Category Archives: Announcements

Dorothy F. Cotton Passed Away

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Dear friends,

Sunday, June 10, 2018, our co-founder and Distinguished Fellow, Dorothy F. Cotton died peacefully in her residence, Kendal at Ithaca, with loved ones at her bedside. She was a remarkably courageous leader, an inspiring educator, a great spirit, and our dear friend. Thank you for the many kind messages that we at the Dorothy Cotton Institute (DCI) have been receiving from far and near. She is sorely missed. There will be a public memorial service for her in the future, and we will let everyone know the details once they are confirmed.

Please read the wonderful tribute to Dorothy Foreman Cotton written by her friend and colleague, Dr. Clayborne Carson, Founding Director of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute at Stanford University.

Feel free to contact us:

Laura Branca,
DCI Senior Fellow, laurabranca0@gmail.com

Kirby Edmonds,
DCI Senior Fellow and Program Coordinator, tfckirby@aol.com

 

 

Understanding “Ban the Box”: Creating a Fair Chance

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Friday, 3/10/17BAN-THE-BOX-employee-application-monitor 9:30 am – 11:30 am

Free & Open to All

Register online at www.hsctc.org/workshops
Borg Warner Conference Room, Tompkins County Public Library,
101 E. Green St. at S. Cayuga St., Ithaca, NY
Presented by the Diversity Consortium of Tompkins County in cooperation with the Human Services Coalition 
Co-sponsored by the Tompkins County Public Library
 
A NEW PANEL DISCUSSION FOR ORGANIZATIONS AND INDIVIDUALS INTERESTED IN LEARNING MORE ABOUT REMOVING THE “CHECK BOX” REGARDING CRIMINAL RECORDS AND DELAYING THE BACKGROUND CHECK INQUIRY UNTIL LATER IN THE HIRING PROCESS.
 

The forum will bring together panelists from a cross-section of professions, including government, academia, law, and small business to discuss the ramifications of prematurely or illegally considering conviction information, and the role it may play in preventing people with past convictions from receiving a fair chance.

Questions will be addressed by panel members who have had experience with implementing ban the box in their work places; who have had experience with the criminal justice system; or who are working to support those who are re-entering the community and seeking to be productive citizens.
As a number of local employers are implementing “ban the box,” others are looking for more direction. Additionally, many community members are seeking guidance on how they can be part of a movement to welcome back those who have been formerly involved in the criminal justice system and to ensure that they have a fair chance to work. The Diversity Consortium of Tompkins County is sponsoring this forum to support this effort.
George Ferrari, Director, Community Foundation of Tompkins County will moderate this session.
Panelists include:
Khalil Bey, Ultimate Re-entry Opportunity Mentor Coordinator, Multicultural Resource Center
Laura Branca, Managing Partner, TFC Associates and Co-Owner of Moosewood, Inc.
Phoebe Brown, Ultimate Re-entry Opportunity Community Outreach Coordinator, Multicultural Resource Center
Amy Guererri, Commissioner of Personnel, Tompkins County Government
Jason M. Leifer, Attorney and Dryden Town Supervisor
Schelley Michell- Nunn, Director Human Services, City of Ithaca
Allan Bishop,  Associate Vice President Human Resources, Cornell University

Campus and Community Organizing for Liberation, Then and Now

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Saturday, November 5th, 2016 – 2:00 PM to 4:30 PM
at The History Center in Gateway Plaza
401 E. State Street * Suite 100 * Ithaca, NY 14850

free and open to All; light refreshments served

This is the third event in the series “Sharing Our Stories of Action for Social Justice and Transformation.” This series is a partnership of The History Center, the Dorothy Cotton Institute, in collaboration with the John Henrik Clarke Africana Library. The focus has been on sharing personal narratives and oral histories that highlight the contributions of individuals in our community who have worked on a range of issues for social justice.

Our third event will address Campus & Community Organizing for Liberation, Then and Now. We will begin with a panel of activists and community leaders who will share their work for racial equity in education, Black Studies, racial justice, and the Movement for Black Lives.  After the panel, everyone will have the opportunity to share their stories of taking action. Our panelists will be Kirby Edmonds, Ms. Lucy J. Brown, and Rafael Aponte.

