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Condolences to our Friends family

The Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self Development would like to extend its’ deepest condolences to it’s Chief Volunteer Ramona Brown, on the loss of her loved one over the Christmas/New Year Holiday. We are truly sorry for your families loss.

Ramona family

Voter Education – Information

Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self Development

Invites you to participate in:

Voter Education – Informational!

     PLEASE GO ON FACEBOOK FOR MORE INFORMATION

   DO YOU Know HOW THE MI LEGISLATURE & GOV SYNDER HAVE CHANGED THE WAY MI VOTES?

PLEASE  COME OUT!

SAT, JAN 09, – 12:00-1:30PM

Michigan State University Detroit Center – Light Refreshments

 

 

 

#GivingTuesday is Here!

WHAT IS #GIVINGTUESDAY?

We have a day for giving thanks. We have two for getting deals. Now, we have #Giving Tuesday, a global day dedicated to giving back. On Tuesday, December 1, 2015, charities, families, businesses, community centers, and students around the world will come together for one common purpose: to celebrate generosity and to give.

It’s a simple idea. Just find a way for your family, your community, your company or your organization to come together to give something more. Then tell everyone you can about how you are giving. Join us and be a part of a global celebration of a new tradition of generosity

Upcoming Events

30

Nov, 2015

WEBINAR: The Art of Giving: A #GivingTuesday Celebration, with GiveGab

Giving is defined as the intentional transfer of ‘something’ to ‘someone’. When we can freely choose where to place our possessions – money, time, energy – the process of giving becomes a more meaningful experience for the giver and the receiver. How can we make the act of donating a pleasurable experience for the donor? How can we make the act of fundraising pleasurable for the nonprofit? Join us to learn how to make your #GivingTuesday strategy effective and engaging this December 1, 2015. RSVP at https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/rt/1403471987183683074

01

Dec, 2015

#RefreshinglyHonest Giving Tuesday Twitter Party on 12/1!

Join @Honest Tea, @UNFoundation, @KIVA, @FairTradeUSA, @EstherHavens, @Love146 and @GlobalMomsChall for a Twitter party celebration about how to keep the holidays #RefreshinglyHonest. They’ll uncover simple ways you can give back during the holidays. There will be a number of awesome giveaways from all of us so you won’t want to miss out! The Details: Who: You, @Honest Tea, @UNFoundation, @KIVA, @FairTradeUSA, @EstherHavens, @GlobalMomsChall, @Love146 When: Tuesday, December 1st, 2015. 12:30-1:30pm ET (9:30-10:30am PT) Where: Twitter, follow the hashtag #RefreshinglyHonest to join in

01

Dec, 2015

#GivingTuesday Maternal Health Twitter Chat with WaterAid

WaterAid and #GivingTuesday are coming together to host a Twitter chat on issues surrounding material health in communities around the globe. Find the chat by searching on Twitter for the hashtag #GivingTuesday at 3 pm EST on Tuesday, December 1, 2015. During the chat, we will start with welcomes, and then lead the discussion with 5 thoughtful questions through our handle @GivingTues. Participants will include #GivingTuesday @GivingTues, WaterAid @WaterAIdAmerica, UN Foundation @unfoundation, +SocialGood @plus_socialgood, Global Moms Challenge @globalmomschall, Girls’ Globe @GirlsGlobe, and Girl Up @GirlUp. You’ll answer Q1 with A1, and Q2 with A2. Remember to always include the hashtag #GivingTuesday. Feel free to talk to others in the chat, ask questions, be thoughtful, and be social. Q1:  Why is #GivingTuesday critical to the work your organization does year round? Q2:  Why is the health of women and girls still an issue in 2015? #GivingTuesday   Q3:  Besides donating money, what else can people do to support your organization? #GivingTuesday Q4:  What steps are you taking to improve the lives of women and girls worldwide?  #GivingTuesday Q5:  What can you do to keep the momentum going after #GivingTuesday is over?

THANKS FOR JOINING #GIVINGTUESDAY! WE ARE SO GLAD TO HAVE YOU INVOLVED.

On Tuesday, December 1, 2015, charities, families, businesses, community centers, and students around the world will come together for one common purpose: to celebrate and encourage giving.

Anyone, anywhere can get involved in #GivingTuesday and give back in a way that is meaningful to them. From fundraising to volunteering to pro bono service, #GivingTuesday is a great way to engage your community and to become a part of a larger worldwide movement that promotes generosity.

You are the most important part of making this movement a reality. We have put together this toolkit to provide you with all of the resources you need to get started, including:

  • #Giving Tuesday Mega Messages• Ideas to Get Involved• Social Media Tips• Sample Outreach Email• Communications Timeline• Press Release Template• #GivingTuesday Team Contact Information

MEGA MESSAGES

Use these mega messages when talking to press, your staff, community leaders, donors, or volunteers, and become a spokesperson for the wider #GivingTuesday movement:

  • #GivingTuesday is a special call to action to create a global day of giving that brings diverse organizations and communities around the world together to give back.
  • #GivingTuesday celebrates generosity by providing people everywhere with an opportunity to give more, give smarter, and give great.
  • #GivingTuesday unifies charities, corporations, small business, and individuals from across the globe to show that the world gives as good as it gets.
  • You don’t have to be a world leader or a billionaire to give back. #GivingTuesday is about ordinary people coming together doing extraordinary things.

IDEAS TO GET INVOLVED

Below are some examples of ways your organization can activate on #GivingTuesday. Remember to check our website for the latest ideas, trends and tips to launch your #GivingTuesday initiative!

Raise Funds

  • Donate or organize a fundraiser for a nonprofit and leverage #GivingTuesday to expand your donor base and to raise more for charities around the world.
  • Launch a campaign on #GivingTuesday to increase donations through the end of the year.
  • Partner with a donor or sponsor to host a matching grant challenge for #GivingTuesday. This could be a 24-hour challenge, it could lead up to #GivingTuesday, or could launch on #GivingTuesday and run through December 31.

 2015 COMMUNICATIONS TOOLKIT

Volunteer

  • Volunteer at a charity or organize a larger team volunteer event with your friends, staff, and neighbors.
  • Donate pro bono hours to help charities in need of your skills.
  • Organize a donation drive for people to donate goods, clothing, and other items for people in need.

Collaborate

  • Partner with local organizations to give a donation (money, goods, or services) to nonprofits.
  • Ask organizations to work together to build a local #GivingTuesday movement. In 2014, over 40 cities and states led their own #GivingTuesday movement to benefit local nonprofits.
  • Create a #GivingTuesday product to sell during Black Friday and Cyber Monday and donate proceeds to a partnering charity on #GivingTuesday.
  • Get your local government officials to proclaim December 1, 2015 #GivingTuesday in your city or town. Make this a big press moment and bring the community together to celebrate generosity.

Get Social

  • Activate your social media constituency (or open a new social media account) to talk about giving.
  • Celebrate community heroes and service leaders on social media and with your local press.
  • Email your community to educate them about #GivingTuesday and invite them to give.
  • Share photos from past campaigns or volunteer events to teach your followers about how you serve the community. Remember to use the hashtag #GivingTuesday!
  • Create a #GivingTuesday video with your family, community, or staff. Share on YouTube and social media using the hashtag #GivingTuesday.
  • Brand your personal and organizational social media accounts with #GivingTuesday graphics and be an ambassador for the movement.
  • Partner with organizations or sponsors to do a social media fundraising campaign, where a certain amount is donated per re-tweet, like, or post.

Give More

#GivingTuesday is so much more than one day in December. Pledge to do more the following year. For instance, you can give a certain amount every month to a charity, pledge to volunteer every month, or launch a payroll giving program to continue to give back after December.

SOCIAL MEDIA TIPS

Social media is key to making sure that the #GivingTuesday message grows and reaches new audiences. It’s also one of the best ways to celebrate giving and to share your organization’s story, mission, and values.

Remember to use the hashtag #GivingTuesday on social media when talking about your campaign. We want to hear your story and for your followers and network to join the conversation. You can also tag us @GivingTues or #GivingTuesday on Facebook and we will retweet or promote your messages.

Please refer to our Social Media Toolkit for more tips and ideas for social media. Some sample messages include:

  • Twitter: “Help kick-off the giving season & make a difference this 12/1 by joining #GivingTuesday @GivingTues”
  • Facebook: “Join the worldwide #GivingTuesday movement and help redefine the giving spirit this holiday season! Visit www.givingtuesday.org to learn how you can make a difference.”
  • Instagram: Post your #UNselfie, or a photo of yourself giving back, or create a short video about why you give. Remember to use the hashtag #GivingTuesday and visit www.givingtuesday.org to learn more.
  • LinkedIn: Post a blog sharing how you serve the community.

Volunteer

  • Volunteer at a charity or organize a larger team volunteer event with your friends, staff, and neighbors.
  • Donate pro bono hours to help charities in need of your skills.
  • Organize a donation drive for people to donate goods, clothing, and other items for people in need.

