The Shame of the Nation : The Restoration of Apartheid Schooling in America: A Librarian At Every Table. No. 296.

Jonathan Kozol has a new book,coming out in mid-September-- The Shame of the Nation : The Restoration of Apartheid Schooling in America. Mr. Kozol was the speaker at the American Library Association's President's program in July 2000.
ALl his books are important. Death at an Early Age: The Destruction of the Hearts and Minds of Negro Children in the Boston Public School. (1967) National Book Award.
* Rachel and Her Children: Homeless Families in America (1988) Awarded the Robert F. Kennedy Book Award for 1989 and The Conscience in Media Award of the American Society of Journalists and Authors, and the Christopher Award, 1988.
* Savage Inequalities: Children in America's Schools(1991).
* Amazing Grace: The Lives of Children and the Conscience of a Nation (1995)
* Ordinary Resurrections: Children in the Years of Hope (2000).

Successful Solutions for Sustainable Development.A Librarian at Every Table. No. 295.

The Best Practices and Local Leadership Programme (BLP) is a global network of institutions dedicated to the identification and exchange of successful solutions for sustainable development.


The Best Practices searchable database contains over 2150 proven solutions from more than 140 countries to the common social, economic and environmental problems of an urbanizing world. It demonstrates the practical ways in which public, private and civil society sectors are working together to improve governance, eradicate poverty, provide access to shelter, land and basic services, protect the environment and support economic development.

The project collaborates with the UN Habitat --United Nations Human Settlements Program.

“Gathering at the Waters: Embracing Our Spirits, Telling Our Stories.” A Librarian at Every Table. No. 294.

Official Site is up.

The Joint Conference of Librarians of Color (JCLC) is the first-ever national conference to be held and sponsored by the five caucus associations of color at the same time in the same place. The theme is“Gathering at the Waters: Embracing Our Spirits, Telling Our Stories.” The JCLC is scheduled for October 11–15, 2006 in Dallas, TX at the Adam's Mark Dallas Hotel.

The five caucus associations are affiliate members of the American Library Association (ALA) and their liaison to ALA is through its Office for Literacy and Outreach Services (OLOS). The five caucus associations have each held their own national conferences in the past. The 2006 joint national conference is co-sponsored by the American Indian Library Association (AILA); the Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association (APALA); the Black Caucus of the American Library Association (BCALA); the Chinese American Librarians Association (CALA), and REFORMA, the National Association to Provide Library and Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish Speaking. Conference proceeds will be divided equally amongst the five groups for their scholarship endowments.

KnowledgePlex:The Affordable Housing and Community Development Resource: A Librarian at Every Table. No. 293.

Created by a distinguished team of founding partners and implemented by the Fannie Mae Foundation, KnowledgePlex® is designed to support the efforts of practitioners, grantors, policy makers, scholars, investors, and others involved or interested in the fields of affordable housing and community development.

Topics Include:

Affordable Housing Development & Finance

Economic Revitalization

Fair Housing

Homelessness

Homeownership & Mortgage Markets

Land Use & Housing Planning

Organizational Development

Personal Finance & Asset Creation

Public Housing

Social & Comprehensive Development

Collaboration, Capacity Building and Community Development: A Librarian at Every Table. No. 292.

The first issue of the International Journal of Education and Development has an editorial "Collaboration as a critical success factor in using ICT for capacity building and community development."
Stewart Marshall and Wal Taylor observe:

Despite the huge potential of ICT to assist communities to increase their overall well-being through community development, there are relatively few examples of sustained community networks built around ICT when compared to commercial applications, even in the developed countries where the technology has been increasingly available for up to 20 years.

Of related interest is the work of the United Nations Information and Communication Technologies Task Force.

Darfur: A Librarian at Every Table. No. 291.

The Save Darfur Coalition is an alliance of over 130 diverse faith-based, humanitarian, and human rights organizations, assembled to raise public awareness and to mobilize efforts to help end the atrocities and reduce the suffering in Darfur and nearby refugee camps.

The Darfur Information Center is a gateway with educational and advocacy purposes. The main objectives of Darfur Information Center:
-

Provide balanced views and news about the current events in Darfur.
- Provide general information about Darfur history, culture, geography, for Sudanese and non-Sudanese.
- Serve as an advocacy organization that promotes peaceful co-existences between various ethnic groups of Darfur.
- Expose the atrocities and human rights abuses committed by the Sudanese government, and various militia groups.
- Provide political solutions for the current political turmoil in Darfur within a unified Sudan.

Darfur: A Genocide We Can Stop

KIDS COUNT State-Level Data Online: A Librarian at Every Table. No. 290

About KIDS COUNT State-Level Data Online.
This new database, launched in July 2005, contains more than 75 measures of child well-being, including the 10 measures used in our annual KIDS COUNT Data Book. It includes the most timely data available on Education, Employment and Income, Poverty, Health, Basic Demographics, and Youth Risk Factors for the U.S., all 50 states, and D.C. Depending on availability, three to five years of trend data is currently available for most indicators.This easy-to-use, powerful online database allows you to generate custom reports for a geographic area (Profiles) or to compare geographic areas on a topic (Ranking, Maps, and Line Graphs).

Engaging Communities: A Librarian at Every Table. No. 289.

International Conference on Engaging Communities.
The International Conference on Engaging Communities is an initiative of the United Nations and the Government of the State of Queensland, Australia. This unique event will explore all issues related to community engagement and address the experiences, challenges and research which affect all citizens, governments and organisations alike. The program is designed to interest representatives from community groups, academia, government agencies, corporations, associations and the like.
Around the world, greater engagement of citizens, clients, consumers and communities is becoming a feature of many governments and both public and private organisations. People are expecting to be able to be involved and to have a say in the business of government and in the decisions of organisations that affect their interests. Many are concerned about low levels of knowledge and the poor relations with communities that reduce the trust in public and private institutions. This in turn, impedes effective decision-making and the achievement of social and economic development and environmental sustainability outcomes. Accordingly, some governments and organisations are responding with a renewed commitment to effective engagement and some are using innovative methods of doing so to deliver better results for customers, citizens and communities.
Program includes Robert Putnam whose 2003 book, BETTER TOGETHER: Restoring the American Community, includes Chicago Public Library as an example.

