Featured Entries

Moore County Conference on Municipal Underbounding

Municipal underbounding occurs when impoverished communities of color are excluded from the boundaries where city services are provided in prospering towns. The conference will allow participants facing similar problems in California, Washington, New Mexico, Oregon, and Mississippi to see its impact via community tours of Jackson Hamlet, Midway, and Waynor Road. SCSJ will also provide background information on the history and prevalence of municipal underbounding and promote discussion of strategies for effectively combating it. Please contact Chris Brook for more information about the conference.

Expert Preparation and Community Education Program

SCSJ has joined with other voting rights advocates, experts and attorneys to form the Community Census and Redistricting Institute. The centerpiece of the Institute will be a week-long Expert Preparation and Community Education Program held in Durham, NC, from July 26-31. This program will bring representatives from community organizations together with voting rights experts and lawyers to discuss how to empower grassroots low-wealth communities of color to fight for fair representation during the 2011 redistricting round. Please contact Allison Riggs for more information about the program or redistricting.

Census Poetry Slam!

Black Poetry Theatre & Best Kept Spoken present Words of Wisdom (W.O.W.) Live, Census Poetry Slam! WHAT: Census Poetry Slam! Words, rhymes and rhythms on the 2010 Census. WHERE: Night Life Comedy Club and Lounge: 5504 Durham Chapel Hill Blvd., Durham, NC 27707 WHEN: Monday, April 12, 2010 at 8:30 p.m. ADMISSION: $1.00 A prize of $100 will be donated by SCSJ for the best poet of the night, so come out for a night of entertainment and see why others are being counted in the 2010 Census.

Anita Earls will be a featured census speaker on OPEN/net TV

The goal of the 2010 Census is to count all residents living in the United States as of April 1, 2010. This effort informs decisions about federal funding for services, infrastructure and Congressional representation. The Census is comprised of only 10 questions and takes just a few minutes to complete – but it’s a critical civic exercise. Join representatives from North Carolina’s Complete Count Committee, Bob Coats, the Governor’s Census Liaison and Staff to the North Carolina Complete Count Committee; John Campbell, Executive Director of the North Carolina Human Relations Commission; Greg Richardson, Executive Director of the Commission of Indian Affairs; and Anita Earls, Executive Director of the Southern Coalition for Social Justice to talk about the 2010 Census. You can participate in this program by calling 1-888-228-6736. Additionally, you can share your questions and comments by e-mail. Send them before or during the program to open@doa.nc.gov. To find out which channel to use in your county, check out this link.

Environmental Justice Summit in New Hill

On Saturday, March 20, the New Hill Community Association, in conjunction with the Southern Coalition for Social Justice and the North Carolina Environmental Justice Network, will host a summit on environmental justice and environmental racism at the First Baptist Church New Hill from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. Media are invited to attend the summit and asked to be present for a 12:15 p.m. news briefing outside the church, which is adjacent to the site of the prospective sewage treatment plant. Currently Site 14, which is located in the New Hill historic district, is the preferred location for the Western Wake Regional Wastewater Management Facility, causing great concern among New Hill residents and their supporters. The Environmental Justice Summit will focus on the history and legacy of environmental racism in North Carolina, and on environmental consequences that Site 14 will place on the New Hill community. New Hill is a rural, majority-minority community in Western Wake County, located near the Shearon Harris nuclear power plant. Since 2005 residents have been opposing efforts by the Western Wake Partners (an organization comprised of the towns of Apex, Cary, Holly Springs and Morrisville) to place a wastewater treatment plant in middle of their community. Speakers at the summit will include Gary Grant, Director of the NC Environmental Justice Network, attorney Chris Brook of the Southern Coalition for Social Justice, Dr. Steve Wing, a UNC Chapel Hill researcher and epidemiologist, Reverend James Clanton of the First Baptist Church New Hill, and Paul Barth, President of the New Hill Community Association. When: March 20 Time: 8:30 a.m. -12 p.m. Where: First Baptist Church New Hill 3016 New Hill Holleman Road New Hill, NC 27562 Environmental injustice - when members of disadvantaged, ethnic, minority, poor or other marginalized groups are disproportionately burdened with environmental hazards or risks for the benefit of affluent, predominately white communities and corporations. For more information visit www.southerncoalition.org or www.newhillca.org

Sludge Diet Film Screening and Discussion

As the heart of the New Hill community remains threatened by a potential sewage treatment plant, community members will meet to watch the award-winning film, “Sludge Diet.” We will discuss the negative environmental, health, and cultural impacts of a sewage treatment plant in New Hill and the steps being taken to stop the plant. Please join us!

Checkpoint Monitoring Training

At this training we will give interested community members the tools and information they need to monitor traffic checkpoints in the Triangle Area for evidence of racial profiling. We are particularly concerned about increases in profiling against members of immigrant communities as more and more local law enforcement agencies formalize cooperative agreements with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Sign up online at http://checkpointwatch.eventbrite.com/

Social Justice Happy Hour at West End before Durham Bulls Game

West End will be donating a percentage of their sales to SCSJ, and you will also have the opportunity to support our work by purchasing SCSJ merchandise and raffle tickets, signing up to volunteer for our projects, or making a financial contribution. Southern Coalition for Social Justice Happy Hour Thursday, June 18, 5-7 p.m. Durham’s West End Wine Bar 601 West Main Street Also, plan to join us at the game afterwards. Check out our facebook event for the game here. Check out our facebook event for Happy Hour here.

Social Justice Happy Hour at West End before Durham Bulls game

Come join SCSJ at the West End Wine Bar for a Social Justice Happy Hour before the Durham Bulls Game on June 18th! West End will be donating a percentage of their sales to SCSJ, and you will also have the opportunity to support our work by purchasing SCSJ merchandise and raffle tickets, signing up to volunteer for our projects, or making a financial contribution. Southern Coalition for Social Justice Happy Hour Thursday, June 18, 5-7 p.m. Durham’s West End Wine Bar 601 West Main Street Also, plan to join us at the game afterwards. Check out our facebook event for the game here. Check out our facebook event for Happy Hour here.