,

Our Power National Gathering - Reflections by Will

August 11, 2014


Our Power Richmond 2014
First 3 Days
By William Copeland

Mateo Nube of Movement Generation
dedicated a song to Sis Charity
(Photo by Ife Kilimanjaro)
The energy has been electric.  The gathering began with Indigenous greetings and acknowledgement, a mistica that held altar space for ancestors and intentions, and a dedication to Charity Hicks, former EMEAC staff member.  On Day 3, 2 different people said “The climate justice movement will affect the future of the usa over the next ten years.”

Personally my biggest impact was hosting the first Black/ African Descent Meet up.  This inspired a second full day strategy session. Lessons learned: the need for strong, yet flexible facilitation; intergenerational communication is an issue everywhere; relationships & principles between Black folks and other people of color really varies across the land.  EMEAC’s Siwatu-Salama Ra shifted the entire energy of the gathering by demanding room to breathe and inviting younger voices into the exchange. On Day 2, Mosiah challemged the room to connect with members of our community who have unplugged from the grid figuratively or literally.
Some of the participants int the
Black Caucus (Photo by Ife Kilimanjaro)

I had a great meeting with Mithika from Kenya and the Pan-African Climate Justice Alliance about connecting Kenya climate justice and entertainment justice movements with Detroit’s. I also participated in a powerful session with other Midwestern Activists: CEED (Minneapolis), LVEJO (Chicago) and others.  We talked about building up our collective Great Lakes movement.

Many great discussions about our economy and its relationship to Our Power. Jose Bravo discussed the Just Transition strategy of organizing with workers in polluting facilities. Brendan Smith from the Labor Network for Sustainability discussed that we have two economies and need separate strategies for both: the union-led economy of full-time employment and benefits & the new economy of part-time and temp work struggling to make ends.  In Detroit we have a third economy: the underground economy and excluded workers. EMEAC is struggling to make the Just Transition work for all in Detroit.

All in all, a lot of very solid discussions. People are extremely surprised when I take ten minutes to describe the political situation in Detroit.  This includes Emergency Management, aggressive water shut offs, the racial corporatization of Detroit, the write-in fraud in our electoral politics, and the use of privileged immigrants as a wedge against our community, and much more.  They are using extreme measures against our community because of the creativity and successes of our movement!

I functioned as a national media spokesperson for Our Power, and gave a few interviews.  Here is one article that was written:http://commondreams.org/news/2014/08/07/front-lines-climate-crisis-gathering-calls-new-economy

“It Takes Roots to Weather the Storm!”  This means to me that the leadership of our frontline communities is essential not only for the survival of our communities, but also transforming the economy of the usa. Follow #ourpowerRichmond2014 on social media for more information.

 

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Honoring Charity Hicks

July 17, 2014



Charity Hicks - a clearing house of knowledge and passionate warrior for justice - joined the ancestors on Tuesday July 8, 2014.  She joined EMEAC's staff as a Fellow for the EAT4Health initiative of the Jesse Smith Noyes Foundation in August 2012. During her tenure, she was a force behind a number of efforts throughout the city, nationally and globally, particularly in the area of food sovereignty and more recently, around water rights. Charity shared with folks around the world the struggles children and families in Detroit faced.  She challenged power structures and institutions for their complicity in conditions that led to disproportionately high health challenges.  And she called on all of us to walk the talk.

Charity brought so much passion, fire and knowledge to her work; many referred to her as a walking encyclopedia.  Further, she brought so much of herself into all the spaces of which she was a part.  She gave of herself selflessly.  Charity's work and powerful spirit remains alive in our hearts and continues to inspire us in ways far beyond words. At EMEAC, we are so grateful to have shared time and space with her during this lifetime.

Detroit Women Speak: Charity Hicks

In this video, Charity gives 3 critical pieces of advice that she would want young people to take with them.  It appears in the Detroit Women Speak footage captured by EMEAC Co-Director Diana Copland.  The three key points include:  
  1. Pay attention to your place and environment
  2. Become wealthy in relationship
  3. Lean into being uncomfortable and being challenged to grow

Staff Reflections

I will always remember Charity as a person who tried to practice what she preached. We had many conversations about how important it is to be a role model - Kim Sherobbi
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I really enjoyed filming Charity, for one, the camera loves her, and I have always enjoyed watching her whenever she’s been interviewed or speaking in front of a group of people because of her candidness and sincerity.  She always says something that makes me laugh, makes me cry, shocks me a little and something that I have never thought of before but changes a little of my world view.  In this interview it was what she said around female emotional intelligence that changed me a little: the power of being vulnerable, emotional and unapologetically woman-ly!

