Texans will now have an official reason to celebrate on May 9th. On June 15, 2013 Governor Rick Perry signed bill HB3209 designating May 9th in honor of William Velasquez.
Not sure who Willie Velasquez is? Regretfully I wasn’t either until a few weeks ago when a call to action was circulated around the Campaign Consultation office highlighting his achievements and offering the opportunity to support the designation of William Velasquez Day. I quickly learned Willie Velasquez was a major player in our country’s voting history.
• Cultivated 50,000 community leaders
• Litigated 85 voting rights law suits successfully
• Conducted 2,300 non-partisan, voter registration and Get Out The Vote (GOTV) campaigns helping propel the 2.4 million registered Latinos in 1974 to 7 million nationwide by 1998.
In 1985, Willie also launched Southwest Voter Research Institute (renamed WCVI in 1997) which is a national non-profit, non-partisan, advocacy and research organization. WCVI’s mission is to educate Latino and non-Latino leaders (including government officials), the public, and the media on issues of importance to the U.S. Latino community.
If the last presidential election is any indication the importance of Latino voters cannot be underestimated. Both of these organizations continue to make significant contributions to the voting landscape in America – a tribute to a leader whose passion hopefully lives on for many years to come.
On some level, we all know that it’s the people that make the community. But how do we as individuals determine how we’ll work together? Are there written rules or do we carry on ‘how it’s always been’? In communities nationwide, long-time residents will tell you stories of the good old days. The long-past time when neighbors watched out for one another, when you knew everyone’s names, family, and what they were doing (especially if it was something they shouldn’t!)
But that time is gone now, replaced with bars on windows, self-imposed curfews and anonymity on your own street, right? Not in this Milwaukee neighborhood if one group of residents can help it.
Championed by Sharon and Larry Adams, the Lindsay Heights neighborhood’s sense of community has been intentionally rebuilt by its residents for over a decade. Sharon started working with neighbors by taking walks, waving to people and getting to know them. In a neighborhood plagued by prostitution, drugs and gun violence, this was no small task. Her willingness to be neighborly led to others joining her on her walks and to still others having the courage to report crimes when they saw them occurring.
Neighborhood Gardens have helped connect and inspire residents
Next, taking an asset-based approach, the Adams’ purchased and restored a condemned turn of the century home with the help of a local carpenter, community development worker and neighbors. This house was later sold to a first time homebuyer and launched the Walnut Way Conservation Corporation, a Community Development Corporation focused on rebuilding neighborhood pride through rebuilding housing. They have since bought and renovated 18 houses, but have been involved in the building or remodeling of over 500.
Through this focus on people and community rather than arbitrarily created jobs or plunked down apartment stock without regard to the neighborhood, the crime rate in Lindsay Heights has dropped and residents with the means to relocate have chosen to stay and live in the area. This may seem like a small accomplishment, but in a community that watched its population dwindle since the 1960’s, a bit of stability is a wonderful thing.
How do you engender this spirit of community and stability in your neighborhood? How do you strengthen your social ties? Remember, it’s the small things that count. Starting or participating in a neighborhood association, parent/teacher group, community garden or neighborhood repair shops are great ways to get to know people. If you’re new to your area, start with the library, local coffee shop or grocery store; they usually have community newsletters or calendar to start you in the right direction.
The impact of good will and being neighborly can change attitudes and lives. We impact one another daily, in many subtle ways whether by waiving to a neighbor on their porch or chit-chatting in the grocery store line. Being intentional in our actions and interactions is just the thing to place your neighborhood on the path to prosperity.
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Fixing a Neighborhood by Strengthening Social Ties
April 27th is a date that is burned in my memory. Having served as a Peace Corps volunteer over two of these dates, the South African national holiday in is one that no one – especially a temporary resident –could ignore. National Freedom Day marks the first non-racial elections held in South Africa after almost three-hundred years of colonialism in 1994.
Inextricably tied to this celebration is Nelson Mandela, the leader of the South African liberation struggle. In 1990, Mandela’s release from nearly thirty years of imprisonment for his actions and planning in support of “non-racial alliances against apartheid and white minority rule” was the symbolic punctuation to the toppling of a government power that did not represent the majority of its people.
To this day, we marvel at the circumstances this icon withstood, and the grace, leadership, and power demonstrated by his persistent fight and still peaceful acceptance of his fate.
This April, in addition to the commemoration of the unforgettable event of democracy in 1994, we also have the benefit of the symbol of Mandela’s struggle, imprisonment, and ubuntu philosophy that are evident in his historic monument that was unveiled last summer. The passing of Freedom Day reminds South Africans of Mandela’s resilience, and of their own. The monument in his honor, tells the world that it is not merely strength or compromise, but perspective, which makes all the difference.
The 31×68’ monument is comprised of fifty steel pieces that when viewed from only a slight, particular angle bears the face of Mandela. On their own they are integral pieces, each with their own story and representation, but it is their positioning together that gives the power to reveal the larger picture.
