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This is our newsletter to keep the community updated on our latest events, findings, and initiatives. Interested in getting further involved? Visit our website to learn more!
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General Coalition Meeting on March 10
At our meeting last week, we had two presenters who joined us from the Center for Common Ground to discuss leveling the voter playing field.
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ISO Unity Coalition members who enjoy writing and can volunteer with us!
We could use a writer(s) to draft articles and press materials from time to time about UC issues and programs. Are you a strong writer with relevant experience? Please reveal yourself!
We’d like to have a short-list of our writers on hand when the call arises. If you have the time and interest, you could join the communications team. If you only want to write — no problem — that works for us, too.
Thanks for considering and hope to hear from a few people. Please contact us at sfunitygroup@gmail.com. If you have any clips, please include.
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Invite your friends and family!
Please forward this newsletter to your circle.
Here is a template you can use to introduce prospective members to the Coalition.
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Upcoming Committee Meetings
With so many initiatives under our belt, please take a moment to sign up for one of our action committees. We need your support! See below for details of each committee meeting date and contact sfunitycoalition@gmail.com for meeting access.
ALL TIMES ARE PACIFIC
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General Coalition Meeting
Thursday, April 14, 6:00 PM
Sign up
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Community & Economic Development
Thursday, March 24, 6:00 PM
Sign up
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Health & General Welfare
Thursday, April 21, 5:30 PM
Sign up
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Civic Engagement
Thursday. April 7, 6:00 PM
Sign up
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Criminal Justice & Prison Reform
Tuesday, March 22, 5:00 PM PT
Sign up
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Interested in learning more about each committee before signing up? Visit our website to learn more.
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COMMUNITY & ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Join SF Unity-hosted Listening Session with SF Reparations Task Force!
The San Francisco African-American Reparations Advisory Committee is starting to hold listening sessions for African-Americans in San Francisco. The Unity Coalition has signed up to host an online session for at least 15 African-American participants. Thereafter, we’d like participants to debrief the larger Unity Coalition community at our monthly general membership meeting so we all can learn. Would you like to participate in the listening session? Please email us to indicate your interest, with your name and phone number. Feel free to include your significant other, a member of your household, or a friend (and provide their name, phone number, and email address). You can make a difference!
NEXT MEETING OF OUR COMMUNITY AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE IS MARCH 24 AT 6 PM.
Please join us. We’re looking for a few more active members eager to explore the subject of Reparations and help plan our educational forum. Black members, we need you!
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CRIMINAL JUSTICE & PRISON REFORM
The Unity Coalition’s Criminal Justice & Prison Reform Committee is delighted that our speaker for the next meeting on Tuesday, March 22 at 5 pm will be Carolyn Eggleston, who worked for the California Department of Corrections & Rehabilitation (CDCR) for many years, retired, and now works to improve prison operations and the reentry process. Carolyn will be talking about the high rate of recidivism in California prisons, what CDCR can do to reduce the rate, and what our members and friends can do. CDCR is estimated to spend about $70,000 per year per incarcerated person in its prisons. Think about the fact that many people are in prison 25 – 35 years and that they need health care as they get older. We are not even mentioning the cost to families when Mom or Dad go-to prison. What if we could spend that $70,000 per year on education and rehabilitation programs? Reduce the rate of recidivism and California will have hundreds of millions of dollars every year for programs that better prepare incarcerated people to have successful lives after prison.
Next meeting: Tuesday, March 22nd at 5:00pm Pacific Time
We hope that every member interested in ending mass incarceration will attend our meeting next Tuesday. Members will be sent a reminder with the zoom link.
Malcolm Gissen and Bobby Jones-Hanley,
Co-Chairs
Below is a summary of the minutes from our last meeting:
The Criminal Justice & Prison Reform Committee was honored to have Earl Simms speak at our February meeting. Earl is a formerly incarcerated person who has devoted his life to helping other formerly incarcerated men and women find jobs, housing, and providing mentoring. Committee Co-Chair Bobby Jones-Hanley of Pure 1 was the moderator.