It is hard being in the Cass Corridor Commons without her, not only because I never have been in this space without her, but she was such a presence in the space.  She was always there to welcome everyone that came into the space and made sure everyone was taken care of under the Commons roof.  She took her stewardship of the Commons very seriously. - Diana Copeland
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Charity had an uncanny way of seeing what was important to new people and connecting with them to build a bridge to communion. She was a woman of great depth socially and spiritually.  We often talked about religions,  different cultural traditions and the metaphysical aspect of activism.   She and I shared conversations about Mother Earth and the ecopsychological need for  transformation and activisim.

She was very generous with her perspective and knowledge and offered it with a motherly touch.  I admired her strong African centered stance. I chuckle as I hear provocative statement, "let's get naked " Or let's be real with each other so we can connect as community.   She embodied the concept of community by being present as the quintessential Commons representative.  Sometimes I didn't want to be seen,  but she saw everyone and invited  them to community. I am just realizing how much she me impacted me and how much I will miss her. - Sanaa Green
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It is hard to put into words how much of a great person chatity was, always willing to help. She would always help me with building security,  i loved the way she engaged the youth. I miss her presence very much.- Dee Collins
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It is hard to believe that someone with such strength and determination - who seemed to always be at EMEAC, working, protecting, watching over, nurturing, fussing, pushing for better - will no longer grace us with her physical presence.  I value and appreciate Charity in all her nuances and contradictions. Wow. There is much i could say, but words simply don't come. I am deeply saddened and will miss her. - Ife Kilimanjaro

Reflections by Friends and Allies


"Charity taught me a lot about Black Nationalism and its history in Detroit.  She helped me develop my ideals, my culture, and my politics.  Of course she was a constant presence in the Commons and did so much to make it a stable and safe place. She was at the same time a die-hard East Side Detroiter AND a citizen of the world.  She is being honored and remembered in various cities, states, and countries." - William Copeland, Our Power Detroit Coordinator
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Charity transitioned just a short time after we met, however she had a profound impact on my work and on my life.  What started as a brief conversation transformed into an exploration of politics, policy, human behavior, compassion, and power structures (among other things!)  In just those few conversations I had with her, I received an education beyond what I could have gotten from anyone else, and for this I am eternally grateful.  I hope to learn more from all the others that Charity has impacted and contribute to her ongoing work. - Todd Ziegler, EMEAC Intern
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It is with extreme sadness and rage that our compañera has left us too damn early.  I first met Charity in the us social forum process in Detroit, where she was in charge of setting up water stations for the opening march and was pivotal in introducing so many of us in the movement to no plastic water bottles at major events.  We got to work with her closely in the lead up to the first CJA leadership meeting in Detroit in September 2012, and also through her participation in GGJ national and international delegations, in particular the key role she played in the climate space in the WSF-Tunisia last year.  She presented powerfully on a panel on the role of faith communities/spirituality, the fight against militarism, and climate change.  Charity was fierce revolutionary, a determined fighter for basic human rights, generous, opinionated, grounded, visionary, brilliant woman.  We are sending our heartfelt condolences to Louis, her family, her colleagues and extended political family.   - Cindy Wiesner, Grassroots Global Justice Alliance

 

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Updates and Actions - July 2014


Reflections from OP Coordinator William Copeland 

Submitted by Will Copeland
Our Power Detroit Coordinator
 
Directors Diana Copeland and Ife Kilimajaro joined the Young Educators Alliance to set the tone with a profound opening ceremony.  Fifty-seven people representing CJA member organizations and other environmental justice allies joined with local Detroit activists, artists, and community change agents. We are happy to announce that over ⅔ of Gathering participants were 25 and younger.  Khafre Sims-Bey at the YEA debrief remarked "I have a feeling that I will be seeing them over and over again"  One of our objectives was to host a significant gathering of youth activists in the climate justice and environmental justice movements that would help build relationships and deepen a generational analysis of organizing. [Continue reading...]

Voices of Our Power Detroit Participants

Submitted by Brittany Anstead
University of Michigan, Arts and Citizenship Intern
 
Interviewing Our Power Detroit participants and documenting their testimonies was quite uplifting and rewarding. Many, both native and non-native Detroiters, shared a fluid commonality among their testimonies, a conscious passion to change our planet's current trajectory through a just transition.  One testament, by Ms. Dorian Willams of the Better Future Project, left a lasting impression on me.  Ms. Williams articulated a testimony not only embellished with raw, beautiful empathy for Detroit, but an affinity with the meaning of "Our Power". [Continue reading...]