Collaborate

  • Partner with local organizations to give a donation (money, goods, or services) to nonprofits.
  • Ask organizations to work together to build a local #GivingTuesday movement. In 2014, over 40 cities and states led their own #GivingTuesday movement to benefit local nonprofits.
  • Create a #GivingTuesday product to sell during Black Friday and Cyber Monday and donate proceeds to a partnering charity on #GivingTuesday.
  • Get your local government officials to proclaim December 1, 2015 #GivingTuesday in your city or town. Make this a big press moment and bring the community together to celebrate generosity.

Get Social

  • Activate your social media constituency (or open a new social media account) to talk about giving.
  • Celebrate community heroes and service leaders on social media and with your local press.
  • Email your community to educate them about #GivingTuesday and invite them to give.
  • Share photos from past campaigns or volunteer events to teach your followers about how you serve the community. Remember to use the hashtag #GivingTuesday!
  • Create a #GivingTuesday video with your family, community, or staff. Share on YouTube and social media using the hashtag #GivingTuesday.
  • Brand your personal and organizational social media accounts with #GivingTuesday graphics and be an ambassador for the movement.
  • Partner with organizations or sponsors to do a social media fundraising campaign, where a certain amount is donated per re-tweet, like, or post.

Give More

#GivingTuesday is so much more than one day in December. Pledge to do more the following year. For instance, you can give a certain amount every month to a charity, pledge to volunteer every month, or launch a payroll giving program to continue to give back after December.

SOCIAL MEDIA TIPS

Social media is key to making sure that the #GivingTuesday message grows and reaches new audiences. It’s also one of the best ways to celebrate giving and to share your organization’s story, mission, and values.

Remember to use the hashtag #GivingTuesday on social media when talking about your campaign. We want to hear your story and for your followers and network to join the conversation. You can also tag us @GivingTues or #GivingTuesday on Facebook and we will retweet or promote your messages.

Please refer to our Social Media Toolkit for more tips and ideas for social media. Some sample messages include:

  • Twitter: “Help kick-off the giving season & make a difference this 12/1 by joining #GivingTuesday @GivingTues”
  • Facebook: “Join the worldwide #GivingTuesday movement and help redefine the giving spirit this holiday season! Visit www.givingtuesday.org to learn how you can make a difference.”
  • Instagram: Post your #UNselfie, or a photo of yourself giving back, or create a short video about why you give. Remember to use the hashtag #GivingTuesday and visit www.givingtuesday.org to learn more.
  • LinkedIn: Post a blog sharing how you serve the community.

2015 COMMUNICATIONS TOOLKIT

SAMPLE OUTREACH EMAIL

The following email offers ideas and language you can use as part of your outreach for #GivingTuesday. This can be sent to Board members, staff, donors, and other community partners to get them involved in your campaign.

Feel free to copy, paste, or adjust as you see fit for your organization.

2015 COMMUNICATIONS TOOLKIT

Dear __________,

This year, on Tuesday, December 1, 2015, [ORGANIZATION NAME] are participating in #GivingTuesday, a global day dedicated to giving.

Last year, more than 30,000 organizations in 68 countries came together to celebrate #GivingTuesday. Since its founding in 2012, #GivingTuesday has inspired giving around the world, resulting in greater donations, volunteer hours, and activities that bring about real change in communities. We invite you to join the movement and to help get out the give this December 1.

Some ideas include:

  1. Get your workplace and local government officials, nonprofits, and small businesses involved in #GivingTuesday. Encourage them to officially sign up as partners on the website (www.givingtuesday.org) and to organize a campaign that promotes a cause or charity that is meaningful to them.
  2. Help spread the word about #GivingTuesday. Join the email list by visiting www.givingtuesday.org/join to receive updates, event invitations, and the latest graphics and tools to share on your social channels.
  3. Use the hashtag #GivingTuesday to talk about charity and the causes and organizations you support.
  4. Localize #GivingTuesday for your town, city, or state. Many organizations have come together to build local #GivingTuesday campaigns in their neighborhoods. Reach out to other organizations to see how together, you can have a greater impact this December 1.

There are many ways to get involved in #GivingTuesday. We encourage you to join the movement and visit www.givingtuesday.org to learn more about how you can make a difference.

Thanks,

[NAME]

[ORGANIZATION NAME]

2015 COMMUNICATIONS TIMELINE

Use this timeline to build your marketing plan and to send us your stories so we can feature them in our press releases.

July-August

  • June 1 – Six months to go! Press release with initial plans, partner highlights and past years’ successes, if applicable.

September

  • September 8 – Fall launch press release with new partner updates, planned events and goals.

October

  • Focus on helping organizations pitch local press.
  • Encourage partners and organizations to submit op-ed pieces to local press and blogs on the power of giving.
  • Secure larger media partnerships.

November

  • Build the drumbeat for #GivingTuesday with stories and highlights all month long.
  • November 3 – One month to go! Big partner announcement and telling the#GivingTuesday story.
  • November 17 – Two weeks to go! Celebrity campaigns and the global movement.
  • November 24 – One week left – events and stories that celebrate generosity.

December

  • December 1, #GivingTuesday
  • December 2, 2015 – Report in results and impactful giving stories. Wrap up press release.

SAMPLE PRESS RELEASE

Contact:[CONTACT NAME][CONTACT ORGANIZATION][PHONE][EMAIL]

[INSERT ORGANIZATION NAME] Joins the Global #GivingTuesday Movement Pledges to [INSERT CAMPAIGN DETAILS]

[INSERT LOCATION] [INSERT DATELINE] – [INSERT ORGANIZATION NAME] has joined #GivingTuesday, a global day of giving that harnesses the collective power of individuals, communities and organizations to encourage philanthropy and to celebrate generosity worldwide. INSERT ACTUAL PROJECT/DONATION PLATFORM HERE. Occurring this year on December 1, #GivingTuesday is held annually on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving (in the U.S.) and the widely recognized shopping events Black Friday and Cyber Monday to kick-off the holiday giving season and inspire people to collaborate in improving their local communities and to give back in impactful ways to the charities and causes they support.

[MORE DETAILED INFORMATION ON WHY YOUR ORGANIZATION JOINED #GIVINGTUESDAY AND DETAILS OF YOUR #GIVINGTUESDAY INITIATIVE INCLUDING GOALS, PARTNERS AND PAST #GIVINGTUESDAY SUCCESS, IF APPLICABLE]

[INSERT QUOTE FROM PARTNER ORG. SPOKESPERSON]

92Y − a cultural center in New York City that, since 1874, has been bringing people together around its core

values of community service and giving back − conceptualized #GivingTuesday as a new way of linking individuals and causes to strengthen communities and encourage giving. In 2014, the third year of the movement, #GivingTuesday brought together 30,000 partners in 68 countries and registered 32.7 million impressions on Twitter, with its eponymous hashtag mentioned 698,600 times. Since 2012, online giving on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving has increased more than four-fold, based on findings by Blackbaud and the Indiana University’s Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, produced in partnership with the Case Foundation.

“We have been incredibly inspired by the generosity in time, efforts and ideas that have brought our concept for a worldwide movement into reality,” said Henry Timms, founder of #GivingTuesday and executive director of 92Y. “As we embark on our fourth year of #GivingTuesday, we are encouraged by the early response from partners eager to continue making an impact in this global conversation.”

Those who are interested in joining [INSERT ORGANIZATION NAME]’s #GivingTuesday initiative can visit [INSERT SPECIFIC #GIVINGTUESDAY LANDING PAGE ADDRESS IF AVAILABLE]. For more details about the #GivingTuesday movement, visit the #GivingTuesday website (www.givingtuesday.org), Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/GivingTuesday) or follow @GivingTues and the #GivingTuesday hashtag on Twitter.

About [INSERT ORGANIZATION NAME][INSERT ORGANIZATION BOILER PLATE]

 

2015 COMMUNICATIONS TOOLKIT

About #GivingTuesday

#GivingTuesday is a movement to celebrate and provide incentives to give—the 2015 iteration will be held on December 1, 2015. This effort harnesses the collective power of a unique blend of partners—nonprofits, businesses and corporations as well as families and individuals—to transform how people think about, talk about and participate in the giving season. #GivingTuesday inspires people to take collaborative action to improve their local communities, give back in better, smarter ways to the charities and causes they celebrate and help create a better world. #GivingTuesday harnesses the power of social media to create a global moment dedicated to giving around the world.

To learn more about #GivingTuesday participants and activities or to join the celebration of giving, please visit:

Website: www.givingtuesday.org

Facebook: www.facebook.com/GivingTuesday

Twitter: twitter.com/GivingTues

Case Foundation: http://casefoundation.org/blog/givingtuesday-moves-campaign-tradition/

QUESTIONS OR IDEAS?

Feel free to get in touch with the #GivingTuesday team:

General Inquiries: #GivingTuesday Teaminfo@givingtuesday.org

 

Feel free to get in touch with the #GivingTuesday team:

General Inquiries: #GivingTuesday Teaminfo@givingtuesday.org

Partnership and Press Inquiries: Kait SheridanDirector of Partnerships & ProgramsCenter for Innovation & Social Impact92Yksheridan@92Y.org

Via Twitter:@GivingTues

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ARTS ORGANIZATIONS

DOWNTOWN ALLENTOWN ARTS GROUP 7 Allentown arts organizations, including the Allentown Art Museum of the Lehigh Valley, joined #GivingTuesday to raise public awareness about their organizations and highlight the unique strengths and offerings of each partner. The group founded a shared platform to engage donors and educate them about each participating arts organization.

