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FAITH IN DEMOCRACY “Our Common Destiny” WISDOM experiences growth and successes as it continues the year of Common Destiny and plans for the coming year. Public meetings held at all nine WISDOM Affiliates.
ESTHER
ESTHER
Declares Social Justice Issues
On
October 11th,
ESTHER, an affiliate of WISDOM and the Gamaliel Foundation held
its first annual public
meeting at St. Therese Catholic Church in Appleton, WI. With over 200 in
attendance, the Fox
Valley came together as a community to raise awareness and celebrate
successes on three key social justice issues;
Treatment Instead of Prison
(TIP),
¡Sí, Se Puede! – Yes, We Can! Six members of ESTHER were commissioned to attend the Gamaliel Foundation’s week-long leadership training in November and the League of Women Voters assisted with voter registration before and after the event. The night was filled with awareness, music, and energy. The most often-heard phrase in this Common Destiny event was “¡Sí, Se Puede! – Yes, We Can!” Yes we can and yes we will create change!
JOSHUA
MANY
PUBLIC OFFICIALS TURN OUT Among the more than 250 people at the JOSHUA “Faith In Democracy” Public Meeting on Thursday, October 16 were at least 25 Public Officials, including two State Senators, several State Assembly representatives and candidates of both parties, the Mayor of Green Bay, the Brown County Executive, County Supervisors, Aldermen, Judges and others.
A highlight of the evening came when County Executive Hintz, District Attorney Zakowski and County Board Chair Zima all stood to pledge their support for the establishment of a Drug Treatment Court. Several other County Supervisors also lent their support. All predicted that the Court will be fully funded by the County Board when it passes its budget in November. JOSHUA had begun publicly promoting the establishment of a Drug Treatment Court in an April Forum. JOSHUA also grew tremendously in 2008. At the Faith In Democracy meeting, five new congregations and two new organizations became full members of the organization.
Near the end of the gathering, nearly 30 Religious Leaders who had entered the meeting together stood to voice their support for the embattled homeless shelter at St. John the Evangelist Cathedral. The shelter serves some of the hardest-to-place, chronically homeless people in Brown County.
JONAH COMMON DESTINY REACHES EAU CLAIRE JONAH, formed less than a year ago, held a very successful first Public Meeting on October 20 at First Lutheran Church in Eau Claire. About 150 people participated.
The JONAH meeting
included many of the elements as familiar to all who
The Call to Action was
done by Rev. Gary Froseth of Wausau, who had the
MICAH MICAH Celebrates Major Victories "Creating a City that Belongs to All of Us" On Thursday, October 20, MICAH declared "It is time to make a prophetic declaration on our faith and values in the interest of justice. " An enthusiastic crowd joined MICAH leaders for a very powerful public presentation on the leadership driven work of community transformation through organizing. The theme of the meeting was "Creating a City that Belongs to All of Us." MICAH challenged leaders and attendants to become part of the work because "We are still the ones we have been waiting for..." MICAH celebrated some major victories, such as winning funding for more than 20 new school nurses, who will serve in some of the schools with the highest poverty rate in Milwaukee. Moving and courageous testimonies were given by immigrants who are caught between the need to feed their families and laws that make it impossible for them to do so legally. MICAH re-affirmed its resolve to fight for the MORE Ordinance, which will ensure that any major project in the city that counts on any public subsidy, tax break, or infrastructure improvement MUST ensure that a higher percentage of unemployed or under-employed city residents have a chance at the jobs being created. A highlight of the evening came when Milwaukee District Attorney John Chisolm publicly claimed a goal of reducing the number of people sent to jail or prison in Milwaukee County by MORE than 30%. He asked MICAH and others to keep the pressure on the state to provide the resources for the alternatives that will make that vision possible.
AMOS
AMOS
Holds Its First Ever Public Meeting On Sunday, October 23, AMOS gathered in La Crosse, Wisconsin. They welcoming four new member congregations, and declared their to be Health Care. Moving testimonials were given by patients and health care providers, each of which illustrated the desperate need to ensure that everyone have access to quality insurance. The most heart-rending story came from a doctor who treated a woman who continued to go to work for three days (at a job where she needed to stand) despite having a severe fracture in her leg – all because she feared she could not afford the doctor or emergency room fee. The highlight of the afternoon came when representatives of eight different religious traditions stood to cite the Biblical mandate to provide for the health of the entire community, and to speak of the powerful statements coming from the leadership of each denomination. The message was clear: though we come from many traditions, we have all received a mandate to support the rights of all people to receive decent health care.