Preliminary Reflections on the Venezuelan Social Pre-COP

Submitted by Ife Kilimanjaro
Co-Director, EMEAC
As one of GGJ's three delegates to the social pre-COP on climate change sponsored by the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, i am glad to be part of the process of shaping, with others, the country's official statement on climate change going into the 2015 negotiations.  Venezuela invited civil society organizations and movements from around the world to engage in this process as a way of inviting the voice of the people into what has become a very closed and corporate-led UN space. Though there are some questions circulating about the underlying intentions of the Venezuelan government and caution by people who know what it is like to be tokenized or have their work/ideas appropriated by larger bodies and institutions (be spoken for by them), one thing is clear; that this is a huge (though not unprecedented) undertaking deserving of note. Why? [Continue reading...]

WHAT WE HAVE OUR EYES ON

Within EMEAC we've been having conversations about Just Transition from an economic system that exploits human labor and natural resources, while damaging both, to one that is based upon community led and implemented solutions that value health of people and the planet. In these exploratory conversations, we've been discussing what a Just Transition means, what it can look like and how to get there, particularly in a place such as Detroit, with a long history of corporate and industrial led environmental degradation and resulting community health challenges.  The Our Power Detroit gathering provided a space for us to have these and other important conversations with and among youth.  As we continue to sharpen what the work looks like on the ground in Detroit, we will further these conversations and deepen the work at the National Gathering in Richmond, California.  Stay tuned for more in August. 

In addition to this long term work, we continue to fight many struggles in Detroit around water, transportation, environmental injustices and more.  EMEAC staff wages these battles while also in mourning for our dear sister, comrade and friend Charity Hicks. Continue to send prayers for her family and friends in this moment. May the struggle continue towards real, fundamental change!

 

Voices from Our Power Detroit Participants

July 16, 2014


Interviewing Our Power Detroit participants and documenting their testimonies was quite uplifting and rewarding. Many, both native and non-native Detroiters, shared a fluid commonality among their testimonies, a conscious passion to change our planet’s current trajectory through a just transition.  One testament, by Ms. Dorian Willams of the Better Future Project, left a lasting impression on me.  Ms. Williams articulated a testimony not only embellished with raw, beautiful empathy for Detroit, but an affinity with the meaning of “Our Power”. She captured the essence of grassroots empowerment, expressing her experience as such:

“I came out here because I felt called to be here… There’s such incredible work being done in Detroit…. I felt drawn here by the people who invited me….from EMEAC and I believe in the power of the work that they are doing.

…to be here today… seeing what almost one hundred hands can do to revitalize this building, that can provide something as simple as water; I mean, it’s insane to me and horrifying that a city would turn...or the emergency manager, would turn its back on hundreds of thousands of people and deny them the basic rights to life like water. And so it’s inspiring and beautiful for me to witness people taking that back and reclaiming the ability to meet our own needs from the communities and not from corporations and not from governments, but from ourselves; and I guess that’s what our power means to me as well. The ability to take power away from those that abused it and got us into this mess, and to remember that by replacing it in the hands of people, who have had to struggle under this system, are the ones that are going be able to get us out.

I think the atomization and the undermining of people and communities…is exactly what got us here; and it’s only going to be the reclaiming of community and reaching back and connecting with each other, that we are ever gonna get out of it. And so I feel really honored and grateful and inspired to be here.”

Submitted by Brittany Anstead, EMEAC Intern sho served as documentarian of the Our Power Detroit gathering

 

Reflections from OP Detroit Coordinator Will Copeland


I was honored to serve as Coordinator for the Our Power Detroit Gathering, June 2014.

Directors Diana Copeland and Ife Kilimajaro joined the Young Educators Alliance to set the tone with a profound opening ceremony.  Fifty-seven people representing CJA member organizations and other environmental justice allies joined with local Detroit activists, artists, and community change agents. We are happy to announce that over ⅔ of Gathering participants were 25 and younger.  Khafre Sims-Bey at the YEA debrief remarked “I have a feeling that I will be seeing them over and over again”  One of our objectives was to host a significant gathering of youth activists in the climate justice and environmental justice movements that would help build relationships and deepen a generational analysis of organizing.