HOUSTON GRAND OPERA The Houston Grand Opera created special video messages from performing artists, polls, and incentives (including matching gifts and backstage tours) to encourage donations. Their campaign name #AllInForHGO helped them on #GivingTuesday raise more than $235,000

for programs.

THE ARTS COMMISSION IN TOLEDO, OH2014 was the Arts Commission’s third #GivingTuesday. Their goal was to raise $5,000 as part of a larger year-end campaign goal of $25,500, with funds going toward hiring area youth for the 21st season of their Young Artists at Work (YAAW) program, a six-week paid summer apprenticeship for local teens fostering job skills and an intense exposure to the arts. Their #GivingTuesday campaign raised $1,000-$2,000 more than their original goal—and helped them have a strong kick off to their end-of-the-year campaign.

THE JOHN PAUL GETTY MUSEUM

The John Paul Getty Museum transformed into a food drop-off center on #GivingTuesday by inviting visitors to donate items of non-perishable food at the Visitor Center. Getty staff collected donations, sorted and weighed them, and made sure they were delivered to the Westside Food Bank. The Getty then matched food donations pound for pound to have a greater impact.

THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART The Metropolitan Museum of Art secured and met a $500,000 matching grant from their trustees to make #GivingTuesday the start of their end-of-year campaign.

THE PHILADELPHIA ORCHESTRA The Philadelphia Orchestra performed a free public concert for #GivingTuesday to celebrate local generosity and the holiday giving season.

 

CORPORATE PARTNERS

 

ANTHROPOLOGIEAnthropologie, the women’s retail store, organized a corporate volunteering event in Philadelphia to show their corporate #philanthropie. The company also produced a video which they shared in the months after #GivingTuesday to celebrate their staff’s generosity.

BANK OF AMERICA Bank of America organized a campaign to support (RED) in the fight to end AIDS by doubling each donation made on #GivingTuesday to the US Fund for the Global Fund, up to $2,000,000. This was part of the company’s $6,000,000 pledge to fund the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS.

BITCOINThe Bitcoin Foundation and the BitGive Foundation encouraged their community members to give microdonations to organizations that accept Bitcoin in 2014. Bitcoin saw record-breaking on-blockchain transactions on #GivingTuesday, an all-time high

for Bitcoin.

CVS HEALTH For the second year, CVS Health recognized its colleagues’ spirit of volunteerism by inviting employee volunteers to nominate a charity in their local communities for a grant from the CVS Health Foundation. In response to the overwhelming success of the 2013 #GivingTuesday campaign, in 2014, the foundation more than doubled its commitment and awarded a total of $100,000 to 50 organizations nationwide.

DICK’S SPORTING GOODS Dick’s Sporting Goods donated 100 basketball hoops to communities around the country. The campaign launched with a big event at a Cleveland school, where Cleveland Cavalier star Kevin Love joined DICK’s staff and local youth to install new basketball hoops.

EBAY eBay launched a #GivingTuesday sweepstakes to connect consumers to their favorite nonprofits from #GivingTuesday through December 31. In addition, eBay awarded three grants totaling $50,000 to the nonprofit organizations who drove the most favorites on eBay during the sweepstakes.

H&M Retailer H&M paid it forward on #GivingTuesday by donating $7.5 Million of new apparel to help dress people in need during the holiday season. H&M also encouraged shoppers to give back through a customer register donation drive.

HOME DEPOT FOUNDATION Home Depot Foundation launched a month-long campaign on #GivingTuesday that invited people to tweet using the hashtag #DoingMore4Vets to support US veterans. From December 2 – December 31, the Foundation donated $1 for each re-tweet to four of their nonprofit partners up to $400,000 total or $100,000 per organization.

HOME GOODS Home Goods designed and sold a limited edition water globe and donated 50% of each purchase to St. Jude.

HSBC HSBC helped spread the word about #GivingTuesday by placing the #GivingTuesday logo on the company’s nationwide ATM system, encouraging their clients to participate in the movement.

HYATT HOTELS Hyatt Hotels participated in their first #GivingTuesday in 2014 by encouraging its hotels to identify local charities in their communities that truly make a difference. Hyatt awarded 31 local grants in cities across the globe.

JOHNSON’S BABY JOHNSON’S BABY launched More Hands, More Hearts™ in the US and the UK with Jennifer Hudson and Save the Children. The program donated essential resources, including JOHNSON’S BABY care kits and a special grant to help moms ensure their babies thrive.

RYDER SYSTEM, INC. Ryder System, Inc., a leader in commercial fleet management and supply chain solutions, invited employees to volunteer on #GivingTuesday to local charities of their choice. 220 employees participated from 29 Ryder commercial rental locations across the country.

SALESFORCE.COM Salesforce.com launched Pledge 1%, a movement that encourages and challenges companies to pledge 1% of equity, product, and employee time for their communities. The program kicked-off on #GivingTuesday 2014 with the goal to secure 500 pledges by #GivingTuesday 2015.

SOUTHWEST AIRLINES Southwest Airlines donated a total of $25,000 to 10 charitable partners and featured these organizations on the company’s Twitter account on #GivingTuesday. The airline also highlighted these charities in their NUTS About Southwest blog.

TOYS ‘R’ US Toys ‘R’ Us partnered with the MarineToys for Tots Foundation to help bring Christmas joy to some of the 14.7 million U.S. children living in poverty. Through a new #PlayItForward Challenge, Toys ‘R’ Us asked customers and supporters to take a “selfie” while donating a toy in any Toys ‘R’ Us store across the country. For every selfie shared using #PlayItForward, Toys ‘R’ Us donated an additional toy to Toys for Tots (or the equivalent cash value up to $150,000). On #GivingTuesday Toys ‘R’ Us gave even more by tripling donations to Toys for Tots.

 

GIVING PLATFORMS

BLACKBAUDBlackbaud provided its webinar platform, ON 24, to host free #GivingTuesday webinars throughout 2014. In addition, the company organized a staff #UNselfie campaign, which was featured on the NASDAQ Tower in Times Square on #GivingTuesday.

CATCHAFIRE Catchafire donated $24,000 worth of memberships to 10 deserving social good organizations.

CROWDRISECrowdrise offered a free app that allowed people to see the amount of giving on #GivingTuesday. The app created a virtual giving tower when a smartphone was pointed at a dollar. It also created the tower on a bigger scale inside the app for users who pointed it at the National Mall and Worldwide Plaza in New York City. The tower was designed to put a visual perspective on #GivingTuesday, with each brick representing a donation that helped build the tower throughout the day.

EVENTBRITE Eventbrite supported nonprofits’ #GivingTuesday event efforts with the launch of Give More Together. Through this program, Eventbrite waived ticketing fees for any nonprofit using Eventbrite for their #GivingTuesday fundraising events from 12/1 – 12/6. Organizations also had the chance to win technology from DoubleDutch, Mad Mimi, SurveyMonkey, and Tweetwall to help power their events.

INDIEGOGO Indiegogo launched their #GivingTuesday campaign in the early summer of 2014 by partnering with PayPal and local nonprofits on the Indiegogo #GivingTuesday Road Show, or local events that shared best practices for crowdfunding. Indiegogo hosted over 20 events around the country, and continued to provide additional toolkits, resources, and waved a portion of their fees for #GivingTuesday campaigns. On December 2, 2014, Indiegogo had over $9 Million raised for nearly 450 campaigns.

NETWORK FOR GOOD Network for Good launched N4G Gives, a special

CASE STUDIES

NETWORK FOR GOOD Network for Good launched N4G Gives, a special campaign to unleash generosity on #GivingTuesday 2014. As part of N4G Gives, Network for Good offered $100,000 in matching funds and provided resources to help small and medium nonprofits get ready for #GivingTuesday.

PAYPAL PayPal created Giving Cheer and matched 1% of every donation made through the PayPal Giving Fund from #GivingTuesday through the end of December. In 2014, PayPal saw donations rise by 66% and mobile donations grow 101%

NONPROFIT

BIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS OF SOUTHWEST WASHINGTON Big Brothers Big Sisters of Southwest Washington launched their first-ever BIG Bail Out on #GivingTuesday by locking Thurston County Sheriff John Snaza, his twin brother and neighboring Lewis County Sheriff Rob Snaza, in a cell at the local mall and asking the community to donate to bail them out. The minimum posted bail was $20,000.

CENTER FOR NONPROFIT LEADERSHIP The Center for Nonprofit Leadership launched Western Nevada County’s first annual #GivingTuesday Nonprofit Wish List, which was a full 2 page ad across the center fold of the local paper that included a logo, brief description and ‘wish list’ of possible donation amounts for over 50 local nonprofits.

