Category: Uncategorized

Volunteers Needed: Westville Mask Project Needs Your Help Building Protective Equipment

Friend and neighbor Linda Schultz is coordinating a protective mask project and is asking for our help!

“Do you sew? Do you have a sewing machine and an iron?

Westville women and men have coordinated a home sewing program to produce Yale New Haven hospital masks. These pocket masks lengthen the use of surgical masks, and the design is approved by our New Haven hospital network. Patterns and materials are available. We are asking you to provide the cutting and/or sewing skill. As a community, we will be completing and distributing at least a hundred masks each week for our frontline medical personnel. Let’s do it!”

Linda already has a great team of volunteers who have begun work, but they could use more help. Please use the Google form: https://forms.gle/XRBy8WDEEpf6p8Cv8
if you are interested in helping.

Food Assistance Resources During the Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Coordinated Food Assistance Network has put together this online guide (English and Spanish). It is updated very frequently.  https://bit.ly/nhvfoodcovid

CFAN has also developed a pantry delivery system for low-income folks who can’t get out during this crisis. It’s called Pantry to Pantry. If you know anyone in need, they can call the hotline: 888-910-2960.

PAR Newsletter to remain active, online

Dear Readers:

Circumstances in our daily living will change quickly as the coronavirus continues to make its way through our cities and towns, states and countries. Be informed, check with your local media, town hall, etc.

At this time the PAR newsletter will only be available on-line due to the various restrictions in place.
The regularly occurring events we advertise will most likely not be happening. Check with the sponsoring organizations or venues before you go out.

There are a number of agencies and websites to turn to for information about the coronavirus and places to go for help. Here are some of them:

Call 211 for resources, information on food pantries, medical assistance, and various hotlines.
Yale New Haven Health has set up a call center to respond to questions about Covid-19, give assessments to patients by phone or video, and determine whether someone needs to be tested. The number to call is (833) ASK-YNHH. That’s (833) 275-9644.

https://medicine.yale.edu/intmed/news-article/23180/

The United Way of Greater New Haven has set up a Volunteer webpage. There are organizations that need your help now because of increased needs and volunteer shortages. The webpage will be updated frequently. Please go there to see how you can volunteer to help local organizations and/or your neighbor: https://uwgnh.org/volunteer-needs

https://portal.ct.gov/Coronavirus
https://covid19.newhavenct.gov/

Regional Groups and Support Networks:
Mutual Aid/Support Waterbury, Bridgeport, New Haven and Surrounding Areas
• https://www.facebook.com/groups/501197987165893/?fref=nf

• document for sharing resources that helps you connect with others around physical, emotional, educational and social needs.
http://bit.ly/2Wg2pvc
o It is available in Arabic: المساعدة المتبادلة في ووتربيري، بريدجبورت، نيو هافن
o And Spanish: ESPAÑOL- Ayuda Mutua Hartford, Waterbury, Bridgeport, New Haven

New Haven Area Mutual Aid
https://www.facebook.com/groups/639466263512268

 

Meet SalamTalk App: Independent, Conversation-Driven News

by SalamTalk

Over the past few months, the world has been skyrocketed into pandemic: misinformation about coronavirus has spread quickly, and people across the world are anxiously trying to decipher social media posts, government warnings, and mainstream media in order to access real people’s experiences in crisis zones. The spread of fake news and biased reporting during the coronavirus crisis is indicative of the mistrust in news generally – a 2016 Gallup poll shows that only 31% of Americans trust the national news. In conflict zones, there is an added complication: each side gets caught up in its own narrative and is unable to see past its own media scope. It’s clear that a new type of journalism is needed: one that acknowledges truth as multifaceted and complex, and seeks to eliminate a middleman motivated by politics or profit. SalamTalk, a new media platform for citizen journalism, wants to fill this gap.