EMEAC and Our Power Detroit collaborated with the People’s Water Board, We The People of Detroit, and others to organize the Water Is Life Community Action.  This action was inspired and spirited by Charity Hicks who transitioned after the gathering (July 8, 2014).  We cleaned and replenished the Dexter-Elmhurst Community Center and canvassed throughout the surrounding neighborhoods to let people know where they could get water supplies.  Now, this building is not only home to the city’s first People Relief Station, but also to vital neighborhood programs such as Children’s Free Lunch, Senior Activities, a Swap/ Re-Sale store, excersice classes, and youth recreation. Queen Mother Helen Moore said “I have not ever seen that many youth and adult leaders work in conjunction with each other to get the job done.  You did not know this, but I was at my wits end and was concerned that we would not get the job done.” (full letter below)

There were significant lessons we learned from the organizing and hosting experience.  First, we learned the value of our organizing style and made a commitment to doing the theoretical and intellectual work to describe the theory of change that we embody.  At its root, we are engage the development of skills, resources, and analysis of our people via cultural organizing.  Also, we exhibit a spirit of radical hospitality that was first exhibited on an (inter-)national level in the 2010 US Social Forum process.  We have been developing this practice of space-making, caring detail, emotional-political connection, local resourcing, and hospitality in the last 4 years.  As Bryce Detroit summarizes, “we are creating a new culture.” One challenging lesson that we learned is that we need to put intentional attention to our relationship building in the US South and Great Lakes.  We conflicted schedules with the Freedom Summer events and these regions were underrepresented in our national participation.  The Our Power Detroit was an unmitigated success, pulled off under duress and stress that planted powerful seeds of culture and youthful energy.


 

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EMEAC Updates and Actions June 2014

June 6, 2014


Community Healing Circle for Sister-Comrade Charity Hicks

Submitted by Tawana Petty
Mother, Organizer, Artivist
Organized in just under 24 hours, local activists were able to gather together a little over 60 community members for a Healing Circle & Call for Support for our Sister in struggle, Charity Hicks. It took place at her home base for EMEAC, the Cass Corridor Commons in Detroit on Tuesday, June 3rd, 2014 at 7pm.  
The mood of the event was emotional, yet optimistic, as participants entered the room to soft music on the piano by local artist Rocket. After folks created cards, and other artistic messages for Charity, a Healing Circle was lead by Traditional Health Practitioner/Healer Adela Nieves. [Continue reading...]

Putting Candy in the Medicine: The importance of youth leadership


Submitted by Brittany Anstead
University of Michigan, Arts and Citizenship Intern
When asked the question, what does your generation offer to the movement? Some of the Young Educators Alliance (YEA) leaders responded with disdain for the word generation. Shaw King, age 21, said, "That is division. That question answers itself. We are the future. We are the movement. It's inevitable." As the future of a drastically changing climate, I believe that it is critical to nurture youth leadership inclusively and without division. However, as King pointed out, "We are the future" and with that power our young people are inevitably gifted with the opportunity to make change. Romanne Griffith, age 19, said, "We have unlimited and ultimate potential. We can either be the downfall or the complete upbringing." Romanne's words carry vast significance and wisdom. When youth leadership like that of YEA is concentrated on positive, sustainable objectives without division, the possibilities to alter current trajectories are endless. [Continue reading...]

Ready2Grow Gears Up for Summer

Submitted by Sanaa NiaJoy
Ready2Grow Coordinator


The EMEAC Ready 2 Grow program for children ages 2-8 and their families will garden this summer.   At the Palmer Park Preparatory Academy, Priscilla Dziubek will lead a garden club for the fifth straight summer.  The Toddler Garden Club gives parents of toddlers the opportunity to learn gardening with their children through hands on activities outside in the garden.   
The Franklin Wright Ready2 Grow Club will begin in June with Sanaa.  Students will revive the raised beds that are now weed filled by planting vegetables.  They will also participate in the Great Sunflower Project, a national program designed to track the effects of pesticides on pollinators such as bees.  
For information on how you can get involved, contact sanaa[at]emeac.org.

What We are Watching


EMEAC and the Young Educators Alliance are gearing up for the Our Power Detroit gathering June 27-29.  The Our Powergathering is focused on scaling up the leadership in the environmental and climate justice movement, by increasing the presence of youth and young adults in generating solutions for a Just Transition from reliance on unsustainable, polluting, resource intensive practices and policies to those that are sustainable, renewable and nurture healthy communities.  During this 3 day gathering, participants from Detroit and around the country will discuss the health, environmental and climate impacts of polluting energy producing industries; collaboratively generate creative ways to address the negative impacts, while posing sustainable, renewable and non-exploitive alternatives; and define pathways to move this agreed upon work forward. 

The task of scaling up leadership of youth in the environmental and climate justice movements requires that there be infrastructure to support ongoing leadership in a broader movement process.  The Detroit gathering builds upon the first Our Power gathering, which took place in Black Mesa, AZ in June 2013 by creating a space in which youth can expand their place in the movement. In August, OP-Detroit participants from Detroit and around the country  will share their demands of the movement and commitments of themselves to the movement at the Our Power gathering and then demonstrate Our Power at the people's march and gatherings in New York at the climate summit. 