CASE STUDIES

DRESS FOR SUCCESS AND FERGIE FOOTWEAR Dress for Success and Fergie Footwear teamed up once again in 2014 to turn #GivingTuesday into #GivingShoesDay to encourage women to donate their professional women’s shoes to their closest Dress for Success affiliate to help get the disadvantaged women of their communities back to work. The top 10 individual shoe donors throughout the world received a complimentary pair of limited holiday-edition Raegan heels from Fergie Footwear, and the brand also donated a gift of new shoes to the three Dress for Success affiliates that collected the most total shoe donations. Over 70 Dress for Success branches participated.

BIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS OF EAST TENNESSEEBig Brothers Big Sisters of East Tennessee, Knoxville Leadership Foundation and Emerald Youth Foundation collaborated to create #GiveTuesKnox to build on awareness and funds for local at-risk urban youth programs.

MICHAEL J. FOX FOUNDATION Michael J. Fox Foundation received a $100,000 matching grant from a long-time supporter of the foundation to leverage on #GivingTuesday. The Foundation built on its success with the #UNselfie in 2013 to engage donors in sharing why they give. Altogether, the Foundation raised $348,201 on #GivingTuesday in addition to the $100,000 match. They also shared 107 #UNselfies and received over 5,000 word of mouth endorsements supporting the Foundation on social media.

PANTHERAA generous group of donors at Panthera assembled a challenge pool of $320,000 to raise more than $640,000 in one day to support Panthera’s Conservation and Education Programs to protect tigers, lions, jaguars, snow leopards, cheetahs, cougars and leopards around the globe.

PDS SERVE FOUNDATION PDS Serve Foundation, which provides free dentistry to communities in need, created the Give Up Your Coffee Challenge, which asked people around the world to donate $5 instead of making their daily coffee run

ROAD TO HOPE FUND Road to Hope Fund partnered with Stevie Nicks, who donated Fleetwood Mac tickets and a Meet & Greet after the show to donors who donated on #GivingTuesday.

WATERAIDWaterAid challenged everyday heroes from across the country to help keep 100,000 kids under the age of five alive by giving them the gift of safe water. The campaign launched before #GivingTuesday with a walk around Manhattan by a WaterAid staff member and built up to December 2, when WaterAid kicked off its largest US matching gift campaign to date.

WORLD BICYCLE RELIEF World Bicycle Relief organized a campaign to raise funds to buy 500 bikes for students in Africa. They created fun, goal-focused graphics and a social media toolkit to spread the word about their campaign. On #GivingTuesday, they ended up blowing that goal out of the water and raised enough funds for 754 bikes.

YMCA OF THE USA WORLD SERVICE YMCA of the USA World Service raised support for Y education programs around the globe. The organization created a #GivingTuesday landing page with materials, graphics, and tools for Ycommunities around the world to spread the word about World Service and to encourage their communities to donate.

HELEN WOODWARD ANIMAL CENTER For #GivingTuesday, Helen Woodward Animal Center provided unique donor and volunteer opportunities, both online and at the Center’s campus. In 2014, the Center raised much-needed funds online to provide for the care of ten orphaned huskie puppies taken in by the Adoptions program. Meanwhile, junior advocates from a nearbly elementary school packaged food for the Center’s AniMeals program, which feeds the beloved pets of homebound seniors in San Diego county.

RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATIONS

BAPTIST PEACE FELLOWSHIP OF NORTH AMERICA Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America (BPFNA) created the Colour the Dove! campaign to run from October 1 through #GivingTuesday with the goal of raising $25,000. The campaign started with a blank outline of the usually colorful logo, and as people donated they helped restore the logo to its bright colors.

CATHOLIC RELIEF SERVICES Catholic Relief Services organized a global fundraising campaign and received over $149,000 on #GivingTuesday alone to support the organization’s work in 93 countries.

JEWISH FEDERATION OF GREATER METROWEST NJ Jewish Federation of Greater MetroWest NJ brought together 370 adults and children and 48 community partners, including schools, synagogues, and Jewish organizations, on #GivingTuesday to braid and bake 800 challahs (loaves of bread consumed on the Jewish Sabbath) for local residents in need.

LUTHERAN SERVICES IN AMERICA In 2014, Lutheran Services in America (LSA) launched the LSA 20-500 Fund, LSA’s first three-year fundraising campaign commemorating LSA’s 20th anniversary and the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. For #GivingTuesday, LSA partnered with the Thrivent Financial and the Thrivent Financial Foundation to match individual donations to the LSA 20-500 Fund, dollar for dollar, for the first $25,000.

THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH The Presbyterian Church (USA), through the Presbyterian Foundation, publically endorsed #GivingTuesday and encouraged members to give to charities and causes that are meaningful to them.

CASE STUDIES

SCHOOLS & UNIVERSITIES

UNIVERSITY OF

NIGHTINGALE-BAMFORD SCHOOL The Nightingale-Bamford School in New York created a Guide to Giving: Philanthropy Lessons in Preparation for #GivingTuesday to provide K-12 teachers around the country with a curriculum to teach students about philanthropy and leadership. The nine lessons explore why people give, how to find a cause, how to raise awareness and fundraise, and how to celebrate generosity. The curriculum was available to download for free on #GivingTuesday’s website.

SETON HALL UNIVERSITY2014 was Seton Hall University’s first #GivingTuesday. The school received a $100,000 pledge from an anonymous donor, which they leveraged as a 1:1 match and as motivation to attract 1,000 donors by midnight of #GivingTuesday. In the two weeks following this announcement, over 1,060 donors gave more than $415,000 to theraised during comparable periods in the past. In response to this success, the same anonymous donor announced a second $50,000 challenge on #GivingTuesday for the Seton Hall community to raise through December 31.

  1. JEAN THE BAPTISTE HIGH SCHOOLSt. Jean the Baptiste High School in New York celebrated their 85th anniversary by launching the “85 Acts of Kindness” campaign on #GivingTuesday, which asked students in each homeroom class to

 

UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGANUniversity of Michigan organized #GivingBlueDay, the university’s first ever 24-hour online giving campaign. The university had the goal of $1 Million and reached out to alumni and students to raise awareness and drive donations. On #GivingTuesday, #GivingBlueDay helped the university raise over $3.2 Million for university programs.

NIGHTINGALE-BAMFORD SCHOOL The Nightingale-Bamford School in New York created a Guide to Giving: Philanthropy Lessons in Preparation for #GivingTuesday to provide K-12 teachers around the country with a curriculum to teach students about philanthropy and leadership. The nine lessons explore why people give, how to find a cause, how to raise awareness and fundraise, and how to celebrate generosity. The curriculum was available to download for free on #GivingTuesday’s website.

SETON HALL UNIVERSITY2014 was Seton Hall University’s first #GivingTuesday. The school received a $100,000 pledge from an anonymous donor, which they leveraged as a 1:1 match and as motivation to attract 1,000 donors by midnight of #GivingTuesday. In the two weeks following this announcement, over 1,060 donors gave more than $415,000 to the university, which is more than double the amount raised during comparable periods in the past. In response to this success, the same anonymous donor announced a second $50,000 challenge on #GivingTuesday for the Seton Hall community to raise through December 31.

  1. JEAN THE BAPTISTE HIGH SCHOOLSt. Jean the Baptiste High School in New York celebrated their 85th anniversary by launching the “85 Acts of Kindness” campaign on #GivingTuesday, which asked students in each homeroom class to perform a combined 85 acts of kindness by May 2016, and to post photos of their works to Instagram, Twitter and Facebook with the hashtag #85KindActs.

UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT CHARLOTTEUniversity of North Carolina at Charlotte asked students and faculty to write holiday cards for troops. The school was founded in 1946 to serve the needs of veterans returning home from WWII, so this project had a special meaning to the faculty, staff and students. Over 900 cards were created and sent to troops during the holidays.

 

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

WHEN IS #GIVINGTUESDAY?#GivingTuesday is held annually the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, this year on December 1, 2015. HOW CAN #GIVINGTUESDAY BENEFIT MY ORGANIZATION?#GivingTuesday can build on the strength of a global movement to increase exposure and build support for your organization’s philanthropic activities, especially during the holiday giving season. The #GivingTueday team will provide a variety of plug-and-play materials created by industry experts that can help you use social media and innovative marketing to draw attention, support, and funds to your cause.

Your organization will have the opportunity to join over 30,000 partners around the world to enhance the philanthropic sector as a whole; just as the retail world has benefitted from coordinating national shopping days across many brands and platforms, #GivingTuesday will do the same for giving.

WHO CAN PARTICIPATE?Everyone! #GivingTuesday is an initiative to start the giving season and we encourage everyone to be involved. To be an official partner, you must be a registered non-profit [a 501(c)3 in the United States] with a specific #GivingTuesday initiative, or a for-profit business, school, religious or community group who commit to spearhead a project that will benefit at least one registered charity or non-profit.