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HEALTH & GENERAL WELFARE
The Health and General Welfare (“HGW”) Committee continues to work to define and organize our “Housing is Health” forum. We are educating ourselves on the complicated housing crisis, how to address it, and talking to prospective panelists.
Our advocacy includes submitting a comment in support of AB 1400 which would have establish a single payer health care system in California. Unfortunately, the Bill died in the Assembly.
We met with policy advisors working with Senator Pan to pass SB 17, which would create an Office of Racial Equity (“ORE”). To fund SB 17, there needs to be a budget allocation. The Unity Coalition signed as a co-sponsor, along with about 20 other organizations, a letter in support of Senator Pan’s budget request of $40 million to help create the ORE. The ORE would institutionalize a mechanism to address and dismantle structural racism by developing a strong cross-agency equity framework and strategy across our laws and government, and anchored by an office that turns equity commitment into actionable equity strategies. SB 17 is currently in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
Our next HGW Committee meeting is March 17 at 5:30 pm. Please join us on Zoom here!
Jason Mitchell and Zanne Mrlik
Co-chairs Health and General Welfare Committee
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CALL TO ACTION:
Announcing the launch of an amazing opportunity for young students – The Amos C. Brown Student Fellowship to Ghana.
This first-of-its-kind program is powered by the NAACP, in collaboration with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and will provide a multicultural group of students the opportunity to travel to Ghana, West Africa, for an immersive, all expenses paid trip.
The 10-day excursion will take a select number of college students, young adults, and seminarians between the ages of 18 and 25 from the United States to Ghana for an experiential learning opportunity.
Applications are now open; apply here.
During the trip, Fellows will:
- Build bridges with Ghanaian counterparts, as well as understand and form a deeper appreciation of the history of Ghana as the oldest independent African state.
- Gain more knowledge about the Atlantic Slave Trade.
- Become ambassadors for social and racial justice.
Fellows will also gain more insights about their ancestral lineage, learn about civil rights leaders who engaged in the pan-African movement, and explore how this movement plays a part in current racial and social issues within the U.S.
Spaces are limited. Interested young people are encouraged to apply by March 25, 2022.
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EDITORIAL
By Malcolm Gissen
In the last 10 days, my wife, Judith Cohen, learned that she has cousins in Ukraine. The patriarch of the family was a Blotner and we did not know many of them. Judith received an email from Steve Blotner informing us that we are all part of this Blotner Family and that we have cousins stranded in Ukraine who could use financial help. The next email said that several cousins had contributed, and the money had been received. That was followed by an email saying that one of the cousins, Gary Wasserson, who lives near Philadelphia, was so moved that he was going to Poland to try to get the family out of Ukraine. The next report said that this family member had succeeded in helping the family get to Poland and had insisted on putting them up in a hotel for as long as it takes! In the meanwhile, we wrote to the family and reached a cousin who stayed behind to fight the Russians.
President Biden has done the right thing in all respects when it comes to Ukraine. He will still be attacked by Republicans who want to take control of Congress in the fall. Keep in mind that the unquestioned leader of the Republican Party called Putin a “genius” and “savvy” after Putin invaded Ukraine. That of course emblazoned Putin. Please help elect Democrats this fall if you want to maintain a democracy in our country! You can work with the Unity Coalition in making political donations.
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Anti-Racism Resources for White People
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 This document is intended to serve as a resource to white people and parents to deepen our anti-racism work. If you haven’t engaged in anti-racism work in the past, start now. Feel free to circulate this document on social media and with your friends, family, and colleagues.
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Ways to Support Black Owned Businesses in the Bay Area
Check out this article to learn more ways you can show your support of Black-owned businesses by patronizing these businesses whenever you can.
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Keep Updated with the SF Unity Group
Make sure to like our Facebook Page, follow our Instagram and Twitter and visit our website to keep updated on our latest events, findings and initiatives. For additional questions or inquiries, do not hesitate to reach out. You can contact us using the button below!
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FORWARD THIS TO YOUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS!
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