Social Justice

Free!

Explore the literary legacy of Toni Morrison at a screening of the documentary film about the acclaimed novelist and champion for the arts, who passed away August 5, 2019.

In 1993, Morrison received the Nobel Prize in Literature, making her the first African-American, and eighth woman to be selected for the award. Morrison’s writing has influenced generations of scholars, readers, and writers.

We would like to honor her contributions by coming together to watch the film, followed by a discussion of her literary eminence.

Sponsored by The Indianapolis Public Library and the Indiana Writers Center.

Held in the Central Library Auditorium. Tickets are not required to attend, but RSVPs are appreciated!

Tags: Toni Morrison, literature, writing, writers, art, social justice, Indiana Writers Center

Brunch, networking, training and discussion on Building Community Wealth through Social Capital!

This session will feature:

– FREE brunch & chance to meet new people
– Training session on telling stories that create the future by long-time Kheprw community member and filmmaker Keenan Rhodes
– Discussion on the meaning of “community wealth” facilitated by Diop Adisa and Rasul Palmer.

Participants will learn tools and skills for building community wealth through social capital. Let’s eat good food and build it out together. Come connect and learn with other community builders!

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This is part of a monthly third Saturday series leading up to the launch of the Kheprw Entrepreneurial Incubator. The incubator is a collaboration of Kheprw Institute, KI NuMedia, Scarabys Consulting and others to create an engine to build community wealth through social capital in Indianapolis. Learn more at http://incubator.kheprw.org.

Tags: Building Community Wealth through Social Capital, nonprofit, social justice, Kheprw Institute

On September 20th, three days before the UN Climate Summit in NYC, young people and adults will strike all across the US and world to demand transformative action be taken to address the climate crisis.

We want to answer the young people’s call to take action and ensure lives of opportunity for them and generations to come.

We are inviting people from Indianapolis and from Indiana to join us for a peaceful protest and a show of solidarity, love and caring with and for our children and for all the children of the world, of all species.

Let’s demand urgent action from decision-makers to solve the climate crisis in our city, our state, our country and the world. Let’s make September 20th, 2019 the day humanity turned things around and put itself and the whole biosphere on a sustainable path.

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We will gather at the Indiana Statehouse on the South Lawn at 11:00 am for a rally. Please bring signs with messages of your choice or use for inspiration the following:

Art Kit

Rally agenda:

11:15 am – welcome and agenda

11: 20 am – 1:20 pm – speeches, interaction with the coalition partners, media availability

1: 20 pm – select the delegation that will deliver the US Youth Climate Strike platform to the Governor, the legislature and the offices of Senator Todd Young and Senator Mike Braun.

Youth Climate Strike Platform

1:40 pm – reading of the US Youth Climate Strike platform by a group of organizers

2: 30 pm – delegation leaves

2: 45 pm – thank you and future plans for the Indiana climate coalition

3:00 pm – end of the rally

The event is rain or shine, but we will adapt our schedule if the weather makes it difficult to be outside for four hours.

Please do your best to make this event fossil-free, if at all possible, and share with all of participants your solution for that day, so we can amplify it and make our city fossil free.

Please contact us for any questions and suggestions you might have. If you would like to help as a volunteer, please let us know. We are grateful and happy to be with you on September 20th, 2019.

Tags: 350 Indiana – Indianapolis, US Climate Strike, March, Protest, Action, Climate, Activism, Social Justice

It can’t be denied: capitalism is one of the most powerful forces humans have created. As such, it can and should be used for good—and as we well know, profit has been the primary measure of our success for way too long.

We don’t need to wait on legislation to tell us it’s time to do the right thing. We already know what to do: change the status quo.

But change is hard. Systemic change? Even harder. That’s why we need help from the pros—which is why we organized the People-First Economy Summit.

