Hello, WeROC Leaders and Supporters…
You may have gotten the letter below from Pat and Carissa, the chairs of WeROC’s Public Meeting Planning Committee. There’s a lot of excitement as a large group of us keep building momentum for filling Emmanuel Lutheran on Sunday afternoon, November 15 and achieving together some real steps forward for all Washtenaw County area residents. See attached flyer [PDF].
Please read and use the the letter below. But first, consider putting all or any of the next 3 Thursdays on your calendar for our all-important final planning meetings. (Note that our monthly Meeting of the Whole for November 5 has morphed into one of the large planning meetings.)
Each of the Thursday meetings are at 5:30 pm at First Congregational UCC in Ypsi, 218 N. Adams…
October 29
November 5
November 12
….plus Saturday November 14 for our “dry run” rehearsal at Emmanuel.
In addition to attending the planning meetings, please join the Planning Committee in constantly talking to other organzations and individuals about the most important thing for this kind of Public Meeting — TURNOUT! Please use the following to help you help us fill that room!
On behalf of the local faith, labor, and community organizations of WeROC (Washtenaw Regional Organizing Coalition), we warmly invite you to a very special event Sunday afternoon, November 15, from 3:00 to 5:00 pm, in Ypsilanti.
By helping us fill the beautiful sanctuary of Emmanuel Lutheran Church ELCA (210 N River St.) with a broad range of caring people and organizations who are united around the basic shared value that “we’re all in this together,” you will directly contribute to achieving a rare thing in today’s fragmented world…real changes that improve the lives of everyone in our area.
With a commitment of less than 2 hours that day, hundreds of us will be able to signal by our actual presence that we expect our public officials and other decision-makers to take concrete actions on several meaningful issues that the WeROC Action Teams have been busy working on:
- Reducing school suspensions and breaking the school-to prison pipeline.
- Broadening the number of businesses in our area that offer employees earned sick time for themselves or to care for a family member, instead of losing a paycheck or their job.
- Expanding public transit options, locally and between Washtenaw and Detroit.
- Building on the very real public health consequences of our unacceptable level of incarceration, especially as communities of color have been affected.
Tying all of these issues together — and the theme of the Public Meeting — is the need for all of us to work more powerfully together to dismantle the structures that preserve and expand racial and economic disparities right here in Washtenaw County. Whether we are called by our faith traditions, time-honored labor values, or a commitment to stronger community, the need to find new ways of using our precious democracy to break down institutional racism and other divisions may be more urgent than ever.
We respectfully ask that you try to organize your busy life to personally be a part of the Public Meeting November 15, and to bring others from your congregation, organizations, families, and networks to what promises to be a meaningful, productive, educational – and fun — event.
Our latest flyer is attached, which we hope you will help distribute. And please let us know if there’s anything we can do to make your participation – and thus our ability to show our numbers and win together — more possible.
Sincerely,
Patricia Jackson (msullivanlady@yahoo.com), Carissa Collins Watson (queenwatson2@yahoo.com), and Sonya Alvarado (salvarado@aftmichigan.org) for the WeROC Public Meeting Planning Committee