January 2021 WeROC Meeting of the Whole

Hello WeROC Community–

Despite it all, an incredible year for this organization:  From several very effective voter engagement efforts — to a broad bottom-up Justice Matters campaign where we all learned much about the role of County Prosecutor and the candidates — to new relationships with officials in a position to transform our local criminal justice system…WeROC is hitting the ground running for 2021.  

Join us for our January First Thursday “Meeting of the Whole” on January 7 and help elect officers to the new WeROC Provisional Leadership Team.  Register at this link.

  • The informal WeROC leadership table of the past 2 years, the “Reset Committee,” agreed that a more formal leadership structure will be needed for the exciting but challenging fights WeROC will be taking on in 2021, and for building our capacity.  They commissioned a Nominating Committee (Pastor Jeff Harrold, Cindy Bodewes, and Tad Wysor), who are very pleased to propose the slate below of long-time and connected WeROC leaders who have agreed to serve if elected.
  • The Leadership Team elected January 7 will serve for one year, or less if WeROC is able to pick up where COVID forced us to leave off — when we’ll formalize memberships from local institutions and individuals, delegates from which will then create our first Board of Directors and Executive Officers.

Proposed Slate for the WeROC Provisional Leadership Team (with affiliations for identification), to be voted on at the January 7 meeting:

President:  Cindy Bodewes, Church of the Good Shepherd
Vice President:  Charlotte Tillerson, President, Ypsilanti Community Education Association
Secretary:  Audrey Anderson, Community Church of God
Treasurer:  Rita Turner-Sheerin, Voters not Politicians
Clergy Representative:  Rev. Jeff Harrold, Pastor, New Beginnings Community Church of Washtenaw County
Lead Organizer:  Tad Wysor, First Congregational UCC (Ypsi), AFGE Local 3907 (EPA), Huron Valley Area Labor Federation (AFL-CIO)

Please contact any of us on the Nominating Committee with any questions.

Cindy Bodewes (cbodewes@umich.edu, 734-358-6994)
Pastor Jeff Harrold (revharrold@gmail.com, 734-417-0782)
Tad Wysor (tadwysor@gmail.com, 734-883-3225)

Stay tuned for more about our major upcoming Justice Matters Teach-In on Organizing for Local Criminal Justice Reform

  •  AND let’s all find ways to spread the word about what appear to be safe, effective, and life-saving COVID vaccines — especially among our neighbors who have every reason to be skeptical in light of our country’s past bad failures in providing medical care for all. 

Thanks to Betsy and Jill for keeping our online and social media presence fresh:  Website: werocmi.org;  Facebook Page:  Facebook.com/werocmi.