Activistas

Dine for Darfur on March 4th

From Mercy Corps:

Join us next Tuesday, March 4 for a fun and easy way to support Mercy Corps’ work in Darfur.

More than 100 restaurants, bars and coffee shops throughout Oregon and Washington are teaming up for Dine for Darfur. Order a latte, a meal or a pint at any participating establishment, and 25 percent of your bill will go to Mercy Corps’ relief efforts in Darfur.  Breakfast, lunch, dinner and/or happy hour!

Last year – in Seattle alone – Dine for Darfur raised over $70,000 for Mercy Corps’ work, and brought thousands of people out of their homes to show support. This year, with the participation of restaurants throughout Washington and Oregon, the event is sure to grow exponentially.

Join the effort, and help us show the world what our community can do.  Call your friends and make your reservations now. For an up-to-date list of participants that are being added daily, visit www.dinefordarfur.org

Hello & Thank You to Metro Parent

If you're a reader of Metro Parent and always check in to see what editor Marie Sherlock has to say in her monthly Editor's Note (like me), you may have already seen the good news that Activistas is in print now.  Of course, it's just a monthly column - and a short one, at that, and you can't comment (the heart of our blog), so while it is Activistas, it isn't.  We'll still be here, hammering (yammering?) away at the keys at midnight, hoping the baby doesn't wake up/the 5-year-old doesn't wet the bed and interrupt our train of thought (such as it is).  Plus, we're likely to be a wee bit more cheeky on-line.  You know?

But we're really excited about this, and appreciate the opportunity to reach more parents in the Portland area who are interested in this community & political activism stuff, so that we can use this forum as a place to not just broaden our horizons and discuss issues, but to turn all that into real action.  Check out the January 2008 issue of Metro Parent - we're in the Editor's Note on page 6 and then again on page 10.  Waddya think?

More Scorecards: CDF Does Congress on Kids

Just when everything is starting to seem too complicated and insurmountable (ugh, maybe I should just stick to the laundry), I stumble across yet another scorecard that at least makes the 'who's voting for what' part of this activism thing easy.  Glad someone else has the time and inclination to sort it out and compile it all, because I sure don't!  The Children's Defense Fund does an annual Congressional Scorecard titled "Did Your Members of Congress Protect Children?"  Uh, I hope so - better check. 

Turns out that while we may have the shortest school year in the nation, at least we don't top the list in number of anti-children lawmakers.  Got to be grateful for the small stuff, mamas.  And bless Sen. Ron Wyden for scoring 100% - landing himself (and therefore us!) on the Best Senators for Children list.  Not surprisingly, none of the Oregonians in DC made the worst list (0% votes for children - as defined by the CDF).  As a group, our folks made neither the top 10 or bottom 10.  Happily, we ranked a pretty high 14.  Not so bad.  Sure wouldn't mind being on that top 10 list, though...

Work & Family Bill of Rights: Sign It, Mamas

On Thanksgiving Day we took a moment to be thankful for our country's Bill of Rights.  Today, I stumbled across another Bill of Rights, and just like one of the original 13 states, I signed it.  Though not with a quill, I must admit, as they did back in 1787.  Since it's electronic, you too can sign this very on-point Bill of Rights.  But before you do, check out the very cool organization that created it - Take Care Net.  Wow, they've got it covered. 

Work & Family Bill of Rights: How needed is this??  Here's how it starts:

Families face a shortfall of time and money for care.  A majority of America's children have no one at home full-time to care for them, while others, including the elderly and people with disabilities, increasingly need care.  Jobs divide employees into those with high pay, benefits, but long hours and little time for family or leisure, and those with low wages, few benefits, and insufficient flexibility and financial resources to care for their families.  We can and should do better.  Working families have fundamental rights to financially sustain and to care for themselves and their families.  These rights include...

Hear, hear!!  Don't be shy, sign it!  There are plenty of individuals on the list.  We signed on for Activistas today but it hasn't been added yet (let us know when you see us listed so we can see ourselves in with the greats: NOW, National Partnership for Women & Families, Moms Rising, and the list  - thankfully - goes on!). 

Mercy Kits: The Perfect Gift

My Mom has been gathering holiday gifts since summer. It's just her way.  And as a recipient of her largesse, I'm not complaining.  However.  This having kids thing has brought into question longstanding holiday habits and required me to think about THE MEANING OF IT ALL.  You can thank me now for sparing you the details of that l-o-n-g process.