 

Community Supports Healing of Sister-Comrade

June 4, 2014

Healing altar created by community members for Charity
Note from EMEAC: On Saturday May 31, Charity was injured in a car accident while in New York city at the Left Forum. 

Organized in just under 24 hours, local activists were able to gather together a little over 60 community members for a Healing Circle & Call for Support for our Sister in struggle, Charity Hicks. It took place at her home base for EMEAC, the Cass Corridor Commons in Detroit on Tuesday, June 3rd, 2014 at 7pm.

The mood of the event was emotional, yet optimistic, as participants entered the room to soft music on the piano by local artist Rocket. After folks created cards, and other artistic messages for Charity, a Healing Circle was lead by Traditional Health Practitioner/Healer Adela Nieves. Each participant, regardless of religious identity, agreed to be smudged for cleansing and purifying prior to the ceremony beginning. The space was an all-gendered, all-bodied, non-judgmental, intergenerational space which promoted love and healing. Adela placed a beautiful alter representing healing, community, love and life, in the center of the circle and other participants added objects that they felt represented their love for Charity. During the healing circle, four participants called to specified directions (East, South, West, North), harnesting the healing strength of mother earth.  A fifth direction Southeast was presented by Piper Carter, directing the community members to guide their healing energy towards New York, where our Sister lay in a coma in the hospital. Engery was also sent to Charity's family and to our Sister Ife Kilimanjaro, who has remained at Charity's side.

The room was eletric! There was dancing, stomping, singing, instrument playing and shouting out Charity's name! People spoke of their experiences with Charity and about the work that she is so deeply rooted in on every level, including the water shutoffs. Mama Lila Cabil challenged every participant to take up Charity's battle against the water by reaching at least 7 people per particpant and she provided a history of Charity's recent personal struggle against the water department and on behalf of her neighbors. Shane Bernardo spoke honestly and powerfully about the mirror that Charity offers to each of us, as she challenges us to be authentic, and face ourselves.

William Copeland referenced the need to use this time to think deeply about how we apply cooperative econonmics to times like this one and moving forward. Donations were collected in the sum of $1,031.00 to contribute to Charity's expenses and folks were encouraged to continue to share the site emeac.org, so that donations could continue to be submitted in Charity's honor, recognizing that support cannot be a one time deal.


It was a holistic experience and it was clear that Charity was the driving force of the gathering, from start to finish.

 

Putting Candy in the Medicine

Putting Candy in the Medicine

Importance of Youth Leadership

When asked the question, what does your generation offer to the movement? Some of the Young Educators Alliance (YEA) leaders responded with disdain for the word generation. Shaw King, age 21, said, “That is division. That question answers itself. We are the future. We are the movement. It’s inevitable.” As the future of a drastically changing climate, I believe that it is critical to nurture youth leadership inclusively and without division. However, as King pointed out, “We are the future” and with that power our young people are inevitably gifted with the opportunity to make change. Romanne Griffith, age 19, said, “We have unlimited and ultimate potential. We can either be the downfall or the complete upbringing.” Romanne’s words carry vast significance and wisdom. When youth leadership like that of YEA is concentrated on positive, sustainable objectives without division, the possibilities to alter current trajectories are endless.
As leaders of the Our Power Detroit gathering, I asked YEA to name a challenge in the Our Power Planning process. Khafre Sims Bey, age 15, said, “The challenge is to stay original; make our conference different than other conferences. Just trying to set ourselves apart.” Setting themselves apart is an understatement. YEA is defying the stereotypes set upon Detroit through advocacy, education, and hip-hop. Shabrin Salam, age 18, believes that “YEA collectively accomplishes success through the power of music and experience.”
When asked to name an opportunity in the Our Power Planning process, YEA gave me an answer that inspired the name of this article, Putting Candy in the Medicine. Khafre Sims Bey, age 15, said, “An opportunity is dropping the mix tape. When you can take something as raw and as gritty and as real as gentrification and put it to a beat and a rhyme, then people will connect with that. I’m putting it in a rap and making you nod your head to it. That’s like putting candy in the medicine.” Do I need to say more? Khafre hit the nail on the head. The beauty and importance of youth leadership is that it comes in a variety of mediums. One of which showcases artists who have a passion, who have a message, who have a difference to make.
Ultimately, youth leadership is important not only because it is inevitable, but also because the young people bring a fresh, raw energy to old, dirty problems. Khafre exquisitely articulates that YEA’s fresh, raw energy is manifested through hip hop, “This medium that we chose as hip hop is something so relatable, something so universal that everybody will walk away with an understanding of all these issues.” 

