Formerly Incarcerated, Convicted People & Families Movement (FICPFM)’s Post

It's the two day countdown! Paris Alston has joined the lineup for PRSA Boston's Diversity and Inclusion Month panel discussion Framing Equity Storytelling on October 16th with Douglas Banks, Crystal Haynes, Sandy Lish and moderator Kelley Chunn. These public relations practitioners who represent equity and social justice clients, and Boston journalists who cover these topics will offer their insights about framing the narrative and translating a pitch and press release into earned media. Equity is top of mind in today's society -- from the housing crisis, to the Supreme Court decisions overturning Roe v. Wade and striking down affirmative action in college admissions, to the 50th anniversary of school integration in Boston, as well as disparities in healthcare, the Heat Resilience Solutions Report findings that the entire City of Boston is a heat island, and the COVID pandemic having exposed digital inequity - the multitude of people without access to information technology (internet access and computer hardware and software) when they aren't at school, their place of employment or at public libraries, and therefore struggled to participate in a digital society during the shutdown. Equity, or the gaps thereof are an ever present news headline. Get your tickets today at https://buff.ly/3Rtuhsu and be part of this timely and dynamic discussion.

Very excited to have been invited into a new #CollectiveImagination cohort to explore what a more collaborative, symbiotic and equitable relationship could look like between citizens and government. With UK national elections today and a shift in government looking likely, this is a very timely moment to reflect on big questions about our public services and imagine a better world. From now until autumn I will be part of a learning community of collective imagination practitioners and local government workers led by Christina Watson in Huddlecraft style. My research focus will be exploring inertia and momentum in government, specifically the issues turning policy into action. I will be exploring this through the lens of #somatics and #embodiment. Inspired by some of the work coming out of Othering & Belonging Institute at UC Berkeley - especially the recent seminar led by Jose Richard Aviles attended by an international group of people working at the intersections of local gov/planning/embodied practice. All funded by Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) who are doing such positive work to support unlearning and challenging systems of power and control. This is especially important to me given my research into the role of local governments and time spent with municipal teams doing things differently - especially in Minneapolis and Detroit - as part of my Churchill Fellowship. For more read: https://lnkd.in/et9xgyW8 Can't wait to see where we go.

My colleague Judith Lowe is running a really exciting event on Wednesday 6ᵗʰ December 𝗨𝗽𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗳𝗮𝗰𝘁-𝗯𝗮𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗵𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝗼𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗲𝗻𝘃𝗶𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗲. These skills will enable us to participate in the world with curiosity, empathy and wisdom. Our approach to social justice is 𝙉𝙊𝙏 about identity politics – (activism on behalf of disadvantaged groups). 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵, 𝘸𝘦 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘶𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦. Our position is simply that any educated and informed human being is likely to be curious about the facts of history and the social and environmental conditions that affect all of us. How do we know what factual history is, and the statistical and scientific evidence about current social and environmental conditions? Generative Citizen has 5 practises: We learn to keep returning to our body-mind wisdom (practise 1), to be aware of our inner resources and our triggers and vulnerabilities (practise 2), to have empathy for ourselves, others and our differences (practise 3), to communicate well, especially in difficult conversations (practise 4), and finally to be aware of the facts of the world around us (practise 5). •What if world conversations STARTED with the evidence-based facts? •What if we held our opinions lightly until we had looked at the facts? •What if we looked at the evidence that supports a novel theory and evaluated it as true or fake based on the evidence? •What if we thought about how to find reliable sources of information, and evaluated our sources rather than jumping straight on a bandwagon from a politicised social or mass media outlet? •What we if we reviewed the worldview we inherited from our parents and our culture against the evidence? •How do we know what science is good for, and the limits of science? Judith will present her latest ideas on the 5th Practise and engage the group in conversation to help us all develop our thinking further. Wednesday 6ᵗʰ December: 18.30 –20.00pm (GMT) 𝙏𝙝𝙚 5ᵗʰ 𝙋𝙧𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙘𝙚: 𝙁𝙖𝙘𝙩 𝙗𝙖𝙨𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙬𝙖𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙝𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙮 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙨𝙤𝙘𝙞𝙖𝙡 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙚𝙣𝙫𝙞𝙧𝙤𝙣𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙖𝙡 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙘𝙚 (𝘾𝙪𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝘾𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙯𝙚𝙣𝙨’ 𝙆𝙣𝙤𝙬𝙡𝙚𝙙𝙜𝙚 𝘽𝙖𝙨𝙚) CLICK HERE TO REGISTER https://lnkd.in/eqDpiNN3 If you registered for the previous workshops in this series, no need to register again 𝙁𝙍𝙀𝙀 𝙤𝙛 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙜𝙚. 𝙀𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙞𝙨 𝙬𝙚𝙡𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙚!

