Arise for Social Justice

Taking about a Revolution - Tracey Chapman

2012-02-12T16:53:00.000-05:00

Enforcing the law could have saved their lives

2012-02-11T14:09:00.000-05:00

Along the banks of the American River, adjacent to the Highway 160 bridge in Sacramento, reside a few dozen homeless men and drifters. Nylon tents sprawl across the grass. In one of them lived Kevin Moore and Ray Sletto, whose bodies were found on the afternoon of Jan. 17.
The two men were the closest of friends for more than 10 years, taking care of each other and Baby Girl, the pit bull mix they adopted. Kevin Moore, 38, was a jeweler with a goatee and an easy smile and Ray Sletto, 44, sleepy-eyed and mustachioed, was a chef with a bad back. They had been homeless for many years after losing their jobs. Though the weather was mild, they enclosed their tent within another tent for extra warmth and lit a small camp stove. As the fumes quietly filled the air while they slept, they died of carbon monoxide poisoning sometime during the night of Jan. 16.
Just slightly more than a mile away from where Moore and Sletto's tent stood is the state capitol building in Sacramento. Four days before they died, lawmakers from around the state met to discuss the crisis of homelessness in their communities. Over one-fifth of homeless Americans live in the streets, park and shelters of California, which has been hit hard by the lingering effects of the recent recession, from high unemployment to rising foreclosure rates. California's tally in 2011 was estimated at 135,928, according to the National Alliance to End Homelessness.
Across the country, women and children are the fastest-growing segment of the homeless population, the alliance says. And shelters across the state have only enough beds for a small fraction of the dispossessed: The St. John's Shelter for Women and Children in Sacramento turns away hundreds of people each night for this reason and leaves them to fend for themselves.
But one of the state's most powerful tools to assist this vulnerable population is hardly being used. Buried within California's legal codes is a 25-year-old statute that allows counties and municipalities to declare a state of emergency when a "significant number" of homeless people exist in a community, allowing them to convert public facilities into shelters and even to change zoning codes to site shelters in most neighborhoods.
Yet since the law was passed in 1987 -- and as the homeless population increased -- few communities have invoked the statute, and when they do, it is almost always just to set up temporary winter shelters. As a result of a lack of political will, neighborhood resistance and budget constraints, this law has rarely been tapped to ease the suffering of the dispossessed.
"It is almost unparalleled in its potential," National Coalition for the Homeless executive director Neil Donovan said about the statute. "But it's a challenge [for California] because of the financial crisis that they're in. Other communities use similar statutes far more effectively. I'm thinking of Boston, which opens up its armories when overcrowding happens."
The reluctance to take action frustrates advocates for homeless people. "It's a very powerful statute in the sense that once a shelter crisis has been declared -- it could be done on a statewide level by the governor or on a county level -- there are just about no restrictions to housing the homeless anywhere," said civil liberties lawyer Mark Merin. "But there are very few instances where it has been invoked. Any mayor or board of supervisors which has not declared a shelter crisis should be asked, Why not?"
Read more at Huffington Post.

Dear Homeless Couple: Yes, there IS something you can do for me!

2012-02-09T23:40:00.001-05:00

This is a longish story that leads to exactly where it needs to go, so bear with me.

Yesterday afternoon we get a call from a guy in a panic-- he and his wife have been renting a room in a friend's house and that morning, the city showed up, boarded up the house, and told him and his wife they had an hour to get out! Could we help? Where should they go? How could this happen? His wife was three months pregnant and he didn't want to be out on the street.

Fortunately for them, they'd found a way back into the house and were going to spend the night there, but he knew it was only good for that night.

I ask the guy-- let's call him Mike-- a couple of questions. Are they legal tenants? Well, they've been paying $100 a week to their friend, who isn't around much, but they have rent receipts. Is the house in bad shape? Had it been condemned for conditions? Well, some broken windows, and the utilities got turned off last week, but their friend said he'd be getting them turned back on in somebody else's name. My heart sinks a bit on that one, knowing that just the fact of a house being without utilities is enough to get a placed condemned, if only temporarily.

"The guy from the city said that the city owned the house! And we had no notice-- didn't know this was happening."

"Hate to say it, but your friend-- if he's really the owner-- has probably gotten plenty of notices. He's been taking your money knowing this was coming. And if he's not the owner, he's just been robbing you."
I get the address of the property, and the owner's name, then ask Mike guy if I can call him back-- want to try to reach a lawyer..

"The last time I called the Office for Housing about a condemnation, they said they didn't have any money to help tenants, but let me check on that, too," I say.

I reach Bernie Cohen in his office, describe the situation, and Bernie says that the city is obligated to give notice to legal tenants.

"OK, that might help," I say. Then I call the Office for Housing, and hear the same sad story as before: gee, sorry, no money to help with relocation.

I call Mike back.

"Look," I say, "I think your best shot is going to Housing Court tomorrow morning, going before the judge, and telling the judge your story. Maybe there's some legal angle I don't know."

"We've got what we could take of our stuff with us." (I just picture them trying to get through the courthouse metal detectors with all their bags.) "My wife Peg is tired."

"She can come and hang out here while you go to Housing Court," I say.

So this morning, Peg comes in. She is a slight, slender woman with sandy hair.

"Is Mike at Housing Court?" I ask her.

"No, not yet, he's a recycler, and he's bringing his scrap metal to Chicopee first so we have some money."

Later, we're trying to scrape some money together so one of our members, Jackie, who is volunteering for the day, can get a dollar item from the Burger King menu. We find $4.55 in various drawers and pockets.

"Want to get a sandwich?" I say to Peg.

"No, that's OK, you don't have to give me any money." But Jackie takes her in hand.

"Come on, let's walk over together," she says, and finally Peg goes with her.

Mike comes back.

"Are you going to Housing Court next?"

"Will it do any good?" He doesn't outright say no, but I can tell he is scared.

"I don't know," I say. "but it's worth a try. Look-- let me try to see if I can get a lawyer to help you," I say, knowing it will be almost impossible.

I call Joel Feldman, and he's too busy, but he tells me there's a state law that requires the city to provide relocation funds, and he cites me Chapter and Section of the Mass General Laws. I call Marion at Community Legal Aid, and get a little more of the picture, but they can't take the case on, either. Finally I call Bernie back.