WHAT CAN MY ORGANIZATION DO TO BE INVOLVED IN #GIVINGTUESDAY?Interested in participating? It’s easy! Here are some ideas:

  • Launch a special campaign to support your favorite cause
  • Partner with major philanthropic media channels and aggregators
  • Match your employees’ donations on that day
  • Commit a portion of proceeds on #GivingTuesday to your favorite cause
  • Create a volunteering initiative
  • Offer your community the chance to add a donation to their purchase on #GivingTuesday
  • Announce a major donation or new initiative
  • Partner with shops to donate a portion of sales to a charity on #GivingTuesday
  • Organize a local toy drive, consignment sale or holiday goods sale to raise money and goods
  • Organize a holiday bake sale with proceeds benefiting a local charity
  • Get your community together to start a #GivingTuesday movement that engages your neighbors and local nonprofits and businesses

ARE THERE ANY COSTS TO PARTICIPATE IN #GIVINGTUESDAY? No! #GivingTuesday is a free and open movement to encourage giving. All of our resources are available for free through our website.

CAN ORGANIZATIONS GET DONATIONS THROUGH THE #GIVINGTUESDAY WEBSITE?No. #GivingTuesday is a movement. We are not an organization and do not accept or distribute donations. All donations need to be made through partner websites. Official partners are responsible for their own fundraising initiatives.

HOW CAN I HELP SPREAD THE WORD ON SOCIAL MEDIA?

  • Talk about giving using the hashtag #GivingTuesday
  • Like us on Facebook – facebook.com/GivingTuesday
  • Follow us on Twitter @GivingTues and use the #GivingTuesday hashtag
  • Follow us on Pinterest – pinterest.com/givingtuesday/giving-quotes/
  • Share all of our social media channels in your organizational and personal social networks
  • Announce your participation in #GivingTuesday to your networks and email lists
  • Use the #UNselfie hashtag to talk about how you are giving and whyARE THERE ANY COSTS TO PARTICIPATE IN #GIVINGTUESDAY? No! #GivingTuesday is a free and open movement to encourage giving. All of our resources are available for free through our website.

CAN ORGANIZATIONS GET DONATIONS THROUGH THE #GIVINGTUESDAY WEBSITE?No. #GivingTuesday is a movement. We are not an organization and do not accept or distribute donations. All donations need to be made through partner websites. Official partners are responsible for their own fundraising initiatives.

HOW CAN I HELP SPREAD THE WORD ON SOCIAL MEDIA?

  • Talk about giving using the hashtag #GivingTuesday
  • Like us on Facebook – facebook.com/GivingTuesday
  • Follow us on Twitter @GivingTues and use the #GivingTuesday hashtag
  • Follow us on Pinterest – pinterest.com/givingtuesday/giving-quotes/
  • Share all of our social media channels in your organizational and personal social networks
  • Announce your participation in #GivingTuesday to your networks and email lists
  • Use the #UNselfie hashtag to talk about ho• Use the #UNselfie hashtag to talk about how you are giving and why

“Remember the Time” Anniversary of Bus Boycott Marks 60th yr. December 1st, 2015

***Taken from the New York times daily news (November 29, 2015)***

1955, which helped spark movement to end segregation in South

BY Rich Schapiro

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Sunday, November 29, 2015, 2:00 AM

MONTGOMERY, ALA. — Mineola Dozier Smith closed her eyes tightly and rocked back in her chair.

Slowly, the images started coming back to her — the crowded bus, the hostile driver, the quiet woman whose act of defiance galvanized the civil rights movement.

Smith, now 94, was reminiscing back to that day 60 years ago when she witnessed Rosa Parks refuse to give up her seat to a white man on a city bus in Montgomery, Ala.

“Back then, they would beat you for nothing. They would just beat you like you was a dog or a cat,” Smith told the Daily News in her most extensive interview to date.

SEGREGATION ON BUSES RULED UNCONSTITUTIONAL IN 1956

Debbie Egan-Chin/New York Daily News

Mineola Dozier Smith, 94, was on the bus the day Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat for a white man.

“I was a little bit afraid. I wanted her to get up,” Smith added. “If I’d have sat down, I’d have gotten up. But the Lord had the right person, in the right place, at the right time.”

The momentous chain of events sparked by Parks’ arrest is now etched into history books.

There was the year-long Montgomery bus boycott, the lawsuit challenging discrimination on public transportation and finally the Supreme Court decision that outlawed segregation on buses.

Parks herself became a civil rights icon, credited with inspiring the decade-long movement that culminated in the march from Selma to Montgomery in 1965.

 

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Parks’ refusal to give up her seat on bus in Montgomery, Ala, helped spark the civil rights movement.

But largely absent from the public record are eyewitness accounts from inside the bus where Parks took her stand.

Six decades later, Smith agreed to tell the story of what she saw that day on Dec. 1, 1955.

In a pair of interviews over consecutive days, the Montgomery native described in remarkable detail the incident that provided her a front-row seat to history.

The story begins in the early 1950s, when Parks and Smith both worked at the Montgomery Fair department store.

Debbie Egan-Chin/New York Daily News

In the early 1950s, Parks was a seamstress while Smith worked as an elevator operator. The pair lived just a few blocks apart and commuted to work together.

Parks was a seamstress while Smith worked as an elevator operator. The pair lived just a few blocks apart and commuted to work together.

“We used to ride the same bus, Cleveland Avenue, to work and from work,” Smith said at a library near her home earlier this month.

“She was one of the sweetest persons anybody would ever meet.”

The first of December started out like any other day. Parks and Smith clocked into work by 8 a.m. and finished their shifts at 5 p.m.

Debbie Egan-Chin/New York Daily News

Smith in 1955.

They walked a half-block to the bus stop at Commerce St., Smith wearing her gray-blue work suit and Parks in civilian clothes.

The bus fare was only 10 cents. Like every other black rider, Smith and Parks, after dropping a dime in the metal box at the front of the bus, walked back outside and entered through the back door.

The seats at the front were reserved for whites. A “colored section” was located behind them. But the discrimination didn’t end there.

Under the city’s bus system, black riders could be ordered to the back of the bus. As more white passengers got on, the bus drivers would slide to the rear a sign that acted as a sort of segregation demarcation line.

Debbie Egan-Chin/New York Daily News

“It didn’t really make sense to me, but I still obeyed,” said Smith of the segregated transportation. “Mama taught us to obey.”

KING AND DEMONSTRATORS REACH MONTGOMERY FROM SELMA IN 1965

“It didn’t really make sense to me, but I still obeyed,” said Smith, who grew up in the tiny Alabama town of Union Springs. “Mama taught us to obey.”

But on that Monday evening in December, Rosa Parks was in no mood to obey.

The soft-spoken seamstress, then 42, gave no indication to Smith that she was planning to defy authority as she sat down in the front of the “colored section.” Smith remained standing behind her, holding an overhead strap for balance.

AP

This an undated photo shows Rosa Parks riding on the Montgomery Area Transit System bus. Parks refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery bus on Dec. 1, 1955, and ignited the boycott that led to a federal court ruling against segregation in public transportation. In 1955, Montgomery’s racially segregated buses carried 30,000 to 40,000 blacks each day. (AP Photo/Daily Advertiser)

EnlargeUniversalImagesGroup/Getty Images

UNSPECIFIED – Rosa Louise McCauley Parks (1913-2005), American Civil Rights activist. Booking photo taken at the time of her arrest for refusing to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama, bus to a white passenger on 1 December 1955. (Photo by Universal History Archive/Getty Images)

Enlarge

Parks ended up paying a $10 fine for the offense.

The bus rumbled one block west to Lee St. Among the passengers who boarded there was a well-dressed white man.

“Tall and distinguished looking,” Smith recalled. “He looked like he could have been a minister.”

The bus driver ordered Parks and the other black people sitting in her row to get up.

Most of them got up immediately. Parks didn’t budge.

Debbie Egan-Chin/New York Daily News

“She was one of the sweetest, kindest, most respectful ladies I’ve ever known,” Smith said of Parks.

The driver burst out of his seat and confronted Parks.

“He asked her three times,” Smith recalled. “She didn’t say a word. She just looked out the window like she couldn’t hear.”

The driver was incensed, and Smith immediately feared for Parks’ safety.

“I could tell he was upset because he hit his pocket like he was reaching for a gun,” Smith said. “But he looked like, ‘Aww. There’s too many people here. Better not reach for my gun.’”

Grey Villet/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

For 381 days, black Montgomery citizens walked, carpooled or found other ways to get around the city during the bus boycott.

The driver, later identified as James Blake, stepped off the bus and called the police.

Smith couldn’t believe how quickly the officers showed up. They marched on the bus and started manhandling Parks.

“They came on the bus and handcuffed her like she had stolen something,” Smith said. “They treated her like a criminal. Put her hands behind her back and took her off the bus.”

Smith and the other black riders were fuming. They all walked off the bus in protest and found other ways home.

Debbie Egan-Chin/New York Daily News

“It looked funny all these buses running all over Montgomery, and nobody on them,” Smith said.

“I could see if it had been an old white woman who needed the seat, but this was a man. He should have given her her seat, in my book,” Smith said.

“But I didn’t say anything. I just prayed, ‘Lord, please don’t let anything happen to Rosa Parks.’”

Parks was charged with disorderly conduct and violating a local ordinance.

There were other blacks who were arrested for refusing to relinquish their bus seats — other women even — but news of Parks’ case rocketed around the black neighborhoods and lit a fuse.

