Dear Social Justice Friends,
Happy Summer! What a difference a year makes. We hope you enjoy your family and friends and stay happy and healthy. Please see below a list of educational, advocacy and action opportunities for the upcoming months.
All the Best,
The Tzedek Team
The Religious Action Center (RAC) is continuing the Racial Justice Campaign with numerous programs to inform, educate and encourage advocacy.
The
upcoming training in the Freedom to Vote series on July 14 will help us learn how to organize around this increasingly important issue.
There will also be a
4-Part Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Community Training Series on July 28, August 4, August 11, and August 18. This series will teach us how to create a DEI Working Group, so that we can establish action plans towards creating an inclusive community for individuals and families from a wide range of backgrounds.
The URJ recently sponsored a wonderful series about Reparations which may be
viewed on YouTube.
There is also a wonderful
blog post about Reparations from the URJ.
And stay tuned as there is ongoing work to encourage legislators to support H.R. 40, which supports the study and development of reparations for slavery and systemic racism. If you are interested in learning more about the RAC’s Racial Justice Campain please contact Arlene Pressman
arpressman@gmail.com .
Newton Community FreedgeOur thanks and gratitude go out to Wendy Case and Barbara Fierman as they pass the torch of leadership and organization of Temple Shalom’s Freedge Volunteers to Barbara Gubb and Jane Hirschhorn who will be taking over as Co-Team Captains. Thank you Barbara and Jane! Please consider signing up for a volunteer shift on a Tuesday throughout the summer.
Sign up here Immigration Update Follow-up
On June 15 we were lucky to have a wonderful Immigration Update by Elizabeth Leff, of the Religious Action Center (RAC), during Elizabeth’s last week at the RAC. Elizabeth helped us better understand definitions and current legislative efforts and provided us with a list of actions we can take. Her presentation is available on the
Temple website Please contact Margaret Brill (
mwbrill47@aol.com ) or Elizabeth Connolly (
econnolly@srsmedical.com ) if you are interested in getting more involved in actions in this area.
Bike drive July 10 sponsored by Newton Neighbors Helping NeighborsWe are collecting new or gently used bikes for kids in need, for distribution through one of our partners in Waltham. We are also collecting funds to purchase bike helmets and bike locks for these kids. Please
check here for a list of requested bike sizes along with ages and genders of the kids. If you have a bike to donate that matches the need, please sign up for that item, as well as for a drop-off time slot.
Drop-off location:
44 Hansen Road, Waltham, MA 02451. Newton Neighbors will be there Saturday, July 10, 3pm – 6pm. If you would like to donate a bike but cannot make the drop-off date, please contact us at
NewtonNeighborsHelping@gmail.com.
These bikes are going directly to children, so we can only accept bikes that are ready to go or will be ready with a minor tuneup. Don’t have a bike to pass on but still want to help? Help buy a helmet or lock by making a donation here through our fiscal sponsor, Newton Community Pride. A child’s bike helmet costs $25 on average and a bike lock costs $15, but we will gratefully accept donations of any amount! After purchasing the items, any excess funds will be donated to Bikes Not Bombs (https://bikesnotbombs.org/).