"Bernie, is there any chance at all you can help out this couple? They're scared to go to Housing Court."

"Actually, I have two cases down there this afternoon, and if they come down, I can talk to them."

"Oh, My God, thank you so much," I say, and then I tell Mike and Peg. Their faces light up; I describe Bernie so they can find him, and they immediately set out.

I call the Office for Housing back.

"I've been looking into the situation for you," the woman says, "and you should talk to the chief housing inspector. He says the place has been condemned for months, the water was turned off months ago, and your couple aren't legal tenants but squatters."

"Well, they certainly thought they were legal tenants," I say. "And look-- I just found out that the city is legally required to provide relocation benefits for families displaced because of condemnation."

"Yes, but the city has no money."

"Well, I don't care if the Mayor has to take a pay cut," I say, and we both laugh, "the next time the city condemns a building you'd better be ready to help the tenants, or I'll take it to court." I'm trying to be cordial and dead serious at the same time.

I call the building inspector, who seems to be expecting me. He has the weary attitude of a cop who's been on the street too long. He explains the situation of their house to me, says the house was boarded up once before, and that my couple are not legal tenants.

"But where are they to go? They're very poor. And there's not much out there. So much housing has come off the market since the tornado, and even before, and nothing's coming back on. What are people like them supposed to do?"

"Relocate," he says. " Have they looked in Westfield? South Hadley? Chicopee? Housing is cheaper there."

So we go on like this for a while, not really getting anywhere, me talking about the Rainville, 44 units of affordable housing for formerly homeless people, and him talking about the River Inn, where people lived in squalor and which he happily condemned, him talking about the elderly people who cleaned debris from their homes after the tornado instead of waiting for people to help them, me talking about tenants who don't have that option.
.
"Look," he says, "it's only going to get worse. I've condemned 31 properties just since the first of the year, and what with foreclosures, I've got a lot more planned. What am I supposed to do? Let some homeless drug addicts burn themselves to death in a building with no heat, maybe killing some kids? Remember the eight fire fighters in Worcester who died?

"You just don't know what I see. I see whole families sleeping in basements, children right next to the boiler. people in attics. People living without water, without heat and lights. Addicts taking over buildings."

"I do know what you see," I say, my eyes closed, visualizing the children in the basement. "I see the same thing, only from the other end, when people come here to Arise."
----------------------
Mike comes back from Housing Court to pick up his bags, and his eyes are smiling..

"We've got a week in the Bel-Air Motel in West Springfield," he says, "after that we're on our own. My wife's down at the bus station waiting for me. We have to be there by six."

"That's what the judge said?"

"No, we never even got to the judge, Bernie and this lawyer from the city worked it out with us in mediation. The city lawyer, she was really unfriendly."

"About my age, with long gray hair?"

'Yes."

"I know who you mean," I say.

He starts to leave then turns back and gives me an awkward hug.

"Thank you so much," he says. "I can't believe how much you've helped us. I'll be back tomorrow, but I just want you to know, if there's anything I can ever do for Arise, ever, I will." He runs to catch his bus and I'm alone for the first time in a long day.

Now I can be as pissed off as I want, without feeling like I might scare Mike and Peg away. I think about the city's de facto housing plan-- relocation?-- and the Governor's plan to limit access to family shelter even more. I think about the brutal cuts in HUD funding looming over our heads. And now I know exactly what I want Mike and Peg to do for Arise-- and for themselves.

I want them to get angry.

On Monday, April 2, we're having a rally against the criminalization of homelessness and poverty. We'll be joining dozens of cities in the U.S. and Canada in the National Day of Action for the Right to Exist. I want hundred of Mikes and Pegs to stand up and say, Enough is enough! If the city and the state don't have the will to find solutions, then the people will. There is no answer to anything that plagues us without housing.

Announcing the Community Invest Initiative!!!!

2012-02-07T11:40:00.000-05:00

For many people, this last year has been filled with uncertainty. Unemployment in the greater Springfield area is over 12%; evictions and foreclosures have dramatically increased and concerns for the health and safety of the local community have been devastated by large corporations.

In addition to the economic struggles, natural disasters have taken their toll. In June, a tornado touched down in Western Massachusetts, tearing through some of the poorest areas in West Springfield and Springfield. Hundreds of units of affordable rental units were lost. As of today, less than 50 homes have been rebuilt and no apartments have been replaced.

We at Arise are uniquely suited to work in the Springfield Area as we have had a presence in the community since 1985. When we first organized ourselves, we were just one of many. Today, there are just a handful of organizations that focus on poverty and we are one of the only ones dedicated to organizing among the low income residents of the greater Springfield area. As a member driven organization, we work every day to speak out and stand up for our basic human rights.

On February 1st, in order to better serve the community, we launched the Community Investment Initiative. The CII is a special fundraising initiative with a focus on developing a long term partnership with the people of the Pioneer Valley and Arise. Our goal is to find 200 people who are willing to partner with Arise as sustaining donors by donating $20, $35, or $50 a month. If those 200 people are regularly able to give just $20 a month, we will be able to raise $48,000 to help the people of the Springfield area have a voice in the recovery efforts. This would be about 50% of our entire budget!

"But Jenn," you say, "I'm not sure I can afford to help!" Please allow me to break it down to demonstrate how affordable it really is to contribute to Arise. If you choose to donate the $20 a month level, that means just $0.67 a day or about 5 minutes of your working day if you make minimum wage, and mere seconds if you earn more. Many of us have regular coffee habit - we might spend $5 a day in coffee from a shop - If you take one day and make your coffee at home, you can donate the savings to Arise :-) (Or you can just go without the coffee for one day a week and tell your co-workers that you're getting cranky for charity ;-) The ways to save $5 a week are literally endless!

I would personally ask that you take the time to think about how you can partner with Arise and help our communities come together and help those who have been mostly deeply affected by disasters, poverty and oppression. Over the next few weeks, I and other Arise Volunteers will be calling and sending out mailings asking for your participation in this amazing new program! Please consider what you might contribute to help change the world!

National Priorities Project Founder Greg Speeter passes away

2012-02-04T15:37:00.000-05:00

I just want to say that Greg Speeter was one of the first people to take Arise seriously-- endlessly patient with our ignorance and one of the most truly kind people I've ever met.

