Join the National Family Convention Online

Today is the day!

More than 16,000 people will be gathering tomorrow in Birmingham, Los Angeles, and Chicago for the Equal Voice for America's Families National Family Convention -- and the ratification of the National Family Platform that reflects the input of more than 10,000 people at 60 town hall meetings across the country in the past year.

We wanted to make sure you're aware of all the materials available online to participants and supporters.

• Not attending the convention in person? You can watch the convention live on the Equal Voice for America's Families website or here on the blog, where we'll also have the latest news and videos from the convention cities.



• For the past week, New America Media has been publishing profiles of some of our convention attendees. Check out our Campaign Updates or visit the New America Website to learn more about some of the people attending tomorrow's conventions.



• If you haven't already done so, you can download the national platform here. (Scroll down to the bottom of the page to select the platform language.)



• Our newest LifeCaster Sonya talks about some of the issues families face in south Texas. Check out all the latest LifeCasting Episodes on our LifeCasting Across the Digital Divide webpage.

As always, help us spread the word about our important day tomorrow by forwarding your favorite video or blog post to people you know.

To stay up to date on the Equal Voice for America's Families Campaign and our efforts, sign up for our email updates on the right or become a fan of the campaign on Facebook.

Technorati Tags: activism, economy, politics, poverty, families, working+families, 2008 elections, barack obama, john mccain, social justice, current affairs, current events, immigration, middle class, recession, RNC, Republican National Convention.

Less than 48 Hours To Go!

As the Republican National Convention wraps up tonight in the Twin Cities, we're making the final arrangements for the third major political convention of the last two weeks -- the National Family Convention this Saturday in Birmingham, Chicago and Los Angeles.

The latest numbers:

* 15,000+ attending from the Foundation’s grantmaking regions (Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, Texas and Washington)
* 2350+ hotel rooms
* 11 Languages – English, Spanish, Khmer, Somalian, Hmong, Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean, Vietnamese, Creole and ASL
* 800+ airline flights booked
* 200+ buses – local and charter
* 32,100+ meals served
* 1925 children in childcare
* 100+ exhibit booths

Check out the additional information -- including the list of keynote speakers in all three cities -- here.

If you haven't already done so, be sure to become a fan of Equal Voice for America's Families on Facebook. And check back here through the weekend as we bring you the latest reports -- and details of the national family platform -- in the coming hours and days.


Technorati Tags: activism, economy, politics, poverty, families, working+families, 2008 elections, barack obama, john mccain, social justice, current affairs, current events, immigration, middle class, recession, RNC, Republican National Convention, Denver.

An Addiction to Advocacy Overcame Homelessness

New America Media continues with their series on Delegates from the Other America, who will be attending the Equal Voice for America's Families National Family Convention this Saturday in Los Angeles, Chicago and Birmingham.

Today's profile focuses on Charles Jenkins, who will serve as a delegate representing the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless (CCH) at the Chicago convention gathering:

Earlier this year, Jenkins served as a CCH delegate to an Equal Voice special session. “I worked on the policy packet, a four-day policy forum where we hammered out policies.”

Jenkins says he was honored to have been selected by his peers at CCH for the task, designed to distill concerns from town halls across the country to produce a comprehensive policy platform. “It was spiritually enriching, informative, enlightening, and an opportunity that few people are blessed to have."...

As an African-American, he says he makes no apologies for championing the concerns of his people and is a forceful spokesman for self-reliance. African-American communities have a host of issues to confront, “but, if we don’t build commerce so that the money earned in the communities stays there long enough to do some good in the ‘hood,” the profit from goods and services in those neighborhoods will continue to flow to other ethnic groups. “I don’t have any animosity toward them,” Jenkins says, “I’m just looking to resolve our own problems.”

Sometimes those problems are personal. Jenkins’ own life veered off course when he indulged in drugs with the enthusiasm he has now channels into community organizing. “I didn’t even have a drug of choice,” he recalls with a self-deprecating chuckle. The use of “alcohol, whatever was available,” resulted in “drug addiction, the whole ball of wax.” Eventually, after bouncing among the homes of relatives, he found himself homeless, “moving from one shelter to another.”