SalamTalk focuses on facilitating dialogue and citizen journalism across Israel and Palestine, allowing anyone to be a journalist through virtual conversations and reports transcending borders. The peer-to-peer network used by SalamTalk allows for direct conversation, which keeps conversations secure and encrypted. Users can filter their conversations by nationality, location, and languages spoken, and decide to have a free-form conversation about any topic they choose, or use guidelines provided by experts. After the conversation, people rate their conversational partner on openness, reliability, aggression and inconsideration. The citizen journalism platform operates through an incentivized peer-review system.

The platform works at the intersection between personal and political, asking questions like:
what happens when nameless statistics become real faces? What happens when political information is directly addressed in conflict zones, instead of skirted around? SalamTalk acknowledges that we can only make the best judgment of the truth when we have access to multifaceted, personal experiences.
SalamTalk is run by an all-volunteer network spanning the US, Germany, The Netherlands, Israel, Palestine, and more.

For more information, please visit the SalamTalk website. Sign up to the newsletter or social media for latest updates, and contribute to the crowdfunding campaign to get the platform off the ground.

Rally Demands End to ICE Agent Arrests of Undocumented Immigrants in Connecticut Courthouses

Excerpt from interview with Ana Maria Rivera-Forastieri, co-director of the Connecticut Bail Fund, recorded and produced

by Melinda Tuhus for Between The Lines/BTLonline.org.

Immigrant rights advocates protested outside the Connecticut Judicial Branch in Hartford on March 9, demanding that ICE – the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers – stop arresting undocumented immigrants inside the state’s courthouses. Activists point out that neighboring states of Massachusetts and New York have prohibited ICE arrests in their courts.

Maintaining that the state’s courts are serving as stalking ground for ICE agents, protesters made several demands on the office of state court administration. The Immigrant Bail Fund reports that bonding out immigrants who have been arrested in court is the most common avenue by which they learn about arrests. And the Immigrant Defense Project reports that in New York City, arrests within courthouses has soared 1100 percent since Donald Trump became president, up from much smaller numbers under President Obama.

ANA MARIA RIVERA-FORESTIERI: We have several demands. One of them is that the judicial branch has the full authority to enact a policy that prevents them from coming in, and there are several states that have done that, including our neighbors in New York and Massachusetts. So they could institute a policy today saying Immigration is not allowed to come in and arrest people unless they have a warrant, which is what they require of any other law enforcement agency. So we’re saying, “No special treatment for ICE.”

In addition to that we’re saying reparations for families that have been impacted by this issue. And we’re also very worried because of the Trust Act now, the Department of Homeland Security has subpoenaed several states for information about people they didn’t release because of Trust Act policies, and so the state of Connecticut is considering whether or not they’re going to respond to these subpoenas, which run contrary to the spirit of the Trust Act and why we did it in the first place. I mean, if they honor these subpoenas, then what is the point of the law, which we worked so hard to pass?

For more information on the Connecticut Immigration Rights Alliance on Facebook, visit
Facebook.com/CTImmigrantRightsAlliance.

Why Does the DNC Want Trump to Win?

by Lindsay Mathews, New Haven Peace Activist

Why are the DNC elites, MSDNC and CNN again propping up another right-wing buffoon, Joe Biden, to be the Democratic nominee for President when the other candidate, Bernie Sanders, has the strongest ground game to get out the largest vote in U.S. history to take back the White House?

Take back the White House. Good news for the DNC. One would think.

And, yet, we saw the full force of the Democratic establishment and their corporate media take control just before Super Tuesday to install their puppet, Joe Biden, a dum-dum and liar who can barely string a group of words together to form a sentence.

Why?

We know from the 2016 election that the DNC does not want Bernie, but why Biden? Is he just being used as their vehicle to power?

Is it because they KNOW that Biden will lose the election when the Bernie campaign sits this one out? Or are they using him as a vehicle to maintain their power?

It’s about policy. The Democratic and Republic parties need to keep the rich, rich and to hell with the rest of us. Trump is their guy. For the next nine years we will suffer with their “Tax the Poor” tax break policy for the rich.

Why are they enabling the fascistic, ecocidal Trump to win the election? Trump knows they are doing this as he gleefully commences to chew up Biden only to spit him out for huge win for the 1% in 2020. BINGO!