Library of La Raza. A Librarian at Every Table. No. 288

There are over 200 documents available in the library at the National Council of La Raza.

• How Did Latinos Really Vote in 2004?

• Immigrant Access to Driver’s Licenses: A Tool Kit for Advocates

• Hispanic Perspectives - NCLR/Zogby Poll

The National Council of La Raza - the largest national constituency-based Hispanic organization and the leading voice in Washington, DC for the Hispanic community - is a private, nonprofit, nonpartisan, tax-exempt organization established to reduce poverty and discrimination and improve life opportunities for Hispanic Americans. Four major functions provide essential focus to the organization’s work: capacity-building assistance; applied research, policy analysis, and advocacy; public information efforts; and special and international projects. These functions complement NCLR’s work in five key strategic priorities - education, assets/investment, economic mobility, health, and media/image/civil rights.

Santa Fe: first UNESCO City of Folk Art: A Librarian At Every Table. No. 287.

The city of Santa Fe, New Mexico has been appointed UNESCO City of Folk Art under the Global Alliance Creative Cities Network during a special ceremony that took place in Santa Fe, 13 July.

==========

Creative cities are vital to meeting community and national economic and social goals. By happy coincidence, the conditions that foster creative cities also foster economic innovation, social inclusion, democratic engagement and environmental sustainability. Four new papers from CPRN underline the key role of the arts and culture in that enterprise, especially in today’s knowledge economy.
===
This is from the Canadian Policy Research Networks, a different kind of think tank that concentrates on the human side of the agenda. "CPRN, from the beginning, has helped to bridge social and economic choices."

On-Line Conference on Community Organizing and Development. A Librarian at Every Table. No. 286.

COMM-ORG is the On-Line Conference on Community Organizing and Development.

The COMM-ORG mission is to:

* help connect people who care about the craft of community organizing.
*find and provide information that organizers, scholars, and scholar-organizers can use to learn, teach, and do community organizing.
* involve all COMM-ORG members in meeting those goals.
*community organizers and academics can both benefit by exchanging information and resources. The COMM-ORG membership is composed of about half academics and half practitioners (including some government officials and funders).
COMM-ORG.

Supreme Court Guide for Activists: A Librarian at Every Table. No. 285.

On Friday, July 1 Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor announced that she would retire from the Supreme Court. Her vacancy provides President Bush with an opportunity to be a uniter, not a divider, by consulting with Senators from both political parties and by choosing a mainstream nominee.
President Bush will be announcing his nominee any day now so the time to help persuade him and the Senate to confirm a mainstream candidate is short. Please help protect the Supreme Court by taking one or more of the actions below. Help spread the word by sharing this activist guide with your friends and family.

International Poverty Centre. A Librarian at Every Table. No. 284.

In Focus

In Focus is an online bulletin of the International Poverty Centre. Its purpose is to present succinctly the results of recent research on poverty and inequality in the developing world.

World Summit in Reflection: A Librarian at Every Table.No. 283.

World Summit in Reflection is an online site that hosts 82 papers in addition to links to the 37 contributions in the printed volume. Its intentions are to serve the community of scholars and practitioners as they reflect on the World Summit on the Information Society events in Geneva, plan for the meeting in Tunis, and ultimately build the global information society.

Progressive Legislative Action Network: A Librarian at Every Table. No. 282.

The Progressive Legislative Action Network (PLAN) launches August 16, 2005. The Progressive Legislative Action Network's mission is to drive public policy debates and change the political landscape in the United States by focusing on attainable and progressive state level actions. It will do so by providing coordinated research support for a network of State legislators, their staff's and constituencies, in order to equip them with coherent logistical and strategic advocacy tools necessary for advancing key progressive economic and social policies.If states are the "laboratories of democracy," they are also the most important breeding ground for progressive policies that serve the interests of America's middle class.

Co-chairmen are former Montana Senate Minority Leader Steve Doherty, D-Great Falls, and David Sirota, a Helena author who will be leaving his position as a fellow at the Center for American Progress to assume his new role."With an entrenched majority in Washington, D.C., that ignores the needs of ordinary Americans, the real fight has moved to the states," Sirota said in a press release.

"PLAN will take the lead in crafting innovative policy solutions to improve the lives of Americans across the country. For far too long, right-wing groups have dominated the debate at the state level. With PLAN, that is going to change."

Think of PLAN as a training camp, a policy resource and an information hub for progressive leaders across the country. PLAN will do everything from keeping local leaders on message to helping them draft legislation. Simply put, it will serve as the orchestration of a movement that PLAN leaders say needs some steam in the country right now.
=====
[additonal updates on Sirotablog]

"To increase the capacity of the states to prevent and reduce poverty." A Librarian at Every Table. No. 281.

The National Association of State Community Services Programs (NASCSP) assists states in responding to poverty issues.
The Government Performance and Result Act (GPRA) addresses accountability and performance by focusing on results of government programs. The GPRA measures for the Community Services Block Grant (CSBG) program reflect efforts to reduce or eliminate conditions of poverty among low-income families and the communities in which they live. The GPRA measure on poverty conditions captures both the individual conditions of family and community poverty that are addressed by CSBG and other resources mobilized by Community Action Agencies, and the broader outcomes, such as economic self-sufficiency, that can only be achieved through coordinated action among programs/services both within such agencies and with partnering organizations in the community.
NASCSP members are state administrators of the Community Services Block Grant (CSBG) and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Weatherization Assistance Program (DOE/WAP).

Global Footprint Network. A Librarian at Every Table: No. 280.

The Global Footprint Network is committed to fostering a world where all people have the opportunity to live satisfying lives within the means of Earth's ecological capacity. We are dedicated to advancing the scientific rigor and practical application of the Ecological Footprint, a tool that quantifies human demand on nature, and nature's capacity to meet these demands. Created in 1993 by Mathis Wackernagel and William Rees, the Ecological Footprint is now in wide use by governments, communities, and businesses to monitor current ecological resource balances and to plan for the future.

Footprint Network News

Child Poverty in Rich Countries. A Librarian at Every Table. No. 279.

Child Poverty in Rich Countries 2005.
The proportion of children living in poverty has risen in a majority of the world's developed economies. No matter which of the commonly-used poverty measures is applied, the situation of children is seen to have deteriorated over the last decade. This publication is the sixth in a series of Innocenti Report Cards, designed to monitor and compare the performance of the OECD countries in meeting the needs of their children. It is also the first in what will be an annual Innocenti Report on Child Poverty in Rich Countries.
See Innocenti Center.

