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Take Action—Stop Cuts to MEDICAID

PAR urges people to call their legislators to demand NO cuts to the Medicaid program.

The budget that Gov. Malloy signed gives people only until March 1 to remain on their programs. It is estimated that 113,000 low-income seniors and people with disabilities will be affected.

There will be a special session in the beginning of January to rework the budget.

Tell your legislators money should NOT be taken from any other social service or health program. It’s time to raise the taxes on the millionaires and billionaires of this state.

Senate President Martin Looney needs to hear from us now! You can call toll-free, (800) 842-1420. More information can be found online at https://tinyurl.com/ycclewgs.

Student Needs First—School Board Watch Initiative

CT Parents Union (CTPU) has launched a School Board Watch Initiative to ensure individuals we elected or were appointed to Connecticut local and state boards of education are putting the needs of students first over education partisan politics. Parent and community volunteers will evaluate BOE meetings in five governance areas:

  1. Focus and Mission: The Board is “focused” on achieving fiscal and personnel responsible goals that are in the best interest of ALL students regardless of race, disability or income level.
  2. Transparency: Board processes are accessible to the public and public treated with respect and dignity;
  3. Conduct: Conflicts/disagreements are managed respectfully – ALL school boards must lead by example;
  4. Role Clarity: The Board provides effective leadership and oversight through student-centered planning and strategy processes; and
  5. Competency: Ensure board members are informed and culturally responsive.

Bottom line: Every Board of Education decision MUST BE in the best interest of the student with fiscal and personnel accountability paramount!

NHPS Parents Group–Fátima Rojas, (203) 747-4309; Sarah Miller, (203) 675-9516, [email protected].

The Coalition for People Wants to Know What Issues Are Important to You

Dorothy Johnson and Paula Panzarella, Coalition for People

The Greater New Haven Coalition for People is an organization with over thirty years of grassroots organizing among low- and middle-income residents. Many PAR readers have supported its work and attended its annual meetings, as well as joined in its struggle for keeping the bus stops around the New Haven Green (which was successful!), and for universal comprehensive single-payer healthcare.
Coalition for People is looking for more active members to continue its work and needs to know:

  • What issues are important to you?
  • Are you able to come to meetings (once a month)?
  • Do you have other suggestions?

CFP members will be called in the beginning of January for their answers to the above “questionnaire.”

We invite PAR members to offer their suggestions and participate in enlarging the organization as well.

Contact Coalition for People, P.O. Box 8868, New Haven, CT 06532.

Green Fund Now Accepting Applications for 2018 Funding

The Greater New Haven Green Fund solicits small and large grant applications once a year.

An electronic version of the cover letter, application, budget, and attachments should be sent to [email protected].

You may download the request for applications (RFA) for the Green Fund or the Public Service Enterprise Group, Inc (PSEG) by going to http://www.gnhgreenfund.org. Deadline is 5 p.m. Jan. 12, 2018.

They’ve changed the RFA this year so be sure to review the initial pages, especially if you have applied for grants in previous years.

The PSEG RFA is separate from the regular grants because the money came from a Community Benefit Agreement between the City of New Haven and PSEG, Inc. to provide small grants to help educate citizens about air pollution. You may apply for the 2018 RFA or the 2018 PSEG RFA but not both. Go to http://www.gnhgreenfund.org to download the RFA.

BFA Workshop: Principles of Biological Systems – January 6 & 7

This two-day workshop (Jan. 6 & 7, 2018), presented by the Bionutrient Food Association in partnership with CT NOFA & NOFA Organic Land Care Program, is designed for farmers, growers, and gardeners to learn current research and proven methods that will lead to optimum crop health and sustained yield. The in-depth workshop will go step-by-step through the processes and foundations of biological farming for higher quality crops — better taste, pest & disease resilience, longer shelf life, and higher levels of nutrients beneficial to our health and well-being.
Topics to be covered:

  • Interpreting soil tests
  • Mineral balancing and amendments
  • Strategies for soil health improvement
  • Biological seed inoculation
  • Conductivity, refractometers and brix.
  • In-season crop monitoring and feeding with nutrient drenches & foliar sprays

    Grow better food. Help heal our environment. Nourish humanity. Middletown Community Health Center, 675 Main St.,, Middletown, CT.Learn more at: http://www.bionutrient.org/site/workshops.