AP

The night Parks was found guilty, Martin Luther King Jr. presided over a mass meeting at the Holt Baptist Church.

Parks was well-known in town, a church-going NAACP secretary with an impeccable reputation.

Activist and professor Jo Ann Robinson immediately started rallying support for a bold form of protest — a full-fledged bus boycott.

By the time Parks’ Dec. 5 trial rolled around, Montgomery’s black community was ready to mobilize.

City buses rolled through the town mostly empty, a sight that emboldened the protesters.

Debbie Egan-Chin/New York Daily News

Smith sits “on the bus Victory ride” in a display with replicas of passengers at the Rosa Parks Museum.

“It looked funny all these buses running all over Montgomery, and nobody on them,” Smith said. “We walked and we walked. We said we didn’t care how long it takes, we’re going to walk until justice is done.”

Parks was found guilty and fined $10. That night, the first of many “mass meetings” was held at the Holt Baptist Church.

A 26-year-old minister from a nearby congregation addressed the thousands in attendance. His name was Martin Luther King Jr.

“We, the disinherited of this land, we who have been oppressed so long, are tired of going through the long night of captivity,” King told the packed crowd as he called for the boycott to continue. “And now we are reaching out for the daybreak of freedom and justice and equality.”

Debbie Egan-Chin/New York Daily News

A sign tells the history of the Montgomery bus boycott at the stop where Parks boarded the bus.

For 381 days, they walked, carpooled or found other ways to get around the city.

An appeal filed by Parks’ lawyer got tied up in the courts. But a separate case challenging the constitutionality of segregated busing, known as Browder vs. Gayle, made it all the way to the Supreme Court.

In Nov. 1956, the highest court in the land outlawed segregation on public transportation.

Smith still remembers the way she felt the first time she rode a bus after the ruling was handed down.

“We could sit wherever we wanted to,” said Smith, who raised four children. “We was happy it was all over.”

Donna Beisel, a scheduling specialist at the Rosa Parks Museum in Montgomery, said Smith is the only living person known to the institution who witnessed Parks’ arrest.

“You can read about what happened on the bus,” Beisel said. “But to actually listen to someone who was there gives you a deeper sense of what really happened.”

Smith lost touch with Parks after the civil rights icon moved to Detroit in 1957.

Parks died in October 2005 at the age of 92.

Ten years later, Smith still can’t fully wrap her head around how such a gentle, humble woman played such a key role in securing rights for African-Americans.

“She was one of the sweetest, kindest, most respectful ladies I’ve ever known,” Smith said before referencing the second-class treatment faced by blacks in the 1950s.

“I thought it was going to be like that ’til the end of time,” she added. “But the Lord, the Lord had other plans.”

rschapiro@nydailynews.com

Proposed promotional statement

FILM SERIES – SLAVERY BY ANOTHER NAME- THE WRIGHT MUSEUM 11/5/2015 @ 5PM UNTIL 8PM

Suggested appeal do you have a panel for Thursday?. I suggest you give those names as part of the promotion.

The RPI is convening persons interested in addressing the issue of the continued incarceration of African Americans as a systemic way of retaining us in a role as free labor that promotes white wealth. The film , Slavery By Another Name,  is a back drop to open a discussion around the escalating murders of black people across the country, the Prison Industrial Complex,  the School to Prison Pipeline, The judicial system re racial disparity in sentencing, the police brutality in our community, the  criminalization of our youth with curfews such as angels night  and fireworks nights that suggests the children are the source of the problem when it is done to make white people feel safe, racial profiling, driving while black, shopping while black, living while black,
In order to see that Black Lives Matter we have got to demand systemic change. We need your voice in a solutions conversation. Join us on …………..

Grace Lee Boggs Memorial

We want to thank all of you who join us in celebrating the extraordinary life and legacy of Grace Lee Boggs. Your generosity, words, and encouragement were shared with her every day.
We have been deeply moved by the tremendous outpouring of love, reflection, and honor for Grace and are planning a memorial in Detroit on October 31, at 11:00 a.m. at the IBEW hall on Abbott Street. Detailed information is below and is also attached to this email as a pdf file.
Please rsvp as soon as possible by registering at http://graceboggsmemorial.eventbrite.com/
In love and in struggle,
Grace Lee Boggs Memorial Committee

GraceLeeBoggs Memorial

Grace Lee Boggs 1915-2015

Jimmy and Grace

Grace Lee Boggs
1915-2015


Dear Friends of Grace Lee Boggs,
We want to thank all of you who have joined us in celebrating the extraordinary life and legacy of Grace Lee Boggs. Your generosity, words, and encouragement were shared with Grace every day.We have been deeply moved by the tremendous outpouring of love, reflection and honor for Grace. We are sharing a few of the pieces that we think have captured not only Grace’s life, but the challenges she continues to raise for us as we seek a new America.

We are planning a memorial in Detroit on October 31 at 11:00 at the IBEW.  Details are below.
GLB_memorial_flyer_2

GLB_memorial_flyer_page2


To the Boggs Center and family,

I was very saddened to learn about the death of Grace Lee Boggs, and wanted to share with you how much Grace meant to us:

Grace was not only a legend and a symbol of something – her reflections and writings were some of the most wise and grounded advice I ever received as a community activist. The idea for [R]Evolution, the idea that it is not enough to tear down a bad system but that we have to be ready and able to build a better one, changed the way I work in Haiti. Instead of spending all of my energy fighting against the powers that be, I am trying to grow power in my community so that we can fight together. I am working to find and build leaders who don’t just show up for protests, but who will be ready to do the hard, day-to-day work of building a better system. Grace’s ideas helped me to see my role in the struggle in a new way, and if I am still here today fighting, I can say that is in part thanks to the wisdom of Grace Lee Boggs.

Grace and Jimmy also meant something important to my wife Sabina and I, as we found a lot of inspiration in their story: I am a young Haitian community leader coming from one of the most marginalized parts of the country – I worked in factories growing up, and led social movements in my community. My wife is an American who moved to Haiti after the earthquake, and had to learn how to support the struggles in my community without disrupting or co-opting them. When we learned about the story of Grace and Jimmy, we identified with so many of their struggles, their victories, and their challenges.

Both Sabina and I enrolled in an alternative program for community development leaders (called the Future Generations Graduate School), and spent a week in Detroit to learn about social change. We studied Grace and Jimmy’s writings beforehand, were hosted by the Boggs Center, and had the honor of meeting Grace one afternoon. It was in many ways like meeting a legend, but it was also like seeing an old friend. We felt very connected to Grace by the nature of our struggles, even though they took place thousands of miles apart. And now that she is gone, we have to recognize that she planted seeds of change in all of us, and it is up to us to nurture them so that the revolution she imagined can continue to grow.

I want you all to know that in Haiti, Sabina and I will do everything we can to honor Grace’s life and her message – we have already planted a tree in her name, and will keep fighting for [r]evolution.

Louino (Robi) ROBILLARD,

“Activism can be the journey rather than the arrival.” – Grace Lee Boggs


The (R)evolutionary Vision and Contagious Optimism of Grace Lee Boggs
Barbara Ransby
Portside

Grace Lee Boggs died yesterday at the age of 100 and the world is better for the century that she walked it with us. As a writer, insurgent intellectual, revolutionary organizer, mentor, community builder and friend to many, Grace will be dearly missed.When I was a teenager in Detroit and a wannabe revolutionary in the 1970s I heard the names Grace and Jimmy Boggs all the time. I knew they were beloved and respected in Detroit’s Black activist community, and I just assumed they were both Black. I was surprised to finally meet Grace and discover she was Chinese-American. I had to recalibrate my notions about the Black struggle, “my people” and race itself.

Long after many of Detroit’s young black revolutionaries left Detroit and the revolution, Grace stayed. She was so immersed in the life and struggles of Detroit’s predominately Black communities that she said her FBI file described her as “probably Afro-Chinese.” Alongside her partner in life and politics, former auto-worker and black activist and leader, Jimmy Boggs (who died in 1993), Grace fought the good fight over five decades, writing books, building organizations, organizing campaigns, and teaching by example that “revolution” is a protracted process-not a single event or a spate of protests. She saw the Black struggle as the cutting-edge struggle of her lifetime, intricately linked to many others, and she was humbled to be a part of it.

Grace was also a catalyst for bringing people together. The Boggs Center, which she founded, was a creative space for artists, the young participants in the now-famous “Detroit Summer” projects and various fans and visitors who migrated there to pay their respects to Grace. Those visitors included celebrities and scholars from the late Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis, to Danny Glover, historian Robin D.G. Kelley, and Chicago activists Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn.

But there were also lesser-known filmmakers, hip-hop artists, labor organizers, students and politicians that showed up at Grace’s door over the decades, drawn by the power of her reputation and her track record for getting things done. Her beloved chosen family in Detroit included her longtime friend and comrade, Shea Howell, whose devotion to Grace was unmatched; Rich Feldman; former Black Panther and organizer, Ron Scott; the activist and artist, Ill; dream hampton; the poet and tireless organizer Tawana Petty and many more surrounded her with so much love and nurturing support that I am sure she never felt alone.