Gazette, by BARBARA SOLOW, Staff Writer

HATFIELD - Friends and colleagues say Greg Speeter, founder and former director of the Northampton-based National Priorities Project, was a rare combination of visionary and everyman, a person whose legacy is an organization that brings the reality of the federal budget home.

Speeter, who died Thursday at age 68 after a long battle with cancer, was "just a force for good in all of our lives," said Northampton City Councilor Pamela Schwartz, who was the project's communications director for 10 years. "He had the intelligence and commitment and determination to make change, and we all got to benefit from that."

Speeter, a Minnesota native and longtime Hatfield resident, founded the nonprofit research group in 1983 as a way to help community groups better understand and respond to federal budget policy. The project's inaugural report, "In Defense of the First District," highlighted the loss of $54 million in social spending in the late U.S. Rep. Silvio Conte's district during the early years of the Reagan Administration.

The report - which was credited with changing how Conte voted on the budget - was also the first to explore the impact of federal spending at the congressional district level.

When the Bush administration launched the war in Iraq in 2003, Speeter's organization once again broke ground by calculating the cost of the conflict in terms of dollars diverted from local communities. The group's website offered a cost-of-war counter that helped visitors calculate how much their towns paid for the war in lost spending on health care, education and energy.

"That data was used in City Council resolutions and in national and local media reports from CNN to Democracy Now," Schwartz said. "It played a significant role in bringing the cost of that war home."

The NPP's ongoing research into how federal tax dollars are spent remains a powerful tool for activists and ordinary citizens, said Phyllis Bennis, a fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, who met Speeter in the early 1990s when she was a keynote speaker for his group's annual dinner.

"His legacy is that people across the country working on issues from housing to health care to ending wars can all do our jobs better," Bennis said. "Greg understood far earlier than anyone else the importance of truly understanding the budget."

Boundless optimism

Despite his keen interest in budget figures, friends and former co-workers say Speeter was the opposite of a dry statistician. A former organizer for Volunteers in Service to America in Springfield and for the Citizen Involvement Training Project in Amherst, he had a wry sense of humor and a boundless store of optimism, they say.

"Greg was the kind of person who loved talking to people, and could convince almost anyone to come over to his way of thinking," said Philip Korman of Northampton, NPP's development director for seven years.

"He could also tell you what the weather was on any day of any year," added Korman, who is now executive director of Communities Involved in Sustaining Agriculture. "He just had that kind of memory."

Co-workers say Speeter brought humor and creativity into his work with the National Priorities Project.

Jo Comerford, who took over as executive director when Speeter stepped down in 2008, recalls him dragging enormous rolls of pennies onto airplanes and trains while traveling to speak at policy conferences and training sessions. The pennies were used to illustrate exactly how federal dollars were being allocated - how much for military spending and how much for social programs.

"I still remember how he looked carrying those huge rolls of coins," she said with a smile.

"I never saw him get discouraged about anything," Comerford added. "He always had a funny story."

"His passion was contagious," Schwartz said. "And he never lost faith."

Friends and family say Speeter doted on his grandson, 2, and reveled in the joys of life on his farm in Hatfield.

"He just made the most of that time," said Betsy Speeter, his wife of 36 years. The family is planning a memorial sometime in the next few months.

Speeter's commitment to helping ordinary citizens understand complex budget issues is more important than ever, say people who have used his organization's research.

"Here we are fussing about the very thought that we might reduce military expenditures at the same time we're being asked to reduce funding for all kinds of social programs," said U.S. Rep. John Olver, D-Amherst. "Greg's greatest effort was at showing, in extreme detail, how the enormous military footprint affects everything."

People interviewed Friday suggested Speeter's legacy may lie in creating a model for providing information in a way that activates as well as informs.

"He believed that the federal budget had to be understood by every single person," Comerford said, "so they could change it."

Biomass Building Permit Revoked!!!!

2012-01-25T22:24:00.000-05:00

BIOMASS PERMIT REVOKED!!!

Biomass Building Permit revoked!! Details to follow!

Three Strikes legislation wrong direction for MA-- take action now!

2012-01-22T10:21:00.000-05:00

From the ACLU:

A lot is on the line and we need your help. Massachusetts lawmakers are under intense pressure to pass a "3 strikes and you're out" proposal that would make our already harsh sentencing laws even more punitive.

In November, each branch of the state legislature hurriedly passed legislation that would, among other provisions, expand "mandatory maximum" sentences for people with certain criminal histories who are convicted of new crimes.

That's right--mandatory maximum sentences.

Please ask four key legislative leaders to reconsider these overly harsh sentencing proposals.

Unless we take bold and steady steps, "3 strikes" would tie judges' hands and require them to impose the maximum possible sentence on any defendant with past felony convictions charged as a "habitual" offender--such as stealing something with a value over a $250 threshold.

It should never even be a possibility that a judge could be forced to lock somebody up for years for an offense like stealing an iPod or an expensive pair of shoes. On top of that, the law would push back any chance of parole, and in many cases strip it away entirely. That's not only wrong, but with a price tag of nearly $50,000 a year to taxpayers, we can't afford it.

Please tell Massachusetts lawmakers that mandatory maximum sentences are the wrong way to go.

Thank you,
The ACLU of Massachusetts Legislative Team

P.S. To learn more about this dangerous legislation, visit our website.

Women (who we love) arrested at Vermont Yankee while mourning cancer deaths

2012-01-21T21:38:00.000-05:00

Nancy First, Ellen Graves, Frances Crowe and Hattie Nestel await booking in the Vernon, Vermont police station.

The day after our intrepid warriors were arrested, a federal jusge ruled against the state of Vermont an in favor of Entergy, allowing the plant to stay open-- possibly as long as the twenty year extension granted to it by the Nuclear regulatory Commission. Vermont is the only state which has given itself the power to approve or disapprove the plant's permit extensions. The reasons are ironic. Read more here.

Article and photo by Marcia Gagliardi. As they participated in a walking meditation in the Entergy Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant driveway to mourn cancer deaths caused by radioactive emissions, fourteen women of the Shut It Down Affinity Group were arrested Wednesday by Vernon police and Vermont state police when they refused to move.

All were transported to and booked at the Vernon police station where Chief Mary-Beth Hebert coordinated collection of data for later charges. At the power plant, Chief Hebert told the women they would be charged with unlawful trespass, but no citations were issued during the bookings and no arraignment dates were provided.