So, the end result?  Mercy Kits - product of well-known & homegrown Mercy Corps.  True, it's a packagaing thing to help contributors get a sense of what their money is buying.  But it works for me.  We buy a kit on each of our kid's birthday, and now that one is old enough, he will pick the kit he prefers within the given cost range (they are available from under $50 to $500, and you can search by price point or cateogry  - e.g., health, ag, animals). I have asked for these kits as gifts many-a-time form those who ask (in-laws).  It's far better than another scarf I don't want! 

Help needed to develop an environmental health tool for parents!

Hello,

My name is Sara Leverette and I am the Oregon Environmental Council's environmental health outreach program director.

I am writing in hopes of finding Moms interested in participating in an advisory committee we are pulling together to develop a tool for parents to self-audit and make changes on a variety of environmental health concerns. When I say 'environmental health concerns,' I mean things like lead, mercury, pesticides, certain plastics, smoking, and other chemicals that have been shown to negatively impact health, especially the health of children.

We are hoping to put together an easy-to-use and empowering tool similar to the one we use in our Eco-Healthy Childcare program (www.oeconline.org/kidshealth/ehcc/index_html) and anticipate holding 2 advisory committee meetings, each of which will be 2 to 3-hours long.  First meeting is likely to be scheduled for January.

Please contact me if this is something you would be interested in contributing to and feel free to call/write with any questions.

Best,
Sara Leverette
Oregon Environmental Council
Outreach Program Director
(503) 222-1963 x105
saral@oeconline.org

Motherhood Manifesto Screening ~ 11.10.07

Some folks have organized another screening of this get-up-off-the-couch and DO SOMETHING movie produced by Moms Rising.  While the film itself did not knock my socks off, the concept of gathering concerned parents together to connect and prepare for coordinated action is excellent.  Truth be told, it was a house party screening back in April that inspired Activistas.  Catch it if you can, and meet up with other action-oriented parents.  That way, when our moment comes, we'll be coordinated and ready to create the change working parents need to make raising children and being a family in this country so challenging. 
Gonna Go?  Excellent.  It's Saturday 11.10 at 2 PM at the Clinton Street Theater, 2522 SE Clinton.  Details here.  If you go, let us know what you thought, will ya? 

Consumer Protection Scorecards

Wallet cards, score cards.  We love 'em.  Someone else spends hours and hours compiling info and summarizing it to make my life easier.  Easier for me to eat right, buy right, vote right - generally live the Plan B life.  So I stumbled on another scorecard for our elected officials in D.C.  It's worth a quick look, though its results are completely and utterly unsurprising.  It's put together by the Oregon Public Interest Research Group (OSPIRG), who tallies votes on recent consumer protection legislation. 

Ready?  Rep. Earl Blumenauer gets a 92%, Sen. Ron Wyden a 90% and Sen. Gordon Smith a 30%.  Pretty clear who's voting with the special interests and who's voting with the public interest, huh mamas? 

How much more could we dig their tag line??  OSPIRG: Standing Up to Powerful Interests.  As my son likes to say: Me too, me too!

Does MoveOn Move YOU?

I get A LOT of emails from MoveOn.  I decided to stay on their email list, even though I know friends who have opted out due to the sheer volume of the stuff and/or the righteousness of the tone.  How often do we get emails from MoveOn?  Maybe once every two weeks?  So, perhaps the frequency is manageable.  Not sure - perhaps it's the innaccessbility of it all?

But, MoveOn sure does make some stuff easy.  Sending a quick email to legislators from any one of their campaign pages is pretty easy.  Nifty.

The most recent email from today asks us to help organize or participate in a house party to get-out-the-vote, which lets people get involved even if they don't live in a swing state.  One Portlander is organizing a gathering on Sunday, Nov 4th in SE Portland.  People here in Portland will call people in swing state Kentucky in an attempt to turn a red state blue.

Have you ever participated in something like this?  Ever been called by MoveOn or a MoveOn-esque group?  Did it make a difference?  Is this a worthwhile and productive way for busy mamas or papas to get involved?  Perhaps a calling party with a couple of people dedicated strictly to childcare?