About the Presenters…. 

Kirby Edmonds is a Cornell graduate, long-time Ithaca resident and community organizer, educator, a partner with TFC Associates and a Senior Fellow and Program Coordinator of the Dorothy Cotton Institute.

Ms. Lucy J. Brown was born and raised in Ithaca, and her outspoken commitment to racial justice and educational equity spans decades. Ms. Brown is the mother of four children who went through the Ithaca City School District. She has served on the district’s Board of Education, as well as on the Board of Public Works. She worked at Cornell University for thirty years, and as one of the few Black employees, she readily gave her support to the student organizers of the 1969 Willard Straight occupation and the movement for Black Studies and racial equity at Cornell. She was a founding member of Ithaca Neighborhood Housing Services. The Lucy J. Brown Leadership Award was established in her honor by INHS, where she continues to serve on their Board of Directors.

Rafael Aponte has a deep commitment to education, food justice, and sovereignty. Born and raised in the South Bronx, he has over twelve years of experience working as a community activist, advocate, and educator in NYC. In 2012, Rafael relocated to Tompkins County and established Rocky Acres Community Farm in Freeville, NY . The 10-acre farm focuses on education and the sustainable production of local, culturally appropriate vegetables, herbs, meat, and eggs for marginalized communities in and around Ithaca. He is currently the acting director of the Youth Farm Project in Ithaca and a member of the working group for Black Lives Matter Ithaca (BLMI).

Hope to see you there!

History Center:

phone: 607-273-8284, ext. 5

e-mail: director@thehistorycenter.net

website: www.thehistorycenter.net

 

 

Sharing Our Work for Social Change: Taking Action

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Join us for the first event of a series presented by The History Center in Tompkins County and the Dorothy Cotton Institute titled “Sharing Our Stories of Action for Social Justice and Transformation.”

Series Kick-Off Event:

Sharing Our Work for Social Change: Taking Action
Saturday March 19th, 2:00 – 4:00 at The History Center in Tompkins County

(401 E. State St., Suite 100 — Gateway Plaza)

“Saturday will be the first of a series of community gatherings for sharing our personal narratives, and creating an archive of oral histories so that we can build the knowledge of how people achieve justice and effect change. No story is too short.”     – Dorothy Cotton Institute

“Ithaca and Tompkins County have a long history of involvement in social movements and issues.”           – The History Center

This series will encourage people in our communities to share their personal stories and oral histories that highlight individual contributions for working for social change across a broad range of issues and social movements. At this event, four panelists will share their work for change and address what they had to overcome and what sustained them. After the panel, everyone will be invited to meet in small groups to share their work for social change.

Panelists:

Carlos H. Gutierrez, Former Chilean Political Exile & Labor Community Organizer
Jhakeem Haltom, Dean of Student Life, New Roots School
Mary Milne, Fabric Artist & Local Ribbon Coordinator, 1982-85
Joyce Muchan, Former Chair of the Ithaca LGBT Task Force

There will be future events to help community members learn from one another and to highlight that we can all choose to take action. This project will include oral histories will be captured to archive the richness of action and involvement of Tompkins County residents in a variety of social movements.

Co-sponsored by
The History Center in Tompkins County & The Dorothy Cotton Institute,
The John Henrik Clarke Africana Library & Cornell University Public Service Center

The Legacy Foundation of Tompkins County provided support for the series

For more information, contact Kayla Sewell at Community@TheHistoryCenter.net
or call (607) 273-8284 x 227

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A Special Screening of Can You Dig This

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Moosewood Restaurant is pleased to invite you to a special screening of

Can You Dig This

a documentary about the guerilla gardeners of South LA

at Cinemapolis, Dec. 3rd at 7 pm

Can You Dig This follows an urban gardening movement taking root in South LA, where people are planting to transform their neighborhoods and are changing their own lives in the process. Watch the trailer here.