As Bernie says, “Our campaign is the only campaign that has the excitement and the strongest grassroots movement needed to defeat the most dangerous President in the recent history of the United States.”

Is this why the Democratic Party wants Trump back in the White House?

March 16, 2020

Take the Stress Off, Love Your Home

Fundraising for the Exciting New Energy Consultation Initiative Concludes May 31st

by Tebben Lopez, NHS of New Haven

A typical household wastes 30% more energy than an efficient one does. Energy efficiency helps customers cut consumption and bills through services like energy assessments, but where do you begin? Enter NHS New Haven’s pilot program, I ♥ My Home and energy consultant, Michael Uhl.
Mike moved to New Haven six years ago from Baltimore, where he learned about the systematic challenges facing families. “The experience compelled me to do more. I want to make homes where families are not gentrified away from communities and the air is clean.”

Soon after, he found NHS. “NHS staff were building and envisioning an equitable future, with the years of experience to know New Haven residents’ needs.” With his own experience in high performance building services, they stayed connected on topics that serve residents.

“I ♥ My Home makes improving a residence simpler,” Mike explains, “We are centered on the participant. The program solves frustrations of homeowners and renters, while attaining greater financial freedom and environmental improvements.” By guiding participants to financially-viable, energy-saving upgrades for their needs, the program systematically leads a resident through steps to make living more affordable and responsible. “The program is timely, strategic and effective,” Mike said. The average monthly residential electricity bill in Connecticut is $127, 19% higher than the national average. Residential energy accounts for 12% of greenhouse gas emissions. Moreover, low-income households face an energy burden three times higher than other households, forcing tough budget choices because home energy costs demand a larger portion of income.

“NHS and its partners are agnostic to technologies, financing and contractors, allowing the team to focus on customer needs,” Mike explains. By facilitating the experience, enlisting technical consultants to provide deep energy, financing or processing management expertise, “NHS can quickly build and easily manage program sustainability.”

They’re seeking support from the community and asking residents, local businesses and other organizations to donate and help this fundraising campaign finish strong. As a recipient of the Sustainable CT Community Match Fund, all donations raised from the community are matched dollar-for-dollar, doubling local investment. To learn more and make a contribution, visit https://ioby.org/project/i-heart-my-home.

Shut Down The Cricket Valley Fracked Gas Power Plant

Resist CVE via ActionNetwork.org <[email protected]>

Dear friends,

At Resist CVE, we are reeling from the rapid escalation of the COVID-19 pandemic and offer our love and solidarity to those who are feeling the deepest effects of this crisis. We have had to quickly reflect on how to shift our organizing strategy with respect to the new and important need for social distancing. We came to the conclusion; we can’t stop because the fossil fuel companies aren’t stopping. We will keep organizing, safely and creatively, to shut down the Cricket Valley fracked gas power plant.
While this massive health emergency unfolds, fossil fuel executives capitalize on the crisis, positioning themselves for bailouts. Meanwhile, the rest of us are busy helping our communities. Coronavirus containment proves we can make needed changes to protect public health. We need a similar sense of real urgency applied to the extremely lethal and large-scale climate emergency, and to the deadly air and water pollution which is business as usual for the fossil fuel industry.

So, today we are asking you to join the online rally!

We are conducting a virtual protest that everyone can join from home. Help us get the word to Cuomo that we are not stopping until he stops Cricket Valley!

ACTION STEPS:
1. Call Governor Cuomo @ (877) 235-6537 and tell him to stop Cricket Valley!
2. Sign the Petition and share the web address: Bit.ly/protectourhealthstopcve
3. Sign the Pledge to take action
4. View our new video & share on social media
5. Forward this message to at least 10 of your friends
stopcricketvalley.org

Due Date for April Articles for Progressive Action Roundtable Newsletter: Thursday, March 19

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 workgroups 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! 350-word limit, please!

Please send articles about your group’s recent and current activities and upcoming actions and events to [email protected].

