WeROC Update

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

Upcoming WeROC Meetings – UPDATED

Join us for our November 15 Public Meeting: “We All Do Better When We ALL Do Better!”:

WeROC November 15 Public Meeting
Sunday, November 2015, 3:00 – 5:00 PM
Emmanuel Lutheran Church ELCA
201 N. River St, Ypsilanti, MI 48198
See attached flyer (PDF)

We’re working along two pathways, and hope that you and your organization will want to help it happen:

One is our Action Teams, which are off and running as they develop the campaigns that will be the “meat” of the November meeting.
The other pathway is our large and growing Organizing Committee, charged with comprehensively planning all the tasks we need so we leave the meeting with big successes under our belts.

Join WeROC by attending one of these meetings:

Organizing Committee: Third Thursdays 5:30-7:00

Thursday October 15, 5:30-7:00, First Congregational UCC, 218 N Adams, Ypsilanti (avoid construction by entering from Washington and Emmet streets).
Planning the agenda for November 15 and the necessary preparations.

WeROC Meetings of the Whole: First Thursdays, 5:30-7:15 pm

November 5 (location TBA)

And here’s what’s shaping up for the Action Teams, who are working on specific issues for the November 15 meeting:

Education Action Team

Chair: Rev Jeff Harrold
The Education Subteam works on reducing school suspensions.

Next Meeting: TBD

The “School-to-Prison Pipeline” Subteam

Chair: Lois Richardson
The “School-to-Prison Pipeline” Subteam connects school attendance with avoiding the criminal justice system.

Next Meeting: TBD.

Economic Dignity for Working Families Action Team

Chairs: Mark Coryell and Tad Wysor

Next meeting: Thursday, October 8, 6:30-7:30, First Congregational UCC, 218 N Adams, Ypsilanti (avoid construction by entering from Washington and Emmet streets)
Earned Sick Time Subteam (statewide ballot initiative and local connections)
Regional Transportation Subteam

For more information or to get on our email lists for any of these teams:
Tad Wysor, tadwysor@gmail.com
Pat Jackson msullivanlady@yahoo.com

WeROC Summer 2015 Update

Welcome to the Washtenaw Regional Organizing Coalition (WeROC)’s website.

WeROC brings together faith, labor, and community organizations and individuals to create a collective voice to impact public affairs and issues in the Washtenaw County, Michigan area. We are affiliated with the MOSES organization in S.E. Michigan (mosesmi.org) and the national Gamaliel Foundation network of community organizing projects.

Our unique organizing process focuses on creating opportunities for more people of color, lower income residents, and youth to participate at the tables where decisions affecting them and the broader community are made — and finding effective ways to dismantle the structures that stubbornly maintain racism and economic inequality in our area.

This summer, we are planning for a major Public Meeting, set for Sunday November 15, 2015. Our current action campaigns are being planned by the Education Action Team– which focuses on Restorative Justice and the school-to-prison pipeline– and the Economic Dignity for Working Families Action Team– which will contribute to a statewide ballot campaign and local actions for Earned Sick Time and to improving regional transportation.

How can people get involved? Please watch this website and our Facebook page for details of upcoming planning meetings.