Amazing Story of Mary and Eliza Freeman of Bridgeport

Hosted by CT Chapter of the National Organization for Women (CT NOW), Thursday, Jan. 11, 6:30 – 8 p.m. at the New Haven Free Public Library, 133 Elm St.

Come to a fascinating talk about two remarkable Connec-ticut women who’ve been lost from history – Mary and Eliza Freeman – starting at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 11, in the Ives Performance Area of the New Haven Public Library, 133 Elm St., New Haven.

Sisters and free women of color, Mary and Eliza bought and leased houses in Bridgeport in the 1800s, leading to the creation of the “Little Liberia” neighborhood. Established 20 years before Connecticut abolished slavery for good in 1848, Little Liberia was designed to give free African-Americans the opportunity to make greater social and economic progress. The two original homes Mary and Eliza purchased are the oldest remaining houses in Connecticut built by free blacks and are part of the Connecticut Freedom Trail. However, help is needed to ensure their survival. Come hear the story of these two amazing women, presented by Maisa Tisdale, president of the Mary and Eliza Freeman Center for History and Community.

Widespread Food Insecurity in New Haven, CT

From the Greater New Haven Peace Council leaflet of Dec. 8, 2017

  1. On December 2, 2017, the New Haven Register ran an eyeopening article on its front page that should have created a huge public outcry from readers.
  2. The article addressed the growing problem of FOOD INSECURITY in New Haven. It also could have applied to other cities in Connecticut, one of the richest states in the richest country in the world, and beyond.
  3. There is something drastically wrong with an economic system that has the worst gap of individual income between the haves and the have nots than any other industrialized country in the world! We have become a country of the rich, by the rich, and for the rich.
  4. Numerous local organizations and agencies and 13 affected individuals worked together on the eight-page report. Their investigation painted a pretty bleak picture:
    1. Over 22 percent of city residents are food insecure. That means they either do not have enough food each day or the money to buy food that they and their families need.
    2. One out of three adults in the city’s lowest income neighborhoods are impacted.
    3. Children and the elderly are the most vulnerable.
    4. Food insecurity among Latino residents across New Haven is even higher at 34 percent!
    5. Food insecurity among residents in the six lowest income neighborhoods is at a shocking 50.1 percent!

THIS IS TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE!

The report also showed there are people who work full time or have multiple jobs and still go hungry. How can this be, you say? Many work at or below minimum wage and have to choose between food and

(1) keeping their utilities on; or
(2) affording very high rents in broken down rat traps; or
(3) paying for necessary medications.

The group’s survey also found that most people that are food insecure were not eating, on average, from 10 to 14 days per month just so their children could have enough to eat.

Hypocrisy so thick you need a knife to cut it. Our five CT Democratic representatives often speak about the problems many seniors face on hunger, homelessness, low or unpaid wages. They loudly complain about Republican budget cuts on the poor and working classes. Yet they continually betray us by voting more money for the military and weapons of war. In July 2017, all of them voted to increase the military budget that exceeded last year’s 700+ billion dollars. Trump was asking for a $52 billion increase, they voted to give him an additional $24 billion beyond his request. Just think what that extra money could have done to help our people here at home.

The government takes $11.3 billion of CT taxpayer money to fund the Pentagon each year. From 2001 to 2017 it took away over $1.2 trillion each year to pay for past, present and future wars and for maintaining over 850 U.S. military bases in 172 countries.

Connecticut could have used some of that money to meet the needs of all its people. The following could have been created in the last five years:

  • 35,000 living wage jobs at $15 an hour
  • 35,000 infrastructure jobs
  • 35,000 clean energy jobs
  • 30,000 elementary teaching jobs

Remember, if the proposed Republican tax cuts for the super-rich and largest corporations go through, it will be at our expense as trillions of dollars are sucked out of essential programs we and our families and friends depend on.

We must stop our destructive culture of endless wars, violence, and economic slavery!

We must stand up and speak out. It’s your children! Your parents! Your money! Your future! Your planet! Your lives!