CultureWork. A Librarian at Every Table. No. 278.

CultureWork is an electronic publication of the University of Oregon Institute for Community Arts Studies. Its mission is to provide timely workplace-oriented information on culture, the arts, education, and community.

Cities for Progress: A Librarian at Every Table. No. 277.

Cities for Progress
Cities for Progress is a growing network of locally-elected officials and community-led activists and citizens working together for social change. We are a network that takes a local, national and international approach to issues that affect us in our own communities. Following in the footsteps of Cities for Peace local resolutions prior to the Iraq war in which almost 200 cities and towns expressed their concerns about local costs of such a war, Cities for Progress is taking on other issues such as Universal Health Care and Anti-Walmart campaigns.

2-1-1 ToolKit. A Librarian At Every Table. No. 276.

The mission of 2-1-1 is to build America's capacity to strengthen the way people access help and engage in civic life.

Americans in search of critical services such as emergency financial assistance, food, shelter, child care, jobs, or mental health support often do not know where to begin. Now, more than ever, individuals and families will need a way to efficiently access all the resources of the community to achieve or maintain self-sufficiency.

Community information and referral has been bringing people and services together as a critical part of the health and human service delivery system for over 30 years. I&R specialists are skilled professionals who assess callers' needs, determine their options and best course of action, direct them to appropriate programs/services, provide culturally appropriate support, intervene in crisis situations, and advocate for the caller as needed. 2-1-1 provides an easy way for every citizen to access comprehensive and specialized I&R services in their community.


The Alliance of Information and Referral Systems has designed the
AIRS 2-1-1 Toolkit to help 2-1-1 planners create cost effective, high quality, and investor friendly business plans. The AIRS 2-1-1 Toolkit is the only 2-1-1 planning process developed by experienced 2-1-1 consultants and tested by 2-1-1 planners in the field.

=
For 2-1-1 and libraries see:

"Service Integration and Libraries: Will 2-1-1 be the Catalyst for Renewal?"
Reference and User Services Quarterly 40 (Winter, 2000).

Tennessee Library Association 2004.
Why should librarians provide information on community services?
--Doug Fluegel, Audrey May, Catherine Moirai, Martha Earl

Librarians for Peace: A Librarian at Every Table. No. 275.

Librarians for Peace.
Librarians for Peace is an ad hoc group of librarians and library workers, mainly Americans but also people of other nations, using the internet to organize and lobby against armed conflict where we consider it unnecessary, with a focus on our own country and its allies.
=
U.S. Troop Deaths in Iraq
Iraq Body Count

Human Rights Video Project: A Librarian at Every Table. No. 274.

The Human Rights Video Project is a national library project created to increase the public's awareness of human rights issues through the medium of documentary films. To that end, we have curated a collection of 12 documentary films on human rights issues. The project also encourages collaborations between public libraries and human rights advocacy organizations to present film screenings and discussion programs.

Essays on the site include, "Sustaining the Public Sphere in Libraries."

The Borgen Project: A Librarian at Every Table. No.273.

The Borgen Project
If the political attention and funding that went into Iraq had gone
toward poverty-reduction; hunger could have been eliminated
globally. Few fully realize the enormous financial burden of war.
There is nothing financially comparable.

World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development 2005. A Librarian at Every Table. No. 272.

World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development 2005 : what is our duty ?

21 May is World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development (UNESCO Resolution 57/249)

The Day will provide us with an opportunity to deepen understanding of the values of Cultural Diversity and to learn to “live together” better. This is why UNESCO appeals to the Member States as well as to all civil society to celebrate this World Day by involving as many actors and partners as possible.

The need to include indigenous education for development has been highlighted by Education International, a global union federation representing over 29 million teachers.
300 million Indigenous Peoples live in over 70 countries and represent 4% of the world's population. For most Indigenous Peoples, education has been used as one of the tools in the destruction of their culture. It has been part of the process of assimilation. Around the world, children from Indigenous communities feature at the bottom of indicators of educational achievement. Educators and EI member organisations have a special responsibility to support Indigenous Peoples in their efforts to ensure the educational success of their children and the survival of their knowledge, languages, and cultures.

Jail is No Safety Net: A Librarian at Every Table. No. 271.

Jail is No Safety Net

Each year, thousands of Americans with mental illnesses cycle in out of the criminal and juvenile justice systems, punished for the mental health system’s failure to provide crucial services and supports that can help them lead more successful lives in the community.

Last year, lawmakers and the President took an important step toward addressing this disturbing trend. “The Mentally Ill Offender Treatment and Crime Reduction Act” (P.L. 108-414) was sponsored by Senator Mike DeWine (R-OH) and Representative Ted Strickland (D-OH) and signed by President Bush. Unfortunately, neither the President’s proposed budget nor the recently passed Congressional budget resolution sets aside any federal dollars to support this important initiative.

The Bazelon Center and our partners in the Campaign for Mental Health Reform need your help to secure funding for federal efforts to stop the dangerous, expensive and inappropriate warehousing of people with mental illnesses in our nation’s jails and prisons.
The mission of the Judge David L. Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law is to protect and advance the rights of adults and children who have mental disabilities. The Center envisions an America where people who have mental illnesses or developmental disabilities exercise their own life choices and have access to the resources that enable them to participate fully in their communities.

Human Rights Watch Report:
Ill-Equipped:U.S. Prisons and Offenders with Mental Illness.
Somewhere between two and three hundred thousand men and women in U.S. prisons suffer from mental disorders, including such serious illnesses as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major depression. An estimated seventy thousand are psychotic on any given day. Yet across the nation, many prison mental health services are woefully deficient, crippled by understaffing, insufficient facilities, and limited programs. All too often seriously ill prisoners receive little or no meaningful treatment. They are neglected, accused of malingering, treated as disciplinary problems.

ColorLines, Summer 2005: A Librarian at Every Table. No. 270

ColorLines is the first national, multi-racial magazine devoted to covering the politics and creations of communities of color. The summer 2005 issue is Food & Culture in Crisis."

Water Woes
Private companies raise the rates on those who can least afford it.

Down These Green Streets
As farmer’s markets grow, more people of color are getting a healthier bite of life.