In 1991, after two and a half years adrift, Jenkins came into a "warming center" -- a place of refuge to ward off frostbite, hypothermia, and hunger. The facility hosted several organizations, including CCH. Through a CCH counselor, Jenkins became at first captivated by, then immersed in the organization’s advocacy on affordable housing and homelessness. Being of service “was an incentive for me to kick my habit,” Jenkins says.

Read the complete profile of Charles Jenkins here.

Technorati Tags: activism, economy, politics, poverty, families, working+families, 2008 elections, barack obama, john mccain, social justice, current affairs, current events, immigration, middle class, recession, RNC, Republican National Convention, Denver.

Living Paycheck To Paycheck While Patrolling Mississippi Schools

We now have just days to go until more than 16,000 people will gather to ratify the National Family Platform at this Saturday's convention for working families!

So who is going to be attending? This week, New America Media is profiling National Family Convention attendees like Tinsa Hall (pictured above):

Tinsa Hall’s heart, vast as the Mississippi Delta, still breaks at memories she wants no school-aged child ever to endure. It’s 20 years since Robert Merrill, her favorite uncle, was shot seven times and killed while attending Greenville High School, a school one of her four children now attends. A dispute between Merrill’s female cousins and rivals had escalated, the circle of actors grown, until he, once protector, became a target.

As a founding member of Parents on Patrol for Success, Hall and a group of volunteer parents walk the hallways of several Greenville schools. “Maybe if the kids see us, they wouldn’t act as bad,” Hall says, explaining the reasoning behind the group’s debut in 2006....

Hall serves on the staff of Citizens for a Better Greenville (CFBG), an organization dedicated to improving the socio-economic conditions in this predominantly African American city. During the summer, CFBG hosted an Equal Voice for America’s Families town hall meeting, drawing 400 people from across the state....

The impetus of Hall’s activism grows out of her own experiences. She fears for the safety of Greenville’s children and dreads that her time away from home may test her own marriage. President of two parent teacher associations and the vice president of a third, she logs in long hours, sometimes getting in “at seven, eight, nine or ten o’clock at night.” Over a week that never seems to end, she is at “minimum wage,” by her estimation. Yet, all in all -- including her marriage -- Hall says, “I have been blessed.” She is proud of her work at CFBG: “It’s an underpaid job, but I love what I do.”

Read the complete profile of Tinsa Hall here.




Technorati Tags: activism, economy, politics, poverty, families, working+families, 2008 elections, barack obama, john mccain, social justice, current affairs, current events, immigration, middle class, recession, DNC, Democratic National Convention, Denver.

Help Us Spread the Word on Facebook

The Democratic National Convention is starting today in Denver -- and we're just over two weeks away from the National Family Convention in Los Angeles, Chicago, and Birmingham.

You can help us get the word out by becoming a "fan" of Equal Voice for America's Families on Facebook.

And if you're on Facebook and planning to attend the convention in any of our three cities, be sure to RSVP.

Lifecasting Across the Digital Divide

We've set up a new page that allows you to easily follow your favorite lifecasters.

Click here for a sneak preview.

We'll be adding more videos -- and introducing new lifecasters -- in the coming days, so bookmark the page and check back frequently.

And, as always, take a moment to forward your favorite videos to your friends and family. We need your help to make sure the voices from across the digital divide are heard.

Technorati Tags: activism, economy, politics, poverty, families, working+families, 2008 elections, barack obama, john mccain, social justice, current affairs, current events, immigration, online video, lifecasting.

Campaign Snapshot

It's less than a month before the Equal Voice for America’s Families Convention on September 6, and the level of preparation is mind-boggling.

Here’s a snapshot of where things stand:

13,000 people registered for the convention
6,000 registered in Los Angeles
4,000 registered in Birmingham
3,500 registered in Chicago
1,975 Hotel rooms reserved
1,300 Flight reservations
350 Buses
250 Volunteers
3 Convention cities
1 Common cause: The adoption of a national family platform that comprehensively addresses the needs of families!