SOPHIA
SOPHIA Holds a Powerfully Exciting Rally SOPHIA's first public meeting turned out over 200 committed SOPHIA members and an impressive array of County Supervisors, County Judges, state representatives and strategic partners of SOPHIA's issue work. Waukesha County Executive Dan Varakas was recognized for having included the total of SOPHIA's suggested dollar amount for treatment alternatives to prison in the new budget. Supervisor Varakas accepted the award on part the team he works with in this area; the Waukesha County Board of Supervisors, the Alcohol Drug Court Judges and the staff of Wisconsin Community Services that provide the treatment programs. Supervisors were called upon to support the budget in next month's negotiations and State Representatives were charged with the duty to push the state to put money into the Treatment Alternatives and Diversions (TAD) Fund that will help Waukesha and other counties to pay for these programs. A combined choir of SOPHIA members kept the excitement high, as did convincing and touching testimonies related to TIP, Health Care and Immigration. SOPHIA members re-committed themselves to all their issue work, including Education and Workforce Housing. Several new people volunteered to work on issue task forces and everyone left enthused about continuing SOPHIA's powerful presence for justice in Waukesha County.
RIC
RIC Helps Make Racine a The Racine Interfaith Coalition (RIC) held its Common Destiny event on Tuesday, October 28 at the “Miracle Center,” of St. Paul’s Baptist Church. A highlight of the evening came when the Racine Mayor Gary Becker, following up on an earlier commitment to RIC, publicly promised to establish a commission on immigrant concerns for the City. He agreed that he and RIC, along with other representatives of the immigrant community and city departments, would be part of the Immigrant Commission. The Commission will meet several times per year to hear the concerns and hopes of immigrants, and twice each year will issue formal recommendations to the City, to the Police Department, and to relevant agencies. RIC religious leaders unveiled their intention to organize to guarantee the implementation of a program called “Violence No More.” The program, which treats violence as something like an addiction, seeks to teach principles of non-violence as well as to help groups ranging from elementary school children to law enforcement to jail inmates to name the damage that violence has done and to break the cycle. The Education Committee announced its goal of ensuring that every eligible child in a few targeted schools is registered for Badger Care. The Sacred Ground Committee reported on its Mentoring initiative as well as its other efforts to stabilize neighborhoods. The joyful gathering included music from a combined choir, and the first appearance of the very successful and informative 2008 RIC Ad Book.
JOB
JOB Common Destiny
Meeting Justice Overcoming Borders (JOB) held its Common Destiny Meeting at the Eclipse Center in Beloit on Thursday evening, October 30. About 150 people from the Stateline area attended, including a number of public officials at the county, city and state level. A band and choir from Wesley Christian Methodist Episcopal Church provided music and Spirit of Hope congregation provided a sophisticated audiovisual display. JOB’s task forces gave presentations on four issues – Health Care Reform, Treatment Instead of Prisons, Immigrant Rights, and Restorative Justice for Youth. A highlight was a presentation by Rev. Rene Vivas, a pastor from South Beloit, IL. He testified how ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) officials, with cooperation from the Beloit police, raided the home of his brother and deported him to Honduras. JOB and its ally Pueblos Unidos called on the City Manager and Police Chief of Beloit to meet with them to discuss issues relating to ICE and police department policies.
CUSH article and photos will be posted after they hold their meetings.
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WISDOM is a regional organization
seeking justice and
common good in Wisconsin. |
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attend WISDOM meetings: presentation of issues and the work of the past
year, testimonials, commitments by state legislators to support our efforts,
prayer and reflection. In addition, the JONAH meeting also had some
interesting innovations.
Before
the segments of the meeting dedicated to each of JONAH’s issues (Health
Care, Economic Justice, Environmental Sustainability and Treatment Instead
of Prison), the “Improv Team” from Eau Claire’s memorial High School
presented a skit on the topic. Some of the skits brought some humor to the
evening; others were poignant; all were very insightful. Music for the
meeting was a great mix – the First English Bell Choir and the drummers of
the West African Music Society.
whole crowd responding that “It’s time to step up!” Dozens of people signed
up to be part of JONAH Task Forces and/or to get their congregations
involved. Finally, JONAH gave two awards at the meeting. Sr. Mary Frances
Gebhard, OSB received the Open Doors Travelling Leadership Award (for
outstanding community leadership), and Greg Raleigh received the JONAH
Achievement Award (for outstanding service within JONAH).