Hattie Nestel, the first to be booked, said the arresting officer handed her a citation for unlawful trespass with a February 14 arraignment date. However, after conferring with another Vernon police staffer, the officer asked Nestel to give back the citation. “He told me the state’s attorney had called and instructed Vernon police not to issue court dates, and citations would be mailed to us,” Nestel said. None of the women received written citations nor arraignment dates during the booking.

The arrest marked the fourteenth time since 2005 that women of the group have acted either at the nuclear power plant or Entergy headquarters in Brattleboro to shut down Vermont Yankee.

During Wednesday’s silent procession at Vermont Yankee before the arrests, the women participated in a walking meditation while remembering friends, family, and all who have died from or suffer from cancer caused by radioactive emissions. The participants wore black clothing and donned white death masks during the procession.

Mindful of possible slippery conditions from recent cold weather and icing, the women took particular care to guide the steps of their friends Nelia Sargent, who is legally blind and Frances Crowe, who recently experienced a fall down stairs. Temperatures hovered in the teens during the procession.

Participants included, from Vermont, Julia Bonafine, 43, of Shrewsbury and Nina Swaim, 73, of Sharon; from New Hampshire, Sargent, 56; from Massachusetts, Ellen Graves, 71, of West Springfield; Anneke Corbett, 69, of Florence; Cate Woolner, 61, of Northfield; Sandra Boston, 71, of Greenfield; Betsy Corner, 64, of Colrain; Paki Wieland, 68, Crowe, 92, Susan Lantz, 71, and Nancy First, 82, all of Northampton; Marcia Gagliardi, 64, and Nestel, 72, of Athol.

Supporters for the action were, from Massachusetts, Mary-Ann Palmieri of New Salem and Ellen Kaufmann of Greenfield.

The women issued a statement after the action:

“No corporation has the right to poison our air, water, environment, and the future of humanity. We come to Vermont Yankee today representing the harbingers of death that emanates from this reactor.

“We cry for the suffering and poisoning of the aquatic life in our Connecticut River and for all life that surrounds it and is polluted by it.

“We cry for our children, their children, and those many generations that will have to suffer from the poisons that are emitted from Vermont Yankee and the other 103 commercial reactors in the U.S.We call on the state to act responsibly and join us in shutting down Vermont Yankee NOW!

“We call on all persons who do not want to see their air, water, environment, and life killed by this nuclear reactor to join us in shutting it down by such citizens’ non-violent actions now.

“Don't wait-tomorrow may be too late!”

What shall I do with this child?

2012-01-17T17:42:00.001-05:00

If I don't just sit down and write this, without worrying about telling the tale in the right order, or remembering all the other things I was supposed to write about, etc., it won't get written, so here goes:

On Friday, a young, 20 year old woman calls us from the Liberty St. welfare office-- she is three months pregnant and homeless and welfare won't help her-- can we? She's sitting there with two suitcases and no bus money, so Ruben drives down, picks her up and brings her back to the office.

The story comes out: welfare won't help her because she was in a family shelter in September and left, and welfare (actually, the Dept. of Housing and Community Development) has a rule: no help available within one year of leaving shelter.

"Why did you leave?" I ask.

"Because when I went to the shelter, I was in the process of arranging temporary custody for my three year old son, and it happened faster than I thought, so once I didn't have him with me anymore, I wasn't eligible for shelter, and I had to leave."

Seems like Friday is always the day we have situations like this-- agency folks already looking toward the weekend-- a three day weekend, in this case-- and not reachable by phone-- not that a situation like hers is going to get resolved in a single working day anyway: the wheels of bureaucracy move very slowly. We make a lot of phone calls, nothing pays off; I'm getting ready to prepare her physically and psychologically for a night in the women's shelter at Worthington St. when Pat Murray from Nehemiah House calls me back-- they'll take her for the weekend. But while I'm talking to Pat, she calls her sister's boyfriend, who offered to pay for her to stay in a motel for a week, long enough, she hoped, for us to find her some real help.

I triy to talk her into staying at Nehemiah House, and using her week in a motel after that, but she's tired (and so am I) and just wants to be somewhere where she doesn't have to deal with any more strangers. So we wait for the money to be wired, and then I drive her to this fleabag motel. (And when I get home, a woman has responded to my Facebook post with an offer! Thank you!)

While all this is being negotiated, I get to hear a little more of her story.

"Where is your son now?" I ask.

"One of my foster moms took him for me."

"Did you grow up in foster care?"

"Since I was seven."

"Do you have any family in the area? Your mom?" (Because you'd be surprised how many kids who grow up in foster care wind up back with their birth parents.)

"No, my mom died when I was seven."

"That's terrible. What did she die of?"

"Kidney failure. She'd been in and out of jail, and she wasn't getting good care, and when she finally got out, and got on dialysis, she was pretty far gone-- she actually died pretty soon after."

"Any other family?"

"Just a sister-- but she's living with somebody else, and I can't go there."

"Let me ask you a question that's going to sound pretty rude-- have you considered an abortion?"

"I thought about it," she says, "but now I'm three and a half months along, and it's too late."

"Not really," I say, my voice trailing off.

"It just doesn't seem right, the baby's developing and everything."

I have yet to meet a girl who grew up in foster care (although I'm sure there are some) who will even consider an abortion when she gets pregnant. Those girls know abandonment only too well, and having an abortion feels like self-murder. I let it go, and drop her at the motel.

Tuesday morning, 10:30, and she calls me.

"I have to be out of here in half an hour, and I have no bus money."

"So the week turned out just to be a weekend?"

"Yeah."

Ruben goes and picks her up, and it's back to the office, more phone calls, you name it, we try it. While we're making these calls, I hear her on the other line, arguing with someone.

"But I don't want to have an abortion.....Hey, that's not fair to say, it's not just as easy to have an abortion as it is to-- what did you call it?-- open my legs and get pregnant....No, he's 18 years old and doesn't even have a job....Can't I just come there for a while?"

Overhearing her gives me an idea, and this antiquated phrase comes into my mind...a Home for Unwed Mothers! I try to reach Brightside, but get an answering machine.

"Ellen, what's that Catholic organization that used to have those billboards that say, "Pregnant? Worried? You are not alone!'"

