The SOS Report Release, US Social Forum and Allied Media Conference, Oh My!

DataCenter, in partnership with the National Organizers Alliance, is pleased to announce the release of its new report Sustaining Organizing: A Survey of Organizations During the Economic Downturn. The report, which will be presented at the US Social Forum, is an analysis of 203 surveys conducted with organizations engaged in community organizing and movement building work on the impact of the recession on work and resources.

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

US Social Forum
- Historic Moment for Funding Social Justice Organizing in the 21st Century

- Federal Spending by and for the People/Gastos Federales por y para la Gente

- We Call These Projects Home

Allied Media Conference

- Power of StoryTelling

- Media Tools for Creating Safe Communities: A Science Fair

US SOCIAL FORUM (click for full schedule)

Historic Moment for Funding Social Justice Organizing in the 21st Century
Wednesday, 06/23/2010, 1:00pm - 5:30pm
Cobo Hall: W2-610.
The SOS report will be released during this workshop. The workshop, organized by the Grassroots Global Justice Alliance, the Funders Network on Transforming the Global Economy (FNTG), DataCenter, and the National Organizers Alliance will explore the current movement landscape and the broader “social justice ecosystem” within the context of events ranging from the election of Barak Obama to increased organizing on the grassroots left and through right-wing populism. It will examine different strategies and initiatives within philanthropy to help bring about social justice and transformative change, and explore what it takes to sustain organizations that benefit our communities. This session will make the case that we are in a critical moment for increasing financial support to base-building and organizing in order to achieve progressive political victories in the coming years.

Stay tuned for additional local events this summer and fall where we'll discuss the findings of the Sustaining Organizing Study around the country and online. Updates on the project blog: Sustaining Organizing.

Federal Spending by and for the People/Gastos Federales por y para la Gente
Friday, 06/25/2010, 3:30pm - 5:30pm
WSU Old Main: 1305
In order for local communities to effectively strategize and achieve policy change on the federal level, it is necessary to understand and critically analyze the connection between the U.S. federal budget and federal allocations to their states and cities. The federal budget process does not include adequate input from the ground. People have the right and need to access budgeting information and resources that will build capacity to change this reality. The time is now, as community groups are forming national alliances to elevate their voices in decision-making to impact national and local resource allocations decisions. Together, DataCenter and National Priorities Project will facilitate an interactive workshop that will help build the capacity of grassroots participants to identify and articulate concrete connections between issues on the ground and the federal budget, and engage strategically and effectively in the federal budgeting process in the context of grassroots organizing and movement-building.

We Call These Projects Home: Taking Action to Realize a New Vision for Public Housing
Wednesday, 06/23/2010, 1:00pm - 5:30pm
Cobo Hall: DO-01B
The Right to the City & National People's Action present on taking direct action to realize a new vision for public housing in the U.S.

ALLIED MEDIA CONFERENCE (click for full schedule)
And for those of you that will arrive earlier to attend the Allied Media Conference, please join us as a part of the Creating Safe Communities track developed in partnership with the StoryTelling and Organizing Project (STOP), Harm Free Zone, Visions to Peace Project, and Revolution Starts At Home. The workshops explore how to use media to develop and implement transformative anti-violence initiatives in your community. It has a special focus on using storytelling as a tool for organizing against interpersonal violence.

Select Workshops in the Creating Safe Communities Track

Power of StoryTelling
Friday, 6/18/2010, 10:45am - 12:15pm
Presenters: StoryTelling & Organizing Project; DataCenter; Secret Survivors; Visions to Peace Project; Young Women's Empowerment Project
Storytelling allows individuals and communities to archive experiences, heal and collectively remember. It also can be a powerful tool in transforming communities and challenging power structures. In this workshop, we will explore cutting edge story-gathering practices that utilize a wide range of media, from theater to video to digital storytelling. We will focus-in on examples of storytelling projects that are confronting interpersonal violence. In small groups, participants will draw lessons from the examples provided and brainstorm ways of applying those lessons in their own work and the broader movement.

Media Tools for Creating Safe Communities: A Science Fair
Saturday, 6/19/2010, 9:00am - 10:30am
Presenters: Young Women's Empowerment Project, Visions to Peace Project, Generation 5, StoryTelling & Organizing Project/DataCenter, Durham Harm Free Zone, Secret Survivors, Colorado Anti-Violence Project, Community United against Violence, Challenging Male Supremacy Project, Revolution Starts at Home, Safe Outside the System
Did you ever attend or participate in a Science Fair? Modeled after these fun, hands-on and awe-inspiring experiences, we present a media-rich exhibition of resources and tools developed during our experiments to create safety and justice in our communities. The Creating Safe Communities Science Fair is designed to equip you with tools, resources, and connections to inspire, launch and sustain transformative anti-violence initiatives in your own communities. Learn how-to skills from innovative anti-violence projects that use arts and media in their work, network with artists and media makers with performances and screenings that you can bring to your city and experience videos, web sites and other media (available for free or for sale) that you can take home from the AMC! Feel free to drop by at any time during the session and stay for as long as you like.