciousness among the community to identify the common enemy and goals can serve that purpose. Through all these endeavors, the dialogue that began at the TSSF will continue. The working group that organized the social forum was asked to take on the resolutions of creating a newsletter, putting together a listserv, creating a website, and facilitate future meetings once or twice a year. Conclusion final plenary For many present at the Social Forum, this was a first. It was the first time we had gathered with other community-based organizations. While we may be up against many obstacles, it was inspiring to be able to come together to engage with one another on how to overcome them. We share many similar stories, and we have made a tremendous start. From there we will continue to struggle together until there is justice for all of our communities.

3 Participating Organizations CATA - Farmworker Support Committee CommunitY Organizing Collective Community Leadership Institute Coordinating Committee of Immigrant Workers of NJ Day Laborers & Immigrant Workers Support Committee Grupo Motivos Kensington Welfare Rights Union / PPHERC Kaolin Workers Union Lazos America Unida Mexicanos Juntos Philadelphia Student Union Taxi Workers Alliance - PA Voices Without Borders CATA - Farmworker Support Committee CATA - The Farmworkers Support Committee - was founded by migrant farmworkers in southern New Jersey in We are a membership organization open to all farmworkers and members of the community who support our work. The Board of Directors, composed of farmworkers from our membership, evaluates our programs and determines the priorities for their development. CATA is a migrant farmworker organization that is governed by and comprised of farmworkers who are actively engaged in the struggle for better working and living conditions. CATA s mission is to empower and educate farmworkers through leadership development and capacity building so that they are able to make informed decisions regarding the best course of action for their interests. CATA has advanced based on the belief that only through organizing and collective action can they achieve justice and fullness of life. CATA s programs are based on the Popular Education Methodology, which actively involve farmworkers in the process of social change. This means that the analysis and proposed actions come directly from the farmworkers. Also inherent in CATA s mission is the importance of analyzing the farmworker reality in terms of the food system. In doing so, projects and campaigns are undertaken with the goal of achieving meaningful and lasting improvements rather than mere reforms to a legal and economic system that is structurally biased against them. CATA s organizing work is based on the popular education methodology. This is a methodology that focuses on providing the community with the opportunity to analyze their reality based on their own experiences and on enabling them to make decisions on how to go about seeking change. Therefore, our work revolves around educating workers and their families on different issues that are important to them and in developing farmworker leadership within the community. Priorities established by CATA s Assembly in 2005: Migrant and Immigrant Rights; Workers Rights; Environmental Justice; Housing. CommunitY Organizing Collective The CommunitY Organizing Collective (CYOC) was founded in May of Our mission is to develop the leadership abilities of community members to organize their own working class communities of color to fight for self-determination and social justice. CYOC seeks to promote workers rights and education awareness among recent Chinese immigrants. CYOC investigates conditions through one on one visits, building relationships of trust with workers in the community and using popular education to facilitate collective discussions with and develop leadership capacities of Chinese workers. Community Leadership Institute CLI was formed to provide leadership abilities for people within the community. It does that through campaigns and a training program. The primary campaign is around eminent domain abuse. CLI is moving to look more broadly at displacement and community preservation by focusing on the whole effort by the city at real estate reform specifically the tax reform because our sense is that it will be the new strategy for displacement. Upcoming Events: We will be having forums around city in conjunction with a coalition called the Community Preservation Network. The forums will be in West, South, and North Philadelphia, and we hope to have the first one in June.

4 Grupo Motivos Grupo Motivos operates out of Norris Square Neighborhood Project, and is a group of women loosely formed over 15 years ago as an opportunity to share stories, crafts, and their Puerto Rican culture and it has developed into a vital network of support. Through community gardening and celebrating Puerto Rican culture, the group brings strength to Norris Square s fight for revitalization. The women have also combined their love for cooking and their birthplace of Puerto Rico into a catering business that serves the Philadelphia area. Grupo Motivos seeks to expand the cultural, social, educational, and economic opportunities it offers its members and the community through its programming at Bumbulae Sea Ya, the future home of a women s educational center and cultural center. NSNP and Grupo Motivos are renovating a building that will contain the women s center and Puerto Rican style café here in Kensington. JUNTOS JUNTOS is a community center for recent Mexican and Latin American immigrants in the South Philadelphia area. At this center, they offer basic English classes for adults, cultural events, host a Mexican dance troupe, and generally seek to meet the needs of the community. They are particularly interested in students who would be willing to teach or assist ESL classes or work as homework aids with kids after school. In an effort to be sensitive to the community s needs, JUNTOS usually asks for at least a semester-long commitment from volunteers so that students and community members can build trust and form relationships. Kaolin Workers Union The Kaolin Workers Union was founded in 1993 when the workers at Kaolin Mushroom Farms united to struggle for respect, better working conditions, and better pay. We are the only mushrooms workers union in the Mushroom Capitol of the World, Kennett Square, PA. We are led by elected leaders from among the workers at the company. Kensington Welfare Rights Union The Kensington Welfare Rights Union (KWRU) is a multiracial organization of, by and for poor and homeless people. We believe that we have a right to thrive - not just barely survive. KWRU is dedicated to organizing of welfare recipients, the homeless, the working poor and all people concerned with economic justice. KWRU was started by a group of poor women in April We came together out of necessity - our communities and the survival of our families were threatened by Governor Casey s welfare cuts and we came together to do three basic things: 1. Speak to the issues which directly affect our lives: poor people have been excluded from debates, such as welfare reform, which have huge impact on our families. We are committed to tell the stories of what is really happening in our lives and in poor communities across the country. 2. Help each other, and all poor people get what we need to survive: We are committed to seeing that all people have the basic necessities of life - food, clothing, utilities, medical care and housing. 3. Organize a broad-based movement to end poverty... We struggle everyday to teach and organize poor people, and all those concerned with economic justice, to create fundamental social change.