"Birthright," she says. So I google Birthright and find a place in Worcester called the Visitation House, and while my young friend is still on the phone, I call them and explain the situation.

"She's homeless and some people are pressuring her to have an abortion, and she doesn't want one."

The woman on intake takes me very seriously, gets my number, the girl's number, and promises to try to have an answer tonight-- and if not tonight, tomorrow. Meanwhile, it'll have to be Worthington St. Shelter for the night. (I have two homeless people staying with me right now, and not even enough blankets left to make up a bedroll.)

As I'm driving her to Worthington St., I ask her who was talking to her about having an abortion.

"My godmother," she says. "She's in North Carolina, and I was asking her if I could stay with her, but she says not unless I have an abortion. But I'm telling her, Who knows what my life will be like in six or seven months? I could have an apartment, a job.....and she says, Well, what about the son you already have? And I say, It's not like I just gave him up easily, I stuck it out for three years, and I do want to get him back....I did it for him.

"besides," she says, "it's kinda her fault I'm in this situation. She's my godmother and she promised my mother she'd take care of me, but she beat me all the time, and DSS took me away from her."

There's really not much more to say for tonight. I bring her to Worthington St., and I can tell she's scared, but I'll see her again tomorrow.

So my mind is swimming with all the points of intervention that could have made a difference in her life, even though we have to deal with the one intervention that may be within our power-- finding her a safe place to be. Birth control....a mother who wasn't an addict...treatment for her mother instead of prison...a better foster care system...a change in DHCD rules...parenting classes...group homes.....Money!

I think of myself, pregnant and nineteen, so sure I could pull it off, so unaware of all the trauma that lay ahead for me and my daughter....If you believe in prayer, and you have any to spare, please say them for my friend.

Double Your Money?

2012-01-17T13:08:00.000-05:00

ATTENTION!!! ATTENTION!!! ATTENTION!!!!

We have a tremendous opportunity for you to help Arise!

Someone once said that the best way to double your money is to fold it half! All joking aside, a Google search for Double your Money brings up over 370,000,000 results! Many of these links are for scams promising double returns if you just send them your money. In reality, it seems like everyone is looking for a way to make their money go twice as far. Buy one, get one free sales have exploded around the country – couponing has become an obsession!

Here are Arise, we have an opportunity to double our money in a meaningful way. Recently, a local foundation has issued us a challenge grant. If we raise $1000 between now and April 1^st, the foundation will match It with a donation of $1000 of their own! This is a sure way to double your money and have twice the impact in our community!

Have you been interested in donating to Arise, but doubted that your single donation would make much of a difference? Donating to help with this challenge is a simple and great way to partner with us to double the impact of your donation!

I want to thank the donors who have already given! We already have $100 towards the goal of $1000. Will you join us and them in meeting this challenge?

Donate now via our blog’s Donate button (Just to the right of this post J) Or mail us your donation today @ 467 State Street, P.O.Box 5423, Springfield, MA 01101. Simple put “Challenge” in the memo line J

Join us on twitter :-)

2012-01-10T11:54:00.000-05:00

Are you a social media connected person? Have a blog, a twitter, a facebook and maybe even an old Tumblr or myspace laying around? Come join Arise on Twitter!!!
https://twitter.com/#!/AriseSocialJust

We're also on Facebook as both a group and an organization - join us to find out all the latest information and keep up to date on all the latest happenings here at Arise!

If you are interested in having your work published on the blog? Join us for our Members Speak feature :-) Member's Speak is a monthly column where we post what you have to say!

25 Years and Counting :-)

2012-01-02T15:06:00.000-05:00

25 years ago it was 1987. Reagan was president, Governor Dukakis and John Kerry were Gov and Lt. Gov , Richard Neal was Major of Springfield, Unemployment was at 3.5%, and the Monarch Life Insurance Company was beginning to build Monarch Place, the new 400ft skyscraper. Despite these statistics, cracks were beginning to appear in this façade of prosperity. Springfield’s crime rate was increasing and its white population was fleeing to the suburbs. Over 400,000 Massachusetts citizens received some form of welfare aid. A family of three, who received maximum welfare benefits, was expected to make ends meet with just $549 a month, just over half of what they needed to actually survive; Over 1000 families were homeless each month. The wealth gap was growing and those in poverty were beginning to grow restless.

It was into this environment, just two year earlier, that four women on welfare met around a kitchen table do see what they could about the injustices they experienced in the welfare system. As they began to build political power, helping with the Up and Out of Poverty Campaign, other members of the community began to join these women. As the Arise Community grew, the organization grew with it. In 1987, Arise applied for and received non-profit status and rented our first office in Springfield. Even though the founders eventually did find low wage work, they found themselves dealing with the same prejudices and oppression they faced as mothers on welfare.

Although Springfield and Arise have gone through many changes, their fundamental traits have not changed. Although Springfield is a slightly more diverse city with many cultural and ethnic traditions, big business and wealth still try to dominate. Minorities and the under privileged are still marginalized, ignored, and oppressed. After 25 years, Arise is still dedicated to fighting for the voiceless, helping people find their voice and working for city and culture wide change. Today, our issues have expanded to include issues that affect not only low-income people but all people. Our member driven committees cover racism, economic justice, justice for criminals, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, environmental justice, and anti-war/pro-peace actions. We have seen amazing progress on many fronts, but there is still much to be done.

Over the coming year, in addition to our regular efforts, Arise will be hosting a series of special events, blog posts, open mic nights, film nights, and other great events to celebrate the last 25 years and look forward to the next 25 years. You’ll hear from founding members, older members and some current members. It will all culminate this October with our 25^th Anniversary Gala!

We will be posting details both here, on Facebook and on Twitter, so please stay tuned and plan to join us in both celebration and in rededication to meaningful and lasting change!

Indefinite Detention

2012-01-01T06:40:00.000-05:00

This bloody, bloody war

2011-12-09T22:16:00.000-05:00

We're on a countdown to the end of the Iraq war, but almost no one seems to notice.

Nine years of war: what has it cost us? What have we gained?

In lives: As of today, 4801 coalition forces have been killed, 4483 of them U.S. military members. Official estimates say 32,200 have been injured, but some estimates put that number closer to 100,000. Many of those injuries are brain injuries and amputations that will affect those injured for the rest of their lives.