Read more

Nine Reasons to Oppose Assisted Suicide: What Progressives Need to Know

by Joan Cavanagh, Second Thoughts CT member

In the February 2019 PAR newsletter, Lisa Blumberg, of Second Thoughts Connecticut, wrote: “Trump wants the Affordable Care Act to implode. Republicans seem willing to swell the ranks of the uninsured and to cut Medicaid funding. There are corporate imperatives to reduce health-care costs even if quality is diminished. Many people are unable to access basic care and minorities, the old and people with disabilities are often subject to medical prejudices or ‘quality of life’ misconceptions. Legalizing doctor-assisted suicide in these times would be akin to taking coals to Newcastle.”

A year later, nothing has changed, only gotten worse. Yet the Public Health Committee of the Connecticut State Legislature is once again poised to consider an “Aid in Dying” (“Assisted Suicide”) bill. The dangers of such legislation should become more and more obvious every day.

Assisted suicide is fraught with peril for the most vulnerable among us–the elderly, disabled and poor, who are already viewed by the medical system and the insurance companies as too costly to treat and thus expendable. There are no imaginable “safeguards” that can change that fact. This legislation would only codify what we have experienced and had to fight in our daily lives—and which has already cost the lives of far too many.

Below are Nine Reasons to Oppose Assisted Suicide.

  1. In our cost-cutting health care system, it encourages the rationing of health care for the most “expensive” patients: the elderly, disabled, seriously ill and poor.
    2. It subjects the vulnerable to potential overt or covert abuse that can never be adequately monitored.
    3. It encourages a rush to judgment as to how “terminal illness” is defined.
    4. It promotes the idea of extreme individualism and self-sufficiency, the notion that being vulnerable and needing care is somehow “undignified,” the idea that we live in a vacuum with no responsibility for or to each other.
    5. It erodes patient confidence in our health care providers, causing justified fear that they will advocate for the suicide option in difficult cases.
    6. It requires doctors to lie about the facts of a patient’s death, citing the illness as the cause, not the ingestion of the lethal medication.
    7. It does not necessarily guarantee a “peaceful” or immediate end of life.
    8. It promotes suicide as an option in a time where suicide among the young is increasing and suicide prevention is public policy.
    9. It opens the door to involuntary euthanasia of those deemed “defective,” such as people with advanced dementia or severe disability that renders them unable to communicate.

For more explanation of these and other reasons to oppose assisted suicide, please go to www.notdeadyet.org and dredf.org/public-policy/assisted suicide.

Progressives and disability rights advocates have a compelling case to make here. We need to voice our opposition loudly and clearly, and to help educate others about the full implications of this legislation so that they will indeed have “second thoughts.”

There is a list of Public Health Committee members at cga.ct.gov. Please write to ask them to withdraw this bill. (It did not yet have a number as this newsletter went to press.)

Joan Cavanagh, a long-time peace and justice activist, is a member of Second Thoughts Connecticut, a bi-partisan organization composed of citizens with disabilities and advocates who oppose the legalization of assisted suicide.

Part-Time Position Advancing Health Care with POCCT

Protect Our Care CT is adding a part-time staff person to work on outreach and organizing for the next 4 months.

We are seeking an Organizer/Coordinator to work 20 hours a week from March 1 through June 30. Organizer/Coordinator would be responsible for working with POCCT partner organizations to advance state and federal health care initiatives and with the POCCT Steering Committee and other staff to build the organization. We are interested in sharing a staff person with another organization but could also work with an individual. Job description here.

If you or your organization are interested, send a resume or questions to Jane McNichol, [email protected].

Source: Part-Time Position Advancing Health Care with POCCT — Protect Our Care CT

The Liberation of Auschwitz and the Liberation of Syria

by Stanley Heller, Promoting Enduring Peace

Fifty world leaders joined Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem for the World Holocaust Forum, or perhaps it should be called the World Hypocrisy Forum as many of these heads of state are engaging in massive human rights violations and killings. It was held to celebrate the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp. Certainly the liberation of the camp by the First Ukrainian Front of the Soviet Army is indeed something that should be celebrated, but not by Netanyahu, Putin and Pence in the capital of apartheid.