Technorati Tags: activism, economy, politics, poverty, families, working+families, 2008 elections, barack obama, john mccain, social justice, current affairs, current events, immigration, convention.

Attendance for America's National Family Convention Soars Past Goal

When the Equal Voice for America’s Families campaign began, our goal was to engage 10,000 families across the country around the issues they face -- and to develop a national platform based on the input of working families.

Now -- after 64 townhall meetings all across the country -- we are just one month and a day away from the Equal Voice for America’s Families National Convention, to be held on September 6 in Birmingham, Chicago and Los Angeles.

And we're pleased to report that we've exceeded our goal of engaging 10,000 families: as of today, more than 13,000 families have already registered for the National Family Convention.

September 6 promises to be a memorable day, with more than 13,000 families calling for the adoption of a comprehensive national family platform.

That day will represent not the end of the campaign, but a beginning.

As Cesar Chavez said, “Once social change begins, it cannot be reversed...”

Technorati Tags: activism, economy, politics, poverty, families, working+families, 2008 elections, barack obama, john mccain, social justice, current affairs, current events, immigration, convention.

Telling Stories

Watching Joyce Cook talking about her experiences as a single mom working in Richmond, California (see the post, below) reminds us of the thousands of incredible and touching stories we've heard throughout the Equal Voice for America's Families Campaign.

Through more than 60 townhalls all across the country, more than 10,000 people have come together to address the issues facing working families, and to develop a bottom-up agenda to ensure that the next President and the next Congress adopts a national family platform.

In the process, we've met some amazing people, and heard stories that have ranged from the heart-breaking to the uplifting. Sometimes funny and sometimes sad, these stories reveal the daily struggles and triumphs of working class families in America.

We know that many readers of this blog weren't attendees of our townhalls, even though they support our cause. That's why we're pleased to be bringing our "Lifecasting" series to the Internet -- to amplify the stories that many of us working closely with working families have come to know so well.

Every Tuesday we'll be featuring a new Lifecasting Episode. Here on the blog, Joyce Cook and four other individuals and families from places like Chicago, South Texas and New Mexico will be sharing their real-world experiences with their families, their jobs, and their communities.

Each episode promises to be a compelling glimpse into the lives of working families in America, and we hope you'll watch each episode every week -- but we'd like to ask you to do more a bit more.

The truth is, we need your help amplifying the voices of working families in our public discourse.

To that end, please make use the viral tools on this blog and at the end of each video. Take a moment to forward the latest lifecasting video or blog post to your friends and families.

And, if you haven't already done so, please be sure to sign up for our email updates, and encourage your friends, colleagues and family to do the same.

The stories we've heard in townhalls -- and the stories we are hearing here on the blog and in videos -- are powerful. But the power to amplify those stories -- to ensure that they enter the larger public discourse, and that the voices of working families become truly equal -- lies in your hands.

And it's just a click of a link away!

Technorati Tags: activism, economy, politics, poverty, families, working+families, 2008 elections, barack obama, john mccain, social justice, current affairs, current events, immigration, online video, lifecasting.

48 Days to Go....

Here we are: 48 days and counting until the Equal Voice for America’s Families National Convention on September 6 in Birmingham, Chicago and Los Angeles.

On that day 10,000 families will come together to call for the adoption of a national family platform that comprehensively address that issues that challenge families.

So many people across the country are working together to put together the convention. The levels of commitment and collaboration are truly inspiring.

After coming together for such a monumental event, who can doubt that by sticking together we'll be able to achieve improved policies and stronger families throughout our society?

The Journey So Far

"[T]here are 37 million people in the United States who are poor. Imagine if those people could connect, join together and begin to create the change we need."

So says Luz Vega-Marquis, the president and CEO of the Marguerite Casey Foundation, which has funded the Equal Voice for America's Families Campaign.