Click here to register FREE ▶

During this FREE 10-day summit, you’ll learn from the architects of the new economy—top business leaders, authors, and activists like:

• John Mackey, Co-founder and CEO, Whole Foods Market — “Q&A with John Mackey”
• Ben Cohen & Jerry Greenfield, Co-founders, Ben & Jerry’s — “The Ben & Jerry Interview: Using Business as a Force for Good”
• Jay Coen Gilbert, Co-founder of B Lab (the nonprofit behind the B Corp Movement) — “The Need for a Capitalist Reformation”
• Dr. Tiffany Jana, Founder, TMI Portfolio; Author, The B Corp Handbook, Erasing Institutional Bias, and Overcoming Bias — “Putting People First at Work: Managing Organizational Diversity and Bias in a People-First Economy”
• Raj Sisodia, Professor of Global Business and Co-founder/Co-chairman, Conscious Capitalism Inc. — “Conscious Capitalism: Moving Towards a People-First Economy”
• And more!

Interested? Join us September 17th—26th for the People-First Economy Summit where you’ll learn how to:

• Build stronger, more authentic relationships with employees, customers, partners, and community
• Create an atmosphere of inclusivity and belonging in your organization
• Discover real-world solutions for driving equitable, sustainable, and profitable organizations
• Transform your organization for the better using strategies that you can put into practice today
• Lead change and maximize your impact, even when you aren’t in charge

Click here to register FREE ▶

Together, we have the potential to transform the way business is done all over the world.

We hope to see you there!

Sincerely,

The Berrett-Koehler Team

Tags: Business, Environment, Social Justice, Online Summit, Free, Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Workshops, Speakers

The Indiana Cooperative Development Center is hosting a special 1-day workshop: How Co-ops Can Help Fix A Broken Food System.

Join us for a day of learning and discovery as we discuss the components of the food system – from growers and producers to farmers markets and grocery stores – to envision how the cooperative business model can help rebuild the local food system.

Find out more information online at www.icdc.coop.

Cost is $25 per person and spaces will fill quickly, so register today!

Tags: Indiana Cooperative Development Center, 1-day workshop: How Co-ops Can Help Fix A Broken Food System, Social Justice

Study Session!! We are now in the phase of studying specific pieces of material and then condensing it into usable information. We will post the materials to read before the event. This meeting is to discuss and strategize for a community based rapid response team for those experiencing a mental health emergency. Childcare will be provided for those who need it, but please let us know in advance so we can provide adequate care. This building is accessible to all bodies. All community members are welcomed as their whole selves in this space.

Tags: Social Justice, IMPD Transparency, Mental Health Task Force

Data is most powerful when you understand its limits. This module will give you the knowledge to think critically about data, making you aware of what can cause noise in data and how to use data effectively despite these limitations.

Tags: SAVI (Social Assets and Vulnerabilities Indicators), Module 2E: Avoid Data Pitfalls, comprehensive, up-to-date statistics on housing, education, crime, nonprofit, public policy, social justice

Now that you know what you want to accomplish with data, you can use that as a framework for choosing the right dataset. We cover the strengths, weaknesses, and costs of readily available data sets, including SAVI, so you have the information you need to locate the data that’s right for you.

Tags: SAVI (Social Assetts and Vulnerabilities Indicators), Module 2A: Find Existing Data, nonprofit, public policy, social justice

Before you can begin using data to inform decisions, identify what you are trying to accomplish and determine how data can help you get there. This will determine what kind of data you need.

Tags: SAVI (Social Assetts and Vulnerabilities Indicators), Module 1A: Frame the Problem, nonprofit, public policy, social justice

Join local organizers for #upwrite, a letter writing project to build community with and support incarcerated women, trans, and nonbinary people. At this month’s event, we are corresponding with folks we have previously written to in order to maintain connections. If you haven’t written to them before, no worries – it’s great to be able to send them letters from new folks as well!

All ages and genders are welcome.

For more information, contact [email protected]

Tags: letter writing project to build community with and support incarcerated women, trans, and nonbinary people, Rabble Coffee, Social Justice

20 organizations telling their stories of using sociocracy.

People interested in self-governance will come together in an online conference to connect and share their experiences with each other.

Inspiring ideas from passionate thought leaders in the field.

How can tools like sociocracy change the world?

Presenters from 14 countries: Germany, Denmark, United Kingdom, USA, Belgium, Switzerland, Australia, Colombia, Argentina, Italy, Croatia, Netherlands, Spain and India!

Talks happen simultaneously in different zoom rooms.
All presentations will be recorded and will be available 2 weeks after the event.

Note: Presentations in Spanish are in >italics. 
All other talks are in English. 
Inspirational sessions will be bilingual or have Spanish subtitles.

