Community Survey
Thank you to those of you who have taken the time to fill out our community survey! We still want to hear from more of you. If you haven’t already, please take a moment to fill out the survey and share the link with 5 friends. Your responses will let us know where to focus our efforts in the coming year or so. Topics we are considering are:
- Native American Heritage
- Community Policing Reform
- Respectful Community Discourse
- Chelsea Affordable Housing
- Restorative Justice
- Supporting our LGBTQIA+ Community
- Prisoner Re-entry Programs
- Continuing MLK Day Activities
- Understanding Critical Race Theory (CRT)
CSD Board of Education
Have you ever considered running for school board? Many great resources are available to help!
The Michigan Association of School Boards hosts comprehensive web resources on a page called Get on Board! Their website includes a downloadable 30 page toolkit about the roles and responsibilities of board members as well as other resources like videos and virtual town hall info sessions.
The Michigan Education Justice Coalition, in partnership with Great Lakes Political Academy, is hosting a series of trainings to support school board candidates by providing the nuts and bolts of how to run a campaign AND what it will take once a candidate is on a school board. The link to more information regarding the four-part training is HERE.
Next CSD School Board meeting is June 13 at 6.30 pm at the WSEC Board Room. The filing deadline to get on the November ballot is July 26.
Community Public Safety Task Force
The City of Chelsea’s Community Public Safety Task force has been meeting every 2 weeks with sub-groups meeting more frequently. They have put together a report of their recommendations and have spoken to the City Council twice already for feedback. A final report will be on the council agenda at the meeting on Monday, June 6.
It’s important that we follow the work of this group and add our ongoing support and opinions when needed. Relevant documents are on the OWOF website under the Resources section. www.owofchelsea.org/resources. Past agendas and zoom recordings of the task force are available here. A copy of the final recommendation report will be included in the June 6 council packet online. It should be available on the city website June 2.
Farmer’s Market (tbd) and Sounds & Sights (July 14)
Opportunities are available to have a table once or twice at these events in the summer. It would be a great time to share our mission with more people. We have brochures and bookmarks and our beautiful hand pins. Contact us at owofchelsea@gmail.com if you’d like to help to staff a table for an hour this summer!
Ann Arbor’s CROS (Coalition for Re-envisioning our Safety)
The city of Ann Arbor has cited a commitment to funding an unarmed response program though they have not committed to an explicitly non-police response at this time. Click here to see the full statement from CROS.
Honoring Patrick Lyoya
We were saddened to hear of the death of another young black man killed by police on April 4th in Grand Rapids. There are no words that can ease the immense pain of a family that has lost their child. We wish them healing, love, light, and justice.
“That was my beloved son. You know how you love your firstborn son.” Those were the words of Dorcas Lyoya, Patrick’s mother. At the same news conference Lyoya’s mother, a Congolese refugee said “They told us that in America, there’s peace, there’s safety, you’re not going to see killing any more, that it was basically a safe haven…What is so surprising … [the man] supposed to be protecting us is the one who shot my son.”
We hope that each person reading this will take a moment to remember Patrick and if you haven’t already, take a moment to learn more about how police shootings have disproportionately affected young black men in our country by reading this Washington Post feature here.
Thank you for your time and attention. Stay engaged!
Your OWOF Team