The Arctic Dilemma
A perfect storm of environmental changes is transforming Native Alaskan food gathering and culture.

Greening the Liquor Store
A national network of organizations is trying to bring healthier food choices to the ubiquitous liquor stores in poor neighborhoods. But converting is hard to do.

Got Tradition?
American Indians use native foods to fight diabetes and revive Indian culture.

Special Interest Takeover. A Librarian at Every Table. No. 269.

Special Interest Takeover, a new report by Citizens for Sensible Safeguards (CSS ) documents a systematic attack on public health, safety, and environmental protections over the last four years. Who are these special interests, and just how much have they taken over?

# First, we need strong protections for public health, safety, civil rights, and the environment, and these protections must be vigorously enforced. Industry self-regulation - which is the Bush administration's answer - is not enough.
# Second, we must commit the necessary resources to do the job. If we do not, enforcement will suffer and public and environmental dangers will not be addressed.
# Third, the scientific advice that informs regulatory decisions must be free of conflicts of interests, so that protective rules are based on sound, independent judgment that does not put special interests over the public interest.
# Finally, government decision-making should be transparent and open to scrutiny, allowing for accountability to a fully-informed public.
The public suffers when these principles are forgotten. The recent wave of corporate financial scandals is a case in point: corporations came to see the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as toothless and irrelevant and subsequently pushed fraudulent practices to the breaking point, cheating investors out of billions.

Unfortunately, these principles are being ignored across the board, and the failure to set and enforce needed safeguards is inviting irresponsible behavior that could have devastating consequences for public health, safety, civil rights, and the environment. We need to get back on course before it's too late.
Become a Member.

Through the Arts Bridges Can be Built Between Societies. A Librarian at Every Table. No. 268.

The Louise T Blouin Foundation will be an international forum for the generation and dissemination of new knowledge about the art and science of creativity. The Louise T. Blouin Foundation aims to generate and disseminate new knowledge about the art and science of creativity. It will analyse and celebrate the many ways in which the human brain gives birth to new ideas, new works of art and new directions for our social, cultural and commercial development. It will support and promote inter-disciplinary research, experimentation and education in the pursuit of international enlightenment, communication and prosperity. It will seek to position itself as the primary hub in a global network of key organizations and individuals who share its core belief in the inspirational and economic importance of the visual and performing arts and in the boundless potential of the human mind.

Community Organizing: A Librarian at Every Table. No. 267.

The COMM-ORG mission is to link academics and activists, and theory and practice, toward the goal of improving community organizing and its related crafts. The project is supported by the University of Toledo Department of Sociology and Anthropology.
The COMM-ORG mission is to help connect people who care about the craft of community organizing;find and provide information that organizers, scholars, and scholar-organizers can use to learn, teach, and do community organizing.

May Day-Labor History and the Haymarket Martyrs. A Librarian at Every Table. No. 266.

May Day is International Workers Day. The Holt Labor Library provides a bibliography which includes:

Foner, Philip S. May Day: A Short History of the International Workers' Holiday 1886-1986 . New York: International Publishers, 1986.

Johnson, Olive M. May Day vs. Labor Day: A Comparison of the Social Significance of the Two Days of Labor Celebration. New York: New York Labor News Company, 1936.

The Chicago Historical Society houses the Haymarket Affair Digital Collection of key documents and artifacts in their historical context with a minimum of interpretive information. Much like the witness testimony and exhibits introduced during the Haymarket trial, these primary sources are pieces of evidence which enable the user to reconstruct and interpret the historical events to which they relate.

See the affiliated, interpretive web site developed by Northwestern University in cooperation with the Chicago Historical Society:
The Dramas of Haymarket.

Project for Public Spaces: A Librarian at Every Table. No. 265.

Public spaces are library spaces. The idea of a common-sense approach to streets, buildings and human sociability is discussed in a Governing essay on Fred Kent of the Project for Public Spaces.

The Project for Public Spaces is a nonprofit organization dedicated to creating and sustaining public places that build communities.

Tribal Archives, Libraries and Museums: A Librarian at Every Table. No. 264.

A National Leadership Grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, a federal funding agency in Washington DC, was awarded to the Arizona State Museum and the Arizona State Library under the category of library-museum collaborations.
The two year grant has three major activities: Model Projects of Collaboration, an updated national directory of tribal libraries, archives and museums, and a national conference of tribal libraries, archives and museums.
The conference is May 24-27, 2005. The conference will create a network of support for tribal cultural institutions and programs; articulate contemporary issues related to the development of tribal libraries, archives and museums and encourage collaboration among tribal and non-tribal cultural institutions. The goals of the conference will be achieved through plenary sessions with keynote speakers, information and resource tables, concurrent panels, affinity breakfasts, group meals and special events.

-----Librarian

Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. A Librarian at Every Table. No. 263.

ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, is the nation's largest community organization of low- and moderate-income families, working together for social justice and stronger communities.

ACORN works in more than 75 cities across the United States to improve housing conditions for the economically disadvantaged, increase community safety, secure living wages for all workers and improve the quality of local schools.

ACORN members participate in local meetings and actively work on campaigns, elect leadership from the neighborhood level up, and pay the organizations core expenses through membership dues and grassroots fundraisers.
Please let me know of library projects connected to ACORN.
---Librarian

Earth Day 2005 is April 22: A Librarian at Every Table. No. 262.

Earth Day Network’s mission is to broaden the environmental movement worldwide and to educate and mobilize people, governments, and corporations to take responsibility for a clean and healthy environment.

Earth Day Network’s programs and activities are guided by the following goals:

Promote Civic Engagement — Earth Day Network works with partner organizations to provide opportunities for all citizens to become active at the local, state, national and global levels.

Broaden the Meaning of “Environment” — Earth Day Network is committed to expanding the definition of “environment” to include all issues that affect our health, our communities and our environment, such as air and water pollution, deteriorating schools, public transportation and access to jobs, rising rates of asthma and cancer, and lack of funding for parks and recreation.

Mobilize Communities — Earth Day Network and our Campaign for Communities partners registered and turned out one million new and infrequent voters in the 2004 presidential election, focusing on young people, and African-American, Latino and low-income communities, where voter turnout is generally low.

Create Groundbreaking Environmental Education Programs — Earth Day Network uses innovative education tools and community projects to promote civic participation and develop a sense of environmental responsibility among young people.