Many people will remember Grace as gentle, kind and generous. She was all those things. But I want her to also be remembered as a rigorous intellectual and a fierce thinker and analyst. She took ideas seriously. She wrote or co-wrote numerous books, articles and position papers; she lectured and talked about complex theories of culture, community and change. She was trained as a philosopher. As a Marxist, she worked alongside the brilliant Trinidadian intellectual C.L.R. James in various Trotskyist organizations before eventually splitting, as so many such groups did and still do, over ideological differences.

Most importantly, she was not a part of an elite intelligentsia. She lived in a modest little house on an even more modest income. She never held a tenured university job. She believed that ordinary people, not academics, had the power to understand their lives and to change the world with that understanding.

Jimmy Boggs was her intellectual hero. She once wrote of her time working with C.L.R. James, “Whether or not you were an intellectual, you felt that when you participated in a demonstration or asked probing questions about life or society, you were helping to create important ideas.” This was the root of her radical epistemology, borrowed from Boggs and James and Antonio Gramsci.

During her century of life, love and work, Grace lived what she believed and served as an example and inspiration for many of us. Even when you did not always agree with her, you had to love her. She always had that beautiful smile on her face and you knew that her love for humanity was so strong and deep that it was a generative force for creating change.

She often wore a t-shirt that read “(r)evolution.” It suggested that we are all evolving as people as we fight, build and envision revolution. Grace was a visionary and a doer. She could look at a trash-strewn field and imagine a garden. And then, she would work to transform it. She could look at Detroit’s broken down buildings and imagine new possibilities.

And she could look at all of us, her friends, comrades and fellow travelers of various stripes, flawed and fragmented, and she could imagine us as a whole. She could meet a scruffy little kid with no skills, no hope and no place to go, and imagine that he or she would become a poet, a revolutionary or brilliant scientist. This was the lens through which Grace saw the world and her optimism was contagious.

In 2010 at the U.S. Social Forum in Detroit, a gathering of thousands of progressives from around the country, Grace was center stage in a plenary conversation with Immanuel Wallerstein. At 95, she was sharp, lucid and on point. She would often joke and say, “I’ve lost some of my hearing and a little bit of a lot of other things, but I still have all my marbles.” She certainly did.

Grace Lee Boggs made every year and every moment count. The best tribute we can pay to our dear Grace is to “grow our souls,” as she once wrote, and keep her optimistic and generous spirit close to our hearts in all the work we do and in all the battles we fight. Barbara Ransby

[Barbara Ransby is a professor of history at the University of Illinois-Chicago, the author of Ella Baker and the Black Freedom Movement: A Radical Democratic Vision and a founder of the activist group Ella’s Daughters.]

[Reprinted with permission from In These Times. All rights reserved.]


Remembering Grace Lee Boggs and her role in the black freedom struggle
Kate Aronoff
Waging Non-Violence.org

President Obama joined many this week in commemorating the life of Grace Lee Boggs, the organizer, philosopher and long-time Detroit resident who passed away yesterday at age 100. “As the child of Chinese immigrants and as a woman, Grace learned early on that the world needed changing, and she overcame barriers to do just that,” Obama eulogized. “Grace’s passion for helping others, and her work to rejuvenate communities that had fallen on hard times spanned her remarkable 100 years of life, and will continue to inspire generations to come.”

Such kind words from the Oval Office might have surprised a younger Boggs, who spent years writing — like most socialists of her day — under a pseudonym designed to protect against the virulent red-baiting that loomed over the post-war American left.

Today, Boggs is perhaps most popularly remembered for her work later in life, building up community institutions throughout Detroit: the Boggs Center to Nurture Community Leadership, the Detroit Summer program, a number of cooperative businesses and community gardens, even a charter school named in her honor. Less memorialized are Boggs and her late husband James’ deep involvement in the development of their city’s black freedom movement, and foundational role in articulating a new brand of class politics rooted in the experience of black workers.

During World War II, African Americans in the South migrated north to Detroit’s “Arsenal of Democracy,” where defense contracts offered steady, lucrative employment seemingly outside the grasp of Jim Crow. In all, 1.5 million African Americans left the South between 1940 and 1950, a time period during which Detroit’s black population more than doubled. Northern whites — eager to maintain racially homogenous neighborhoods and workforces — fought new arrivals, organizing bands of vigilantes to terrorize new black Detroiters. Tensions culminated in the city’s brutal riot of 1943, where 25 of the 34 people killed were African American, along with 75 percent of the 700 injured. As the war economy slowed, workers of color were relegated not only to divested areas of the city, but some of the most dangerous, poorly-paid work the Motor City had to offer.

In the 1970 documentary “Finally Got the News,” one worker recalled the treatment of a colleague who “lost his finger at the second knuckle.” After receiving $3,000, his supervisors “wanted him to come back to work two days later … producing with the bandages and all that.” Such violence and flagrant discrimination in jobs and housing catalyzed a vibrant culture of organizing in black Detroit — much of it, early on, stemming from churches and radical congregations, like that of the legendary preacher Albert Cleague.

Boggs followed an entirely different path to Detroit. While she boasted a PhD in philosophy from Bryn Mawr, the academic job market for young Chinese-American women in the 1940s was none too kind. Unable to find work as a professor, Grace Lee — not yet Boggs — took a job in a University of Chicago library, and quickly started organizing tenants to take on the city’s slumlords. Getting increasingly involved in Chicago’s socialist party politics, Lee followed theorist and “Black Jacobins” author C.L.R. James to New York, where she, James and Raya Dunayevskaya coalesced around a shared distrust for Soviet-style “state capitalism” and a commitment to the centrality of black workers’ struggle.

She met James “Jimmy” Boggs in 1952 through working on the group’s left paper, Correspondence. He was an autoworker who’d moved from Alabama to Detroit to work in the factories and, as Grace Lee Boggs recalled of her husband in her 1998 autobiography, he “was a prototype of the kind of individual for whom the newsletter was being created.” Less than a year after their first encounter at a Correspondance-run school for rank-and-file workers in 1952, Boggs and Lee married and moved to Detroit.

Together, the Boggses and their intellectual collaborators within the Johnson-Forrest Tendency pioneered what they called the “proletarianization of philosophy,” an effort to make the high-theory innards of Marxist thought accessible to workers on the frontlines of Fordism’s lost promise. While they would split from James in the early 1960s, the couple continued to nurture the political development of some of the black freedom movement’s most influential leaders, including Revolutionary Action Movement founder Max Stanford, leaders in the lesser-known League of Revolutionary Black Workers, and even — to a lesser extent — native Michigander Malcolm X.

They were part of a group of intellectuals who ran discussion groups for autoworkers on Marx’s Capital and other texts, and frequently opened their homes to young organizers eager to work through questions of power and strategy until the hours of the morning. “More often than not,” historian Peniel Joseph wrote, “the discussions turned into seminars in which the veteran activists demanded sharp analysis and concrete facts. Jimmy would ask questions that were difficult to answer: If the revolution was to succeed, how would the new society look? What would black people’s place in it be, and what kinds of jobs, government and society would exist?”
In “Faith in the City,” a history of 20th century black organizing in Detroit, Angela Dillard wrote that, “If cross-generational influence was indeed key to the development of political radicalism in 1960s Detroit, Grace Lee and James Boggs personified that influence.”

Boggs was so deeply enmeshed in Detroit’s black organizing scene, in fact, that the FBI once mistakenly referred to her as “Afro-Chinese.” Through the end of her life, Boggs provided a rare model of an “engaged intellectual,” never losing sight of the relationship between the movements that surrounded her, the conditions they emerged from and the theoretical rigor that could drive them forward. What’s more, the writing that emerged from this ecology is an almost eerie preview of debates that would captivate progressives for the next half-century: the role of race, democracy and solidarity within industrial unionism, and how emergent movements for black liberation map onto fights for justice in the workplace.

Referencing President Franklin D. Roosevelt’’s famous “Four Freedoms” speech, Boggs wrote in 1942 that “Thirteen million Negroes in America have never known three of the ‘Four Freedoms’ which America is supposedly spreading to the rest of the world.” She called the freedom from want “a mockery … when their wages are the lowest and their rents and food prices the highest.” Commenting on an early (and ultimately successful) planned march on Washington to eliminate segregation in arms manufacturing, Boggs argued fervently against any approach that would focus singly on either race or class: “Whether the [March on Washington] movement proves transitory or develops into a broad and relatively permanent movement for Negro democratic and economic rights will depend upon whether it will develop a leadership which seeks its main support in the organized labor movement and whether the Negro masses in the labor movement are ready to enter into and actively support this general movement for Negro rights as a supplement to their economic and class activities within the unions themselves.”

As she aged, Boggs’s “dialectical humanism,” which had always placed a strong emphasis on the value of personal transformation, drifted further away from traditional class politics and toward a focus on the moral and cultural dimensions of social change work. As she told Bill Moyers in 2007, “We have not emphasized sufficiently the cultural revolution that we have to make among ourselves in order to force the government to do differently.” Nevertheless, she died — by all accounts — surrounded by a community she worked for over six decades to build. Her theoretical contributions and movement-building work continue to find voice in some of today’s most influential uprisings.