Co-sponsored by GreenStar Community Projects, Groundswell, Building Bridges and Natural Leaders Initiative, we will host a pre-screening reception at 6:30 (with food by Moosewood) plus a talk-back on farming, gardening and food sovereignty with leaders in our community after the show.CYDT.screeningflyer.Ithaca

 

Click  here to reserve tickets to help book the showing
The screening will be held only when a minimum of 46 seats are reserved.
Can You Dig This
at Cinemapolis 
120 E. Green St., Ithaca
Dec. 3rd
Reception 6:30 pm
Show at 7 pm.
Talk-back  8:30

The Human Rights Arts Competition 2015

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UDHR for webThe Office of Human Rights and the Dorothy Cotton Institute present

The Human Rights Arts Competition

The Dorothy Cotton Institute is partnering with the Office of Human Rights to co-sponsor the Human Rights Arts Competition, open to all K-12 students in Tompkins County, whether in public school, private school, charter school, Montessori, or home-schooled.

Teachers and students are encouraged to explore the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and to submit students’ artwork (visual, poetry or short film) expressing their understanding of one or more of the 30 articles of the UDHR . Click the link to find out details.  The Dorothy Cotton Award will be presented by Ms. Cotton to the winning poet.

Moosewood Bans the Box

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BAN-THE-BOX-employee-application-monitorAcross the nation and here in Tompkins County, there is a Ban-the-Box movement to reduce barriers to employment for applicants who have a felony conviction on their record. Given the enormous number of people who have been convicted, the vast majority for non-violent crimes, employers play an important role in helping people find decent, stable employment. Other states such as Hawaii, Ohio, Oregon, Massachusetts, California and N.J., and municipalities such as Orlando, NYC,  and the City of Rochester have passed Ban the Box Ordinances. In June of 2015, NYC went beyond banning the felony box on applications for jobs in city government, and now prohibits both public and private employers from asking questions about felony convictions during the initial employment application process.

As a business that has employed a lot of people over 42 years and values fairness in employment, this seemed like something important for us at Moosewood Restaurant. In our case, we were actually using the same old boiler-plate application for years; I looked at it and there was the question: “Have you ever been convicted of a felony? If yes, please indicate which charges may be relevant to the position you are seeking.”  All we needed was to agree that this was an unnecessary barrier, and we revised the application and deleted the question. Simple.

banbox_196There are multiple steps in a hiring process, and employers may ask about prior convictions at later stages. In some cases employers must ask about felonies up front if it’s relevant to the position the candidate is seeking, for instance, as a police officer or as a childcare worker.

In N.J…

“Unless one of the limited exceptions applies, an employer cannot make any inquiry—either verbally or in writing, including in an employment application—about an applicant’s criminal record during the “initial employment application process” (IEAP).  Once the IEAP is complete, an employer can make inquiries about an applicant’s criminal history”

Ban the Box laws and policies don’t require the employer to hire a particular applicant, but one of the goals is to reduce recidivism among qualified people who happen to have a record and to help people who could be fine employees make it through the application screening process. The Obama Administration’s My Brother’s Keeper Task Force gave the movement a boost when it endorsed hiring practices “which give applicants a fair chance and allow employers the opportunity to judge individual job candidates on their merits.”

We encourage other businesses and institutions in Tompkins County to adopt Ban the Box policies. Whether one is a small business owner, manager, department head or human resource director, employers understandably have important questions.

These links may be helpful:

Moosewood Restaurant Owners Join Opposition to Crestwood Plans

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Letter to the Editor of The Ithaca Journal

August 12, 2015

By Tony Del Plato & Gabriel Shapiro

On behalf of Moosewood, Inc. the 19 owners of Moosewood Restaurant unanimously join over 300 businesses and municipalities in the Finger Lakes in opposition to the Crestwood, Inc. plans to store up to 2.10 million barrels (88.20 million gallons) of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) in salt caverns along the west shore of Seneca Lake just north of Watkins Glen. We are opposed to plans to turn this region into the northeast US hub for gas distribution. Increased railroad and truck traffic as well as breaks in pipelines would put us all at risk.