Like most efforts to bridge community and create lasting change, this power is lost to an outsider, and even to the group itself, without the advantage of perspective. What do you see here? What does it tell you about what happened, who was involved, and who YOU are?
My challenges are miniscule – this is what each passing Freedom Day reminds me. Mandela’s monument serves an even more valuable reminder – to look deeper and more thoroughly at the things we see, and that every angle matters.
What experiences have you had that changed your perspective? Can you find new meaning in something you’ve seen a thousand times? Share your comments with us.
How much would it cost to eliminate poverty? According to Lant Pritchett of the Harvard Kennedy School,“the world could eliminate extreme poverty for about $45 billion a year,or roughly the amount spent on movie tickets annually worldwide.” At first this quote seems depressing,how can we live in the world where more people are willing to shell out money to go see Transformers 3 then give to help change a fellow human’s life?
However as an entrepreneur I ask a different question:how do you make solving poverty as appealing as buying a movie ticket? This quote smells of opportunity to me. If we could get everyone in line at Transformers 3 to find more value in giving to those in needs,we could find a way to access that $45 billion for a good cause.
How do you do it? One example is Malaria No More which teamed up with College Humor to create Malarious,a series of videos of celebrities doing ridiculous things. Celebrities from actor Ed Helms to competitive eating champion Takeru Kobayashi do things like insulting a puppy, performing magic ,or creating a slam poem to bacon.
However just like a movie all of this entertainment doesn’t come free. After watching the previews you will have to donate to Malaria No More before you can access any of Malarious’videos. You choose how much to donate from $1 to your life savings.
Not only does Malaria No More get a donation,it gets you email as well,allowing them to contact you for further support. What I love about the project is it both entertaining and has an impact. How could other projects tap into this market for social good?
As someone who has consistently received emails asking me to report images on Facebook depicting and encouraging violence against women – only to receive a form reply when I did that Facebook did not agree that these were hate speech – I was particularly happy to see the recent success of Women, Action & the Media (WAM), the Everyday Sexism Project and author/activist Soraya Chemaly this week.
On Tuesday Facebook acknowledged that its systems to identify and remove hate speech “have failed to work as effectively as we would like, particularly around issues of gender-based hate.” This admission is a direct result of an open letter to Facebook executives asking them to “ban gender-based hate speech” and a call to action for Facebook users to contact companies whose advertisements appear alongside materials that target women for violence.
The result was more than 5,000 emails to Facebook advertisers and more than 60,000 tweets on Twitter. This activism prompted Nissan and other companies to withdraw their advertising from Facebook. Additionally Facebook has stated they will:
Review how gender-based hate speech is dealt with
Update employee training
Increase user accountability
Communicate with women’s groups
While this appears to be a great step forward it will remain to be seen if Facebook follows through with their promises of reform. If you have an idea or action that you would like WAM’s support with visit their website to pitch and discuss.
One in four women (25%) has experienced domestic violence in her lifetime.[1]
Nearly 1.5 million high school students nationwide experience physical abuse from a dating partner in a single year.[2]
One in three adolescents in the U.S. is a victim of physical, sexual, emotional or verbal abuse from a dating partner, a figure that far exceeds rates of other types of youth violence.[3]
One in 10 high school students has been purposefully hit, slapped or physically hurt by a boyfriend or girlfriend.[4]
The statistics are overwhelming; and it’s clear that preventing and reporting abuse and assault needs to be a conversation that starts early and often. Women, men and youth are facing this critical problem without knowing where to go for help, how to prevent it from happening, and learning warning signs to pay attention to. The apps below are helping to create awareness and prevention of domestic abuse and assault. Share these apps with your friends, family, and young loved ones. It’s never too early to teach that abuse is never ok.
The One Love Foundation was established in 2010 to honor the memory of Yeardley Reynolds Love, a victim of domestic abuse. According to a 2010 survey conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, relationship violence affects more than one in every three women in the United States. In response to these staggering numbers, the foundation recently released the One Love Lite app, which is both free and anonymous. The One Love Foundation partnered with The Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing for the app’s creation. This app is targeted to 16 to 26 year olds (a high-risk group) to help the user determine whether they are in a dangerous, abusive relationship with a series of question prompts such as “Has he ever tried to choke you?” “Does he own a gun?”. Based on the answer to the “danger-assessment” questions, the participants receive a threat-level score along with a list of resources and help hotlines to call. To date, the app, which was unveiled last September, has had more than 26,000 hits.
OnWatch won the Department of Health and Human Services Apps Against Abuse Challenge. OnWatch was designed to help keep people safe by providing the user with the tools to inform the people they trust most when they need help. There are six customizable alert modes, that will allow you to contact your friends, school police, 911 as well as send your GPS address out. The app is $39.99 per year (current reduced rate) and you can gift it to those you care about through the iTunes store.
The Circle of 6 App is free way to connect with your friends, to stay safe, and prevent violence before it happens. After downloading the app, each user programs six friends’ phone numbers into their “circle.” You should pick friends who you trust and that keep their phones charged and on at night, respond to texts in a timely fashion, and have access to transportation.