As Barbara Ransby recently argued in Dissent, a close attention to economic inequality lies at the heart of today’s movement for black life: “In speech after speech, the leading voices of this movement have insisted that if we liberate the black poor, or if the black poor liberate themselves, we will uplift everybody else who’s been kept down.” Ransby noted that some of the most visible leaders in the movement for black lives have spent years honing their skills and analysis in organized labor. “The larger left has to support, recognize and embrace Black Lives Matter, not as secondary, but as central and potentially catalytic for a broad and far-reaching transformative agenda.” Like Boggs, Ransby makes clear that there’s no contradiction in building movements for racial and economic justice: the two, in many ways, are already one in the same.

grace_lee_boggs__

Thinking for Ourselves
No Moral Difference
Shea Howell
Michigan Governor Rick Snyder finally gave the go ahead for the City of Flint to reconnect to the Detroit water supply.  In a press conference flanked by the head of the Mott Foundation, public health and environmental appointees, Snyder said he was “in full support of the return to the Great Lakes Water Authority.”This decision came almost a year and a half after people in Flint launched a vigorous campaign against the decision to leave the Detroit water system, now called the GLWA.

Let us be clear. The only reason Snyder is acknowledging the problem with the water in Flint is because people organized to do their own water testing.  Time after time, official after official told people the water was safe to drink.  Defying common sense and daily experiences of illness, rashes, foul smell, discoloration, and particles in the water, public officials often mocked citizen concern and scientific evidence.

What the situation in Flint makes vividly clear is that public authority in Michigan has no moral sense. Their first response to the concerns of people should have been to immediately stop the switch to the Flint River.  Their first response should have been to protect people at the hint of a possible problem.

Instead, they were willing to risk disaster. Speaking only of financial “savings,” they put at risk an entire city and the eco-system on which it depends in danger.

This was all predictable. Cities have been delivering water to their people for thousands of years. We have a vast body of knowledge about the corrosive effects of different water sources and the interaction with pipes. Snyder and his appointees chose to ignore this.

We need to know just why the Governor and the State legislature decided to create another water authority in Michigan.  Who is benefiting from this decision? Why is it more efficient to build this new system, especially when many of the pipes are running right on top of those of the Detroit System? Who is making money on this deal? To what extent was this decision tied to forcing the Detroit bankruptcy and the formation of a new Water Authority in the control of white suburban appointees?

Snyder makes much of his raising $12 million to help Flint switch back to Detroit water. But the truth is this switch will take a few hours and not cost much. The $12 million is the price Flint has paid to Detroit for years for water from the city. The real new cost is that of the new Karegnondi Water Authority that Flint citizens are being asked to pay for through yet another bond issue to big banks.

State officials cannot be trusted with our children, our lives, or our water.

This week in Detroit the so-called Blue Ribbon Committee will meet to look at water affordability. They should look closely at was has happened in Flint.  There has been no sign from the Governor that he understands that the crime of poisoning children with lead is linked to the crime of cutting off water to people. He has continued to insist on unsustainable pricing policy that is deadly and destructive. There is no moral difference between giving children poisoned water and not giving them any water at all.

FASHION

for more info: 313.399.7345 or 313.903.2258
—–
Watch Peace Zones for Life founder, Ron Scott, address an audience at “In Pursuit of Policing and Criminal Justice Reform,” part of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s 45th annual Legislative Conference, held in the Washington Convention Center.
(Scott’s introduction begins at the 1:19 mark)


bioneers 2015


Dear Friends of the Boggs Center,It’s never too late to make a tax-deductible donation (click on the yellow ‘donate’ button on the right-side of the page) to the Boggs Center. Over the last year, we have been part of the new energy emerging in our country. With each passing day, it is clear that the world as we have know it is disappearing. It is up to all of us to create new of ways of living and being that affirm life and restore the earth.

We have much work to do in the year ahead. We know we have a profound responsibility to contribute to the emerging movements that hold the promise of creating a new country, based on values that reflect our deepest aspirations for justice and peace.

This year we plan to:

  • Deepen our organizing on the East Side, working toward models of new life and work.
  • Establish Peace Zones for Life in response to the militarization of police power.
  • Maintain and refurbish the Boggs Center, creating a new collaborative creative space.
We ask for your support by sending a check toBoggs Center
3061 Field Street
Detroit, MI
48214

Or by donating online here. (click on the yellow ‘donate’ button on the right-side of the page)In Love and Struggle,

The Boggs Center

The James and Grace Lee Boggs Center to Nurture Community Leadership.

3061 Field Street
Detroit, Michigan 48214
US

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45th Gala: Dinner, Dancing & Live Entertainment

45th Gala: Dinner, Dancing & Live Entertainment
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BUF of Michigan 45th Anniversary Gala
Celebrating Black Lives & Leaders Who Matter
Saturday, October 3rd6PM at Detroit Marriott at the Renaissance Center

Dinner – Dancing – Live Entertainment

2015 Rayford Award Recipient Judge Damon Keith

Visit bufmi.org/#45 for more information

JOIN OUR LEADERS IN PRESERVING & CELEBRATING BLACK LIVES!This year’s co-chairs are Vivian Pickard, President, General Motors Foundation & Director, Corporate Relations, General Motors Company; Byna Elliott, Senior Vice President, Regional Community & Economic Development Director for North Markets, Fifth Third Bank Eastern Michigan; and Faye Nelson, Vice President, Public Affairs, DTE Energy and President of the DTE Energy Foundation.

Dear Friends of Alice B. Jennings, 

Did you know that this year the NLG’s Ernie Goodman Award is recognizing the outstanding work of Alice B. Jennings, Esq. ? 
 

Each year at the National Lawyers Guild Convention the Ernie Goodman Award is awarded to a Guild lawyer who, within the past several years or currently,
is engaged in legal struggle against financial, political or social odds to obtain justice on behalf of those who are poor, powerless or persecuted (or, most likely, a combination of these).* Join us to honor Alice in this years NLG Law for the People dinner journal! 


Click here to purchase an ad today! (NOTE: No ads will be accepted after the Sept. 23 deadline.)
 
Detroit Attorney Alice Jennings, a member of both the NLG and NCBL, first joined the National Lawyers Guild as a law student at Wayne State University Law School in 1975-76.  While in law school, Alice was a leader of the struggle to defend and improve the affirmative action program.   Several right-wing members of the faculty were so threatened by Alice’s leadership that they drafted academic disciplinary charges against her — and three other law students — which could have resulted in their expulsion.  However, the faculty backed off in the face of determined opposition by law students; and by attorneys from the National Lawyers Guild and the National Conference of Black Lawyers.
 
For the 37 years she has been an attorney,  Alice has specialized in representing victims of racism, sexism and other forms of discrimination at the workplace and has epitomized the best qualities of members of the National Lawyers Guild. She has tirelessly, relentlessly, and skillfully used her legal skills to push the legal system to provide justice for poor and working people; to rectify racial injustice, and to enforce the principles of democracy. Her impressive ability to strategize and to lead struggles for social justice has placed her at the forefront of the most distinguished progressive litigation attorneys in the U.S. today.
In early 2014, the Detroit Emergency Manager — who was appointed by the right wing Republican Governor of Michigan to take over control of  the City of Detroit from its predominantly African-American elected officials and to run it in the interests of  the owners of multinational corporations — announced he was initiating a vigorous program to shut-off water to tens of thousands of residential consumers who were behind on their water bills.  These shut-offs occurred without any semblance of due process, and without consideration of whether those impacted were small children; seniors; disabled; or destitute.   Alice Jennings, working hand-in-hand with grassroots community organizers, immediately began to organize both the legal strategy and the movement to force the Emergency Manager to back off.
 
Please join us to celebrate Alice B. Jennings and all of this years esteemed law for the people awardees (BELOW) !  Thanks, Pooja Gehi, Executive Director National Lawyers Guild
This is your last chance to place your ad in the 2015 #Law4thePeople Convention Dinner Journal! The final deadline for all dinner journal ads has been extended to next Wednesday, September 23 at 12 midnight, EST. Whether it’s with a message congratulating one of our honorees or an ad publicizing your law firm, dinner journal ads are a great way to participate in this year’s #Law4thePeople Convention—all while supporting the Guild!
This year’s honorees are:
  • Walter Riley, Black Friday 14, Trayvon 2: Law for the People Award
  • Alice B. Jennings: Ernie Goodman Award
  • Sarah Coffey and Jill Humphries: Legal Worker Award
  • Art Heitzer: Debra Evenson Venceremos Award
  • Danielle Alvarado: C.B. King Award
  • Deborah Willis: Arthur Kinoy Award
  • Ahilan Arulanantham, Carol Weiss King Award​
Click here to purchase an ad today! (NOTE: No ads will be accepted after the Sept. 23 deadline.)
We hope to see you in Oakland—this is a Convention you won’t want to miss! There is still time to register online if you haven’t already and be sure to check out all the great events and activities planned at nlg.org/convention.
Thanks for all you do!
-NLG National Office

NEC Searchable Archive: http://nationallawyersguild.org/nec

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