(For other time zones, click on the link under UTC.)

Tags: webinar, conference, online, sociocracy, grassroots, democracy, social justice, worker cooperatives, ecovillage, schools, people store

There are a number of ways to collect data on your clients, your agency, your programs and your communities. If you are interested in exploring these options, this course will help you learn about the strengths and weaknesses of each choice.

Tags: SAVI Module 2B: Create and Use Client Data, nonprofit, public policy, social justice

Get in, get culture, get out. This is the motto of Poets Attack. The last Wednesday of each month, for 90 minutes or less, Irvington Vinyl & Books hosts two talented local poets and pairs them with visiting writers from out of state. The goal is to connect Hoosier poets with writers from across the United States, and to build relationships between our local scene and the world outside. We believe poetry is meant for everybody; that’s why we keep our readings short and our admission free. Poetry For All.

Mitchell L. H. Douglas is the author of dying in the scarecrow’s arms, blak al-fə bet, winner of the Persea Books Lexi Rudnitsky/Editor’s Choice Award, and Cooling Board: A Long-Playing Poem, an NAACP Image Award and Hurston/Wright Legacy Award nominee. His poetry has appeared in Callaloo, The Ringing Ear: Black Poets Lean South (University of Georgia Press), The BreakBeat Poets: New American Poetry in the Age of Hip-Hop (Haymarket Books), Crab Orchard Review, and Ninth Letter, and among others. He is a cofounder of the Affrilachian Poets, a Cave Canem graduate, and Associate Professor of English at IUPUI.

The name is a truth, an interrogation both external and internal. How to be black, black enough, Too Black in a world built through black subjugation but not made for black people?

Too Black is a spoken word poet, traveling and teaching artist, and public speaker fusing together historical context, current events, creative practice, and interpersonal interaction on international stages.

Wendy Lee Spacek (WLS) is a 3rd year MFA student in poetry. She was born and raised in Indiana and received her BFA in poetry from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Her first book, Psychogynecology, was published by Monster House Press is 2015. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming online at Poets.org, deLuge Journal, The Portland Review, TL;DR, and LVNG Magazine (Flood Editions). Honors include two Vera Meyer Strube Academy of American Poets Awards and a Guy Lemmon Award in Public Writing.

Chris Thibodeau is a queer mentally ill poet from Indiana, currently living in Muncie. Their work explores the intersections of those identities and their specific experiences. They continually strive to break down the stigma around mental illness. They have been featured in Nat Brut., thread, and The Broken Plate. In their free time, Chris plays roller derby and goes to therapy.

Tags: Poets Attack!, Mitchell Douglas, Too Black, Wendy Lee Spacek, Chris Thibodeau, Spoken Word, Poetry, Writing, Social Justice

SAVI (Social Assets and Vulnerabilities Indicators — www.savi.org) is a free online information system that helps you map, compare and store data about 2,000 Central Indiana communities. SAVI’s comprehensive, up-to-date statistics on housing, education, crime, and much more help businesses and organization create the charts, graphs, maps, and other results to make data-informed decisions. This introductory class, to be held in the Computer Training Lab, provides an overview to help participants decide whether they want to learn more about how to use SAVI.

Tags: SAVI (Social Assets and Vulnerabilities Indicators), comprehensive, up-to-date statistics on housing, education, crime, nonprofit, public policy, social justice

Now that you know what you want to accomplish with data, you can use that as a framework for choosing the right dataset. We cover the strengths, weaknesses, and costs of readily available data sets, including SAVI, so you have the information you need to locate the data that’s right for you.

Tags: SAVI (Social Assetts and Vulnerabilities Indicators), Module 2A: Find Existing Data, nonprofit, public policy, social justice

Before you can begin using data to inform decisions, identify what you are trying to accomplish and determine how data can help you get there. This will determine what kind of data you need.

Tags: SAVI (Social Assetts and Vulnerabilities Indicators), Module 1A: Frame the Problem, nonprofit, public policy, social justice

Join Tatjana Rebelle for your last chance to see the installation at Future Friends. This will be your chance to see the installation in it’s complete form including books for purchase.

Make sure to follow Future Friends Holographic Magic Club for times & days the gallery is open prior to the closing reception.

