Category Archives: Announcements

Building Bridges Community Forum

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Save the Date!!
May 13, 2014 9am-1pm
Location To Be Announced

You are invited to a half-day Community Forum
sponsored by the Building Bridges Initiative to:

  • get an update on the activities that have been going on in the community that are moving towards the vision we developed together
  • explore “Collective Impact” as a process for achieving big results toward the vision

Much has happened in the community since the first Building Bridges gathering back in November, 2011, but we still have a ways to go.

The lists of activities and possible big results in the attached flyer are only examples of the things we can explore together as we move forward and are not meant to be exhaustive.

Please respond by April 30th to let us know whether or not you can come to the forum (email- tfckirby@aol.com, phone: 277-3401).

You are receiving this invitation because you are an important community leader.

Please note: If you forward this message to someone else you’d like to invite, please emphasize that we do need to get RSVPs so we can plan for food and materials.

On behalf of the Building Bridges Planning Group, we hope you can come.

The “Building Bridges” initiative is a collaborative effort of The Dorothy Cotton Institute, the Whole Community Project, Sustainable Tompkins, CCE Environment Program, CCE Green Jobs Program, Ithaca College Commit to Change Initiative, Groundswell, Natural Leaders Initiative, the Multicultural Resource Center,  Alternatives Federal Credit Union, Center for Transformative Action, Dryden Solutions, GreenStar Community Projects, the Sustainability Center, Get Your Green Back Tompkins, Cayuga Medical Center, Local First Ithaca, and others, to build, support and maintain a local movement in the Tompkins County region to create a “socially just and ecologically sound local economy”

Thanks for the work that you do!

Pete Seeger Dies at 94

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A warrior for peace & justice has passed. His music and energy were infectious even if you didn’t care for folk music. For those of us who do love folk music, Pete Seeger was an inspiring example of musicians who turn people onto songs from around the world, speak out for justice, human rights and a clean environment.
Pete Seeger, a longtime champion of American folk music, died Monday. He spearheaded a folk revival in the 1950s and spent a life championing music as both a vital heritage and a catalyst for social change. via Reuters

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/29/arts/music/pete-seeger-songwriter-and-champion-of-folk-music-dies-at-94.html?hp&_r=0

DCI Gala and Dinner, Tues. Dec. 10

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Celebrate International Human Rights Day, with honored guests:

Andrew Young Ambassador Andrew Young

DorothyCotton-1 Ms. Dorothy Cotton

Vincent Harding in Nabi-Saleh Dr. Vincent Harding

  • 6:00 Reception & cash bar with jazz and r&b by Fe Nunn and Friends

  • 7:00 Dinner with jazz by Harry & Eric Aceto, Doug Robinson & Chad Lieberman

  • 8:00 Program with Emcee Cal Walker

  • Remarks by Ambassador Young

  • Fellowship of Reconciliation Presentation of  the 2013  Martin Luther King, Jr. Awards to Ms. Cotton and Dr. Harding

  • Spirituals and Freedom Songs by the Dorothy Cotton Jubilee Singers led by Baruch Whitehead

In Ballroom of the Trip Hotel (formerly the Clarion), One Sheraton Drive, Ithaca, NY

$125 per plate. All proceeds from this event will benefit the Dorothy Cotton Institute.

Click here to purchase tickets online or sponsor others’ attendance.

The Dorothy Cotton Institute is a locally based non-profit organization providing workshops on Human Rights Education, the Citizenship Education Program for the 21st Century, and is working to build a global community of human rights leadership.
DCI is a project of the Center for Transformative Action and an organizing member of the Building Bridges initiative.

Heather Taylor in Zambia

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Human Rights attorney, Heather Taylor, former member of the Dorothy Cotton Institute Steering Committee, sends greetings from Zambia, working on behalf of widows and orphans. Please read her blog.

Greetings friends and family:

Check out my new blog!  View quarterly and other updates about my advocacy work for widows and orphans who are victims of property grabbing in Zambia.
Please consider partnering with me and contributing to this awesome mission.  Praise God and abundant thanks to my financial supporters!
You may make a tax deductible donation by credit card: www.ijm.org/getinvolved/internshipsupport  Click on “Support Intern/Fellow” and select my name, “Heather Taylor”, from the fellows list in the dropdown menu.
Sincerely,
Heather L. Taylor

REAL MONEY, REAL POWER

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Please share …. Hope to see some of you there….