Any user can activate the app and choose one of the four icons — a car, phone, chat, and emergency icon — to send to the members of their circle. The car icon sends a “pick me up” message alongside a GPS map with your location, the phone icon sends a “need an interruption, please call me” message, the chat icon lets the circle know you’re not in danger but would like friends to keep track of you, and the emergency button calls a pre-programmed national hotline or local number (for example, the area police or campus safety office) customized by the user. The app flashes a “message received” notification when help is on the way.
Take the pledge: “I won’t let violence happen in my circle.”
Learn more about apps created to empower young adults to prevent abuse and violence here.
Logo of the United States Peace Corps. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Like most returned Peace Corps volunteers, I love talking about Peace Corps. I love talking about my host country, I love talking about my fellow volunteers, and I love talking about the night a jumping spider the size of my hand got inside my bed net with me. Yesterday, the Peace Corps offered me the perfect opportunity to talk about just one more reason I’m proud to be a part of the Peace Corps community.
Deputy Director Carrie Hessler-Radelet announced yesterday that Peace Corps will now be accepting applications from same-sex domestic partners who want to serve together as volunteers overseas. Currently, seven percent of Peace Corps volunteer positions are filled by married couples who serve together. Same-sex couples can start applying for service starting on June 3, 2013.
So, if you or someone you know is interested in serving with their same-sex domestic partner, please share this great news with them, along with this additional information on service in Peace Corps as a same-sex couple.
This week, Minnesota joined 12 states and the District of Columbia in legalizing marriage equality. We have an African American president serving his second term in the White House. Like many other Americans, I have perceived these recent events as evidence that our country as a whole is becoming more open-minded and less hateful towards minority groups.
So, I was unpleasantly surprised this week to stumble on the Geography of Hate map. Dr. Monica Stephens of Humboldt State University tracked online hate speech by geotagging hateful tweets across the US and mapped them on the county level from June 2012 through April 2013. The result is a colorful map that shows homophobic, racist, and anti-disability sentiments, primarily focused on the Mid-Western and Eastern parts of the country.
This map demonstrates that prejudice is commonplace. It is not just lurking in the stereotypical locations, like the deep South, but is prevalent all around us. To make it stop, it’s not enough to just eliminate hateful speech from our own vocabularies – we need to also take that extra step and speak out when our friends and relatives make prejudiced comments both out loud and online, and let them know that it is not okay.
By raising our voices, we can change the geography of hate in America.
Comment on this blog and let us know your thoughts and ideas for the elimination of hateful speech.
You have probably heard the remarks made by Abercrombie and Fitch (A&F) CEO Mike Jeffries that he doesn’t make women’s clothes in sizes extra-large because he doesn’t want uncool kids and larger women wearing his clothes. To quote this grand wordsmith “Candidly, we go after the cool kids. We go after the attractive all-American kid with a great attitude and a lot of friends. A lot of people don’t belong [in our clothes], and they can’t belong. Are we exclusionary? Absolutely.”
Additionally in an effort to keep the brand exclusive, A&F goes to the lengths of burning their damaged or unsold items. This not only keeps them off the backs of those who need clothing/our assistance/help the most, but it also disrespects the thousands of people who worked to make the clothes. This flagrant wastefulness further sucks the humanity out of a brand that is proving it does not have much soul left to lose.
In response Greg Karber has decided to rebrand Abercrombie and Fitch himself – as the brand for those in-need. Greg released the video above to start his campaign. The video features clips of Greg buying up A&F gear at thrift stores and handing them out to people who are homeless in Los Angeles. Now he is encouraging all those who have A&F clothing to donate it to their local homeless shelter.
While I don’t support making those who are less fortunate a pawn in a media debacle, I do think the sentiment behind Greg’s campaign is a worthy one. Not being a big fan of A&F from the start I don’t think I actually own anything made by them. However, I do have more than enough clothes that I wouldn’t miss. So in solidarity with this clever idea let’s all get to spring cleaning and donate our new or gently used clothing (whether it’s A&F or not) as well as toiletry items (such as sample or travel size shampoos, soaps, etc.) to those in need and turn the asinine words of one man into a call to action.
If you haven’t heard of the group FORCE, you are about to hear a lot more about them. In December 2012 they gained notice for their ingeniously timed mock Victoria’s Secret ‘Pink Loves Consent’ campaign during the Victoria’s Secret fashion show, which raised awareness about the importance of consensual sex. As a result, the campaign went viral.
Now FORCE has started a new multi-year campaign called FORCE: Upsetting Rape Culture. As part of this campaign the group is raising money for various projects including The Monument Project on Kickstarter. Their goal is to raise $25,000 to create a highly visible monument for survivors of rape and sexual abuse. FORCE sees ‘the monument as a necessary symbol for Americans to imagine a day without rape.’ Additionally the group plans to install temporary monuments on the National Mall in Washington, DC and is planning a Monument Quilt, similar to the AIDS Quilt installation, which would cover the entire National Mall to share the stories of survivors.
Want to get involved?
‘Like’ FORCE’s Facebook page to stay up to date on their activities and future events
