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Educating and mobiliizing for peace, human dignity, and social, racial and economic justice.
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Linda Hamilton
Co-Chair
Michael Williams
Co-chair
Steve Morozumi
Secretary
Carol Van Houten
Treasurer
Remie Calalang
Member at large
Michael Hames-Garcia
Member at large
Contact Us Here
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Call Your Reps to Stop The War!
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In late April or early May Congress will vote on the "supplemental," the funding for the expansion of the Afghanistan war.
Call our elected representatives to tell them to vote against the supplemental. Do it this week!
Rep. Peter Defazio:
202-225-6416 (DC)
541-465-6458
Sen. Jeff Merkley
202-24-3753 (DC)
541-465-6750
Sen. Ron Wyden
202-224-5244 (DC)
541-431-0229
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Interested in having our empty bowls exhibit or one of
our three photo exhibits displayed in your school, workplace, business, congregation,
or anywhere in Lane County? We are booking through 2010 for
all exhibits. Contact AmeriCorps Member Juliane Collaço
if you are interested in hosting one (or more) of them!
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Want to fight for social
justice from behind the scenes? The CALC office needs your help! From
taking photos at CALC events to thanking donors to tidying up the office, your volunteer help could make a world of difference. Fill out and send in a
volunteer form, or
contact Russell Melia at calcoffice@gmail.com for more information!
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Greetings!
The Board of Directors i  s pleased to
announce the hiring of Co-Director of Administration and Development,
Kori Rodley Irons and Co-Director of Programs and Development, Jorge
Navarro. Kori brings more than 20 years of experience working in
non-profit
management and grant writing and Jorge brings more than 35 years of
experience in community activism. Both Kori and Jorge have long
histories
of commitment to social, racial and economic justice.  In keeping with the mission of CALC,
the hiring of two co-directors broadens outreach into our increasingly
diverse community. Navarro recently served as Executive Director
at Centro Latino Americano and is well known as the previous
owner/manager
of Café Navarro--a Eugene restaurant that closed in 2001. He has also
worked as volunteer and organizer for a variety of community efforts.
Irons has worked in nonprofit management for various organizations as
both staff and volunteer and she has been involved with organizing,
activism and outreach in the GLBTQ community. |
PR: Where Are Your Taxes Going?
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 Congress approved a FY
2010 budget of $687 billion for the Pentagon, nuclear weapons and war,
and it's expected to increase by another 25% over the next 10 years. Taxpayers in Oregon
are paying $8.4 billion for Iraq and Afghanistan
war spending since 2001. This $8.4 billion would provide for one year
either health care for 2,377,929 children or Renewable Electricity for
7,920,985 Homes ( www.nationalpriorities.org).
On April 15, Tax Day, CALC, Eugene Springfield
Solidarity Network and allies will be gathering at the downtown Post
Office from 11-3 p.m, highlighted by a noon rally with music and
speakers. Our message: instead of paying for endless war, Congress
should fund a New Deal-like, large-scale job creation effort.
Congress will soon be taking up a $33 billion
funding bill for the Afghanistan war. April 12-16, please contact Rep. DeFazio and
Senators Wyden and Merkley and urge them to vote against further war
spending.
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Reinvigorating Back to Back
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First, it's been a while....Everyone here at CALC knows how important
Back to Back is. Because of the work that Sally Sheklow, Mo Young, tova stabin,
Michael Carrigan, and many others have put into B2B, it continues to be
a resource for our community. In 2009 B2B accomplished a great deal: the Shared Communities/Mixed Identities photo exhibit, anti-bullying
organizing, the Queer Youth Empty Bowls Project, monitoring hate activity, and much,
much more. We have 400 or so community members who have signed up around
Anti Hate work...this is an untapped resource. It has been over a year
since the Steering Committee has met. Its been too long! In the next
couple of weeks Jorge will be contacting current and not-so-current
Steering Committee members and folks who signed on to the anti-hate
campaign to touch base and reinvigorate Back to Back. The world is what
we make it.
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Getting Accurate Facts to Youth
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 It costs us taxpayers $1.6
billion just for the recruiting and advertising budget of the military. Currently there are about 8,298 Army recruiters, 5,034 Navy, about 3,000
Marine and about 1,308 Air Force recruiters, plus a number of National
Guard recruiters trying to persuade youth to enlist in the military. All of which raises the question: if enlisting in the military is as
glorious as the military ads, why do they need so many recruiters and
so much money for ads?