We've come a long way in the 10 months since the Campaign kicked off in Atlanta, Georgia in September of 2007. (See a video of the kickoff here.) And in September of 2008, more than 10,000 people representing America's working families will gather for our National Convention in Birmingham, Chicago, and Los Angeles.

But as we build momentum toward the national convention in the coming weeks, we also want to make sure people are aware of the journey so far. That's why we've created a series of videos on YouTube, telling the story of the campaign to date.

It's quite a story. In the past 10 months, we've convened 63 town halls across the nation, bringing more than 10,000 people together to raise the issues impacting America's working communities.

(Those issues are being compiled into a Family Platform that will be unveiled prior to the Equal Voice for America's Families National Convention on September 6, 2008.)

But enough words. Check out the brief teaser of the Journey So Far at the top of this post.

You can watch the entire story of the Journey So Far here (Part 1) and here (Part 2).

And please, take a moment to forward the teaser above to your friends and family -- your efforts to spread the word make a tremendous difference in making sure that working families have an equal voice in America's political process.

Also be sure to subscribe to our YouTube Channel-- we've got a lot of great video coming your way in the coming weeks and months.

Technorati Tags: activism, economy, politics, poverty, families, working+families, 2008 elections, barack obama, john mccain, social justice, current affairs, current events, immigration, online video.

Welcome!

Welcome to the Equal Voice for America’s Families blog.

Over the coming months, we’ll be chronicling the Equal Voice for America’s Families campaign – a national campaign to develop a family-issues platform created and advanced by America’s working families. We’ll be bringing you videos from campaign events, stories from families and campaign staffers, the latest Campaign details, and articles on the issues facing American’s families.

The Campaign so far

When we began the Campaign last October, we had two goals. The first was to spark a national dialogue on the issues facing working families, and the second is to create and advance a national platform that puts families first. We’ve certainly sparked that conversation. Since October, we’ve held sixty-three townhall meetings in different parts of the country. At every townhall, we heard directly from families about the issues that concern them the most – the first step to giving them an equal voice in our nation’s political discourse. By the time the townhall phase of the Campaign ended in May, more than 10,000 people had participated, and made their voices heard. At each townhall, we recorded what families had to say and have used their input as the basis for the Family Platform a blueprint for change based on the voices and experiences of working families.

Ratifying the Family Platform

Last week, more than 40 family delegates from across the country met in Chicago to ratify the Family Platform — and left no doubt of their commitment to social change. They took time away off from their jobs and away from their families over Father’s Day weekend to be there. One elderly woman rode on a bus for 22 hours to participate. One man flew halfway across the country despite a fear of flying. They came with a profound sense that, collectively, they were creating something greater than their individual efforts — something that would bring lasting benefits to families in America. One participant described the experience as “a once in a lifetime opportunity” to make a lasting contribution to the country. One group facilitator said he’d never seen such a high level of energy sustained over multiple days, nor such cooperation and camaraderie. After a day of lively small group sessions (see photo below) devoted to each of the issues outlined in the Family Platform, delegates presented some amendments and then voted to ratify the Family Platform. Click here to view more photos of the Chicago event.


Next up: National Family Convention on September 6

Now that the Family Platform has been completed and ratified, the next Campaign milestone is the National Family Convention.

More than 10,000 families are preparing for the National Family Convention on September 6, 2008, where the final version of the Family Platform will be unveiled. The National Family Convention is being held in three simultaneous location in Birmingham, Chicago and Los Angeles -- with events being simulcast between all three locations.

September 6 promises to be a great day, with 10,000 working families gathering to send a clear message to the policymakers and the country about what is important for the future of America’s families.

What can you do to help out? Sign up for our free email updates (link) and check back frequently on this blog. We’ll be telling you more about the campaign, and how you can help spread the word about this national effort to give America’s working families an equal voice in the national debate.


Technorati Tags: activism, economy, politics, poverty, families, working+families, 2008 elections, barack obama, john mccain, social justice, current affairs, current events.