Submitted by Brittany Anstead
University of Michigan, Arts and Citizenship Intern

 

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Announcing Our Power Detroit 2014

June 3, 2014

ANNOUNCING OUR POWER DETROIT 2014
Communities United for a Just Transition

Detroit, MI, June 3, 2014– The East Michigan Environmental Action Council (EMEAC) will host Our Power Detroit; a 3-day gathering of youth, students and young adults from frontline communities to strategize on how to scale up youth leadership in the Environmental-Climate Justice movements and bring about a Just Transition from an exploitative polluting economy to a just and healthy one.

“We are here. We have genuine concerns about what’s going on in our community. We want to feel empowered and educate other people to combat climate injustices.” -Khafre Sims Bey, Young Educators Alliance, Age: 15

History and experience have taught us that rather than reactively addressing injustices as they arise, we must work to be proactive at co-creating —with impacted people and communities— a transition from a deadly, destructive, dirty economy and fight for the systems, relationships and structures of a ecologically, economically resilient future. The Our Power Detroit gathering will bring together Millennials in Detroit and from around the country to not only highlight Detroit’s victories and struggles, but coordinate community-led action strategies and discuss what their role can and should be among Environmental-Climate Justice movements throughout the nation.

The Our Power Campaign was developed by the Climate Justice Alliance to address the root causes of the climate crisis while creating meaningful work and livelihoods for a majority of the 17 million unemployed people in the US.

Our Power gatherings are an important component of the Our Power Campaign; highlighting “Hot Spot” communities that are home to key grassroots groups who are poised to take on the extreme energy interests while creating grassroots solutions for a just transition that serves our communities, heals the planet, and preserves our cultures. 


Our Power Detroit will be held June 27th – 29th, 2014.

# # #
If you would like more information about this topic, please contact
Ife Kilimanjaro at (313) 556-1702 x707 or email at ife@emeac.org.



 

OP Detroit Agenda

May 27, 2014

Our Power Agenda

We are currently working on creating an engaging agenda that includes a shared vision for a Just Transition in Detroit and beyond, information and skills shares, networking and social activities and strategies for scaling up youth and young adult leadership in the climate and environmental justice movements.

Agenda highlights include:  
  • Opening ceremony that honors the land and ancestors
  • Plenary and discussion on the Climate Justice Alliance, Our Power Campaign and Just Transition frame
  • Presentations and discussions on environmental justice movement, decolonization and liberation
  • Cultural activities, performances and opportunities to socialize while getting to know one another
  • Campaigns - fights and solutions - that attendees are engaged in with strategies and lessons learned
  • Connecting our work locally, nationally and globally
As soon as we make revisions to our working draft, they will be posted here.

Please note that the OP Detroit program will begin Friday June 27 at 9:00am and go through Sunday June 29 at 3:00pm.

 

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Join us for the Food System PMA

May 13, 2014

Join us on Friday May 23 from 4:00pm-8:00pm for a food systems people's movement assembly!

Submitted by Charity Hicks, E4H Fellow

EAT4HEALTH DETROIT is hosting a local gathering to share, strengthen, and co-create an anti-hunger, food secure, food justice, food sovereign local/regional food system in Detroit.

In Detroit we can no longer afford to contaminate our environment with 68 superfund sites, 281 facilities releasing toxic chemicals, poor air quality with high particulate matter well above national and state averages and soil contaminated with heavy metals such as mercury, lead, & cadmium. The cumulative impact of this pollution is literally killing people. 

We must continue to work to empower the Detroit community to value the air, land and water ecology. Our food system is directly nested in our environmental/ecological systems & worldwide energy footprint and in the JUST TRANSITION campaign we are calling for a transition from our extreme energy economy to a JUSTICE centered, localized, resilient economy. Policy has a significant role to play in this shift towards resilience and must be leveraged to build transformative solutions, alongside grassroots organizing.

We are calling the full community to join the discussion, work and campaigns to help shift our food system and all of our public systems into a climate conscious, local/regional centering. We need solutions which will promote and enhance environmental justice, health & nutritional well-being, and economic equity. This requires a multi-faceted bottom line food system grounded in Food Sovereignty which has justice in every element; our quality of life and the earth requires it.
 
If you want to help host, sponsor, and/or support the gathering please contact Charity Hicks 313-725-0554 or sublimelight[AT]netscape.net.

 

Fundraise for Our Power

May 2, 2014

Figure our your Fundraising Needs for Our Power Detroit, June 27-29


Our Power Detroit is focused on strengthening and scaling up youth and young adult leadership of the environmental and climate justice movements. 

We have been working hard to raise money to host an event that will not require folks to pay for food, lodging or registration. Unfortunately, we do not yet have funds to offer travel stipends. 