Now about the death camp itself, there’s something that only Fox News and PBS brought up, the question of why Auschwitz wasn’t bombed by the Allies. As early as May 1944 Allied bombers were in range of the camp. As former Supreme Court Justice Arthur Goldberg wrote, the allies were “indifferent” to the plight of the Jews. And Jewish leaders in the U.S. hardly made an issue of it. Top leaders like Rabbi Stephen Wise rejected any efforts to save European Jews that weren’t tied to bringing them to Palestine. As dissenter Peter Bergson wrote at the time, it was as if people were in a burning house screaming for help and rescue would only be attempted if it was agreed that the fire victims would be taken right away to the Waldorf-Astoria.

Bergson in 1943 rented out Madison Square Garden and filled it to display the pageant “We Will Never Die.” That year he organized 450 rabbis to march to the White House. Roosevelt didn’t meet with any of them, but in the next year, he approved a War Refugee Board which by some estimates saved 100,000 lives. Bergson’s efforts should be a model for those concerned with Syria.

March 15 marks the 9th anniversary of the start of mass demonstrations in Syria. Their bloody suppression led to the uprising against the Assad tyranny. RPM, Revive the Peace Movement (network) is calling for people to mark the date in some way, by demonstrating, films, webinar, etc. and to call attention to the 3 million people being slowly overcome by Assad-Iranian ground forces and Assad-Putin bombing. More at www.rpm.world.

Tell Us About Yourselves

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! 350 word limit, please!

Please send articles about your group’s recent and current activities and upcoming actions and events to [email protected].

***Help inspire others through your commitment! ***

The deadline for the February Progressive Action Roundtable Newsletter is Monday, January 20.

GUIDELINES FOR ARTICLES Read more

Youth Arts Journalism Book Launch Party

Join us in celebrating the students of YAJI Wednesday, Jan. 15, 4-6 p.m. at the Orchid Café at NH Free Public Library, 133 Elm St.

Please join the Arts Paper and the Arts Council for a party, reading and book launch of work from our second cohort of students in the Youth Arts Journalism Initiative. As we roll into 2020 with the application for our third cohort, learn more about the program and hear from some of the students who published work last semester. For more information and to RSVP, contact Lucy Gellman at [email protected].

The mission of the Youth Arts Journalism Initiative (YAJI)  is to use the Arts Paper to train 9th-12th grade students from New Haven Public Schools to independently research, report, draft, and publish articles about hyper-local visual, performing, and culinary arts.

Our readers want to know about you!

Dear PAR Contributors,

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! 350 word limit, please!

Please send articles about your group’s recent and current activities and upcoming actions and events to [email protected].

***Help inspire others through your commitment! ***

The deadline for the January Progressive Action Roundtable Newsletter is Wednesday, December 18.

GUIDELINES FOR ARTICLES

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.

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.

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.

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 PAR newsletter will come out approximately Monday, December 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.

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.

***

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

We’re looking forward to your articles! Thank you for your help in creating this community newsletter.

– PAR Planning Committee

Progressive Action Roundtable is on Facebook

For automatic PAR updates, sign up on our website: par-newhaven.org

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

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

Baby Library Cards to Newborns: New Partnership Feathers the Nest–NHF Public Library and YNH Hospital

by Lauren Bisio, NHFPL

The New Haven Free Public Library (NHFPL) and Yale New Haven Hospital (YNHH) are pleased to announce a new partnership distributing baby library cards to all newborns residing in New Haven—with an estimated reach of 1,500 newborns annually.

“The New Haven Free Public Library is excited to provide library cards to new babies in our City in partnership with Yale New Haven Hospital,” said Martha Brogan, City Librarian. “We know that reading aloud is enjoyable and has significant benefits even to our youngest infants.  We are thrilled to promote the practice of whole family reading and look forward to sharing our collections and regular storytime hours with our newest residents.”