Please call: Representative Rosa DeLauro, Senators Chris Murphy and Richard Blumenthal at their Washington, D.C. Offices. Telephone (202) 224-3121.

Make that call TODAY.

PAR readers want to know: What is the purpose of your organization?

If your group has a website, please add our link to your webpage

Visit us on Facebook

Dear PAR Contributors-

Best wishes to you all as we close out 2017. Time to plan the first PAR newsletter of the New Year!

Readers want to know: What is the purpose of your organization? How are you building your group? What campaigns are you organizing? What events are you planning?

We want to publicize the work groups have done and what they’re planning to do. We want to spread the word to others who will be inspired to join you, support your activism and build the struggles. Send us articles (even a paragraph or two) about what your group wants to do and any ideas for organizing!

The deadline for the January Progressive Action Roundtable Newsletter is Sunday, December 17. Please send in to this e-mail address – [email protected] – articles about your group’s recent and current activities and upcoming actions and events.

We are asking everyone to limit her/his article to 350 words. Please include an enticing headline/title for your article so our readers will focus on your work right away. Be sure to indicate your name and organization as they should appear in your byline.

Please keep in mind that as layout space permits, we will include photos.

IMPORTANT: Don’t neglect to add your organization’s contact information such as phone number, e-mail address or website, so our readers can get more information about what your group is doing.

If you haven’t written recent articles for PAR, please include information about your group’s purpose. Do not use different fonts or sizes in your article.

About calendar items:
If you mention an event in an article, please also send a SEPARATE calendar announcement.
Please give street addresses for any events or meetings, even for “well-known” public buildings.
VERY IMPORTANT: Please indicate whether your event location is wheelchair accessible.
You can also send us SAVE THE DATE items about future events, even if you do not yet have all the details in place.

The Newsletter will come out approximately Saturday, Dec. 30. Please consider this when submitting calendar items.

Here are other suggestions about submitting copy to the PAR Newsletter:
1. If you ask or encourage new groups to submit articles or calendar items to PAR, please give them a copy of these tips.
2. Submit copy by e-mail, either as regular text or as an MS Word or attachment (.doc or .docx).
3. If you are a first-time author for the PAR Newsletter, thank you! We hope you will subscribe and encourage others in your organization to do so.
4. If you know of someone who wants to write an article but does not use e-mail, send an e-mail to us with that person’s name and phone number or call Paula at (203) 562-2798.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT INSERTS:
We prefer to carry articles and calendar listings rather than inserts. But if you have an insert to include in the Newsletter, we ask you to send the information contained in the flyer to this e-mail address as well so that it can be easily added to the PAR calendar.

Your organization must make and pay for the inserts. We will be able to handle only those inserts that are a full sheet (8.5 x 11) or half-sheet (8.5 x 5.5) of paper. We cannot accept postcards or cardstock flyers. There is a fee of $7 for inserts.

Please call Paula at (203) 562-2798 if you want an insert in the next newsletter.

E-mail us if you’d to join our monthly planning meetings or help with the mailings. We always welcome more helpers and new ideas!

Many thanks! We’re looking forward to your articles!

Thank you for your help in creating this community newsletter

– PAR Planning Committee

To renew your own subscription or to buy a subscription for a friend, the rate is $13 for 10 issues. Please make the check out to PAR and mail it to
PAR, P.O. Box 995, New Haven, CT 06504

People’s Action for Clean Energy Annual Meeting

by Mark Scully, Director

Please join PACE for a celebration among friends of the good work being done to advance local clean energy across the state at 7 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 2 at the Unitarian Society of Hartford, 50 Bloomfield Rd.

PACE will recognize and celebrate the accomplishments of two inspiring environmental leaders: Jamie Wolf of Wolfworks, Inc. will receive a lifetime achievement award for his career of designing sustainable homes, and Craig Lewis of Clean Coalition will be honored for his bold and creative leadership in promoting local clean energy and a modern electric grid.

The evening will be informative, featuring a keynote address from Craig Lewis on “Renewables-Driven Community Microgrids” and updates on a range of good work being done in the state, including PACE’s own 100PercentCT Project, led by Bernie Pelletier.
To make it a real celebration, State Troubadour Kate Callahan will open and close the evening with her musical gifts.

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