August 2019
August leadership training at Columbia River Correctional Institution.
This weekend, ten MACG members went into the Columbia River Correctional Institution in NE Portland, to participate in our Leadership Institute for Public Life training with 14 incarcerated men.
July 24, 2019
Know Your Rights training in Beaverton focused on the Latino immigrant community
The Sydney Alliance of community organisations has welcomed the extension of an important planning law to all NSW councils – opening the way to building more affordable units in new developments across the state.
The Alliance of over 40 not-for-profit organisations says the extension of State Environmental Planning Policy No. 70 (SEPP 70) to all Local Government Areas, announced this week by Planning Minister Anthony Roberts MP, is an important step towards improving rental affordability.
The Alliance had long campaigned for the law to be extended to all councils.
A quarterly update from the Spokane Alliance Action Teams.
Developing and supporting leaders is the key work of MACG. It puts us solidly in the middle of the grassroots effort to strengthen Democracy that’s moved across the country in the past months.
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December 15, 2018
As the year comes to a close, Sound Alliance is celebrating our accomplishments and getting ready for the new year.
In 2018, we executed on our mission, developing everyday leaders to work together towards the common good:
December 1, 2018
25 budding leaders from a diverse number of Tri-Cities civic organizations gathered together in November 2018 to learn how to work together for the common good.
The content of this Leadership Institute for Public Life was based on the philosophy and practices developed by the Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF) in over 75 years of organizing experience.
Participants came away with expanded knowledge of these topics:
There was good energy and enthusiasm from the participants. Our sister affiliate, the Spokane Alliance, partnered with us, sending a professional organizer to train the group.
90 leaders from 17 different institutions witnessed public commitments supporting immigrants and children, heard personal stories of how these issues impacted people’s lives, saw Sound Alliance’s brand new video, and more at a packed Sound Alliance Action and Delegate Assembly on October 18.
June 21, 2018
The Sound Alliance Immigrant Rights Action Team only set up 40 chairs at St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church in Federal Way on June 21, 2018.
Then 60 people piled into the room, filling it to capacity to hear Jay Stansell, J.D. present a workshop entitled “Reclaiming the Constitution. Knowing, Defending, and Using Your Rights in the Face of Injustice.”
For two hours participants asked questions and received training on topics such as: who is at risk of deportation, constitutional rights that everyone has when questioned by enforcement agencies, and preparing and building confidence to exercise those rights to protect friends or family.
Some important learnings included:
While there have been a lot of Know Your Rights trainings, especially for immigrants themselves, the Immigrant Rights team discovered a need for trainings in English that could educate allies. Kailey Harem, Federal Way Education Association, sparked the idea when she expressed the desire to be trained to better support her undocumented students.
Others who attended the training expressed similar desires, suggesting that there are communities who want this type of training and who are not being reached.
Next steps for the Immigrant Rights Action team are to discover which communities want to be trained and providing those trainings for them, or setting up a Train the Trainer so people can educate their own communities.
In addition, the team wants to “go public”, perhaps getting institutional leaders such as school boards or heads of medical clinics to commit to integrating basic Constitutional Rights training into their cultures.
The team is always looking for more leaders. Contact Roberta Ray, University Unitarian Church, to get involved.