THIS IS AMERICA art show

On March 24, 2018 Tatjana Rebelle was asked to be a speaker at the youth led rally for March for Our Lives at the Indiana Statehouse. Three days later a portion of her speech was used in a white supremacist’s YouTube video referring her as a anti-white racists and communist. That video has had over 84,000 views and received over 2000 comments. This show has taken comments from the video released by Red Elephants Vincent James. Her goal is to show the reality of the backlash that comes from being a QPOC activist/organizer in America.

Tatjana Rebelle is a mother, activist, organizer, writer, performer and promoter. She has lived in Indianapolis most of her life. Which is where she learned to use her writing to deal with growing up in the midwest as a bisexual, biracial daughter of an immigrant. She is the founder and host of VOCAB. An all-inclusive monthly spoken word and live music event that is in the midst of its 11th year. She has been fighting for social justice for communities of color, LGTBQIA+ rights for several years on her own. As well as, works for American Friends Service Committee, combating Islamophobia, white supremacy, and fighting for Palestinian liberation. AFSC gives her the chance to follow in her idol, Bayard Rustin’s, footsteps in taking a nonviolent stance against global and local oppression. Her goal is to bring art and activism to the people that need to hear it the most, with every action she takes.

Tags: THIS IS AMERICA art show, social justice, Tatjana Rebelle, racism, Future Friends Holographic Magic Club

“We are a collection of voices, the assembled history of the many voices that have spoken into our lives and shaped us. Voices of the past, voices of the present, and voices of the future. There is an African proverb, “Se wo were fi na wosankofa a yenkyi,” which translates as “It is not wrong to go back for that which you have forgotten.” This is why we continue to remember the tales of struggle and tales of perseverance, even as we look to tales of hope. What a people choose to remember about its past, the stories they pass down, informs who they are and sets the boundaries of their identity. We remember the pain of our past to mourn, to heal, and to learn. Only in that way can we ensure the same mistakes are not repeated. The voices make up our stories. The stories make up who we are. A collected voice.” -introduction of The Voices of Martyrs

We’re wrapping up our year examining Afrofuturism by doing a mini-dive into some of my work. We’ll look at some of the stories spanning my career, themes of my fiction, its impact on my community work (and vice versa) as well as discuss what’s coming up next. As a primer, here are some of the stories we’ll be looking at:

From The Voices of Martyrs:

Pimp My Airship – https://www.apex-magazine.com/pimp-my-airship/ (story)

The Valkyrie – http://www.starshipsofa.com/blog/2018/05/02/starshipsofa-no-535-maurice-broaddus/ (podcast)

Stories since The Voices of Martyrs:

At the Village Vanguard – http://escapepod.org/2018/07/19/escape-pod-637-at-the-village-vanguard-ruminations-on-blacktopia/ (podcast or story)

El is a Spaceship Melody – http://www.beneath-ceaseless-skies.com/stories/el-is-a-spaceship-melody/ (story)

We may also watch a special episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. “Far Beyond the Stars” (season 6, episode 13). Warning: I consider DS9 to be the best iteration of Star Trek. Come at me.

As always, we gather at 6p for our listening lab and meal. Discussion begins at 6:30pm.

Tags: stories, storytelling, Afrofuturism, Voices of Community, social justice, Kheprw Institute, Maurice Broaddus

*FREE AND OPEN TO ALL*

This event will feature student performers from Irvington Prep along with a collaborative community art project. By facilitating conversation around visibility and inclusion, Irvington Youth for All hopes to change existing stereotypes of teenagers in our community. In giving them the stage at IVB, we give them the power to speak their truths and safely engage with peers and adults about issues affecting everyone, no matter your age.

Come join us in celebrating their bravery, voices, and dedication to community arts.

Tags: Irvington Youth for All, changing stereotypes, collaborative community art project, social justice, Irvington Prep, Irvington Vinyl & Books

A community discussion around forming an Indianapolis coalition allied with the national Homes For All campaign.

Homes For All is a national campaign with the goal of broadening the conversation of the housing crisis beyond foreclosure and putting forth a comprehensive housing agenda that also speaks to issues affecting public housing residents, homeless families, and the growing number of renters in American cities.

Learn more about Homes For All: https://homesforall.org/

Tags: Homes For All, community discussion, housing crisis, renters, homeless, social justice