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Social
Action
Overview
of Social Action Committee Philosophy and Guidelines
Kol Shalom supports and joins with its Social Action Committee… to express our Judaism and our Humanism by working for positive social change, by supporting services in our wider community, and by bringing our next generations into the active philosophy of tikkun olam -- healing and transforming the world. Our committee endeavors to give members opportunities to learn, to teach, and to debate issues, as well as to serve and to work cooperatively with those we meet as we face our concerns in our wider community. A small group, we have joined the Metropolitan Alliance for Common Good…(MAC-G), a local affiliate of the Industrial Areas Foundation…, to work with like-minded congregations, unions, and civic organizations on selected issues, and implicitly for more responsible local government. We also maintain a working relationship with the Community Relations Council of the Jewish Federation. In late 2004 the committee accepted the board's charge that we expand opportunities for members to express their concerns and to act on them effectively, through our own community .
How
to get involved with or find
out
more about our Social Action: |
| Our
Initiatives |
|
| MAC-G Metropolitan Alliance for the Common Good |
One
of 33 member institutions,
we work with others, concentrating now on drives for universally available, affordable health care; supporting others in projects for affordable housing, living wage jobs, good public education, city clean-up of meth. houses. |
| Mental
Health Parity |
From
our start we have worked on
mental health issues (treatment and housing) in alliance with Jewish Family Services and through the state legislature. Having raised community awareness of insurance inequities, we saw Mental Health Parity legislation pass in 2005. |
| Integrity
of Voting Process |
A
sub-group researched voting
problems and election reform efforts, nationwide. Working with the
Oregon Voters' Rights Coalition, they put on the National Election
Reform Summit in Portland; they connect our members to sources of
information, and they give house parties to show and discuss the DVD "Electile Dysfunction." |
| Saving Social Security | A
sub-group studied the
administration's plan to privatize Social Security and presented the
findings to Kol Shalom at a Forum. We recommended that Social
Security remain a public responsibility and that potential funding
problems be resolved; we presented various ways in which members of Kol
Shalom could become involved in advocating for protection of Social Security (wider community meetings, our letter-writing activity, below...). |
| International
Concerns |
Members having asked for community expression against the course of our occupation of Iraq, and for international interruption of the Darfur genocide, we supported the local CRC, joining protests on Darfur,and we inform members of community actions of interest. |
| Supporting
Community Services |
Another
sub-group acted on
members' concerns that we stay with our involvement with city needs for
food, jobs, education and health and mental health care access.
We research local needs and spots where we can be effective, and
inform members of action opportunities. Concentrating on health
care access now (and allied with Oregonians for Health Security), we circulate petitions for a statewide initiative mandating universal affordable health care; we state our concerns to our legislators; we work with MAC-G on a proposed tri-county demonstration project to make basic care available to the un-insured; and we are exploring a neighborhood basic care clinic, for ways our members could be supportive. |
| Social Action Activity Log for Past Year | |
| 6/14/06
-6/24/06 |
MAC-G
"Leadership Training for
Public Life"… 12 hours, free to members of member institutions. |
| 6/4/06 |
One of 33 member institutions, we work with others, concentrating now on drives for universally available, affordable health care; supporting others in projects for affordable housing, living wage jobs, good public education, city clean-up of meth. |
| 6/06 | Visit to Community Health Center by SAcommittee and members with public health expertise. |
| 5/06 | Monthly letter-writing session at Kol Shalom Center on timely issues of concern to newspapers, legislators |
| 5/21/06 |
Circulate our petitions for the Hope for Oregon Families initiative for state-wide universal affordable health care access |
| 5/20/06 | Our monthly 1/2 day, packing at the Oregon Food Bank (with additiional evening time available for SHJ Comm. Srvc. month) |
| 5/18/06 |
MAC-G Assembly on Healthy Communities. Negotiation with city officials and hospital administrators. Some of our members will serve as group leaders; some will circulate our petitions; some will present issues to the Assembly (700 should attend) |
| 5/10/06 |
SAcommittee attends forum on Discovering Our Community’s Health Care Needs of our MAC-G colleague, St. Clare Parish (having shared our planning with them when they visited us). |
| 5/4/06 |
SA committee meeting. Guests, MAC-G colleagues from SEIU local, concerned with up-grading hospital care. |
| 4/30/06 |
Kol Shalom participation in the rally to Save Darfur |
| 4/15/06 |
Tzedakah basket at community seder for food-related charities (AJWS, Mazon, Or. Food Bank). |
| 4/06 |
Obtained Darfur-Awareness wristbands for our students, and postcards on Darfur for students to circulate for signing and send |
| 3/06 |
Genocide Awareness Week (Portland State U). We encouraged members to hear Rabbi Michael Lerner on the Jewish tradition of Tikkun Olam (and its history), Ruth Messinger of AJWS, and others. |
| 3/19/06 |
At members’ request, SA committee organized KS lunch and group attendance at the city walk protesting the course of the warin Iraq. |
| 3/12/06 |
Encouraged Kol Shalom attendance and helped produce forum at JCC on Israeli and Palestinian elections. |
| 1/22/06 |
Sunday Forum-- Kol Shalom joins the Campaign for Healthy Communities; Speaker, Representative Greenlick, chief petitioner of the Hope for Oregon Familie initiative petition. |
| 1/19/06 |
Co-sponsored (with Havurah Shalom) lecture by Brenda Cooper on the Guantanamo detainees and issues of policy. |
| 1/06 |
Committee members took Election Reform Issue to a Rose Schnitzer Manor (local Jewish assisted-living facility) meeting. |
| 12/05 |
Fund-raising Calendar(Syracuse Cultural workers Trust) sale. |
| 11/17/05 |
MAC-G Assembly opening the Healthy Communities Campaign. Negotiations with city commissioners. SA committee helped produce the assembly; many Kol Shalom members attended. |
| Fall
'05 |
Committee surveyed members, assessing the level of our health insurance security, and to listen to members’ concerns about the issue for themselves and the community/nation. |
| 9/30/05 |
National Election Reform Summit, 3 day conference on election/voting reform, produced by our sub-committee and others. |
| 2005 |
Weekly attendance at legislative up-dates on health care access issues in our state capitol by one or more SAcommittee members, and frequent visits to legislators and observations of legislative sessions. |
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