Train New Environmental Leaders — Earth Day Network’s programs and activities inform and inspire young people and people of color to become environmental leaders.

Build International Partnerships that Strengthen Cooperation Among Diverse Groups — Earth Day Network affects environmental change through the development of new, cooperative relationships among organizations that are not traditional allies.

Engage Corporations in Support of Environmental Programs — Earth Day Network continues to work with select corporations to promote sustainable business practices.

Support Earth Day Celebrations Around the World — Earth Day, April 22, is the largest secular holiday in the world, celebrated by more than a half billion people every year.

Earth Day Footprint Quiz.

Book:
Ehrlich, Paul R. and Ehrlich, Anne E. One with Nineveh: Politics, Consumption, and the Human Future. Island, $27 (1-55963-879-6).
Relayed in a clarion voice, this powerful argument for saving the environment from disaster links social and economic policies with the empirical evidence of overpopulation and materialistic consumption. [A 2005 'Notable Book' selected by the American Library Association].

---Librarian

Adult Education Public Policy Advocacy: A Librarian at Every Table. No. 261.

David J. Rosen has posted links for Adult Education Public Policy Advocacy Nationally and in the States .

The Adult Literacy Education (ALE) Wiki was created in November, 2004 for practitioners, researchers and learners to pose and answer important questions in adult literacy education practice. It is to help teachers, tutors, administrators and other practitioners find professional wisdom and research regarding specific practice questions.

The Grassroots Literacy Coalition is a group of students, teachers and administers who are fighting for the creation of an adult education system that would truly serve all of the people who need adult education in New York City.

Hotel Rwanda and Human Rights: A Librarian at Every Table. No. 260.

A LIBRARIAN AT EVERY TABLE
April 15, 2005. No. 260.
Sources & Sites for Community Building.
a-librarian-at-every-table/archives


Amnesty International has created a new downloadable organizing kit based on Hotel Rwanda that you can use to bring human rights education to your community. The kit iis designed to be used in conjunction with the release of Hotel Rwanda on DVD.

For other examples of Human Rights programming for libraries see the Human Rights Video Project.

How Class Works. No. 259

How Class Works - 2006 Conference

The conference seeks to explore ways in which an explicit recognition of class helps to understand the social world in which we live, and ways in which analysis of society can deepen our understanding of class as a social relationship. Presentations should take as their point of reference the lived experience of class; proposed theoretical contributions should be rooted in and illuminate social realities.

Conference themes:

The mosaic of class, race, and gender.

Class, power, and social structure.

Class and community.

Class in a global economy.

Middle class? Working class? What's the difference and why does it matter?

Class, public policy, and electoral politics.
Pedagogy of class.

Working Class Studies Association.

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Archives of the first 227 entries of A LIBRARIAN AT EVERY TABLE are at the A LIBRARIAN AT EVERY TABLE ARCHIVE SITE.



See also: Librarian

Value of Volunteers: A Librarian at Every Table. No. 258.

A LIBRARIAN AT EVERY TABLE
March 30, 2005. No. 258.
Sources & Sites for Community Building.
a-librarian-at-every-table/archives


ServiceLeader provides general information on volunteers. Energize.Inc. is an international training, consulting and publishing firm specializing in volunteerism. INDEPENDENT SECTOR announces that the 2004 estimate for the value of a volunteer hour has reached $17.55 per hour.

Poverty Research and Issues: A Librarian at Every Table. No. 257

A LIBRARIAN AT EVERY TABLE
a-librarian-at-every-table/archives


Focus provides coverage of poverty-related research, events, and issues, and acquaints a large audience with the work of the Institute for Research on Poverty by means of short essays on selected pieces of research.
Focus (Spring 2005).

For librarians: Hunger, Homelessness and Poverty Task Force.

More Inequities in our Health Care System: A Librarian at Every Table. No. 256.

A LIBRARIAN AT EVERY TABLE
March 24, 2005. No. 256.
Sources & Sites for Community Building.
a-librarian-at-every-table/archives



U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Leavitt has laid out a dangerous proposal to cut the Medicaid program that will have serious implications for all Medicaid beneficiaries [ February 1, 2005 speech before the World Health Care Congress]. However, the proposed cuts will have a disproportionate impact on low-income racial and ethnic minorities, especially seniors. The Secretary’s proposed “solutions” to alleviating the current problems faced by Medicaid will create more inequities in our health care system and will only move to worsen—not eliminate—racial and ethnic health disparities.
Librarians working with health care advocates can use resources from the Medicaid Action Center and the State-by-State Analysis of Budget Proposals for Medicaid and Tax Revenue.

GIS and Regional Planning; A Librarian at Every Table. No. 255.

A LIBRARIAN AT EVERY TABLE
March 21, 2005. No. 255.
Sources & Sites for Community Building.


The Alliance for Regional Stewardship February 2005 Newsletter includes an article on the Federal Geographic Data Committee. Regional stewards need accurate, consistent and updated geographic information to enhance decision-making. "Following the first law of geography, in which everything is related to everything else, but near things are more related than distant things, the FGDC has developed the National Digital Geospatial Framework to provide regionally relevant, nationally consistent, community owned and operated geographic data. "

Additional Resources:
GIS.com
The Geographic Information Center of the National Academies
provides access to geographic information-related resources across all of the National Academies program areas.
U.S. Geologic Survey

Book:
Weaving a National Map: Review of the U.S. Geological Survey Concept of The National Map.
National Academies Press, 2003.

Economic Opportunity Act. A Librarian at Every Table. No. 254.

A LIBRARIAN AT EVERY TABLE
March 18, 2005. No. 254.
Sources & Sites for Community Building.

Derrick Len Span's statement on the 41st anniversary of the Economic Opportunity Act.

The Community Action Partnership’s network of 1,000 Community Action Agencies, were created in 1964 to be the soldiers in President Johnson’s War on Poverty. Since then, we have helped more than 13 million people each year change their lives. We remain dedicated to continuing the fight and will not rest until at long last poverty has been eradicated.

We urge all Americans to join us in this effort by taking action in your local communities-conducting poverty awareness campaigns, encouraging the preservation of social services programs, or writing letters to elected officials in support of national anti-poverty legislation. Poverty is no one's fault but everyone's fight, so we must all do our part. The War on Poverty can be won as long as the nation makes it a commitment once again just as President Johnson did 41 years ago. [ 3/16/2005].

