A Found Poem: from an official training PowerPoint for workers who screen shelter applicants.
THE CHILDREN AND I NEED SHELTER – LAST NIGHT WE SLEPT IN A CAR ( Massachusetts found poem)* Where were you sleeping before you slept in the car? How many nights have you spent in the car? Were your children with you? Do you own the car? Do you have the keys to the car?
New Coalition: We Need Quality Schools in Every Boston Neighborhood
All parents can agree that they want their children to attend quality schools. But while there is strong sentiment by some for neighborhood schools, many neighborhoods do not have access to quality schools. Parents and community leaders have asked for Boston education officials to focus on improving quality. Will Boston finally respond to parents’ demands...
Speak Up to Protect Children Experiencing Homelessness: Participate in Public Hearings in Springfield and Boston!
The Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) has adopted “emergency” regulations barring most homeless families with children from emergency shelter unless they first sleep in a place “not meant for human habitation.” Families are being left with no safe place to stay as a result of this restrictive policy. AcrossMassachusetts, families are sleeping in...
Protesters Chain Wheelchairs Together & Halt Traffic in Beacon Hill to Fight MBTA Fare Hikes
From City News Transit activists in wheelchairs chained themselves together and blocked traffic in front of the State House Monday to protest part of Governor Deval Patrick’s plan to raise fares for certain MBTA services. The move was one of the more extreme protests held since the T first announced it would spike the price to use the...
VOTE 17 and the Lowell Sun
You can’t beat this kind of Editorial from the Lowell Sun (in part): An Open Letter to House Speaker Robert DeLeo: Dear Mr. Speaker, we know you are busy putting the finishing touches on the state’s fiscal 2013 budget. We know you are working hard with your House and Senate colleagues every day to get things...
Vote 17 in Lowell — Getting Ready for the Rally
I think there will be some dancing in Nurse’s Hall at the State House on June 28th when the Teens from United Teen Equality Center come to ask all 200 members of the Massachusetts Legislature to pass their local option bill to allow 17 year olds to vote in municipal elections in Lowell. They’ve worked real...
Representative Liz Malia got arrested yesterday.
Representative Liz Malia got arrested in an Eviction Blockage organized by City Life Vida Unida, similar to actions all over the state and the country that aim to keep homeowners in their homes, and force mediation. Here’s more pictures in a post on Blue Mass Group by Amberpaw. and I can’t wait to see her...
It Happened Last Night — Value Based Messaging for the GLBT Community – Organizing for Change
It happened last night. But Barney had a severe case of laryngitis, and could barely speak — imagine– and so he stayed home and drank hot lemon tea. BUT the panelist moved ahead and led a series of smart and savvy discussions about the development of strategic messages and recruitment of strategic messengers to advance full...
The Senate Budget Process
Smart and savvy advocates got their amendments filed last Friday and are now trying to coax more Senators to email the Senate Clerk that they wish to be a co sponsor of their amendments. Advocates are also urging their Democratic Senator sponsors and co sponsors to attend this important event and speak up. SENATE BUDGET...
Consumers! Mind Health Care for All Please
Cost Control is on the Senate Agenda tomorrow and Thursday. The place will be crawling with “Special Interest Groups” like ours — meaning Health Care for All. They have done the research, they have found amendment sponsors, now they are asking us all to get to work and call our own Senators. So do...
House Vs. Senate Health Reform Plans: Let The Comparison Shopping Begin
Plain talk is what we civilians need here, and WBUR’s CommonHealth’s blog called Reform and Reality gets off to an excellent start with this entry. The Massachusetts House released its plan for cutting health costs on Friday. The Senate isreleasing its own plan today. And now begins the public “compare and contrast” period, the ingathering of input...
Senior Citizens Disrupt Massachusetts Legislative Session
Best Chant to be seen in a video embedded in this article by State House News Service was “Today we March Tomorrow We Vote!” While most of the media led their stories with the protest around rising fares and reduced services at the MBTA, the State House News gave a few more details including the...
