Local Actions with Broader Impacts

Hi Friends!

A reminder of our meeting tonight with the chair of the School Board — please come! Topics include the recent new high school discussion, unequal resources among our schools, option/choice schools, and integrating schools.

There’s a nationwide protest planned on June 30 regarding the administration’s family separation policy. Please attend if you’re able to and keep contacting Congress about this horrible, inhumane practice. I also have a contact who is trying to help find families to host asylum seekers (individuals and families) while their cases are pending. If you are interested and able, please let me know and I’ll get you in touch. I’ll let everyone know more details about the rally scheduled for June 22 as soon as I know more.

I attended the local chapter of NAACP this week and one of their efforts (supported by National NAACP) is to focus on voter registration, especially in light of the Supreme Court decision on Ohio’s purging of voter rolls. This is not a good trend and making sure people are able to vote is more and more important.

Please familiarize yourself with Juneteenth (June 19), a celebration commemorating the end of slavery in the US. There are events scheduled all this week, so if you’re interested and able, check one out!

One of our members is working on coordinating a backpack food program at her child’s school and shared some upsetting information about our community’s economically disadvantaged statistics. There are families in our county who qualify for the free/reduced lunch program who choose not to participate because it counts as receiving assistance and can affect their immigration status. This means that there are far more families who live in our community who are not only economically disadvantaged, but are also not receiving assistance and their children are trying to learn while hungry. Some schools who are aware of this issue with some of their students have food pantries and other supplies to help address this in a sensitive and confidential way. Ask around at your child’s school and see if you can support one!

I came across Richard Kahlenberg and the Century Foundation recently. The foundation works on inequality issues and Kahlenberg works particularly on educational inequality and integration. You can read more about him and this particularly relevant article that he wrote recently.

I have been moved by Theresa Vargas’ new column in the Washington Post a few times already. The one this week was particularly relevant for our group. I have raised this issue before, I think, and it makes me wonder what in the world I can do to help. One of the things I have thought of is raising the issue with my OB/GYN and/or GP when I see them and ask about where and how to put pressure on people who might be able to change this dynamic. If anyone else has ideas about how to advocate for black women (pregnant or not) and their health, please share!

EmbraceRace posted their latest Talking Race & Kids episode, called “Unlocking the Potential of Parents in Fighting for Racial Equity in Schools” and you can watch the video here if you weren’t able to attend in person.