See: WAR! on the War on Poverty

Books:
Michael Harrington
The Other America: Poverty in the United States
New York, MacMillan, 1962.

Leiyu Shi and Gregory D. Stevens
Vulnerable Populations in the United States
Jossey-Bass, 2005.

David K. Shipler
The Working Poor :Invisible in America
Knopf, 2004/

David Wagner
The Poorhouse: America's Forgotten Institution
Lanham, 2005.

Poverty in the United States: An Encyclopedia of History, Politics and Policy
ABC-Clio, 2004.

The Poor Pay More- A Librarian at Every Table. No. 253.

A LIBRARIAN AT EVERY TABLE
March 14, 2005. No. 253.
Sources & Sites for Community Building.

Libraries can provide people with information on economic literacy.


The Poor Pay More.

CREDIT CARD CRUSH
Change from 1989 to 2001 in the number of families with incomes less than $10,000 who own a credit card and carry a balance from month to month: +72 percent.

FRINGE FINANCE FIESTA
Growth in the number of pawn shops operating nationwide from 1986 to 2003: +142%.
Ratio of “payday lending” outlets currently operating nationwide versus the number of these outlets operating in the early 1990s: more than 100:1. Average annualized interest rate of a payday (short-term cash advance) loan: 470 percent.

BANKING BLUES
Amount a western Massachusetts bank charged a new customer in 2003 for “bounce protection” fees after she overdrew her balance by $98.25: $180 in the first month.Amount this customer would have paid if her account had traditional overdraft protection through a line of credit (rather than bounce protection): $1.50.Number of banks nationwide now offering bounce protection: nearly 3,000.

HEALTH CARE [MONEY] HEMORRHAGE
Percentage of income Americans earning less than $10,000 per year spend on health insurance premiums, out-of-pocket medical expenses, and wage deductions for employer-sponsored health coverage: 23.

TAKE ACTION:
United for a Fair Economy
raises awareness that concentrated wealth and power undermine the economy, corrupt democracy, deepen the racial divide, and tear communities apart. We support and help build social movements for greater equality.

Life after Lockup- A Librarian at Every Table. No. 252.

Each year, nearly 650,000 people are released from US prisons, and over 7 million are released from jails; the vast majority will be rearrested within 3 years.
The January/February 2005 issue of Shelterforce covers Life after Lockup and Housing Ex-Offenders.
The new Re-Entry Council report offers hundreds of consensus-based, bipartisan recommendations for reducing public spending and increasing public safety by promoting the safe and successful return of these individuals to the community.

"While we may not be able to change the prison-industrial complex that has grown so much over the last decades we can, as working librarians, take first steps. We can seek to ensure that people held in local jails have library service. There are some public libraries and projects that provide guidance in this path. If we help one even one person, we help all." --from "Public Libraries and People in Jail" Reference and User Services Quarterly 44 (Fall 2004): 26-30.

Grey Literature Report- A Librarian at Every Table. No. 251.

The latest Grey Literature Report issued by the New York Academy of Medicine Library includes reports by the Alan Guttmacher Institute , the Center for American Progress, and the World Health Organization. The Grey Literature Report is a rich resource issued quarterly.

Of special importance in this issue is the UNICEF study, Childhood Under Threat.

• There are those who dismiss as utopian the conviction [Convention on the Rights of the Child] that the majority – let alone all – of the world's children could actually experience such a childhood as the ideal that infuses the Convention: one of love, care and protection, in a family environment, with ample scope to survive, grow, develop and participate. UNICEF is not among them. But swift and decisive action is
  required to reduce the poverty that children experience, protect them from armed conflict and support those orphaned or made vulnerable by HIV/AIDS. Every one of us has a role to play in ensuring that every child enjoys a childhood.

Librarians work to identify information that will help humanity regardless of issuing agency. Subscriptions are free to the Grey Literature Report.

International Women's Day is March 8: Building a More Secure Future- A Librarian At Every Table. No. 250.

International Women's Day is March 8, 2005. The 2005 theme is Gender Equality 2005: Building a More Secure Future. UNIFEM, the United Nations Development Fund for Women
covers 2005 International Women's Day and the 10th anniversary of the Beijing Conference in its February 2005 newsletter, Currents.

During the 49th session of the Commission on the Status Women (February 28-March 11, 2005) the Beijing Platform for Action will be assessed. The publication, Pathway to Gender Equality outlines how the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) can be used to understand and address the gender equality dimensions of the Millennium Development Goals.

20 films to Celebrate International Women's Day:

1. Solange, the Boatwoman - directed by Claude Da Silva and Modestre Houngbedji, Benin
Solange does her trade on waterside markets, with her canoe loaded with bamboos, food and other materials. She has not been to school, but she knows enough to carry on her mother's trade and to support her daughter with it.

2. Van Chan, A Cambodian Dancer - directed by Rithy Panh, Cambodia
At the fall of Pol Pot's regime, her husband is appointed chief of district of Barai and she becomes assistant director for culture and information. Hardly has happiness started when her husband is killed by the Red Khmers. Today, she is a teacher of traditional dance and is the only support of her family.

3. Mrs. Ibouna - directed by Sebastien Kamba, Congo
For a long time, Mrs. Ibouna suffered the curses and superstitions ascribed to albino people. She and people like her are marginalized and hardly accepted, surrounded by several myths such as being bearers of bad luck.

4. All My Landscapes - directed by Hrvoje Juvancic, Croatia
Zeljka Corak is an art historian, writer and translator. She published several books on architecture, urbanism and art history. In this documentary, we discover with her the architectural beauty of Zagreb and Dubrovnik and the beauty and meaning of the selected objects of Zelka Corak's setting.

5. Nana, the Course of a Farmer - directed by Simonette Rasoampanina, Madagascar
Nana's father died when she was three years old. At 7, like all other young girls, she was farming and selling the crop to get some money to go to school. For many years, Nana had to fight to receive education in order to have a better life.

6. Sunshine Color - directed by Amadou Moctar Beye, Senegal
A story of a Senegalese painter, this wonderful documentary presents the testimony of a captivating and an amazing woman, who prevails over the prejudice and traditional image of women in Africa.