On the Iraqi side, more than 100,000 civilian deaths have been documented, but Just Foreign Policy, Lancet and other place the number at more than a million. The number of injured is undocumented.

In money: The official tally stands at $800 billion-- that's $3000 a second—for the duration of the war. These are direct costs, however, and don't include the cost of replacing equipment, vehicles and weapons, and the cost of providing health care and other benefits for veterans. That could push the cost to about $4 trillion.

I won't put all the blame for the recession on the war, but, in these times, can you imagine the number of jobs that could have been created with that money?

What have we gained? Only the most cynical would say that the fall of dictator Saddam Hussein justifies what we have lost. A few might claim that Iraq paved the way for the Arab Spring, but I'd be more inclined to say that the people would have overthrown Hussein themselves by now.

Can anyone think of even one other benefit from this bloody, bloody war?

Anti-war activists called this war before it happened. We saw the handwriting on the wall on 9/11, we tried to stop it and when we couldn't, we tried to bring it to an early end, and we couldn't do that, either. the last few years the energy of the anti-war movement has been sapped by a misguided faith in Barack Obama. Maybe we're just tired. Or maybe we're coming to believe that everything must change before there can be no more wars.

For more than nine years, Arise has vigiled every Monday at noon in front of the Federal Building in Springfield. We've had a half dozen major demonstrations there, joined by anti-war activists from around the Valley. On snowy or rainy days, maybe the numbers get as low as four, but usually there's a dozen or more people. We'll mark the end of this war in some way before the end of the year. But we will continue to vigil.

There's still Afghanistan.

Five years in prison for being gay

2011-12-08T12:43:00.000-05:00

Change.org|Start an Online Petition »

From Change.org: In November, two gay men in Cameroon were sentenced to five years in prison simply for being gay, the harshest penalty allowed under Cameroonian law. During the trial, according to the AFP, the judge issued some particularly homophobic comments, leading one lawyer to call the trial “a bad ruling,” and leading Amnesty International to label these men as “prisoners of conscience.”
The sentence comes on the heels of increased homophobia in Cameroon, and debates over legislation that would further criminalize homosexuality in the country. Human rights attorney Alice Nkom told AllOut.org that “Violence against gay people in Cameroon has skyrocketed to unprecedented levels: the situation is quickly becoming a crisis. The president of Cameroon can put a stop to this, and if he feels enough pressure he will do so.”
Help send a message to Cameroon that the world is watching, and won’t stand silent while people are sentenced to jail solely because of their sexual orientation. Demand the release of these gay men from prison.

Shout Out for Out Now, Arise and NOL from prison!

2011-12-07T13:01:00.000-05:00

Holly got the following letter at home.....these expressions of appreciation are what makes it all worthwhile.

Holly,

I’d like to begin this letter by introducing myself to you. I’m 36 years old, Caucasian, male and I was born and raised in between Springfield and W. Springfield and Chicopee. Having an alcohol issue since the age of 13 has led me to a life of being in jails and institutions. I’m not a stalker or a rapist or anything crazy like that. I drink too much and hit people. I’ve never been arrested sober in my life. I’ve just remained angry at the judicial system because instead of getting me help they’ve just locked me up over and over. But I got them this time cuz I’ve helped myself. It’s simple, just don’t drink. I’m a father to a 13 year old boy who has been battling cancer since 3. He’s doing great right now. His mother and I were together for 15 years, decided to get married, after 5 months of marriage we divorced and have decided to go our separate ways. I apologize if I’m giving too much info I just want you to know I’m a normal person…

So I was reading the republican and came across your name and info for getting arrested at the protests. Shame on you (smiley face), just kidding. I’ve been in prison for 4 ½ years (I see parole in February) and I think it’s a shame what is happening with the people in our country. People are homeless and starving but the government would rather spend money rebuilding foreign countries. Excuse me if I’m totally off track but I have elder parents who have worked their entire lives, they’ve retired now but still have to work part time just to make ends meet. Recently my father has fallen ill and he’s unable to work. The bills are piling up and his insurance doesn’t cover all his medications and they cannot get assistance anywhere.

All this brings me to the purpose for this letter. I admire you and envy you for putting yourself out there to make a stand for yourself and those who are unable to make a stand for themselves. Being in prison is somewhat similar because if we do not stand up for our rights we’d be abused mentally and physically on a daily basis. And it’s good people like you who are standing up for my parents right now due to my absence. And for that I thank you. Honestly, I’d like to see this country protest the way some of these other countries do, minus the violence and death. Though my family isn’t being kicked out of their home my heart goes out to all of those who are going through this struggle.

So I hope my point has been made. My appreciation for what you’ve done, your sacrifice. Though I do not know you I will keep you in my prayers. If your legal issues become problematic please contact me. Over the years I’ve learned a bit about the law.

Your friend.

Kids get poisoned by lead-- but funding gets cut

2011-12-05T18:52:00.001-05:00

Nearly half the housing in Massachusetts is likely to have lead paint. New studies have shown that lead poisoning damages children at much smaller amounts than previously documented.

But the federal government is about to eliminate the remaining funding for lead poisoning prevention, and Massachusetts is very unlikely to be able to make up the difference. Read more at Boston Globe.

Last year Massachusetts had thirteen employees working in lead-poisoning prevention programs. This year, we have three. What will next year bring?

What can you do as the parent of a child who may be at risk? If you're renting, ask the potential landlord if the apartment has a lead certificate. And ask your pediatrician to test your child, and test regularly. Looks like we're on our own for the indefinite future.

Rally for clean air tomorrow!

2011-12-02T18:09:00.001-05:00

Local Residents Rally to Ask Governor Patrick to Stand Up For Strong Clean Air Protections

Biomass is not a clean energy solution for air quality issues in Massachusetts

Springfield – On Saturday, December 3rd, the Sierra Club Beyond Coal campaign will be hosting a Clean Air Rally in front of Gov. Patrick’s offices in Springfield. Several dozen public health professionals and local activists will be calling on the Governor and the Department of Environmental Protection to protect our health and our air by retiring aging coal plants and looking at alternatives to dirty biomass incinerators in Central and Western Massachusetts. The activists will display 1,000 petitions calling on the governor for stronger pollution safeguards and announcing our 80 business coalition partners. In addition to listed speakers, local residents will be delivering testimonials, all speaking as to why we need to move beyond coal in the Pioneer Valley and how we can do it.