5 Lazos America Unida Lazos America Unida is a non-profit organization whose mission is to integrate the Hispanic Community into three sectors: Public, Private and Civic by means of community projects based in personal and collective prosperity. In May of 2003, a group of people met together to seek out ways of supporting the development of our community. This desire gave us the opportunity to meet other people, who in spite of notable cultural differences, shared the same interests as us, providing the beginning of a series of projects in which all of us could use what we have learned in our lives. Little by little, these connections, lazos, grew and in May of 2005, we adopted the name, Lazos America Unida, with the goal of taking this message to all who are around us. Lazos America Unida is creating spaces to encounter and exchange knowledge between members of our community for collective development: By creating educational workshops, creative workshops, mutual support and cooperation. We send a message that diversity, accompanied by respect and understanding, can create a great community change. We promote volunteer community participation, in each of the places where we live and we give support to our communities of origin by expanding our local projects to bi-national projects. Philadelphia Student Union The Philadelphia Student Union is an organization that was founded by young people in Our goals are to help young people become lifelong community leaders and to organize students to transform their schools now. We believe that if we are to have a more just and equitable society, we must have a school system that gives all young people a high quality education and helps students become the leaders and critical thinkers that our world needs. If this kind of change is to happen in our schools, students must be the key leaders. The Student Union has recently gone through a leadership transition and a restructuring process. Nijmie Dzurinko is the new director. The organization currently has active chapters at West Philadelphia, Sayre, and Masterman High Schools and is planning to open additional chapters in the fall. Citywide meetings for students from any school are held every Saturday at 12:30 at 4601 Market St. Students in the West Philadelphia High School chapter are engaged in a long term campaign to break their school into four small schools that are designed and controlled by the community. West has been scheduled to get a new building. Students want to use this as an opportunity to completely reinvent the school. The activity was very interesting and educational and allowed me to meet new and talented people. More than anything, I realized the need to continue struggling to create spaces where we can prepare ourselves so that we can support the development of our community in a better way. Lazos America Unida Students at Sayre are now starting a campaign to improve the quality of education in their school. They have been organizing classroom takeovers, where students run workshops on educational justice for classes with substitute teachers. The Student Union was glad to have the opportunity to participate in the Tri- State Social Forum. It was a good opportunity to meet and share information with different people fighting for justice in our region. We hope to do more of this. For more information contact us at info@phillystudentunion.org.

6 Voices Without Borders Voices Without Borders, Inc. is a faith-based, grassroots 501 (c) (3) not-forprofit organization committed to institutional change and social justice to improve the quality of life of Latinos in Delaware through building relationships by community organizing, advocacy, and education. Created in 2000, Voices Without Borders, Inc grew out of a listening campaign by the Diocese of Wilmington. As a community organizing and grass roots organization, it relies mainly in its volunteers and a committed Board of Director to be successful. There are many areas where the organization has been active. It has asked for a comprehensive immigration reform contacting state and federal legislators, has worked, and educated the community in areas such as education, law enforcement, health, and housing among others. Taxi Workers Alliance Founded in 2005 by taxi drivers, the Taxi Workers Alliance of PA is the largest Taxi Driver Union in the city of Philadelphia. TWA-PA is a multi-ethnic membership based organization and its mission is to transform the taxi industry, and improve working conditions through organizing, political and media advocacy, litigation, direct legal services and access to health care. TWA-PA s current campaigns includes creating legislation to include taxi drivers into the crime codes in order to deter assaults and robberies, adding mandatory workers compensation coverage for the taxi workers, and inputting an oversight agency to regulate the Philadelphia Parking Authority. Our short term campaigns includes our current fight against the GPS tracking system and the forced credit card system that takes up to 10% of drivers wages and forcing them to do transactions with one company only. Lastly, we are hoping to create a health plan for drivers similar to the one that was recently instituted in San Francisco. Because of our work, people are not so afraid. They are able to say what their rights are, they are able to defend themselves. Honestly, I come with this hope and this belief that all these organizations working together we can work for a just and fair immigration reform. Maria, CATA

7 Efforts like this are really critical because we are so focused on our own issues and communities, and it s important to see how we can work together. Bahiya, CLI Tri-State Social Forum coordinating organizations: CATA, CYOC and the Urban Rural Mission. URM is an ecumenical movement of people in struggle, organizing for social transformation by grounding their justice in spirituality, enabling communities to organize for empowerment and to resist unjust structures. Check out the TSSF website, or mail information about your organization or upcoming events so that the working group can share it with all the TSSF participants. priyankboi@yahoo.com Mail: Tri-State Social Forum c/o CYOC 1213 Race St. Philadelphia, PA Call:

8 Tri-State Social Forum c/o CYOC 1213 Race St. Philadelphia, PA March 24, Philadelphia, PA Tri-State Social Forum