“We are very excited to partner with the New Haven Public Library to help bring the world of reading and learning to our families here at Yale New Haven Children’s Hospital,” said Cynthia Sparer, senior vice president, Operations at Yale New Haven Hospital and executive director, Yale New Haven Children’s Hospital and VP for women’s and children’s services. “This is a wonderful opportunity for the families we serve and we are grateful to the New Haven Public Library for providing us with these valuable resources and educational materials.”

The library cards will be distributed, along with other welcoming materials, to new parents who give birth at Yale New Haven Children’s Hospital.

Each library card is valid for at least one year and offers access to online resources at NHFPL, including e-books, music and videos. Each postcard includes the five NHFPL locations and contact information, along with encouragement for parents to visit their favorite library branch and upgrade their cards to full-service library cards.

For more information, please contact Lauren Bisio, (203) 947-7454, [email protected].

REMINDER: Due Date for December Articles for PAR Newsletter: Monday, Nov. 18

Dear PAR Contributors,

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 that 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!

Please send articles about your group’s recent and current activities and upcoming actions and events to [email protected].

The deadline for the December Progressive Action Roundtable Newsletter is Monday, Nov. 18.

GUIDELINES FOR ARTICLES

Please limit articles 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 include information about your group’s purpose.

Do not use different fonts or sizes in your article.

Please keep in mind that as layout space permits, we may 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.

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.

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.

Please email us if you have any other questions.  [email protected]

Reflections on a Green Future & How We Get There

by Owen Charles, Shoreline Green Party, August 2019

How can you reflect on something that hasn’t happened you may ask (quite logically)? It is simple, actually. Imagination. Vision. Sense of Purpose. Goal-directed steps towards the future we want to see.

More than 65% of Americans would like to have third parties become a part of the electoral process. What many folks don’t know is that there is a chapter of the Green Party active here on the shoreline of Connecticut that would welcome greater participation (www.facebook.com/ShorelineGreenParty and www.shorelinegreenparty.com). There are also chapters in New Haven (www.facebook.com/NewHavenGreenParty) and throughout the state (www.ctgreenparty.org/chapters.html). There are Green chapters in all 50 states, 100 countries, and right nearby you, supporting an agenda that embraces: Grassroots Democracy, Social Justice, Ecological Wisdom, Nonviolence, Community Based Economics, Economic Justice, Feminism and Gender Equity, and more (go to www.gp.org for the details of this and the much-heralded Green New Deal).

The Green Party lives these ideals… by accepting no Corporate or PAC funding… and advocating for powerful legislation. In 2017 and 2018 we ran 8 candidates for office and are presently supporting a slate of candidates for local offices to really make one hopeful and perhaps even excited about voting and democracy. We hope you may consider joining and running for office in the future.

As we despair through a dystopian present, we can keep ourselves spirited by reflecting on the possible future that we envision by laying out plans, thinking long-term, and mapping our way forward, step-by-step.

When we began organizing the local Greens, I was inspired by the words of a Green Party leader, Hillary Kane, which I think, summarizes so much:

I’m Green because I still have hope. Despite all of the pollution, racism, corporate control, money in politics, incarceration — the list goes on and on — I still have hope that it can change. I believe it takes a small band of people — in communities all across the globe — that stand up and say “enough is enough.” The Green Party is that small band and we are ALL across the globe. I am Green because I am not just voting on Election Day. I’m involved all year long and I’m “voting with my feet” by walking away from the corporate-controlled Democratic Party and into the Green Party, where grassroots political action rules the day. Most social movements in this country started small and faced impossible odds. Yet it can be done. I am Green because I have hope for our small band to grow into a mighty wave.

Shoreline Greens welcome participants from all surrounding areas and those in New Haven are encouraged to attend New Haven Greens meetings. We are working with other local groups and welcome doing that more.

Please reach out to us by joining our Facebook group @shorelinegreenparty or contacting me! Owen Charles at [email protected] or [email protected].

1 2 3 4 5 6 … 9