KNOW YOUR RIGHTS; Invest In Our Community; Camp Peaceprints
June 23rd, 2020
In an effort to limit ongoing digital overload, we are continuing to highlight just a few important items and special upcoming events and then refer you to our website for details on our regularly scheduled events and ‘Helping Hands’resource list.
We hope you will join us this Thursday evening at 6PM for our Zoom webinar on Know Your Rights featuring Daire Brian Irwin, Esq. and John A. Curry III, NYCLU. The webinar will also include de-escalation techniques from WNYPC Executive Director, Victoria Ross, with a Q&A after the presentation. Meeting ID: 868 1853 9395, Password: 268120
Our shero, Cariol Horne, still needs our help! Please continue to call Mayor Brown (311 for city residents; otherwise 716-851-4841) and demand #JusticeForCariol! Restore Cariol’s pension and pass Cariol’s Law! PLEASE ALSO SHARE WIDELY ON SOCIAL MEDIA using the images on our website and social media accounts or at cariolslaw.com
Please also note that our 13th annual youth summer camp, Camp Peaceprints, is less than one month away! Registration is now open with a sliding scale of up to $25/week, with scholarships readily available! Camp will be 100% online this year due to the public health crisis, but we offer games, recreation/physical activities, art projects, music, and virtual field trips; plus wonderful guest presenters (activists and artists from the Buffalo area)! Please register ASAP as we’ll be delivering packets with art supplies, etc. for use during camp.
In response to the current $14 billion COVID-related budget crisis, Governor Cuomo is withholding authorization of NYS contracts beginning July 1st. This affects all operations – in particular, the funding of social programs like food banks and SNAP (food stamp) programs. Food For All and 43 other agencies currently receive funding to provide SNAP education and assistance in NYS counties, and their Nutrition Outreach program is one of the programs dramatically impacted. We are asking friends of the FFA and those who recognize the importance of the SNAP program – especially during the current public health crisis – to contact their NY State Representatives and Senators urging them to have the Governor authorize vital state contracts for the fiscal year beginning July 1st. If you are able to support FFA by donating a basket for auction, please contact Kelly Ann Kowalski at kellyannkk@aol.com. Visit our Campaigns page for more details.
Sentencing dates are again postponed for the remaining Kings Bay Plowshares 7 – now July 30th, 31st – per the request of the defendants in order to accommodate their right to be sentenced in person in an open court, witnessed by the public. As they await their sentencing, each of the KBP7 continues to serve their communities as human needs grow exponentially during this COVID-19 pandemic. If you would like to write to Judge Lisa Godbey Wood in support of the defendants, you may do so here.
More previews for next week: Note the LASC/IFCO webinar in our scheduled events below. Plus if you’re interested in the Racial Justice taskforce, please check back on our Event Calendar – a date/time for the next planning meeting should be finalized sometime next week.
Please see details and much more below, including other special events this week, regularly scheduled events, campaigns, fundraisers, and more at wnypeace.org, on our Facebook page, Twitter (@wnypeace), and Instagram (@wnypeace)! We update our Event Calendar often as we learn of new events, so please be sure to check back regularly!
*** And lastly, a reminder to pace yourselves – no one can do it all. Let us know what kind of help you might need from the WNYPC; please feel free to reach out!
Peace, thanks, solidarity and yes – love.
<3 <3 <3 <3 <3
UPCOMING SPECIAL EVENTS
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24th @ 10:30AM – INVEST IN OUR COMMUNITY PRESS CONFERENCE
On the steps of City Hall. The Buffalo Niagara Community Reinvestment Coalition invites you to join them for a press conference. In the midst of COVID-19 and calls to defund the police, long standing racial disparities lay themselves bare for our city to grapple with. In Buffalo, those disparities are acutely felt by our black and brown communities. Federal funding through the CARES Act in the sum of ~$8 million is coming to the city of Buffalo to address issues related to COVID-19. We want to ensure that funding goes to preventative services for the communities who shoulder the burden.
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24th @ 12:00PM – WEBINAR: BUFFALO’S CITY BUDGET 101
On Zoom (register here). Learning city budgets allows citizens to understand the challenges facing their local government, what it is doing to manage them, and what it is doing with tax dollars. Hosted by PPG, featuring speaker Brian Borncamp.
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24th @ 5:00 PM – COMMUNITY COOKOUT & VOTER REGISTRATION
At the Frederick Douglas Center (Clinton and Jefferson Streets). Join Stop the Violence members for a cookout and voter registration – all are welcome!
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24th @ 6:00 PM – WEBINAR: FROM MUTUAL AID TO SOLIDARITY ECONOMY
On Zoom (register here). Returning our economy to “normal”, which has been run on exploitation, racism, and oppression, is not an option. How do we transition from Mutual Aid to a Solidarity Economy that prioritizes cooperation, equity, health, and sustainability? Hosted by PUSH Buffalo, Cooperation Buffalo, and Preservation Buffalo Niagara.
THURSDAY, JUNE 25th @ 8:30 PM – WEBINAR: HOW TO TALK TO YOUR CHILDREN ABOUT RACE
On Zoom (message (A)typical Social Work(ers) or Poet Jillian Hanesworth for details). Unite by Night presents an open conversation and resource sharing of tips and insight for the community on approaching the discussion of race with children.
SUNDAY, JUNE 28th @ 1:00 PM – KNOW YOUR RIGHTS (IN-PERSON WORKSHOP)
At Niagara Square, Buffalo. Featuring Daire Brian Irwin, Esq. and John A Curry III, NYCLU. Will also include de-escalation techniques from WNYPC Executive Director, Victoria Ross. Q&A after the presentation.
SUNDAY, JUNE 28th @ 4:00 PM – CLEANING UP DA’ STREETZ: EASTSIDE
Starting at E. Ferry & Jefferson Ave. This is the second garbage pick-up of 2020 organized by Lokel Woreer. Garbage bags and gloves will be provided at the meeting location, but BYO mask and please dress appropriately!
MONDAY, JUNE 29th @ 7:00 PM – WEBINAR: MEDICAL COLLABORATION BETWEEN CUBA & THE US IN THE TIME OF THE PANDEMIC
Zoom presentation (register here). This presentation will discuss: the unique medical collaboration that already exists between the US and Cuba at the Roswell Park Cancer Center; the potential for creating new forms of medical collaboration in confronting COVID-19; how such collaboration is part of ending the US blockade of Cuba. Hosted by the Latin American Solidarity Committee (LASC), a taskforce of the WNYPC. This event is a fundraiser for IFCO/Pastors for Peace.
#UNITE | #OneLove | #WeShallOvercome | #SiSePuede!