As we were recently reminded,
a few recruiters are accused of doing something in addition: sexually
abusing females. Despite repeated reports, such as the recent
accusation from a woman in Albany, Oregon, and despite repeated vows
from the military to stop sexual abuse, it continues. When we
talk with young women at local high schools, the Committee for
Countering
Military Recruitment shares these facts. Getting these and other
accurate facts to students considering enlisting is our mission, done
on a small budget and with lots of volunteers.
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SAfER Chavez Event a Smashing Success!
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Photo by Guy Weese
 | SAfER activists and our partners have been very productive! We're basking in the success of our 8th
annual Cesar Chavez celebration, which showcased Springfield
youth and their understanding of Chavez' legacy. We provided two
workshops for
the Human Rights Summit, Shelter is a Human Right, presented by
the
Springfield Shelter Rights Alliance (SSRA), and Advancing
Respect for LGBTQ Rights in Our
Schools, presented by the Safe Schools Working Group (SSWG). Both
the SSRA and the SSWG are formations
organized and led by Springfield Alliance for Equality and Respect,
CALC's
program in Springfield. The SSWG also met recently with
Superintendent Nancy Golden and other school administrators. Now
we're helping plan and looking forward to
the Latino Family Conference, scheduled for May 8th. Meanwhile,
the SAfER Steering Committee met
to look at where we've been and where we're going. Interested?
Do you live or work in Springfield? Contact us at safer1214@gmail.com. |
Words from Our Americorps Member
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Photo by Guy Weese
 | What a great month April is!
As an AmeriCorps member at CALC, I have much to look forward to this
spring.
I have been working with three groups of amazing ELD students at Maple
Elementary
and Hamlin Middle in Springfield on PhotoVoice projects. These projects
were displayed at the Cesar Chavez Commemoration on April 7th.
This project has given the students a chance to further engage on the
life and work of Chavez as well as reflect on their own lives. Each
of the students was given a disposable camera and asked to take pictures
of things that coincide with a chosen Chavez quote and then made display
boards out of them.
Other things that I have been working on this month are GLAD (Gateways
Learning About Diversity)
Day and the Human Rights Summit. Both events feature panel
presentations
on the CALC photo exhibits, What Does Family Look Like and
We Are Neighbors.
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Tax Day Event April 15, 2010Join CALC and Eugene
Springfield Solidarity
Network on Tax Day to call for
a reduction in military spending and an increase in funding for
education, job
creation, universal health care, and other vital services. Featuring music, speakers, and a penny poll. CALC Open House June 25, 2010Come stop by CALC's Open House during the Whitaker Last Friday Art Walk for food, music, and art! More info to come. |
What are CALC staff reading, looking at online,
watching at the movies and more? We'll let you know a few things we
hope we'll be of interest to you too.
Jorge Navarro, Co-Director, Programs and Development
Temple
Grandin, an HBO documentary on the animal husbandry doctor, author and autism activist. Grandin's relationship with animals is
astounding. Great quotes from her: "Nature is cruel, we don't have to
be," "If we are going to eat animals we should respect them," and
"Animals and people are supposed to be together. We spent quite a long
time developing together, and we used to be partners."
Michael Carrigan, Community Organizer Stones Into Schools by Greg Mortenson--Greg Mortenson and the
Central Asian Institute have promoted peace through education by
establishing schools, most of them for girls, in rural Pakistan and
Afghanistan. In his new book, Mortenson
presents an engaging and inspiring story about establishing schools in
the remote northeast corner of Afghanistan. It's a great read.
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Programs of CALC are funded in part by grants from the
Spirit Mountain Community Fund, Meyer Memorial Fund, McKenzie River Gathering
Foundation, Equity Foundation, AmeriCorps, and Ben and Jerry's.
Thank you to everyone who made the 8th annual Cesar
Chavez event in Springfield a great success, including the committee
members, co-sponsors and contributors, with special thanks for LCC
Diversity Funding and to the Springfield School District, especially the
English Language Development Program, Agnes Stewart Middle School and
Superintendent Nancy Golden.
Thank you Peg Morton for taking the lead on organizing the tax day
action at the Post Office and helping organize other peace and justice
events.
Please support
those who support us! |
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