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REAL MONEY, REAL POWER

You’re invited to a free event on Thursday, August 8 to learn about participatory budgeting (PB), a new approach to democracy in which community members directly decide how to spend part of a public budget. PB gives ordinary people real decision-making power over real money. Come hear from people who are using PB in their own cities to fund the projects needed most in their communities.

THURSDAY, AUGUST 8, 2013
6:30 PM – 8:00 PM
GREATER ITHACA ACTIVITIES CENTER
301 WEST COURT ST. ITHACA, NY 14850

Admission is free, but please RSVP.
Bring your family & friends!

Watch a short video about participatory budgeting: http://vimeo.com/65169312

Check out the Participatory Budgeting Project: http://www.participatorybudgeting.org/

Stay connected on Facebook for updates on PB events in Tompkins County!

This event is made possible thanks to the generous support of The Natural Leaders Initiative, The Workers’ Center for Tompkins County, The Community Foundation of Tompkins County, GIAC, the Alternatives Federal Credit Union, and the Public Service Center at Cornell University

Reclaim the Dream March on Washington, August 24, 2013

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Greetings!

This year marks the 50th Anniversary of the famous March on Washington.

On Saturday, August 24, 2013 another historic rally will take place on the National Mall, led by the National Action Network, fifty years after MLK delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech. GIAC, Southside Community Center, the Multicultural Resource Center and the Dorothy Cotton Institute are co-organizing a bus so people from our community can attend the march. The bus will leave GIAC at 4:00am sharp. We will spend the day on the National Mall and return that night to GIAC around 1 or 2:00am. Seating is on a first-come, first-served basis and tickets are $60 per seat. Priority will be given to GIAC and Southside youth and their chaperones, and if there is enough interest we will book two buses. Participants should plan on bringing breakfast and lunch, and dinner will be on your own in DC. More details about the day’s events and what to bring will follow. Please reserve your seat by August 12, 2013. If you need financial assistance, please talk with one of the organizing agencies. To reserve a seat contact Liz Field at 607-280-1960 or lizlovesmusic@gmail.com.

The rally is not just to commemorate the March on Washington, but to give us a chance to address compelling issues of the day, such as the gutting of the Voting Rights Act, and to stand against discriminatory practices such as “Stop and Frisk” in NYC and dangerous laws like the ‘Stand Your Ground’ law in Florida and 31 other states that allow murderers like George Zimmerman to walk away free. This March is about Reclaiming the Dream. Read the full press release here: http://nationalactionnetwork.net/press/rev-al-sharpton-martin-luther-king-iii-along-with-labor-leaders-clergy-elected-officials-and-activists-to-march-on-washington-saturday-august-24-2013-for-the-national-action-to-reclaim-the-d/

Among the groups and individuals joining with Rev. Al Sharpton and Martin Luther King, III are: The King Center, A. Philip Randolph Institute (APRI), NAACP, NAACP LDF, National Council of Negro Women, National Urban League (NUL), Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), National Coalition on Black Civic Participation (NCBCP), Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), American Federation of Teachers (AFT), Communities Without Boundaries International, Inc., Service Employees International Union (SEIU), 1199 SEIU, United Federation of Teachers (UFT), United Here, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, American Federation of Government Employees, AFGE, Military Families Speak Out, Fair Vote, United for Peace & Justice, Veterans for Peace, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, National Congress of Black Women (NCBW), , National Coalition of 100 Black Women, Inc. (NCBW), Black Women’s Health Imperative, Human Rights Campaign (HRC), National Black Justice Coalition, Family Equality Council, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, Old Lesbians Organizing for Change, League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF), The Hip Hop Caucus, Operation Hope, Impact Black Youth Vote, Our Time.org.

Read here about additional events planned, some happening on Aug. 28, the actual anniversary of Dr. King’s I Have a Dream speech.

http://www.nationalmall.org/news/washington-marks-50th-anniversary-martin-luther-kings-iconic-i-have-dream-speech