Newsletters

News from OWOF – January 2024

Happy New Year! Lots of good things happening in our community and so many ways to engage! Hope to see you soon!


JOIN US @ WSEC for this important town hall on Wed, Jan 24 to hear more about the county wide Public Safety and Mental Health Preservation millage – what it supports now and what it might look like in the future. It is up for renewal this year – 2024! And more info about the community concept for a shared outreach position.


 


MLK Days of Service/Action – January 2024

 
Big thanks to all the individuals and organizations who helped make this year’s event(s) happen!
1) OWOF hosted the Kick Off at City Council Chambers featuring Mayor Jane Pacheco, City Manager Marty Colburn, Georgia Frost representing Rep. Debbie Dingell, and Kate Mehuron from Equality Chelsea. The banner included in the first MLKJr. Day event from 2002 was presented.

2) HRC hosted a panel discussion about Affordable Housing in Western Washtenaw County. Panelists included Bri Carpenter from Avalon Housing, Andrew De Leeuw from the Washtenaw County Admin Office, and Georgia Frost from Rep Dingell’s office. Tony Iannelli was the moderator.
Link to recording here.


Public Safety Strategic Planning Group presents draft plan Dec 14

 
A number of engaged citizens attended the SPG presentation at Beach Middle School last month. Chief Kayzak and Dr. Barbara Patrick (SMART) shared updates outlining the process and status of the creating the new CPD strategic plan. Shown here, Group Co-Chair Kate Henson lays out the agenda for the meeting, which included a question and answer period. Slides from the event are available to view on the city website on the SPG commission page here.

Keep following this group – this is the direct outcome of the marches and listening sessions in 2020!


Upcoming Meetings to Note

  • Chelsea City Council Annual Visioning Session – Wed, Jan 31 @ 5:30 – 8:00 pm at Silver Maples – The public are invited to attend to hear Council discuss priorities for the coming budget year. Light food/beverage served.
  • Conflict Resolution 101 – Carolyn Stillwell OWOF board member and Dispute Resolution Center mediator, will lead free class date TBD – coming in February
  • The Power of Visioning – OWOF members will lead a free group session inspired by the actual Zing Train Visioning seminar – coming February/March TBD
  • OWOF Annual Meeting – look for more details in coming months for a our spring gathering

Would you like to make a donation to OWOF this year? Please click this link for online or mail in donation instructions. Thank you very much! Your financial support helps us plan important social justice work in our community!

 

Please remember to check the OWOF Facebook page!
https://www.facebook.com/OneWorldOneFamily
“Like” the posts so that we can get higher circulation.

The Tamale Dinner Fund-Raiser for Jackson County for Immigrants Coalition was a huge success. $1800 was raised through a combination of dinner sales, a 50/50 raffle, and cash/ check donations. Pilar's Tamale's in Ann Arbor kindly provided 189 tamale dinners. Customers could "dine-in" or "take out". A traditional Mexican playlist accompanied dinner. Kitchen volunteers worked tirelessly to get meals plated. A Jackson group member brought along a Mexican vendor cart with authentic Mexican candy to sample for a suggested donation. OWOF Board Member, Christa Williams MD, thanked and welcomed guests, and introduced Gayla Ignacio and Amador Ybarra, two of the representatives from Jackson County for Immigrants Coalition. They spoke about their group and its efforts to support and protect immigrants in Jackson County during the heightened, warrantless, ICE arrests of community members and the effect this is having on community members, local businesses and families. A question and answer-session followed, allowing for further discussion of how their group is responding to the situation, and how concerned Chelsea residents may be able to assist. The generosity and caring community spirit of Chelsea was evident throughout the evening. Many excellent conversations were had. More than one OWOF member heard "I hope you will be doing this again". And at the end of the evening, when volunteers were pitching in to clean up, we drew the winning 50/50 raffle ticket, which had just one word on it: "donate". OWOF definitely looks forward to doing a similar fundraiser in the future.

After the rally on Saturday, come hear from Voters Not Politicians on Sunday.

Great event coming! Pilar’s famous tamales to support Jackson Immigrant Rights activities. They are doing good work with very few resources. Get your orders in now before 10-21.

Voter rights/voter suppression! Important conversation - 5th in our series of Making Sense of the Unprecedented. Sunday 10/19 - 3pm Council Chambers

Sunday, Oct 5. 5pm at First United Methodist Church in Chelsea. Important work!

Reminder for Thursday. Attainable housing basics. A chance to understand how solutions are crafted. Thursday, Sept 25 a 7pm in Council Chambers

We've got alot to talk about!! Let's start with Emergency Powers and Executive Orders and go from there... Sunday, Sept 21 at 3pm at The Chelsea Depot Readings (articles & videos) available at https://owofchelsea.org/resources/community-discussion/ If you run out of time to read or watch, COME ANYWAY!

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