Therefore we are asking you to raise your own travel . Below are some ideas and tools for raising money from foundations and grassroots along with some resources attached:

Foundation Fundraising

  • If you receive foundation funding, ask your funders if they provide discretionary travel grants. Some foundations that do this include Chorus, Solidago, Noyes and Unitarian Universalist Veatch Program at Shelter Rock.
  • Common Counsel Foundation also provides travel grants for grassroots exchange meetings through the Grassroots Exchange Fund (GXF). Applications are due the FIRST MONDAY OF THE MONTH so complete yours this week to get it submitted for May!  http://www.commoncounsel.org/Grassroots+Exchange+Fund

Grassroots Fundraising 

Nine Tips: How to Raise Money for Your Participation in the Our Power Gatherings by Sha Grogan Brown for the USSF
  1. Ask 10 of your friends to save their spare change for 3 months and donate it to your costs.
  2. Ask 30 people if they will support you at $10 each.
  3. Plan a party at your home or a local community space, and ask for a $5-$15 donation.
  4. Creative Sales: bake a batch of cookies, decorate 20 postcards or write a poetry zine and sell them for $5 each.
  5. Did your organization receive grant money this year?  If so, ask your program officer about applying for discretionary funds to support your group's travel.
  6. Share a hotel room with 3 friends.
  7. Set aside $15 from each of your paychecks from now until the event.
  8. Host a yard sale or a car wash.
  9. If your birthday is coming up, ask people to donate to your Our Power costs instead of giving you gifts.

 

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Newsletter April 22, 2014

April 29, 2014

EAT4Health Fellow Charity Hicks Presents in Washington, D.C.

Submitted by Charity Hicks

 As part of the Everybody at the Table for Health (EAT4HEALTH) initiative, on Monday April 7th, I presented a policy brief for equitable food & agricultural policy in Washington D.C.  The EAT4EHALTH initiative is a national food and agricultural policy project with focus in four local communities, Detroit, MI - San Antonio, TX - New Orleans, LA and Glassboro, NJ shaping federal policy to improve and enhance the quality of life of low-income communities of color.  Public policy at its core has to do with our tax dollars and the promotion of the general health, safety and welfare of all of us.  Examining the current conditions in Detroit and seeing the cross cutting issues which impact our community food system in Detroit the policy briefing focused on the significant intertwining of our environment, health and economy. [Continue reading...]

Giving Thanks to Our Semester in Detroit Intern Dominique Mathews

The University of Michigan has send us some pretty wonderful Interns over the past few years. And we are proud and honored for this trend to have continued with Dominique Mathews, who wrapped up her time with us last week. Dominique worked closely with the Young Educators Alliance to delve into a variety of social and environmental issues. 

On her last day, Dominique sat down with us to share a little about what she did and learned during her time here. Click here to view this short interview. 

Celebrating Mother Earth While Acknowledging Harm to Her

Today, April 22, marks the 44th year of Earth Day. And while we are grateful to have a day that invites us to consider our Great Mother,we know that conditions have worsened worldwide since 1970.  Land, air, water quality throughout the world have been compromised largely by practices of industrial pollutors.  Science now informs us of the connection between industrial CO2 and methane emissions and climate destabilization, which has led to some of the most extreme weather events experienced in modern history; weather events that have harmed people and families, destroyed communities, disrupted ecosystems, bankrupted economies and displaced many.  [Continue reading...] 

What We Have Our Eyes On

COMMUNITY MEETING: Detroit Renewable Power (owners of the incinerator) held a community meeting at the Palmer Court Townhomes on April 16.  There were about 15 or so attendees, including Palmer Court residents and folks from nearby organizations.  EMEAC was present as we are concerned about impacts to people and environmental health AND because our offices are in what we call the 'smell zone.' (Yes, we can smell it as far as Cass Ave.)  I write this because in the subtle use of language during this meeting, we were made to appear as though we were outsiders and not people directly impacted by the incinerator.  Some of highlights of the meeting include:

-- CEO O'Sullivan opened up with an overview of the incineration process as it happens at this facility.  He discussed the upgrades that Detroit Renewable Power (DRP) will make to the incinerator to eliminate odor pollution.  DRP awaits approval from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) and hopes to begin construction in the fall of 2015.  When asked about what guarantees the community can have around odor pollution in the meantime, O'Sullivan responded that DRP sold $55 million in private placement bonds, most of which will be used for maintenance.  Also, the time it takes between receiving garbage to burning will be sped up to now allow for it to build up and cause odors.

