The latest volume of Race, Poverty, and the Environment: the National Journal for Social and Environmental Justice published by Urban Habitat is an important must-read of the month. It includes a wealth of information on some of the most pressing issues affecting communities of color locally and nationally.

In this issue you will find discussions on the changing landscape of race and class within Bay Area cities and suburbs, the increasing wealth gap, local job creation and redevelopment plans, and what all of this means for social justice organizing in the Bay Area.

Many Kapor Foundation grant recipients contributed to the journal, including: María Poblet of Causa Justa :: Just Cause who writes Challenging the Wealth Gap with New Majority Organizing; and Andrew Dadko and Rui Bing Zheng of the East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy (EBASE) who write The Fight for Good Jobs and Clean Air at the Port of Oakland.

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Urban Habitat‘s  Boards and Commissions Leadership Institute will be hosting a series of information sessions for low-income people and people of color interested in being trained to serve on a board or commission.

Urban Habitat’s Boards and Commissions Leadership Institute identifies, supports, trains, and places low-income people and people of color in priority boards and commissions seats in the Bay Area region. They prioritize those seats that influence equity in terms of transportation, equitable development, housing, jobs, and climate change. Graduates form a new network of progressive leaders who are technically and politically prepared and supported to make decisions that reflect the needs and interests of low-income communities and communities of color. Graduates have the capacity and community support to advance a regional agenda for economic, environmental, and social justice and serve as the next generation of progressive officials who are representative of and accountable to the region’s most burdened populations.

You can hear how the BCLI has empowered and supported the next generation of advocate commissioners working for and representing the needs of low-income communities and communities of color, and learn about the nomination, interview, and selection process. Alumni will be on hand to answer your questions and share their experiences.

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The Bay Area Community Is Invited To A FREE “Black History Month Celebration Through Film Series”

What: Oakland Vice Mayor Desley Brooks, Rocky Seker, and Black Cinema At-Large are holding Black Independent Film screenings at City Hall in Council Chambers every Friday in February in celebration of Black History Month. These are films that haven’t been distributed nationally and are normally only accessible on the Black Film Festival Circuit. A reception will be held before each screening, and there will be an engaging Q&A with either the producers or directors at each film screening to encourage an exchange from the audience.

When: Every Friday in February — February 3rd, February 10th, February 17th, and February 24th from 6 PM to 10 PM.

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Tomorrow, members of the Occupy movement will take to the streets to mark the 2nd anniversary of the landmark Citizens United. Among those demonstrating will be Kapor Foundation grant recipients, POWER, PODER, Coleman Advocates, Chinese Progressive Association, alongside  other members of the Progressive Workers Alliance. From POWER …

Join us in the Streets!

January 20, 2012 marks the two-year anniversary of the infamous Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission decision, where the Supreme Court held that corporations are “people” with campaign finance rights to “free speech.” While the Court bends over backwards to give extra, undeserved privileges to corporations, our communities are being stripped our most basic rights.  In protest of this gross contradiction; PWA joins Occupy Wall Street West’s call for a mass day of action.

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This Friday the Assembly Select Committee on the Status of Boys and Men of Color welcomes all educators, students, parents, and community members to  an informational hearing: Claiming the Promise of Health and Success for Boys and Men of Color in California.  If you want to know what initiatives are being put in place to help young men of color in your community, then this is an event you do not want to miss.

Friday, January 20, 2012
1 p.m. to 4 p.m.
First Floor Auditorium
1515 Clay Street
Oakland, CA 94612
Please click here to register (SEATING IS LIMITED)

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This past Wednesday, the Kapor Foundation hosted “The Word on Election R.A.P.: Why It Matters and How We Can Engage,” a briefing about the importance of election reform, administration, and protection (RAP) issues on low-income communities of color in California.

Held at the Public Policy Institute of California, the event included the perspectives of leaders from community-based organizing, civil rights and “good government” groups, as well as elections administration officials. Panelists and moderators included:

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I know you are asking today, ‘How long will it take?’…Somebody’s asking, ‘When will the radiant star of hope be plunged against the nocturnal bosom of this lonely night…How long will justice be crucified, and truth bear it?’

I come to say to you this afternoon, however difficult the moment, however frustrating the hour, it will not be long, because ‘truth crushed to earth will rise again.’ How long? Not long, because ‘no lie can live forever.’

How long? Not long, because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Speech from the steps of the state capitol
Montgomery, Alabama
March 26, 1965