Crestwood’s plans or any plans that expand the fossil fuel infrastructure within our state, not only pose enormous risks for our safety, but will be obsolete within 20-40 years as New York transforms its energy profile to 100% renewable sources.

Food, wine, education, tourism and natural beauty drive the economy in the heart of New York state. The Finger Lakes draws people the world over to its vibrant and creative culture which includes farms, parks, the arts, high tech companies, universities and colleges.

Moosewood has been developing a sustainable business for more than 42 years and we, the shareholders are happy to join our neighbors who say yes to a fossil free future. Clean air and water matter. A lifestyle that brings more health and harmony to our lives matters.

Tony Del Plato, Moosewood Restaurant Owner

607 351 6847

tonydelplato@gmail.com

Gabriel Shapiro, Moosewood Restaurant Employee

gabeshapiro42@gmail.com

 

 

African Drumming and Welcoming Southside Community Center’s New Exec. Director at Congo Square Market

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Spread the word…

African Drumming & Welcoming Southside Community Center’s New Executive Director at Congo Square Market
This week’s CONGO SQUARE MARKET will feature a special announcement  and performances by Rainbow Healing Center Drummers and Dancers, One Heart Community Drummers along with Afro Cuban Percussion by Jhakeem Haltom and Maurice Haltom.

Friday, June 19th from 4 to 8pm
At the park next to Southside Community Center: 305 S. Plain St, Ithaca

Southside Community Center will welcome their new Executive Director, Davi Mozie, at 5pm at the Market. Refreshments will be served!

Facebook event: www.facebook.com/events/776225662498130

Bring the whole family and support local vendors: El Taino, Gorges Barbeque, Fresh Baked Breads, Unique’s Bow_tique, and Chris D’s Icee!
Next week’s Market will have Harvest Box Deliveries (from Youth Farm Project & Rocky Acres Community Farm)!

To perform, vend or volunteer: Email CongoSquareEntertainment@gmail.com

Donate to the Market to support youth apprentices, start-up vendors and performers: Drop off cash or mail a check payable to “Congo Square” and send to Rob Brown at 521 W. Seneca St, Ithaca, NY 14850.

For weekly updates and performance schedule, visit ‘Congo Square Market, Ithaca’ on Facebook.

Congo Square Market is open every Friday 4-8pm through September 4th. The Market’s mission is to build a stronger self-reliant local community, develop Southside’s economic base, and encourage community & personal health.

ABOUT CONGO SQUARE MARKET

Congo Square is an actual place in New Orleans. This sacred ground was first used by the Houma People and by slaves in the region as a place to enjoy a day of freedom. Africans used it as a place to maintain their true status as free people of Africa. Indigenous peoples and Europeans often joined in the celebration. Music, abolitionist organization, food, and dance were intertwined to enjoy this one-day-a-week festival.

In Ithaca, Congo Square Market (or CSM) is a multicultural community that provides affordable Jamaican, Cuban, Ethiopian, soul food, farm produce, local goods, as well as free healthcare services and entertainment: music, visual art and speakers, and more! Collaborators include Southside Community Center, Rainbow Healing Center, Youth Farm Project, TC Cornell Cooperative Extension’s Whole Community Project- Food Dignity, Rocky Acres Community Farm, Cayuga Medical Center, Groundswell Center for Local Food & Farming, Ithaca Health Alliance/ Free Clinic and individual volunteers who all help put the market together

Jan Norman receives Award for Social Responsibility in Business

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Announcement from the latest “Business Cents” Newsletter:

This year’s Jeff Furman Award for Social Responsibility in Business is long overdue:

Jan(72dpi)Jan Norman of Silk Oak and Ithacamade, whose businesses exemplify a commitment to socially-minded business practices, including being certified Living Wage Employers. Jan engages with the community in ways that promote sustainability and education, and she has worked tirelessly to make Ithaca a vibrant, living local economy.

Congratulations, Jan! You are a role model for the Building Bridges Network and you live the vision of a socially just, ecologically sound local economy.