How did our Collaborative Outreach for Job Training intitiative begin? Our network of funders, members, community and civic leaders apply creative inquiry to issues that need solutions which shape the work we develop at the Fund. They're the kind of questions we continue to ask that lead to a more equitable economy across Northeast Ohio. Learn more about our Collaborative Outreach for Job Training and other initiatives at https://buff.ly/3O6dLv9

Do casino regulators attend gaming industry events to promote policies and pander to the gaming industry? I haven't been to one but this strikes me as a bit too crony like to be using tax dollars to attend events to promote policy. This strikes me as a bit of an overreach and most definitely pandering. Revolving doors are a big problem in cannabis and part of an overall climate of corruption and crony capitalism. All to promote social equity? Social equity is a failed racket that exposes regulatory and corporate capture and rent-seeking behavior. From Investopedia: "Rent seeking is an economic concept that occurs when an entity seeks to gain added wealth without any reciprocal contribution of productivity. It is an attempt to obtain economic rent by manipulating the social or political environment in which economic activities occur, rather than by creating new wealth. Rent-seeking activities aim to obtain financial gains and benefits through the manipulation of the distribution of economic resources." These are unelected officials using taxpayer dollars to promote a cause that's not actually doing anything to advance social equity. The only way to achieve social equity is to remove the barriers, lower taxes, and open the market up. No more limited licensing. That's how it's done. Anything else is market protectionism and just an overall racket.

April City Club Registration is now Open! Come learn about how Central Oregon could be at the center of a new push for democratic engagement! Citizen Assemblies- Reinvigorating Civic Engagement 4/18/2024 8:30am Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Central Oregon Join us for a discussion that will open up the idea of citizen involvement in local decision making. Increasingly people on all sides of the political spectrum (including those unengaged) feel left out of how decisions are made. A Citizens’ Assembly is a group of people selected by lottery who are broadly representative of a community. They spend significant time learning and collaborating through facilitated deliberation to find common ground and form collective recommendations for policy makers, decision makers, and the community. These Assemblies are sometimes called Citizens’ Juries, Panels, or Councils depending on their size and the country where they are taking place. We will discuss how this model works international and how it is currently being used right here in Central Oregon. Learn more and register here: https://lnkd.in/gTTpsKdp

🎯Register now for our upcoming Learning Sprint on "Political Process Design 101: Designing Better Political Conversations for Better Policy" in collaboration with Capita.   💡We will explore how Political Process Design can and should be applied as a tool for inclusive political dialogue.   🎓 During the four sessions that take place over the course of April and May we will look into the following topics together:   - Understanding policymaking as design and why it matters for inclusion - Introducing Political Process Design, what it is and how anyone can use it as a tool for designing more effective policy conversations - Working through user case studies, applying political process design to your own challenges - How to design for effective engagement with policymakers   📬 Learn more about the Learning Sprint and claim your spot here: https://lnkd.in/eQ_AdHh5

Exciting news! The School Integration and Equity 2.0 Grant Competition is now open, aiming to enhance educational equity in U.S. preK-12 public schools. Join our Zoom meeting on February 6, 2024, 1-2 PM ET to learn more about addressing inequity in schools. #EducationEquity #SchoolIntegration #Grants #PublicEducation #FundingOpportunity

Seeing a need to expand their Government and Regulatory Affairs practice group, Del Chenault and Anthony Campau led the creation of Clark Hill Public Strategies in late 2022. They assist corporations, trade associations, and nonprofit organizations through the engagement of elected representatives and government agencies. In this Simply Smarter Q&A, they recently discussed their backgrounds in lobbying, what clients can expect from CHPS, and what questions the group is tackling for clients currently. https://lnkd.in/gffHbRXU

Throughout its 50 years, the Rose Institute of State and Local Government has been inspired and led by the pursuit of relevant, actionable research opportunities for faculty and students. The overarching goal: To promote public understanding of important policy issues among citizens, journalists, and policymakers. Each year, Rose Institute students ("Rosies") achieve this through multiple research papers, polls, and the ambitious “Video Voter Guide.” The signature guide, released every two years, is a nonpartisan, easy-to-understand video series that summarizes California's ballot initiatives. Learn more about the Rose Institute's legacy: https://lnkd.in/gRGnV2uh #RoseInstitute50