7. Suzanne, a Heart of Dreams - directed by Amevi Dabla, Togo
At 50, Suzanne goes through her personal diary, which reveals her youth filled with tears, anguish and suffering. Today, she fights for children's causes in her country and spends her days with children suffering from behavioural disorder.

8. The Masks of Silence - directed by Fatma Skandrani, Tunisia
This documentary tells the story of a great multi-faceted actress capable of portraying many characters, including that of being a primary school teacher.

9. The Shadows of Freedom - directed by Sabina Kidwai, India
This documentary traces the history of three women from a Muslim family in India and how the issues of identity and gender clash with their own lives and that of their family.

10. Taller than the Mountains - directed by Farooq Beg, Pakistan
In the mountains of northern Pakistan, women are undernourished, underpaid and underprivileged. For most women, the struggle to live is a way of life, but through education, farming and development, they are achieving small miracles of equality and optimism.

11. Ladies' Special - directed by Nidhi Tuli, India
The "Ladies' Special" train in Mumbai becomes women's own space and their lifeline in the city.

12. Italga - directed by Osvalde Lewat, Cameroon
Ra-syn is a rap singer while Mike plays football in Cameroon's women's national team. Both are evolving in a society where their lifestyles are not very well accepted.

13. Traces, Women's Imprints - directed by Kate Lena Ndiaye, Burkina Faso
This documentary ventures into the discovery of three Kassena grandmothers, their granddaughters and the exclusive feminine art of the region's mural paintings.

14. A Taxi Woman in Sidi Bel Abbes - directed by Hadjadj Belkacem, Algeria
Following the death of her husband, Soumicha, a mother of three children, is forced to find employment. She becomes a female taxi driver in Sidi Bel-Abbes in Algeria, which is a job normally reserved for men. Through the eyes of Soumicha, we discover the city and see the many and contradictory faces of the Algerian society.

15. Right to Speak - directed by Do Pascal Sessouma, Burkina Faso
Local radios are nowadays educational and development tools serving namely women's groups and peasants. In Banfora, as a result of an extended campaign led by a women's organization through local radio, the public opinion became sensitive to the risk involved in the practice of excision.

16. Odhni - Beyond the Veil - directed by Umesh Bist, India
Exploited by contractors and middlemen for decades, the women workers were organized and formed a society, which was registered as a SEWA-society for the empowerment of women artisans. The whole market turned against them and orthodox Muslim families resented their daughters and sisters going to work.

17. The Dilemma of Eya - directed by Adjike Assouma, Togo
The Dilemma of Eya tells the story of a young woman, who is forced to follow traditional voodoo practices at the cost of her family, her education and her life. This film shows the consequences of preventing young women from being educated and having their own identity as well as shedding some light upon traditional voodoo practices.

18. Florence Barrigha, A Brief Encounter - directed by Fanta Regina Nacro, Togo
Florence Barrigha tells her story of how she reinvented her life to become one of the seven "Nana Benz" of Togo, who are businesswomen involved in trading fabrics and as a result, are able to afford their own Mercedes Benz. The expression "Nana Benz" means freedom, pride, success and courage of women.

19. Wave of Life - directed by Baigalmaa G, Mongolia
A lady, who was overwhelmed with the challenges she experienced in life, lost her home and farm one cold winter day. Feeding cattle was her only means to support her children and losing this occupation almost made her give up on life.

20. Yayoudokhandene, the Lady of Saint-Louis - directed by Lobe Nidaye, Senegal
Every day, Aminata pays a visit to fishermen and shopkeepers of fruits and vegetables. They help her find everything she needs to cook meals that she distributes to ill people at the local hospital.

Truth Tour-Coalition of Immokalee Workers- A Librarian at Every Table. No. 249.

The truth tour has begun!

2005 Taco Bell Truth Tour: "Bringing it Home!"
The Coalition of Immokalee Workers leads the way to Louisville.

National Convergence for Farmworker Justice!
United for Peace and Justice.
Student Farmworker Alliance
National Farmworker Ministry

March 12, 2005 - Louisville, KY

On March 12, join farmworkers from the Coalition of Immokalee Workers and thousands of allies -- including actor and activist Martin Sheen -- in Louisville, KY, for a full day of music, speeches, and colorful theater as we protest outside the offices of Yum Brands demanding an end to sweatshops in the fields!

For the past three years, farmworkers from Immokalee and their allies have crossed the country, spreading the truth about sweatshop conditions behind the tomatoes in Taco Bell's products. Each year, the CIW's Truth Tours have culminated in major actions -- including a 10-day hunger strike in 2003 and a 44-mile march in 2004 -- at Taco Bell's global headquarters in Irvine, California.

But this year, we are bringing the truth about farmworker poverty to the home of fast-food profits: Yum Brands, the parent company of Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, KFC, Long John Silvers, and A&W Restaurants, with revenues of over $24 billion in 2003. Yum Brands is the largest restaurant company in the world -- larger than McDonald's -- and as such wields tremendous influence in the corporate food industry.

We are at a critical juncture in our campaign: Yum acknowledges the abuses in the fields yet they still refuse to take the final step and change their business practices as we asked. A strong turnout in Louisville on March 12 is crucial to demonstrating to Yum that the Taco Bell boycott will not go away until farmworkers in Yum's supply chain are treated with dignity and respect.

This is the moment to pull out all the stops, call all of your contacts, and join us in Louisville on March 12. We cannot make this change without you. So organize a caravan from your school, church, union, or community group to join us in Louisville for this historic convergence.

If you are on our one of our tour stops, we invite you to join us on the tour from your city to Louisville.
Some of our tour stops include:

* Tallahassee, FL
* Atlanta, GA
* Montgomery, AL
* Birmingham, AL
* Nashville, TN
* Memphis, TN
* Cincinnati, OH
* Cleveland, OH
* Columbus, OH
* St. Louis, MO
* Indianapolis, IN
* Chicago, IL
* Lexington, KY

Email workers@ciw-online.org or visit www.ciw-online.org to find out how you can join us.

BACKGROUND:
As major buyers of Florida tomatoes, Taco Bell and Yum Brands have the opportunity, and the responsibility, to influence the way workers are treated in their suppliers' operations. Yet after more than three years of a strong and growing national boycott, Yum Brands still refuses to take concrete, measurable steps to address the brutal labor conditions in its tomato supply chain -- conditions that include sub-poverty annual wages, no right to overtime, no right to organize, a per bucket piece rate that hasn't changed significantly since 1978, no sick leave, no health insurance, and no benefits whatsoever.