--Meeting participants, which included residents and a few Zero Waste Detroit coalition members, raised some important points of concern.  Several concerns were raised about the health impacts of the incinerator on the community, particularly around asthma.  Alan Greenburg, Director of Environmental Affairs, offered that asthma was largely due to such factors home factors as moldy pipes and insect droppings, not so much environmental factors.  ZWD's Ahmina Maxey pointed out that there is a link between environmental pollutants and asthma, otherwise such governmental agencies as the EPA wouldn't have designated ozone action days (alerts that caution people with certain health conditions to not come outdoors due to poor air quality).   One woman shared that she just moved to the townhouses in October and the first time she smelled the odors coming from the incinerator, it made her sick and she coughed all the way home. 

--One person asked where DRP was in resolving odor violations with MDEQ.  O'Sullivan said that DRP developed a preliminary plan and presented it to MDEQ.  They now have to work out the details. 

How do we think the meeting went? Well, the best answer at this time is "we shall see."  Experience reminds us that many promises are made to community, but where profits are involved, our lives and health matter little.  We will continue working with allies and concerned folks to figure out what's best for our lives and the environment and bring about those solutions. 

 

OP Background

Background

EMEAC is a member and serves on the Steering Committee of the Climate Justice Alliance, a collaborative of community-based and movement support organizations uniting frontline communities to forge a scalable, socially and economically just transition away from unsustainable energy and false solutions to climate change.  In 2013, CJA launched a national Our Power campaign to win real solutions to the climate crisis.  One component of the campaign calls for spaces to be created for deeper work. Our Power Gatherings bring together frontline communities and allies to coordinate community-led action strategies that advance an ecologically resilient and economically just transition out of deadly, destructive, dirty development into new economic solutions based on healthy work that serves our communities, heals the planet and preserves our cultures. 

Our Power camp, Black Mesa
The first gathering was held at Black Mesa, AZ in June 2013 and focused on frontline communities impacted by coal: from coal extraction to false solutions promoted by industry, such as natural gas and clean coal.  The second gathering will be held in Detroit, June 2014, and is focused on scaling up the leadership and presence of youth and young adults in generating solutions for a just transition from reliance on exploitative, unsustainable practices and policies to those that are sustainable and nurture healthy communities. 

The next Our Power gathering will take place in Richmond, CA in August. 

 

OP Goals

Our Power Goals

The Our Power Detroit convening aims to fulfill the following goals:

 Our Power Campaign Goals
  • Build Relationships: Build relationships, develop the movement and facilitate ongoing communication of youth and young adult frontline community members committed to ecological well-being by sharing vision, analysis, critique, solutions, stories, strategies, victories, challenges and lessons learned. 
  • Expand the Base: Expand the base of youth and young adult participants and allies in the Just Transition campaign of CJA and evolve the campaign around their participation.
  • Share Strategies and Skills:  Through grassroots skills-shares, youth leadership and leadership development, intergenerational sharing, popular education and more, we will build our capacity to win on our own terms, building on our strengths. 
  • Show Our Power: Develop shared action plans and external communications that advance and interconnect local struggles through shared vision, strategies and frames. Support key frontline fights in Southeast Michigan through actions at the gathering, before and beyond, that demonstrates Our Power. 
Detroit Specific Goals

  • Highlight and build Our Power Detroit: Highlight Detroit’s strategies for bringing about a just transition locally and beyond.
  • Strengthen local leadership: Provide opportunities to expand and support Detroit youth and young adult leadership in environmental and climate justice movements. And create a space for them to strengthen their knowledge, voice and leadership for a movement that requires the participation of impacted community members of all ages for broader and deeper change.

 

Our Power Gathering


June 27 - 29, 2014

The EMEAC staff and young adult members of its Young Educators Alliance will bring together youth, students and young adults from working class, indigenous and people of color communities impacted by environmental injustices for a 3-day Our Power gathering in Detroit. Leadership for the EJ movement will be cultivated among the youth coordinating team members during the process of planning, implementing and evaluating the gathering, as well as among those who attend locally and nationally.  It is important to the Movement’s success that spaces and opportunities be created to allow for youths' vision, energy and generational wisdom to grow and sharpen.

The Our Power gathering is focused on scaling up the leadership and presence of youth and young adults in generating solutions for a Just Transition* from reliance on unsustainable, polluting, resource intensive practices and policies to those that are sustainable, renewable and nurture healthy communities. Specifically, we will discuss the health, environmental and climate impacts of polluting energy producing industries; collaboratively generate creative ways to address the negative impacts, while posing sustainable, renewable and non-exploitive alternatives; and define pathways to move this agreed upon work forward. 

Goals

Agenda

Background

Fundraising Tips

Registration (out of town guests) (Deadline May 23 30)

Registration (Detroit residents) (Deadline May 31)
 
 
Space is limited, so please register soon!
 

Please donate to help offset costs!


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