Equal Pay Day tomorrow, 150+ cities and several organizations collaborating for rally Wed, forum Sunday
Dave
Three related and valuable events in the next six days, for the interconnected web of our lives:
We all know wives, mothers, daughters, colleagues, friends, past/future generations impacted by this. Since everyone from single moms to dual income households are dramatically affected by the lack of equal pay, please consider the big and little daily efforts (personal, corporate, book clubs, community groups…) you can help with to bring an end to this disrespectful, damaging (societal and economic), and discriminatory practice.
It’s not about or just for ladies anymore.
It’s about generations of families and communities.
Boys/men/families need the women in their lives to be respected and paid fairly.
http://www.womens-foundation.org/ (local Shawnee Mission, KS group)
http://gkcwpc.org/ Women’s Political Caucus in KC (second largest chapter in US, behind DC)
http://www.pay-equity.org/day.html
http://www.dol.gov/equalpay/
http://standupkc.org/ http://standupkc.org/2015/03/09/april-15-join-us/
http://mojwj.org/
https://www.facebook.com/events/784697578273608/
Wednesday, April 15
Frank A. Theis Park
47th & Oak St. KCMO
4:00pm BBQ & DJs, 5pm Rally, 5:30pm March
From: hl
Sent: Monday, April 13, 2015 8:56 AM
Hi,
On April 15th which is two days away there's going to be a tremendous barbecue, rally and a march. This is a global event and Kansas City is an important part of it.
…So please come join us as we make a shift in reality where the wage earner again becomes important. And the only way they can is if we mobilize people because the vast majority of people don't have the money to influence.
Let us bring Citizens United down by having 3000 at 47 and Oak on April 15th.
As I've heard, be there or be square. And if you feel it, bring a friend.
April 19th, 10 a.m.
Lifting Up Community Voices with IRA HARRITT
We can overturn the austerity myth. The American Friends Service Committee's Move the Money Listening Project heard from 46 community leaders discussing community needs, budgeting and tax cutting, military spending and better priorities for our community. Ira Harritt will highlight the project's finds and discuss ways we can shift the debate from austerity to investing in our future.
http://allsoulskc.org/sunday-mornings/uu-forum-weekly/
http://afsc.org/resource/move-money-listening-project-giving-voice-community-concerns
…needed investments in our community. … budget debate and policy decisions in Washington, D.C. and in the media did not reflect the interests of area residents and our community and nor did they stimulate the economy. Rather we saw the resulting federal and state government budget cuts create more unemployment, provide less help for people hit by job loss or illness and drive more citizens into poverty.
… In response AFSC KC initiated the Move the Money Listening Project in which we identified community leaders with insights into the lives of residents of the Kansas City metro and held 43 Listening Sessions to learn what they thought about community needs, austerity, the impact of budget cutting, revenue policy, military spending and priorities that would improve the lives of area residents.
… to engage community members and leaders in dialogues reflecting on what leaders told us and provide opportunities for community members to speak out and have their concerns included in budget and policy debates.
http://afsc.org/document/move-money-listening-project-full-report-2015
http://www.afsc.org/office/kansas-city-mo
Fwd: Listening Project - Released - Challenge Austerity
From: SRB...@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Monday, April 13, 2015 3:24 PM
Subject: Re: [SRBofAS] Fwd: Listening Project - Released - Challenge Austerity
Reminder:
The Forum at 10 a.m. the 19th--next Sunday--will feature Ira Harritt discussing overturning the austerity myth.
Hope to see many of you present--
R
-----Original Message-----
From: Ira Harritt <IHar...@afsc.org>
To: C
Subject: Listening Project - Released - Challenge Austerity
Click this link to see report and support materials:
· Let us know if you would like to host a Listening Projecting forum or presentation for your group or if you can help identify groups who would like to learn more about the results of Move the Money Listening Projecting.
Dear Caron,
We were pleased with the release of the Move the Money Listening Project Report findings on March 12. The report communicates the experiences of 46 community leaders who have a deep knowledge of community needs.
Our conversations revealed realities of the lives of area residents in the inner city and in metropolitan suburbs. Many are struggling to make ends meet or have fallen into poverty. Though the so called recovery has decreased unemployment numbers, wages are stagnant, many have left the job market, others are underemployed and insecurity is high. (We encourage you to read the full report and summary materials at this link.)
Budget cutting and austerity has and is having devastating impacts on our community and the lives of poor, and low and middle income families. While some blame the poor, the facts show that there are not enough jobs for all who are seeking employment and too many jobs do not pay a living wage.
For moral and practical reasons we need to help people avoid or get out of poverty. The failure to do so will in the long run cost us much more than fixing problems, making the investments and providing assistance today. Leaders we spoke with reiterated this, discussing everything from allowing our bridges, sewers and roads to deteriorate, to allowing children to have deficient education. Public policies must and can serve the good of all our citizens-- not just the powerful.
And to make matters worse, a new round of automatic Sequester driven budget cuts are in the works, another $37 billion from the 2016 budget, which will disproportionately be focused on non-defense discretionary spending.
Approximately one third of non-defense discretionary spending goes to state and local grants, for things like K-12 education and highway projects, as well as Head Start and low-income housing assistance. The impact of these additional cuts will further weaken the social safety net and the general economy and increase hardship and inequality in already hurting communities.
But for some Sequestration cuts are not enough. A new U.S. House Republican budget proposal released last week would be even more damaging to the poor, and to low and middle income families, proposing $5 trillion in cuts to domestic programs over the next ten years. (See below for more details.)
And further both Missouri and Kansas governments and other jurisdictions are cutting budgets and taxes and enacting policies that put low and middle income families at greater and greater risk.
Underlying the continued budget cutting and tax cuts for the corporations and the wealthy is the acceptance of the austerity narrative and the insufficient number of voices challenging this narrative.
We encourage you to join us in raising our voice in support of federal, state and local and budget and revenue policies that invest in our future rather than policies that transfer more and more of society’s wealth to those who are already too rich and powerful.
· Let us know if you would like to host a Listening Projecting forum or presentation for your group or if you can help identify groups who would like to learn more about the results of Move the Money Listening Projecting.
· Also contact us if you would be able to participate in meetings with media, elected officials and others.
Here is a link to a recording of a recent panel discussion on the 2016 federal budget, “Decoding the Budget,” put on by the Religious Action Center and the Interreligious Working Group on Domestic Human Needs, that you may find informative : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_l0lBuPu8aU
Thank you for your service to our community. Please review the Move the Money Listening Project Report and consider working with us to support a moral budget and public policy that serves all of us, not just the most powerful.
Sincerely,
Ira
Ira Harritt
American Friends Service Committee
The proposed U.S. House Republican budget proposal released last week would cut $5 trillion in domestic programs such as Medicare, Medicaid, Pell grants, and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (food stamps), over the next decade. It would undermine both Social Security and Medicare (repeal of Medicare tax expansions), repeal the Affordable Care Act, and prioritize tax cuts for the one percent, all while boosting defense spending (an additional $90 billion war funding over the next 10 years). And it would cut renewable energy incentives and climate change programs.
On the revenue side it would Alternative Minimum Tax (designed to require wealthy taxpayers to pay a minimum higher tax above exemptions), and allowing the federal Earned Income Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit (tax credits for low income working families) to expire.
Click this link to see report and support materials:
http://afsc.org/resource/move-money-listening-project-giving-voice-community-concerns