April 23,2008: Jacob Faber Testifies in Front of New York City Council's Immigration Committee

On April 10, 2008, Researcher Jacob Faber testified in front of the New York City Council’s Immigration Committee on the challenges structural racism pose for creating relationships between immigrant communities and communities of color.  The hearing, put together by the New York Immigration Coalition, focused on the positive impact immigrants have on New York City.

Click here to read the testimony. CSI Testimony

April 7, 2008, Maya Wiley on Structural Racism and Food

On March 27, 2009 Maya Wiley led a webinar for the Jessie Smith Noyes Foundation  to discuss Structural Racism and the Food System.  Find out more about how the food we eat, and the agricultural system that delivers it to our plate, is shaped by and contributes to racialized inequity in out society. 

Click here to view the webinar presentation: Structural Racism and the Food  System

March 19, 2008: Maya Wiley on Obama’s Speech on Race

Speaking of race and the decline of the American middle class, Barack Obama warns that “opportunity comes to be seen as a zero sum game, in which your dreams come at my expense.”  Writing on Afro-Netizen, CSI Director Maya Wiley explains why the fortunes of the white middle class are inextricable from our nation’s commitment to overcoming structural racism. 

March 18, 2008: Mafruza Khan on Economic Growth

CSI Deputy Director recently wrote "Growth for What and What Kind of Growth?" for the blog of the Movement Vision Lab, laying out a vision for development that looks beyond narrow GDP considerations to examine the overall well-being of the people and the communities that development aid is supposed to help. 

March 13, 2008: CSI welcomes the Alston/Bannerman Program to its new home

With great excitement, we announce that the Alston/Bannerman Program is becoming part of the Center for Social Inclusion.  This will both expand Alston Bannerman’s programs and activities and increase CSI’s effectiveness in working with partner organizations to develop policy proposals, proactive strategies, leadership capacity and alliances to confront and dismantle structural racism.

The Alston/Bannerman program, which celebrates its 20^th anniversary in 2008, has provided sabbaticals to nearly 200 organizers of color, working on an array of issues in communities across the nation.  The sabbatical program was established in recognition of the importance of community organizing in promoting social change, with the idea that providing organizers with space to pull back from the demands of their work for a period of strategic reflection is a vital way to strengthen the movements within which they work.

The Alston/Bannerman community is a powerful network of leaders for social justice with enormous depth and breadth of organizing experience, and CSI will work to bring alumni together to forge a strong bridge between the worlds of public policy and racial justice advocacy.  After a brief hiatus for planning and resource development, we will continue the sabbatical program, and augment it with a senior fellowship that brings long-time organizers together to address problems of common concern. 

For more information on how the Alston/Bannerman program will be expanded, click here. The Alston Bannerman Leadership Initiative at CSI.  For more information about the Alston/Bannerman Program, please visit www.alstonbannerman.org. 

March 12, 2008:  USA Today Features CSI work in South Carolina

On March 9, 2008, USA Today printed “Black farmers work to keep land with co-ops,” an article profiling African-American landowners in lower Richland County, South Carolina, where CSI recently released a report on sustainable development initiatives to build healthier communities.  Seventy-two percent of lower Richland residents own their own land, mostly arable tracts that have often been owned by the same family for generations.

Our report, Growing Together, offers recommendations for building a sustainable metropolitan region around Columbia, SC that would build opportunity for rural landowners in the region, where rural communities lack the basic infrastructure necessary to create a thriving economic base.  The recommendations include the development of organic farming, cooperative farming structures that allow small family farms to compete in a market dominated by big agribusiness, and the production of renewable energy sources such as biofuels and geothermal power.

Click here to read the article.

March 6, 2008: Correction

In an email blast sent on February 21, 2008 to announce International Language Day we had a typo.  In the  "What is International Mother Language Day" portion of the fact sheet reading “East Pakistan gained independence in 1972 to become Bangladesh” it should read 1971. To view the new updated version of International Language Day,  click here.

February 29, 2008:  Katrina Survivors Respond to Sen. Vitters’ Attack On UN Commenters on Gulf Coast Housing

At a regional meeting of community advocates working together to push for government support for equitable rebuilding in the Gulf Coast, several survivors of Hurricane Katrina reacted to Senator David Vitters’ (R-LA) attack on a statement by the UN Special Rapporteur on housing and the UN Independent Expert on Minority Issues condemning ongoing demolition of public housing in New Orleans.  As many as 5,000 poor families in New Orleans stand to lose their homes because of the planned demolition of public housing in their city. 

Click here to read the full press release: Survivors speak out on Vitters' Attack on UN

February 21, 2008:  Can You Hear Us? Many Voices for Our Common Future

Today is International Language Day.  Established by UNESCO in 1999, International Language Day promotes the linguistic and cultural diversity of our planet.  The Center for Social Inclusion wants to take a moment to honor the linguistic and cultural diversity of its home, New York City, and to note that this richness is key to ensuring a vital future for the City, the region, and the nation as a whole.

Today, we are thrilled to announce a partnership with the CUNY Honors College Spring 2008 Seminar on The Peopling of New York at Queens College.  Through the lens of one globalized NYC neighborhood, the seminar will explore Flushing’s rich and complex demographic composition and transitions, and how linguistic diversity is alternately viewed as a community asset as well as a community challenge.  With the goal of promoting public awareness and activities to commemorate International Language Day, we will develop a website that explores issues, institutions, and community stakeholders that create bridges across race, ethnic, cultural and linguistic boundaries.

But this is just the beginning.  With elections across the City and so much at stake as the demographics of New York change, we are planning a city wide celebration of International Language Day on Feb. 21, 2009. 

For more information on International Language Day, click here.

February 7, 2008: Maya Wiley Speaking at the Community Church of New York for Black History Month

The Community Church of New York is celebrating Black History Month with Sunday Service speakers.  Among other speakers, Maya Wiley will be speaking on Sunday,  February 24, 2008 at 11 AM.  Maya will be presenting, Into the Open: Race in a Time of "Colorblindness."  

For more information: The Community Church of New York celebrates Black History Month

February 6, 2008:  Correction

In an email blast sent on February 1, 2008 to announce the publication of Growing Together: Thriving People for a Thriving Columbia, we erroneously referred to Columbia, SC as the poorest region in the country.  The sentence should have read, “…the South is the poorest region in the country, with 15% of its people living in poverty.”  We regret the error.

January 18, 2008:  CSI Releases New Report-Growing Together:  Thriving People for a Thriving Columbia

Press Release for CSI's Report-Growing Together: Thriving People for a Thriving Columbia

As South Carolina heads for the primaries, Democrats and Republicans alike need to support policies that promote economic growth that benefits everyone, creating more opportunities especially for the most marginalized residents.  Failure to invest in the Columbia region’s low-income Black communities has kept them trapped in poverty and isolated from opportunity.  Beyond this, it signals larger problems of public disinvestment and inappropriate use of public resources that is driving unhealthy growth and hurting the entire region.

For several years, CSI has been working with community leaders to realize their vision for development of the region that will build incomes and preserve the environment at the same time. 

To find more, including policy recommendations and action steps, read the report: Growing Together: Thriving People for a Thriving Columbia

To View the Toolkit, see: South Carolina, Columbia Region Report Toolkit

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