We haven't forgotten about war

2011-12-02T05:20:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I was quite giddy about this news of the Merkley amendment passing the Senate on a voice vote. The very day before the Senate -- to their great discredit -- had added dangerous new powers to the Military in the ever-escalating war on terrorism.

Where did my giddiness come from? I have found these last couple of days to be very upsetting ones in terms of U.S. war policy. Monday morning began with our local paper's front page announcement of a local National Guard contingent of engineers being sent off to Afghanistan for the next year. Their assignment? To clear roads of explosive devices. Will they come back to us? Will their bodies and their minds be whole?

Adding to my upset was knowing that every day the U.S. Senate was on the verge of passing on an obscene War Budget of nearly $ 700,000,000,000 for just one fiscal year. All dedicated to Killing -- or the Threat of killing -- to keep our top-dog position throughout the planet.

Then came the whopper. Embedded in the War Budget was a more frightening commitment to an already out-of-control escalated Anti-Terrorism policy (and what is that stipulation doing in a $$$ appropriation bill anyhow? Is there no Rules Committee in the Senate?) But it came to the floor and passed with 61 votes! The U.S. Senate moved a little closer to facism where THE U.S. MILITARY can summarily pick up a suspected terrorist & be her/his police, prosecutor, judge, and jury, putting a person away secretly and pretty much forever. The MILITARY in charge in this country. How is this different from the situation in Egypt? -- is the question I've been flinging about all week.
A lot of us were despondent.
So when I looked at the computer after dinner and saw that the Merkley Amendment had passed by a voice vote, I was astonished and delighted.
By the time I went to bed still trying to process all this, I was left with two explanations. The Senate needs a cover-up, a sop to what they will be about today (thursday) when the entire $ 600+ Blllion comes up for a vote. We citizens may well see them do what they've done before -- admonish the Pentagon and the President about the Wars one day, and then turn around the next day and vote all the money requested to execute the same wars.
I was still restless before I fell asleep. Where was this next thought coming from? Is it possible to look deeper, back into the younger days of some of these hapless Senators? Did they once glimpse what world peace, what the public good, etc. could look like? Was there an element of altruism in the voice vote yesterday afternoon?
These men and women, these Senators, so caught up in corruption on a scale never before possible in a governing body in all of history, may occasionally have a moment of collective recognition about the loss of youthful idealism. I suppose I'm thinking of the confused senior senator from my state, John Kerry, whom I often give up on, while still having a need to explain his thought processes to myself.
Is there a way to appeal to the traces of altruism in some of these Senators, instead of just denouncing them ? Still retaining the piercing insight we in the anti-war movement bring to the scene, I was wondering if I could add just a pinch of forgiveness for the human frailty of people with too much power which derives from too much money from too many unbearably ugly corporate connections in our society and the lies necessary to cover them.
What will happen today? Same old same old, most likely. How do we influence that? Drawing on the new energy of the Occupy movement and on our own inner resources and on the community we create as a movement, we can infuse our own overstressed bodies and brains and the organizations we work within to figure it out together and keep on struggling and doing what we do.
-- Sally Weiss, PDA End War and Occupations

Bury my heart at Wounded Knee - Walela

2011-11-23T21:01:00.000-05:00

Images twenty-one and a hundred and twenty-one years old....and still familiar.

Transgender Equal Rights bill signed today!

2011-11-23T18:08:00.001-05:00

Governor Deval Patrick Expected to Sign Transgender Equal Rights Bill Today, Public Signing To Be Held in Near Future

Today, Governor Deval Patrick is expected to sign the Transgender Equal Rights Bill privately, as he has just a 10-day window in which to sign bills into law. The bill was passed by the legislature last week. A public signing ceremony will be scheduled for a future date. The law will take effect on July 1, 2012.

“Governor Patrick has been a vocal supporter of the Transgender Equal Rights Bill since the bill was first filed in 2007” said Gunner Scott, executive director of the Mass. Transgender Political Coalition. “We applaud the Governor because he has been a staunch advocate in recognizing the transgender community and leader in getting this bill passed.”

Gov. Patrick was a vocal proponent of the Transgender Equal Rights Bill, advocating, he has submitted written testimony in support of the bill at all three public hearings. Last February, he signed an executive order prohibiting discrimination against transgender people in state employment, which reaches 43,500 executive branch employees and 13,500 state contractors.

In 2008, Gov. Patrick appointed the first transgender person, Diego Sanchez, to a Democratic National Committee standing committee. Diego Sanchez is a former co-chair of MTPC and has since gone on to work as the first out transgender legislative staffer for Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.).

MTPC thanks the members of the Transgender Equal Rights Coalition for all of their efforts in passing “An Act Relative to Transgender Equal Rights.” Some of the 104 members of the coalition include MassEquality, MassNOW; ACLU of Massachusetts; Jane Doe, Inc., The Massachusetts Coalition Against Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence; National Association of Social Workers, MA; Mass AFL-CIO; Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders; Mass Gay and Lesbian Political Caucus; Jobs with Justice; the Interfaith Coalition for Transgender Equality; and Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition.

The House voted 95-58, and the House vote tally is here: http://aclum.org/sites/all/files/legislative/2011/trans/mass_trans_house_vote.pdf. The Senate passed the bill on a voice vote (see MTPC Senate co-sponsor list).

MTPC encourages all community members to thank the Representatives and Senators that voted for the bill and most especially, the lead sponsors, Representative Carl Sciortino & Byron Rushing, and Senators Ben Downing, and Sonia Chang-Diaz; the legislature's leadership House Speaker Robert Deleo and Senate President Therese Murray; and especially, Governor Deval Patrick.

MTPC will alert community members to the date and location of the public signing ceremony so community members may attend and MTPC plans to hold an additional community event on or about the same day to share in this historic moment.

Today's march: young people fight foreclosure

2011-11-22T01:05:00.000-05:00

Much more to say about today's Springfield No One Leaves and Bank Tenant Association's march against the banks, but this video by Kelly Creedon taken at the morning rally tells us why we fight and why, with youth like these, we can have hope.

March on Wall St. Banks omorrow! Right here in Springfield!

2011-11-20T20:40:00.000-05:00

From the Springfield No One Leaves Coalition:

REGIONAL MARCH & RALLY IN SPRINGFIELD ON MONDAY!