Support for the Taco Bell boycott is expanding at a rapid pace across the country, particularly on college campuses, where the Student/Farmworker Alliance's (www.sfalliance.org) "Boot the Bell" campaign has become one of the fastest growing movements for social justice today. Most recently, Cal State San Bernardino, UCLA and the University of Notre Dame have moved to end their relationships with Taco Bell in response to student support for the boycott. They join 18 other schools in an unprecedented wave of student-led activism, demanding that Taco Bell clean up human rights abuses in its supply chain if it is to do business on their campuses.

======================

Book:
Charles Dillard Thompson and Melinda F. Wiggins
The Human Cost of Food: Farmworker's Lives, Labor and Advocacy
University of Texas Press, 200

Global Call to Action Against Poverty- A Librarian at Every Table. No. 248

A LIBRARIAN AT EVERY TABLE
February 27, 2005. No. 248.
Sources & Sites for Community Building.


At a press conference at the World Economic Forum in Davos, leading political and civil society figures expressed their support for the The Global Call to Action Against Poverty and called upon world leaders to deliver on the promises they have made.

T he Global Call to Action against Poverty is a worldwide alliance of hundreds of organizations that represents some 150 million people from a plethora of different organizations. In one of the biggest anti-poverty campaigns ever, people are calling on world leaders to fulfill their commitments on trade justice, more and better aid, debt cancellation and for more action at a national level in the South including meeting and exceeding the Millennium Development Goals .

"Extreme Poverty is Stupid." --Bono

Book:
Serge-Christophe Kolm
Macrojustice: The Political Economy of Fairness
Cambridge University Press
December 2004

PBU8

Politics of Culture- A Librarian at Every Table. No.247.

A LIBRARIAN AT EVERY TABLE
February 18, 2005. No. 247.
Sources & Sites for Community Building.

The Center for Arts and Culture aims to inform and improve policy decisions that affect cultural life. The guiding principles include freedom of imagination, inquiry and expression, as well as freedom of opportunity for all to participate in a vital and diverse culture.
CPANDA-Cultural Policy and the Arts National Data Archive is an interactive digital archive of data on the arts and cultural policy in the U.S., available for research and statistical analysis, with data on artists, arts and cultural organizations, audiences, and funding for arts and culture. Reports such as "Public Participation in the Arts "
are easily retrieved from CPANDA.

Book:
Gigi Bradford and others, eds.
The Politics of Culure: Policy Perspectives for Indivduals, Institutions and Communities
New Press, 2000.

Sustainability: Journal of Community Informatics: A LIBRARIAN AT EVERY TABLE. No. 246

A LIBRARIAN AT EVERY TABLE
February 14, 2005. No. 246.
Sources & Sites for Community Building.

"Sustainability and Community ICTs" is the theme of the latest issue of the
Journal of Community Informatics. Community Informatics (CI) is the study and the practice of enabling communities with Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs). CI seeks to work with communities towards the effective use of ICTs to improve their processes, achieve their objectives, overcome the "digital divides" that exist both within and between communities, and empower communities and citizens in the range of areas of ICT application including for health, cultural production, civic management, e-governance among others. The Journal of Community Informatics brings together a global range of academics, CI practitioners and national and multi-lateral policy makers. The Community Informatics Research Network (CIRN) promotes and represents community informatics and community networking internationally. CIRN sponsors the Journal of Community Informatics.

WAR! on the War on Poverty : A LIBRARIAN AT EVERY TABLE. No. 245.

A LIBRARIAN AT EVERY TABLE
February 5, 2005. No. 245.
Sources & Sites for Community Building.


Librarians will have many challenges in the days ahead with the release and analysis of the Federal Budget. Vulnerable communities will find program funding is slated for cuts and re-direction. There will be a war declared on the long fight against poverty. It will be re-packaged in high sounding words, but the effects will be powerful.

The nation's most vulnerable people will be at risk when the new budget is released.The White House has already begun disclosing information about what to expect – including cuts and freezes for programs serving people in the United States who are most in need. The Coalition on Human Needs will provide updates. The Children's Defense Fund and the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities hosted religious leaders at the National Press Club on Friday, February 4, to discuss maintaining moral standards in the 2005 federal budget. Speakers at the forum warned that the most vulnerable Americans are likely to shoulder a heavy and disproportionate share of budget cuts this year. The Center issued an analysis: CUTS TO LOW-INCOME PROGRAMS MAY FAR EXCEED THE CONTRIBUTION OF THESE PROGRAMS TO DEFICIT’S RETURN. The OMB Watch Federal Budget Weblog will provide ongoing reports.

Books:

Michael Harrington
The Other America: Poverty in the United States
New York, MacMillan, 1962.

Leiyu Shi and Gregory D. Stevens
Vulnerable Populations in the United States
Jossey-Bass, 2005.

David K. Shipler
The Working Poor :Invisible in America
Knopf, 2004/

David Wagner
The Poorhouse: America's Forgotten Institution
Lanham, 2005.

Poverty in the United States: An Encyclopedia of History, Politics and Policy
ABC-Clio, 2004.

Black History Month-2005: A Librarian at Every Table. No. 244.

A LIBRARIAN AT EVERY TABLE
February 1, 2005. No. 244.
Sources & Sites for Community Building.


The Association for the Study of African American Life and History
sets the annual theme for Black History Month. The 2005 theme is The Niagra Movement: Black Protest Reborn.
Vivian G. Harsh, the first African American librarian in the Chicago Public Library System, began a "Special Negro Collection" which is the largest African American history and literature collection in the U.S. Midwest.

Some important public library collections:

• Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection of Afro-American History and Literature. Carter G. Woodson Regional Library. Chicago Public Library.

• Schomburg Center for Black Culture. New York Public Library.

• Auburn Avenue Research Library on African-American Culture and History. Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System.

• African-American Research Library and Cultural Center. Broward County Library, Florida.

• African-American Museum and Library at Oakland. Okaland Public Library, CA.

Book:
Henrietta M. Smith
Coretta Scott King Awards: 1970-2004. American Library Association, 2004.
---Librarian