MONDAY NOVEMBER 21, 2011 @ 11AM – MARCH ON WALL STREET BANKS

GATHER AT CENTRAL & MORRIS STS. IN DOWNTOWN SPRINGFIELD

(BEHIND THE DUNKIN DONUTS ON MAIN STREET - MAP HERE)

We’re gearing up for the biggest action yet here in Springfield. Along with our brothers and sisters in 9 different cities throughout New England join us to march on the Wall St. Banks in downtown Springfield! Folks have committed to turning out from all over the region – from hartford to providence, and Boston to the Berkshires! We can’t sit on the side while banks continue to destroy our communities — its time to STAND UP & FIGHT BACK!

This action will culminate in a non-violent peaceful act of civil disobedience in downtown Springfield – please respect the guidelines of Springfield No One Leaves & the Regional Bank Tenant Alliance.

ORGANIZATIONS: PLEASE BRING DRUMS, BANNERS & OF COURSE BULL HORNS!

11 AM - Gather & Training for March Peace Keepers (if your interested in volunteering, please e-mail us)

11:30 AM - Rally in front of foreclosed & vacant homes w/ Bank Tenant Speakers, Springfield Youth and more!

12:00 PM - THE MARCH WILL LAUNCH DOWN MAIN STREET!

If you are interested in setting up for the march or being a peacekeeper for the march, please arrive by 10:30 AM

Tea Party, Scott Lively picket Arise while Occupy Springfield pickets them right back!

2011-11-18T22:20:00.001-05:00

Today the Stop the Hate and Homophobia Coalition, along with Occupy Springfield, spoke out against homophobia in Springfield with a march up State St., a stop outside Commerce High School for a "people's mic," and a demonstration outside Scott Lively's Holy Ground Coffee House, only a few doors down from Arise. . But before our folks got up to Lively's, I looked out the storefront window to see three or four Tea Party members picketing in front, carrying American flags and holding signs that said "Trust Jesus" and "Arise Lies!"

Tea party members have shown up at every Occupy Springfield event but I wonder if today they found themselves with strange bedfellows. Are Tea Party members homophobes? I wouldn't have automatically thought so...

Lively's group was handing out flyers to passerbys with big red letters at the top and bottom saying, "Arise Lies" and "Tell Arise to Apologize!" I won't type the whole thing, but a few lines should give you the feel and I'll add a few comments (and the bizarre punctuation, which I will replicate, is theirs, not mine):

Arise for Social Justice is a Marxist Front Group that Hates Biblical Truth and Persecutes Bible-Believing Christians. (I wonder if the Christians in Arise feel persecuted?)

Like the Communists of Soviet Russia, and their Fellow Traveler Saul Alinsky, Arise uses Lies and Deceptive Propaganda to Destroy Their Enemies. (Wow! Didn't know we had that much power! Usually we just go for the systemic change approach.)

Arise has Promised to Drive Pastor Scott Lively Out of Springfield because he Holds to Biblical Truth About Homosexuality. (Completely wrong on this one. Just like the radioactive material in a decommissioned nuclear power plant, we would much prefer for Lively to remain in our community where we can keep an eye on him.)

Arise LIED to Portray Pastor Lively as a Heartless Monster and put his personal Safety At Risk.

So let me stop right here on this line because while today's event had its humorous moments, homophobia is deadly serious. Lively's safety at risk? The hate crime statistics for 2010 were released just three days ago, and according to the figures, " roughly 1.5% of all hate crimes in the United States in 2010 were against Christians while 19% were against gays. That means that lesbians, gays, and bisexuals were more than twelve times likely to be the victim of a hate crime than a Christian." LezGet Real. And of that 1.5% of hate crimes committed against Christians, how many were perpetrated by gays?

Homophobia's effects don't stop with hate crimes, of course. Nearly 400,000 gay and transgendered youth in this country are homeless. Gay youth attempt suicide three times more often than straight youth. Joblessness is higher. Discrimination is still a daily experience. Just whose personal safety is at risk?

But OK. Today wasn't about being a victim. Today was about facing down hate and homophobia and taking back our power. We WILL not live in fear, we will not fail to confront hate.

Springfield's own Joe Olivero took this great video that says it all.

Don't let the 1% pollute our air in Springfield!

2011-11-18T07:49:00.000-05:00

"Artist's rendering" which fails to show nearby houses

Please forward this to your friends and coworkers!

Springfield residents should contact their city councilors to support these resolutions and contact Governor Patrick to urge him to uphold state law.

Springfield, MA - November 17, 2011 - Members of Stop Toxic Incineration in Springfield (STIS), a volunteer group opposed to the building of the Palmer Renewable Energy (“PRE”) biomass incinerator, are outraged at the issuance of the building permit by Springfield Building Commissioner Desilets that would allow construction to begin on the incinerator. According to Lee Ann Warner, STIS spokesperson, "This permit flies in the face of the Springfield City Council's 10-2 revocation vote of PRE's special permit. It sets a very dangerous precedent for Springfield to allow utility-scale incinerator development within the city limits without any special permitting. This effectively eliminates the public’s voice in decisions that affect our health."

Patrick Markey, concerned Springfield citizen and attorney, states, "The city’s issuance of a building permit for the PRE incinerator is contrary to the requirements of the City’s zoning rules. The facility lacks a necessary special permit."

Sue Reid, Director of Conservation Law Foundation – Massachusetts, added "The issuance of a building permit to PRE is directly at odds with the City Council’s revocation of PRE’s Special Permit. In addition, PRE’s rush to secure an unlawful building permit is baffling: state law prohibits PRE from beginning any construction because it does not have a final air permit.”

On Monday, November 21, at 6:30 pm in City Hall, the Springfield City Council will meet and vote on two resolutions concerning the PRE biomass incinerator. Michaelann Bewsee notes, "The first resolution would reaffirm City Council’s finding that the PRE Biomass plant is an incinerator that requires a special permit on land zoned Industrial A. The second resolution calls on the state to enforce its rule of no construction of a polluting facility prior to issuance of a final, non-appealable state air permit. The people of Springfield spoke loudly and clearly that they do not want – and should not have to tolerate – any more pollution in our already overburdened city. We commend the city councilors for acting on behalf of the people and support them in passing these resolutions."

Thank you from the volunteers at STIS, www.springfieldincinerator.info.